Herb Crusted Tofu with Shitake Mushrooms and Brocollini

I heart rainy days for one reason only: I get to cook quietly without feeling guilty that I'm not inside. Maybe that's why I'm a food blogger... I do live in the northwest you know, and what is one thing you're guaranteed to have in the Northwest??? Rain. Yes; and lots of it.



Yesterday I pulled some grab bag items, one of them being tofu so I thought I'd do a little pan fry. My mom is obsessed with pan frying lately because of a certain restaurant we frequent which makes great tofu. I've pan friend tofu before but not with this herby delicious marinade. The overall result was delicious, simple and lovely to look at. I paired it with that fresh pasta I made... remember that? And, of course, a little sautee of shitakes and brocollini... delish!





And speaking of grab bag items, I have a confession to make. Yes, I do 'grab bag' but sometimes I don't use all the ingredients... sometimes I only use one or two and incorporate them in to other things that I have. It's still grab bag, sort of! :)



For this tasty bit, you need some fresh herbs. On that note, if you don't have an herb garden, get one! They are so stinking easy to maintain and makes cooking really special. My herb 'garden' is in two pots on my deck. They just sit there enjoying the scenery, year in and year out. It's a win win really, they have a great view and I get fresh thriving herbs steps from my door.



Back to the recipe:



Need:

For Tofu:

1 block tofu, triange cut (I'll explain)

3 Tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

1 Tablespoon garlic greens, chopped

2 Tablespoons - ish. olive oil

Coarse sea salt

For 'sauce' if you want to call it that:

3 Tablespoons garlic greens

About 10-12 shitake mushrooms, sliced

1 cup white wine (as said in previous posts... please use wine you like to drink!)

1 bunch brocollini (I hope I'm spelling this right... broccolini? I can never remember... I'll google it)

Salt and pepper



BTW... update re spelling of brocollini: I googled it and found a ton of supporting info for both spelling options. Damn. Guess I'll go with my way!



Do:

Cut the tofu block in half, cut one half in half lengthwise, lay it down and cut it lengthwise again. From there, cut your pieces in triangles. See picture:





Put pieces in marinating bowl with lid. Sprinkle fresh chopped herbs and olive oil, cover and let sit. Every few minutes or so, give it a little shake. Let marinate for as long as you want; overnight should you so choose. At least go for 20 to 30 minutes though.



When ready to cook, heat a pan with some oil; go for medium high heat and adjust as needed. Lay your tofu pieces flat on the pan and let sautee for quite a while. Remember, you can't really 'burn' tofu; I suppose you could but don't worry about letting it go, you want to form a crust. After about 5 to 8 minutes on one side, flip and do the same for the other side. After that, if you are so inclined, you can pan fry the little sides too. It doesn't take much longer and looks good.





While your tofu is cooking, heat a little oil in another pan and sautee the garlic greens for about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sliced shitakes and sautee for another 2 minutes. At that point, when the shitakes are nice and soft, add the white wine and let simmer so it reduces down. Let it go for about 5 minutes. Note: if you want more of a 'sauce' you can add more white wine.





About 5 minutes before you're going to serve, add the brocollini to the shitake sauce mix and cover with a lid. This will lightly steam the brocollini. Salt and pepper a bit before you cover for the steam action.



Serve:

On a plate pile your 'carb' in the center; as I said, I used the delicious pasta I made fresh. This is highly recommended!!







On top of the pasta or other carb, put some of the shitake sauce combination. Top that with your pan fried tofu and pile some brocollini on the side. It's a lovely dish with the green of the brocollini and the green of the fresh herbs on the tofu.





I don't salt and pepper for my family or guests but I do offer the option on the table. Let people make their own decision :)



Enjoy!
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-13117221-1");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}