v:gourmet

About 25 years ago Andrew and I ate dinner at my aunt and uncle’s place and my aunt, Marianna, served grilled salmon in a red pepper sauce surrounded by spinach. The memory came back to me the other day; I have no idea why. Odd how the brain works. Maybe a smell? A distant association? Some trigger that jogged the old synapses? Whatever the case, I’m glad it did because, in this revised and veganized version, I’ve  found a tasty, beautiful dish that is savoury, sweet, and satisfying. I’m thinking it would be great for a dinner party, not just because it looks so pretty, but because you could easily give people the option of replacing the tofu for other grilled favourites like vegetables, chicken or fish. Of course I’ll take the tofu.

Tofu Marinade

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup dijon

1/4 c tomato or red pepper paste

2 tbsps maple syrup

2 tbsps minced garlic

1/2 tsp each dried thyme, marjoram, basil

sea salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Cut firm or extra firm tofu in slabs and place in a single layer in a dish. Add marinade making sure it surrounds the tofu on top, bottom and sides. Set aside or, preferably, refrigerate overnight.

Red Pepper Sauce

4 red peppers

8 shallots, de-skinned

8 cloves garlic, de-skinned

3 tbsps olive oil

1/4 veggie stock

sea salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash the peppers well and place on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Toss whole shallots and garlic cloves with olive oil and place in a small baking dish. Bake peppers, shallot, and garlic in the oven until roasted and well browned, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and place shallots and garlic in a blender. Place red peppers in a paper bag or bowl covered with a tea towel – this makes them sweat and allows the skins to slip off more easily. When cool enough to handle, peel off the skins. Slice the peppers open, pick out and discard all the seeds, then roughly chop the red flesh. Place red pepper flesh in the blender. Add veggie stock, salt and pepper to taste, and then blend until smooth.

Spinach

2 bunches of spinach

Clean the spinach well. Place in a steamer and steam over high heat for about 5 minutes until the spinach is wilted but still bright green.

Once you are ready to prepare the dish, grill the tofu on a BBQ over high heat. Place the wilted spinach on a plate. Gently place a piece or two of the grilled tofu ontop of the spinach. Add a healthy dose of the roasted red pepper sauce over the top. Sprinkle with a little freshly ground pepper. Eat. Enjoy.