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Banh Mi Rice

June 5, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 9 comments

A sandwich favorite turned into a cool, easy rice salad for summer? Yes, please! Make it mayo-free, and it is the perfect on the go meal, great for bringing to barbecues, parties, on picnics, or less fun places like work.

I love a good banh mi sandwich, pretty much any day of the week. I really enjoy the crisp veggies, the spice and the cilantro. With a bunch of random ingredients on hand, and inspired by Myers + Chang tofu banh mi, I decided to make a salad.

I started by cooking about a cup and a half of basmati rice according to the package directions.

While the rice was bubbling, I grabbed some pre-cut veggie slaw, a mix of broccoli, carrots, and cabbage, and marinated it all in a mix of rice vinegar, cilantro paste, and sriracha for intense flavors.

Once the rice was done, I mixed it right in with the veggies. I wanted them to get slightly softer from the rice, and I wanted the warm rice to absorb the vinegar mix.

While all of this was going on, I was also baking up some tofu chips to top the rice with. I sliced a block of Nasoya extra firm tofu into very thin slices and quickly dusted them with cayenne and black pepper. I initially put them in the oven at 375 and after about 15 minutes lowered it until 320. I left the oven at 320 for 20 minutes and then shut it off, leaving the tofu in the oven to dry out.

The end result was tasty but not pretty! These crunchy chips made a great topping for the banh mi salad though. I used vegetable scissors to cut them into strips and tossed them in with the rice and vegetables.

I will definitely be making this salad again. Even though I have mentioned that I don’t love rice, I think it is more than I don’t love it on its own. Add in lots of vegetables and protein, and I am a fan!

Have you ever taken inspiration from one favorite dish and turned it into something else?

Technorati Tags: dinner, rice, tofu, vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: dinner, rice, tofu, vegetables, Vegetarian

Italian Orzo Bake

May 10, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 11 comments

This week’s meal-planning was inspired completely by one of my favorite cookbooks, Moosewood Restaurant New Classics. My dog-eared copy of this book has seen its fair share of splashes of tomato sauce, drops of water, and puffs of flour; it is a comfort just to read, and even more of a comfort to cook its contents.

My original, 70’s Moosewood cookbook was a gift from my Aunt Betsy. It was hers before she passed it on to me, so there are all sorts of notes about what was good, what substitutions worked well, and other fun little treasures throughout. If you are thinking of doing more vegetarian cooking, Moosewood is definitely one of the ways to go. I still dream of making a trip out to their Ithaca, NY restaurant someday.

My first meatless meal of the week evolved from a baked ziti of sorts. The recipe in the Moosewood book was an Italian Orzo Gratin.

I started with the basic idea and then used what I had in the house to whip up a balanced meal, starting with a cup of raw orzo and a can of Trader Joe’s marinara. While I prefer to make my own sauce, TJ’s marinara is a great substitute and can be doctored up with veggies and herbs for more of a homemade taste.

To the marinara sauce, I added an entire container of silken tofu, whipping it with a whisk until the tofu blended into the sauce, sort of like ricotta cheese, making it more of a “cream” sauce.

On the side, I chopped several cups of baby spinach, half of a white onion, and a red pepper.

When it came time to cook, I borrowed Moosewood’s idea of cooking the orzo from raw. I started by ladling enough of the sauce and tofu combo to cover the bottom of a casserole dish, then covered that with dry orzo.

On top of the orzo, I layered the spinach, peppers, and onions. The moisture released from the cooking veggies definitely helps to cook the orzo. On top of the veggies, I layered another thick layer of tofu and sauce, then popped the dish in the oven to bake for 40 minutes at 350.

The orzo cooked perfectly, and while the final dish was a little bit watery, once mixed together, it was fine.

This made a few extra servings, perfect for weekday lunches. While this baked pasta dish was not the fancy grilled tofu I originally planned, it was the perfect low key meal for someone who was not feeling well but wanted to eat something healthy.

Do you have a favorite family cookbook? One that has been passed down or given to you as a gift by a close friend or relative that instantly brings you comfort, like my Moosewood books do?

Technorati Tags: meatless, Moosewood, orzo, pasta, recipe, tofu, vegetables, Vegetarian

Tags: meatless, Moosewood, orzo, pasta, recipe, tofu, vegetables, Vegetarian

Broccoli 9-1-1

February 26, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 10 comments

It’s probably pretty obvious that I have not been doing much cooking or eating the past few days. Let me tell you, and I am not saying this to complain, but I have not ever felt as bad as I have this week, even when I had pneumonia in the fall. I am happy to say that I am feeling weak but slightly on the mend. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and with a very busy week ahead I could not be happier.

The one problem with not being able to cook was a fridge full of fresh produce and other items that needed to be eaten this week. While many of the vegetables like beets and carrots are going toward a health-boosting juice today, our almost-rubbery broccoli found itself in a spicy peanut sauce with tofu and noodles.

It was a Nasoya kind of meal, thanks to Market Basket’s large tofu selection and wallet-friendly prices.

I used an entire block of Nasoya extra-firm tofu and a container of Nasoya Chinese-style noodles.

In addition, I used several heaping spoonfuls of Trader Joe’s Valencia Peanut Butter.

A generous drizzle of sriracha. . .

A head of almost-dead broccoli, cut into florets. . .

And a few splashes of Tamari soy sauce.

I started by pressing the tofu in a clean dish towel in a colander, draining off as much liquid as possible. Then, as I always do, I cut the tofu and left it to air dry for about an hour.

To assemble the meal, I cooked the noodles according to the package instructions. In a separate pan, I steamed the broccoli in a bit of water, then added in the soy sauce, sriracha, and peanut butter, mixing until a creamy sauce was formed. I tossed in the tofu and noodles, gave it a stir, let it simmer on low for 20 minutes so the tofu would absorb the flavors of the sauce, and served.

It was a nice return to real food. The Doritos had to go at some point. They were good and all, but probably not the best food for me to recover from my flu.

What’s on tap for your Saturday?

Technorati Tags: broccoli, easy recipes, Food, Nasoya, noodles, peanut sauce, quick recipes, recipe, soy sauce, sriracha, tofu, Vegetarian, vegetarian recipe