"The Author-Preneur with Something To Say That You'll Love To Read." #authorpreneurTJM

A Little Greek Tofu

This weekend we have a group at the camp that is from the World Tai Ji Boxing Association (WTBA - http://www.taijiworld.com/).  A fair number of the team are vegetarians.  We are gonna whip up a brown rice with olive oil and garlic (and a hint of lemon juice and sea salt) along with a vegetable medley of green and yellow squash, carrots, mushrooms and broccoli (and of course garlic). The protein will be a tofu slice baked and marinated with a Greek salad dressing.  I am going to make it from scratch with virgin olive oil, minced garlic, thyme, basil and sea salt.  We will serve some kalamata olives and feta in our salad section so there will be the chance to complete the Mediterranean theme.  Non-veggies will have the chance at the same dressing on the baked chicken.

When you are cooking rice and using the dressing in that rice, you always add it after things are finished cooking.  You lose too much of the flavor of the oil and garlic/herbs if you cook it into the food throughout the cooking process.  You can warm things up if you are afraid you will alter the food temp too much.  Just do not heat it too much - only warm it.  I will even add the "marinade" after the baking of the tofu, to retain the flavors.  It will do well in the hotbox at holding temperature - enhancing the tofu even if it is only steeping for 10 - 15 minutes.

Play with the flavors in the dressings until you find a good balance.  You will be surprised how much the dressing for the rice can give it the flavor of a chicken broth being used.

Ciao!

tjm+