Saturday, October 03, 2009

Almond Crusted Tofu over Vegan Caesar

Who needs croutons?

Not me! I've been salivating over this dinner for a couple days. I have had a bag of almond meal/flour in the refrigerator for a while now and wasn't sure how I was going to use it. So many people are afraid to make tofu or claim that they just don't know how to make it taste good....but it's SO very easy!
Case in point.....

Bought firm, light tofu. Drained in dishtowel in refrigerator for over a day while totally forgetting that it's in there in need of making. Remember it's ready for the flavoring and whip together two cups of veggie stock with a splash of Shoyu. Cut tofu into steaks, then squares, then placed in air-tight container, pouring stock over them and let sit for a couple hours. Made Caesar dressing a la Bunnyfoot:


2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon vegannaise
dash of vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
a few sprinkles of kelp powder
1/3 c. olive oil (not extra virgin, in my opinion, a mild blend is best here)
press garlic or grate with microplaner (my favorite method), add remaining seven ingredients. while whisking, add oil. you can add water if you want to thin, but, more importantly, feel free to doubt or even triple this recipe if you'll want to keep the remainder in the 'fridge...and you will!

drained tofu on paper towels while heating grapeseed oil in pan over med-high heat. Dipped tofu in soy milk then a mixture of about one cup almond meal/flour and 1/8-1/4 cup tapioca starch. place in hot oil and fried for a few minutes per side til golden brown.

chopped, rinsed, and dried romaine lettuce and put in large bowl. add generous dusting of nutritional yeast, generous helping of hemp seed, and about four chopped sun dried tomatoes. tossed with maybe half the dressing (only you know how much you like on your Caesar!).

Added tofu to top and YES! total dinner success. I whole-heartedly urge anyone who loved Caesar salads of old to try this. Sure, I'm a huge fan of my own version you can find here, but I'm really loving the addition of tofu and the ease of components in this one.
Seriously, go wow some nonvegan naysayers with a Caesar dressing that will knock their socks off. You can thank me later!

4 comments:

Bonnie said...

I've never actually had Caesar salad or dressing but it always sounds so good... thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhhhh nice. I haven't eaten Caesar salad in eight years and I still miss it, I'll have to try the dressing recipe.

Also, I'm one of those people who can barely cook tofu. I think it may be one of those things--some people have no rhythm and can't dance, some people can only turn tofu into scrambles.

Heather said...

This sounds so good.

Erika said...

Will try caesar salad on this one - this looks really mouth-watering.