I had the wonderful opportunity to meet the author of the cookbook Herbivoracious, Michael Natkin. Michael is a vegetarian blogger-turned-cookbook author who brilliantly combines upscale vegetarian cuisine with more than a dash of global inspiration.
Michael, I have a confession. I had never tried tofu before last night. Actually, that’s not true- I accidentally grabbed it once from a salad bar mistaking it for feta cheese. Not a good move. Yesterday, I followed the step-by-step instructions you gave me at the book launch and created my first batch of tofu. (We will gloss over the fact that I set off the smoke detector and woke up my 1 year old up…that’s just the kind of cook I am I guess). I am looking for some high-protein, healthy food for my little guy, so here goes nothing!
Take a look at the video below where Michael breaks down the most important points of making tofu “really freaking delicious.”
Here are the photos of my first foray into the wonderful world of tofu:
I used a block of organic tofu from Trader Joe’s for this. I didn’t want to ruin an expensive chunk of tofu for my trial run! Per Michael, I sliced the tofu into 1/3″ slices, patted them try with towels, fried them until they had a nice, brown crust on the outside (this was when the fire alarm sounded…note to self: turn vent on high). I then sprinkled the warm tofu with crushed coarse sea salt and Malabar Island Seasoned Pepper from The Spice Mill in Alden, MI (if you have a kitchen and are in the area, GO!). Michael was right- it was actually really freaking delicious! Thanks for the instructions!
Look for my review of Michael’s cookbook Herbivoracious coming to a blog post near you…In the meantime, you can check out his blog by the same name.
