The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook - Kim O'Donnel [48]
Place about ¼ cup of cornstarch in a small, wide bowl.
Dredge a tofu cutlet in the cornstarch. Dust off any excess.
With a silicone or pastry brush, apply oil to both sides of the cutlet.
Place in the pepita mixture, and with your hands, press on both sides of tofu. The pepita mixture will adhere and look a bit like a mosaic.
Transfer to a baking dish large enough to hold all the tofu in a single layer, being careful of the pepita crust. Repeat these steps for the remaining tofu cutlets.
Bake for 30 minutes, carefully turning onto the second side with a spatula or tongs after the first 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prep the Dino-Mash (recipe details follow).
Remove from the oven and serve hot or at room temperature.
Makes 4 servings
DINO-MASH
This pretty mash is completely dairy free yet manages to be creamy and full-flavored, with the help of starchy cooking water and a head of roasted garlic.
INGREDIENTS
1 head garlic
Olive oil for slathering, plus
¼ cup
2 pounds Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn,
or red-skinned potatoes (4 or 5
medium-size), scrubbed,
trimmed, and peeled as
necessary
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups Lacinato kale, stemmed
and chopped finely
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Trim the top of garlic and pull away the outermost skin. With your hands, lightly rub the garlic with oil and place in a small roasting dish. Cover with foil.
Roast the garlic until the cloves are fork tender (but not burned), about 50 minutes. Check for doneness at 40 minutes. (A kitchen timer is helpful.)
Meanwhile, prepare the potatoes: Quarter and place in a medium-size saucepan with 4 cups of water. The water should just barely cover the potatoes. This is important.
Add the salt. Cover the saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium. Cook for 25 minutes, place the kale on top of the potatoes, replace the lid, and allow the kale to steam for 5 minutes. Test the potatoes with a fork for doneness. Remove from the heat.
Squeeze the garlic flesh from the cloves into a large mixing bowl. With tongs or a strainer, transfer the potatoes and kale to the mixing bowl, reserving the cooking liquid.
With a hand masher, mash the potatoes and kale, focusing on the potatoes at first, ensuring that they’re smooth, ladling in their cooking liquid as necessary (you’ll use some, but likely not all). Use a wooden spoon to combine all of the ingredients. Add the remaining ¼ cup of oil and black pepper, stir, then taste for salt, adding more as needed.
Eat hot.
Makes 4 servings
THAI-STYLE RED CURRY TEMPEH
Coconut curry is a whole lot easier than it sounds, and for this version, we go nice and easy, using a prepared curry paste available in most supermarkets and quick-cooking vegetables of your choice.
The unique piece of this dish is the addition of pan-fried tempeh, my savory toothsome friend featured elsewhere in the book (see page 55 for details). The tempeh adds both texture and protein and melds beautifully with the red curry gravy.
KITCHEN NOTES: Make the rice first so that it’s ready to go when the curry is.
Pan-fry the tempeh before preparing the veg and seasonings, all of which should be ready for action before turning on the stove. Smile; you’re about to have a tongue-dancing experience!
INGREDIENTS: Tempeh
1 (8-ounce) package tempeh
(See page 19 for brand
recommendations.)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Juice of ½ lime
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil,
for pan-frying
Salt
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:
Slice the tempeh into triangles and then make those triangles thinner by slicing in half lengthwise, so that you end up with about eighteen ½-inch-thick triangles. (You can also slice the tempeh into strips, but triangles make a prettier presentation.)
Place the tempeh in a shallow baking dish big enough for it to lie in a single layer. Combine the