tofu, otherwise known as whale snot

A couple of months ago I mentioned that our family is meandering toward vegetarianism. Or not really vegetarianism, since we do eat meat, albeit rarely. Maybe it would be better to say "a more plant based diet".  Except with bacon. And by our family I mean Will and I because Evie doesn't eat meat really (except bacon) but she doesn't really eat plants either. And Briton IS NOT A VEGETARIAN, MOM. So, yeah. It's really just Will and I. Whatever.

It's going well, believe it or not. I don't really find myself missing meat. And when we do, we cook meat. And Briton has his ham and cheese sandwiches to fill his meat lover moments.  But we are eating less and less and are pretty happy with it. It's expanding all our horizons, and that's a good thing. The other day I made quiche with rainbow chard and Evie asked what "that stuff" was and I told her rainbow food. She only picked out the really obviously green pieces, so I count that as a win.

I also mentioned that I have been a vegetarian once before, and that I was, I freely admit, a terrible vegetarian. I didn't really know how to cook much at all and cooking vegetarian food mostly meant replacing all meat in recipes with TVP and eating a lot of pasta. Which wasn't hugely successful, but I tried. I was young and dumb and poor and the three cookbooks I owned weren't much help. Especially the one all about meals colonial Americans would have eaten which, as a history major, I found fascinating, but I've never cooked a single thing from it. This time around I've been experimenting with all sorts of things. Faro and barley and crazy cheeses and meals that wouldn't need meat anyway instead of meals where the meat is just missing. But I've been resolutely avoiding one thing, one very "vegetarian food" thing. Tofu.

The thing is, tofu and I have a long, sordid history. When I was a kid, probably around Evie's age, we learned about tofu at a health food demonstration at school, came home and asked my dad what it was.

He told me that the word tofu was Japanese for "whale snot."

So, yeah. Being one of those kids who believed pretty much everything her parents said. I didn't try the tofu the next time it came around.

In fifth grade we had another tofu demonstration (and now that I think about it, it's weird that in Northern Idaho we were discussing tofu in the 1980's, because I honestly don't remember having tortillas back then, and tortillas seem way more accessible that tofu) this time we made tofu lasagna and I came away with the impression that tofu (which I still semi-believed was actually whale snot) was good in lasagna because it just tasted like lasagna. And who doesn't like lasagna?

So most of my life, that's been tofu. Just whale snot that you add to things when you wont notice there is tofu in them. If you have to. Otherwise. Yuck.

Fast forward to this week. Will, wonderful guy that he is, bought me one of Heidi Swanson's cookbooks for Christmas because I mentioned at some point that I liked the recipes on her blog, and, after thumbing through, I decided to try a soba noodle dish with, gasp, tofu.

Naturally I didn't tell my family. Even after it was made and waiting in the fridge, I just told them dinner was in the fridge and left for a PTO meeting. I only told Will later that "that stuff in the noodles" was tofu. Because surprisingly, it was really good. Really good. Snack on it the next day good.

Amazingly, I've figured out how to make tofu not taste like whale snot.

This was not, clearly, my own discovery. I read through the recipe, which called for dry frying the tofu and then went in search of more info on dry frying and came across some ideas for dry frying and then marinataing thinly sliced tofu and man, seriously? Where has that been all my life. Not a hint of whale snot! Will loved it, Briton liked it and Evie ate more than two bites. Holy cow. I feel like a whole new world of food has opened up.

So now that I'm not steering clear of the whale snot, I'm curious, does anyone out there cook it in an interesting way that I should try?

halloumi and veg

Once upon a time, and I know I've told you this story before - but this time it has a different ending, I promise!- I was a vegetarian.

 

A terrible vegetarian, yes, the kind who ate a lot of TVP in things because I didn't know how to cook without meant so I just switched all meat for the tasteless little grains, but still, a vegetarian. And Will was not. Poor Will, I knew it was true love when a Texas boy who loved his steak and BBQ and potatoes cooked in pig fat could live with terrible vegetarian me. I was a (terrible) vegetarian through most of college, on through grad school and the first year of our marriage, sometimes to lesser degrees (I still ate meat on occasion) until about halfway though my pregnancy with Briton when, Phoebe-like I came home one day crying for ribs. CRYING for them. I think that, and not our wedding day or the births of our children, may have been the happiest day of Will's life. Seriously.

In the years since (10!) I've toyed with the idea of being a vegetarian again. Not specifically because I have problems with meat-I don't find it gross. But I do find the way most meat is produced to be gross - so I'd rather eat no meat, or less meat but good meat. However much I've thought about it, though,  it just hasn't always been in the cards, mostly because I've been married for 12 years to a committed carnivore.

So (and here comes the new ending) you'll imagine my shock when a few months ago, Will came home from work and said that he wanted to try being a vegetarian. Or more precisely, a sort of vegetarian. Like a - we can eat meat while we're out, but not really cook it at home - vegetarian.

I did a little dance, you guys. Right there in the kitchen.

This time around I'm trying to be a better sort-of-vegetarian cook. Trying to explore interesting foods that aren't missing meat because they don't need it.My favorite cookbook is River Cottage Veg, both for recipes and for philosophy. It's written by a self proclaimed meat lover and I like that his attitude is similar to mine.  Very occasionally I buy meat to cook, but generally only really good, local stuff. Like chicken sausage for cassoulet or the occasional package of bacon for breakfast. But mostly, we're vegetarian now.

Which brings us to dinner. And Halloumi. If you've never had Halloumi, run to your nearest specialty food store and pay whatever ridiculous amount they want for it, then come home and fry it up. Seriously. It's like the Nutella of cheese. So good, so weird, so addictive. My only complaint is that it comes in too small a package, and buying two would be so wrong. Both price wise and calorie wise.

I used to fry up Halloumi slices with red peppers and sausages, but this time I roasted up a bunch of veggies over the course of the afternoon. That sounds time consuming but it was more of a convenience thing. Will hates the smell of cooking Brussels sprouts so I always cook them while he's out. (I know, it's weird. He also dislikes onions and doesn't care for....garlic. I almost can't even say that without fainting) And I cooked the mushrooms on my handy dandy electric griddle (have I told you guys how much I love that thing? And my mom for buying it for me? Well, I do. And it's awesome for cooking mushrooms and Halloumi) And then the rest went in the oven closer to dinner, with the first cooked veg to be tossed in at the end. That way everything didn't smell like Brussels sprouts and it was all cooked and ready at dinner.

Yum. Really. YUM. Not pretty maybe. But definitely yummy. And who needs meat? Not with this. Crusty bread, yes. Red wine, of course. Meat? Eh, no thanks.

By the way. Meat boy is now ordering vegan sandwiches when he goes out to lunch at work. Which is really funny if you know the story of Will and the Vegan Muffin.

*And by the way, in case you are wondering, the kids are pretty much on board with this. Evelyn, although I didn't realize it until recently, is basically a natural vegetarian. The only meats she has ever eaten not under duress are chicken drumsticks and bacon. But she could do without just as happily. Even as a baby she wouldn't eat food with meat in it. Go figure. Briton misses his meat, hence the bacon for breakfast at times. But he get's meat in school where, as I've mentioned, they have an absolutely bad ass lunch program. He told me last night he was ok with us being vegetarian at home, but he was still going to eat meat if that was ok with us. Which it is.
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