tofu in a hole

There's a classic American breakfast food that I never got to try, or even really knew about, before going vegan. Though it's commonly known as "Toad in a Hole," it is really different from the British version of Toad in the Hole. The British version is Yorkshire pudding with sausage. The American version is toast with a hole cut in the center into which you add an egg. I looked it up online and discovered that Toad in a Hole is also known as Egg in a Basket, Bird's Nest, One-eyed Jack, and Gas House Egg. Do you all know about this dish? Do you have a different name for it?

Anyway, this morning the husband wondered if I could try to make a vegan version. I've seen one recipe for a vegan version, but it takes a lot more time/advanced preparation than I had this morning... so I rose to the challenge to create my own. (You should still click that link, though, if not for that recipe than for the list of different names for Toad in a Hole. So cool!)

So, here's my version.

I fried up the tofu with my normal tofu "fried egg" method--I rub a couple pinches of black salt, asafoetida, and pepper on tofu, then saute it in oil till the edges start to get a bit golden. Making the circles left me with some tofu scraps, which I blended with water, arrowroot, a bit of nutritional yeast, and the same fried-eggy seasonings to make a binder that would stick the tofu to the bread.

I mixed a spoonful of the binder with turmeric to make the little yolks on top, but that's only for looks. The binder mixture is in the little green cup.

Then all I had to do was saute the bread:

Once I flipped the bread, I put a quarter of the blended mixture into each hole, then quickly added the tofu circles. A minute or two longer, and it was done!

The arrowroot mixture helps keep the tofu in the hole.

This breakfast was delicious, and I no longer feel like I'm missing out on an American breakfast tradition! So now I'll share it with you.

Tofu in a Hole
Serves 2, is easily doubled/tripled/quadrupled. Black salt is totally worth your time/money if you like an "eggy" flavor to things; it has a sulphur smell that becomes milder with cooking and really helps things taste like eggs. Asafoetida is a powder that smells half garlicky and half oniony, and also helps with egginess. You only use a REALLY TINY amount at a time. Both are available at any Indian grocery store, or online.

1/2 block tofu
4 pieces of bread
1 tsp arrowroot powder
3 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional, if not using, add a bit more arrowroot)
a few pinches of:
black pepper
black salt (optional, but IS the eggy flavor)
asafoetida (optional, but helps with eggy flavor)
turmeric (optional, only if you're doing a "yolk" look)
vegan margarine

Using a glass or small biscuit cutter, cut a hole in the center of each piece of bread. Use the same glass to press into your tofu to make circles that will fit in the bread. You can either cut the tofu into 4 slabs and then use the glass on them, or you can make one big tofu cylinder and cut that horizontally into 4 circles. It's up to you!

In a blender, combine the leftover corners of the tofu, the 1 tsp arrowroot powder (a scant 2 tsps if you don't use nutritional yeast), the water, nutritional yeast, a few pinches of black salt, and a tiny amount of asafoetida. Blend until smooth. This is your binder mixture. While it's blending, sprinkle a bit of black pepper, black salt, and asafoetida over the tofu slices, and rub into both sides.

Heat 1-2 tsps of margarine in a pan on the stove over medium. Saute the tofu circles for about 3 minutes, until the bottom is starting to turn golden. Flip, repeat. While the tofu is cooking, butter one side of each slice of bread.

(Optional, for the yolk [which is for looks only]: Before flipping, take a small spoonful of the binder mixture, and mix a sprinkle of turmeric into it. Put a small dollop in the center of each tofu slab, then flip and cook as directed above.)

Remove the tofu from the pan, add a little more margarine as necessary, then put the unbuttered side of the bread down in the pan. It should begin to brown in 3 or so minutes; check. Once the bottom has browned, flip it. Once you've flipped it, add a quarter of the binder mixture (should be a little more than a Tbsp) to the center of the hole in the bread, then press in a tofu circle (yolk side up, if you did a yolk) quickly. The binder mixture will come up around the edge of the tofu, that's good! Allow to cook until the bread is browned, again, like 3 minutes. You have Tofu in a Hole! Or Tofu in a Basket. Or Gas House Tofu. Whatever.

This parsnip mixture went really well with it:

It's parsnips and walnuts, sauteed with a bit of olive oil, salt and a splash of maple syrup. Yummmm.

a preponderance of parsnips

As you may remember from this entry way back in 2008, I love parsnips. Parsnips, like turnips, are underappreciated and vastly underused by most people. Recently I made Susan B's (The Fat Free Vegan) Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Soup, and was surprised to see in her write-up about it that even she does not often use parsnips! People. Use more parsnips. Especially since right now we are at the end of root-vegetable season, and you're probably sick of the same old root vegetables; mix it up a little and add parsnips to your diet.

If you're a scaredy cat and don't want to try anything exotic, the simplest way to cook them is to slice 2-4 parsnips thinly, then saute with 1-2 tablespoons of margarine (or olive oil and salt, if you prefer) until soft and lightly browned, like so:

They are also delicious roasted, and, if you're not sure you'll like the flavor, blended into delicious soups! The Roasted Parsnip and Garlic Soup I linked to above was divine, even without any mushrooms (I didn't have any at the time). Another favorite of mine is the Gluttonous Vegan's Spiced Parsnip and Coconut Milk Soup, which I wrote about in this August entry.

This soup is absolutely delicious. AND if you have any leftovers, it makes a great sauce in which to marinate and then bake slabs of tofu!

Pictured here with my beloved dduk.

A new delicious thing I discovered that you can make with parsnips is the Beet and Parsnip Salad from the Veganomicon. (A badly-spelled version of it is online here.) It's in the back here, pictured with open-faced tofu sandwiches with a pink "cream" sauce that gets its color from extra vinaigrette from the salad.

It has a VERY generous amount of vinaigrette, which I ended up reserving for other things even after the salad was gone. For example, I used it for the pink "cream" sauce above. AND THEN I decided to use it as a tofu marinade for a stir-fry:

I sauteed the tofu and some vegetables, then combined the leftover vinaigrette/marinade with some soy sauce and cornstarch to be the sauce for my stir fry.

I present to you the pinkest stir-fry you've ever seen.

While we wait for spring (I don't care what the calendar says; it's snowing as I write this, so it's not "spring" yet in my book), try to make the most of what's left of the winter produce, and enjoy yourself some parsnips!

what to eat when you have a tooth extracted

According to all 5 dentists I have seen since my teens, I have interesting teeth. Actually, to quote one, “amazingly interesting.” Dentists have actually called their colleagues (or assistants/hygenists) into the room to take a look at my mouth—just to show said colleagues how “interesting” my teeth are. You can’t tell from just looking at me; to the casual observer, including myself, I have fairly normal, straightish teeth.

But apparently the top right side of my mouth is a madhouse. One tooth, the second-from-the-end, has an extra cusp on the side, known as “the cusp of carabelli.” If you look this up online, it sounds as if it’s not that unusual—but I’ve had 3 dentists tell me they’ve only read about it—in dental school. “Interesting,” but no problem. However, there is another feature to my mouth that makes dentists say “hmmm” and frown: the tooth that is the furthest back in my mouth is pivoted 90 degrees. It grew in that way, and until this past year never caused any problems—and because x-rays are two-dimensional, no one took special notice of it until it started to bother me.
Long story short, the tooth had to come out. But because it is such an “unusual” tooth (another word my dentists have used), it wasn’t a simple matter of yanking. No, it was a surgical extraction. The procedure is about the same as having a wisdom tooth out, only in a different part of the mouth, and, if you’ve ever had a surgical extraction, you know it is NOT VERY PLEASANT. It is awful.

The worst part is that I couldn’t chew on that side for a week, and even then only really soft foods. I was despondent when I heard this, not just because I had a gaping hole in my mouth, but because I don’t like soft foods. I only eat soup occasionally, I don’t like drinking my calories (ie, smoothies, etc), and I LOVE CHEWING. I knew the foods I made in the next couple of weeks would have to be delicious, to distract me from the pain and sorrow of not being able to chew.

I didn’t feel like eating for a while after the procedure, and when I did opening my mouth at all was pretty rough, so I mostly took small sips of wildwood’s drinkable yogurt and made a few varieties of green smoothies. As I could fit a spoon into my mouth, I started eating soy yogurt and ice cream. But I became bored with sweet things and wanted substantial meals, so I went on a crazy soup kick.
First, a Carrot, Ginger, and Beet Soup that is apparently in Didi Emmons’s Vegetarian Planet, but I found on this site. I normally only use beets for Borscht when it comes to soup, but the thought of pureeing borscht seemed wrong. I’ll definitely make this recipe again; the ginger was a nice addition to the beet and carrot flavor.

Peaches are in season (and delicious!!!), so Peach Gazpacho from Martha Stewart’s website came next. I changed this recipe by adding a slice of bread and more water to get it the almost creamy consistency of gazpacho. Being allergic to nightshades, I’ve never actually had gazpacho, but The Boyfriend loves it, and reported that this tomato-free version is just as good as normal tomato gazpacho. In fact, he ordered tomato-y gazpacho at a restaurant a couple weeks later, and though to me they smelled the same, he said my peach one tasted better. Even though the peaches I used were ripe, the gazpacho wasn’t very sweet, which was nice—I didn’t feel like I was having dessert for dinner. However, the leftovers the next day definitely seemed sweeter. I REALLY recommend this one.

I also REALLY recommend these two soups from the gluttonous vegan.
Finding the recipe for this Spiced Parsnip and Coconut Milk Soup was easily the best part of the tooth extraction ordeal. It is delicious and filling AND by this day I had discovered that I could eat bread if I soaked it in the soup for a long time first, which was really exciting.

Being the intrepid entertainer that I am, I had a small dinner party 4-5 days after the extraction and served the gluttonous vegan’s Smoky Sweet Potato Soup. Since paprika is a pepper (nightshade), I replaced the smoked paprika with about a teaspoon of liquid smoke. I sautéed some zucchini with onions and lemon juice until it was really soft and roasted chickpeas for the side/garnish. I tried one before we ate—I could actually bite down on it! It had been 5 days since I had chewed anything, and I was so happy I almost cried.

I ate things other than soups, too! I made pesto and mixed it into mashed sweet potatoes, and served it for brunch with basic scrambled tofu.
The Boyfriend got some nice crusty bread with this brunch, but I had to do without. (So I gave myself extra avocado.)

I was still eating yogurt for my snacks, but it was getting boring, so I figured out other ways to use it, including in this Arugula Dip. It’s based on a spinach dip and is mostly arugula, silken tofu, and plain soy yogurt with some garlic, salt and pepper. Embarrassingly, I still couldn’t really eat chips at that point, so I just sorta ate the dip off of the chip. The Boyfriend got to eat the chips, though.

I also made Blueberry Crisp, here topped with ice cream that for some reason hated the flash on my camera:
Finally, though I didn’t make the following recipe after my tooth was extracted, I wish I had. All of the information the dentist gives you afterwards, and all of the websites you read, advises to eat soft things like “ice cream, pudding, and jello.” This reminded me of a recipe I made just a week or two before:
Strawberry Jelloish Dessert
Serves 4-5. It’s not very sweet, but I prefer it that way; taste before you add the agar and add more agave/sugar if you want it sweeter.

1 1/2 cups strawberries, chopped into pieces no bigger than 1/2 an inch.
4 C water
1/4 C agave (or sugar) (more to taste)
1 Tbsp agar powder

Combine the strawberries, water, and sweetener in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally. After about 10 or 15 minutes, when the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat. Stir in the agar powder, and stir constantly until the powder is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat, pour into either a large, flat bowl, an 8x8 baking dish, or, for swank-looking desserts like I made, into glasses. Chill in the fridge at least 1-2 hours.

Serve by itself, or garnished with fruit, ice cream, cashew crème (as below; soaked cashews and dates blended with vanilla and soymilk until whipped-cream-y), or some form of vegan whipped cream.


Anyway, I’m long back to chewing solid foods, thank goodness—but in case YOU need to go on a mush diet for a while, you’ll know what to do!

monochrome meals

AND WE'RE BACK! I have a shiny new laptop, a mac (yay for apples! now my computer reminds me of produce!), and I will be back to posting twice a week. Thanks for sticking with me!

how do I love parsnips? let me count the ways.
one... two... three.

What you are looking at above is my fondness for bizarre-looking produce. Organic Parsnips. I went to reach for one (they are supposed to look like the little guy on the right; he is my "control" parsnip) in the parsnip basket at whole foods - and there was that strange pants-looking one! And directly underneath him: THE MONSTER. I couldn't just leave them in the basket: the next person to buy parsnips might not appreciate them! so they came home.
That's about a quarter of the monster, there, MAYBE half, pan-fried in a small amount of earth balance, for saturday's brunch:
with a banana wheat germ muffin (from veganomicon), and peanut butter and pineapples. An intentionally monochrome morning.

As you may have guessed from my entirely green entry back there, I love playing with colors and food. I've been on an orange-and-yellow kick lately:
cauliflower pakora (battered and fried cauliflower, with a homemade peanut sauce), recipe from vegan planet.

pumpkin ziti bake with homemade sage breadcrumbs and cashew ricotta from the veganomicon. This was realllly tasty, especiall the cashew ricotta, a lot of which I ate before putting it into the recipe because I wanted to taste it... and couldn't stop tasting. I didn't actually have a can of pumpkin, but I didn't know that until I had put together most of the other ingredients, so I used a can of butternut squash puree (another weirdness... who has a can of squash puree but not pumpkin?! me, apparently).

Roasted butternut squash risotto. With brown rice. I made it up, but I'm not sharing a recipe because I'm not entirely content with it yet.

and a roasted tofu "ham" with carrots, pineapple and corn.

It is round because I bought a tube of tofu (I know, weird, that's why I had to do it) at super 88 market a while ago, Yours won't look exactly like this (I was also a bit short on pineapple because I kept snacking on it while I was cooking), but the recipe bears repeating!

Roasted Tofu Ham
(technically should serve 3-4 people, if you follow a package of tofu's serving size, but who does that? So it serves two.)

1 block extra-firm tofu
2 Tbsp nut butter (NO PEANUT! the taste would be too distinctive. I used macadamia, but cashew, tahini, or almond butter would work)
2 Tbsp tamari (or more to taste. ham is supposed to be salty!)
1/4 cup pineapple juice
4 slices pineapple
3-4 cloves (optional)

chopped carrots or other veggies (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425. Drain and press the tofu to get out all excess water. Cut diagonal lines across the top of the tofu in a criss-cross pattern, cuting at least halfway into the block (but not all the way to the bottom). Place the tofu in a baking dish.

Stir together the nut butter, tamari and pineapple juice. Once well mixed, spoon over the tofu, making SURE to get it into all the crevices from the criss-crossing (you can pretend you're giada and grope your food [almost] inappropriately to make sure you're really getting it into the tofu). There should be some extra liquid in the bottom of the baking dish: if not, add a splash more pineapple juice and tamari.

Overlap pineapple rings on top of the tofu, and stick optional cloves in the center of the pineapple circles. Place optional chopped veggies around the sides of the roast.

COVER with foil/a lid and bake for half an hour. Remove from oven, take off cover, use a spoon to stir the veggies/spoon some of the liquid over the tofu. Return to oven, bake uncovered for another half hour, until golden brown.

I've never had liquid smoke but I think a drop or two of it in the tamari/nut butter would be really effective.