Welcome to another edition of Meatless Mondays.
This week I finally got around to making a recipe that I have been wanting to try for awhile. I tore it out of Martha Stewart Living, and honestly, don’t remember which month/issue. The picture of the recipe was appealing, as was the sound of the ingredients. Honey, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil…all of my favorite flavors, what’s not to like right?
Wrong. I hate to say it, but it was a tasteless, watery dish. Don’t let the nicely browned tofu fool you, it was browned tofu with no flavor. It would have greatly benefited from marinating in the sauce that you make up to baste it with before baking. Then you pour the rest of the said sauce, over the noodles and cucumber ribbons. Well, that yields a watery sauce at the bottom of the bowl, and zero sauce really flavoring the noodles. Lackluster and bland, is really the only way I can sum it up.
I really don’t know where I went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly, only substituting regular spaghetti noodles when I realized we had already used up our udon noodles. I don’t think that would have been enough to ruin the dish? ??
All was not lost, we had a delicious Lemon Drop martini with our homemade limoncello. You see, Meatless Mondays, are occasionally also Martini Mondays! Weee!!! To find our recipe for the limoncello, go here. And how I make it into lemon drop martinis, see here.
Do you ever have high hopes for a recipe and it turns out to be a dud?
8 comments:
Darn. It really did look delicious from the picture. The same thing does happen to me and I always wonder if I should continue to eat it even if it's not satisfying or dump into the trash and cut my losses. I hate wasting food so it's always a dilemma for me.
I feel like most of the time when I make Tofu, it turns out bland and almost inedible. My boyfriend won't even touch the stuff so I just stopped making it. Maybe you can just use seafood instead?
It does look yummy, but too bad it didn't turn out. I like to use TJ's marinated tofu because it has great flavor and it's ready to go. Love lemon drop martinis and I didn't ever know you could make your own limoncello! Cool!
Tofu is sometimes hard to nail down. when all else fails in the kitchen, make a yummy drink!
I hate when things are tasteless. Did you end up salting it?
Yeah for limoncello!
Hi-
I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know how much we, at The Monday Campaigns, appreciate your weekly Meatless Monday posts (and beautiful food photography!) on Paws and Pours. As a wine and dog lover myself, I look forward to reading your posts and seeing your pictures.
I wanted to let you know that we featured Paws and Pours as one of our Featured Friends on this week’s Meatless Monday homepage. Check it out!
http://www.meatlessmonday.com
I also just wanted to let you know that I’ll be in touch within the next few days (probably Wednesday) regarding Meatless Monday’s new environmentally focused content, as we might be able to better coordinate our efforts. Would communicating via email be more convenient? What's the best email address to reach either of you? Mine is jlee@mondaycampaigns.org
Best,
Joey
Joey Lee
Executive Assistant
The Monday Campaigns
Martha Steward removed this from their website where I had it saved. Super bummed because it's sooooooooo gooooood!!! And now I can't find the recipe, so I'm winging it. If you still have it, can you post it? Clearly they gave it up to the public domain. Thanks!
Since Martha Stewart took it down and many may be looking for it like I am, let's see if we can recreate it here. I'm surprised you didn't like it. It's one of our favorite dishes so maybe I've been doing something different.
I don't recall how to make the marinade.
I think it was:
1 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoons soy sauce
and something else I can't remember. Was it safflower oil, orange juice?? :(
Cut up tofu in squares and dip in the sauce before baking. Same thing for the mushrooms. Back both till done.
***The recipe said to marinade and bake mushrooms with the tofu. We don't. We stirfry and season.
Dressing:
Remaining marinade
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
2 teaspoon safflower oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup orange juice
Since I don't have the recipe, I'm guessing on quantities. Adjust to taste.
I double this so I have a lot to pour on.
Arrange cooked udon noodles, tofu, steamed broccoli, julienned carrot, cilantro, sprouts, slivered cucumbers. Pour dressing on.
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