Roasted tofu and vegetables
From what I can tell of the people who read this blog and give me their feedback, you all vastly prefer cookie / baked goods recipes to healthy vegetarian ones. Apologies, but I must hold my ground and post this delightfully healthy recipe because I need the motivation to be healthy amongst all the massive amounts of travel / eating out / holiday partying that is ongoing and will continue for me the next several weeks.
I really like this recipe because it’s quite simple but roasted vegetables are amazing at any time of year, and I actually began a minor love affair with parsnips as a result of this recipe. I’ve always been very wary of them because they just seem like inferior carrots, but when they are roasted, they become slightly sweet in the most amazing way, and they make a terrific contrast to the other veggies in this recipe. So I highly recommend this combination of veggies that I”ve listed below, but feel free to sub in your own. And if you don’t like tofu, just leave it out and serve this alongside your favourite meat. But I really did like baking the tofu and just doing everything in the oven because after the prep work, there was essentially no work involved in this recipe at all other than waiting for it to be done and enjoying the smell of roasted veggies cooking…
Roasted tofu and vegetables (adapted from Steamy Kitchen)
Ingredients
1/2 head broccoli
1/2 head cauliflower
3 large carrots, cut in chunks
3 parsnips, cut in chunks
1/2 pound brussels sprouts
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 200 C /400F.
Drain the tofu and pat very dry with a paper towel to absorb as much moisture as possible. Cut tofu into cubes. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon olive oil on a baking sheet, carefully add in the tofu and shake the baking sheet a bit to coat the tofu. Go ahead and begin roasting the tofu while you work on the vegetables.
Cut all your vegetables up, place them on a sheet coated with non stick spray, and put into the oven. I had to do mine in batches since I had three sheets of veggies and one of tofu. When I roast veggies I typically just like to spray the pan with non-stick spray rather than coating them in olive oil first, and then I put everything in a bowl and coat with olive oil at the end. Totally up to your personal preference.
As I’ve mentioned several times on this blog I”m sure, roasting times can vary greatly depending on the oven and the type of veggies. My carrots and parsnips sheet probably took about 30 minutes, but in my weird convection oven, broccoli and cauliflower can sometimes take as little as 15. So keep an eye on them! About 15 minutes into the tofu time, take out the sheet and flip each piece over so all the pieces can be browned evenly.
As things get done, dump them in a large bowl – here is where I like to coat lightly with olive oil if you haven’t already done so. Season everything with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. This tastes great served right away or store in the fridge and heat it up for lunch leftovers throughout the week!
Broccoli and cauliflower ready to go in
Unbaked tofu in the pan…
And nicely browned
Asparagus and brussels ready to roast in the oven…not pictured (naturally I forgot) is another big sheet where I roasted parnsips, carrots, and eggplant
Dumping the roasted veggies in a big bowl
Now fully complete with the addition of the other green veggies and the cooked tofu
This dish is really incredibly simple but I loved it. Since I typically cook tofu in a pan, baking it in an oven was a fairly new experience for me and I really liked the way it cooked evenly and got a bit crunchy on the outside. I know tofu can be really boring and bland but I didn’t find it to be that way when mixed with all the flavours and textures from the variety of vegetables. I wish I could make this right now as I am definitely in need of more healthy food these days…
One year ago: Chocolate chip cookie dough truffles (yum) and sauteed spinach and sweet potatoes (on the nice side of the spectrum)
merrifood 