At our organic vegetarian (and most of the time vegan) dinner table or table d'hôtes" we serve seasonal regional dishes with local produce and products, something we are very proud of and enjoy offering to our guests from allover the world.
Because exploring the many facets of vegetarianism (and more and more veganism) is so important to us we like preparing meals either with a twist and/or with ingredients most people have heard of but either never tried or never managed to create in their own kitchen. Enter tofu!
How many times we have heard that our guests had either tried making tofu themselves at home but didn't like it or had not tried it before for fear of its possible bland taste. And how many times did we hear, during or after the dinner, that they had never thought tofu could taste this good!
It all starts with the best ingredients, and in this case with the best tofu. Fresh is best. And because we are located away from shops and conurbation we prefer to source regionally as well. We found organic tofu at our favorite organic store in Manosque, La Nature et Vous, a truly local store run by Agnes and her very friendly, helpful and very knowledgeable staff of 5, from the local producer Tossolia in upper Provence, near Sault, about 1 hour from Manosque. This is the only kind - fresh tofu from the cooler section - which tastes nice, absorbs the flavors of a marinade, and can pass as tofu.
Here is the recipe for grilled tofu as served under the mulberry tree at La Vudèle or in our cozy farmhouse kitchen, always prepared on our rustic gas stove using a Le Creusset cast-iron grill pan:
- drain the tofu thoroughly for at least half an hour
- cut the tofu in even slices, to ensure even cooking
- blend a marinade with organic toasted sesame oil, organic grapeseed oil and some organic soy sauce
- coat tofu with the marinade and allow to infuse for at least 4 hours
- frequently reapply marinade to ensure even coating
- heat the grill pan and apply an even layer of organic grapeseed oil
- once oil is hot place your tofu slices on the pan and cook on each side for at least 5 minutes
The slices will come out with the typical grill marks sans the toxic aspects of a charcoal BBQ
Serve with freshly steamed couscous infused with fennel seeds, garnished with fresh mint
Sautée sliced onions and garlic, add fresh spinach or Swiss chard
Sprinkle freshly ground linseed for Omega-3 over the couscous
Prepare a sauce of homemade organic peanut butter, organic oat milk, organic sesame oil, a splash of your favorite red wine, rice vinegar, agave syrup and freshly sliced ginger
One of our guests wrote in our guest book: "thanks for the best tofu ever". Thank you Michal from Gdansk!
And please, you all, let us know how you go on with your own tofu cooking experience back home!
