Sequestration Meal #547

 

Eating seasonally has gotten me excited about the weirdest things. In March, one finally gets some new seasonal offerings to go with the staples of winter. Although spring is decidedly not here yet, these cool weather crops do offer the promise of more good stuff coming soon. And so, I present to you a meal that I really enjoyed, but that truly surprises me, because I really don't gravitate toward some of these things: Some baked marinated tofu, "honey"-glazed turnips and radishes (recipe veganized from Country Living), roasted brussels sprouts (recipe from Cooktoria), and some basic buttered noodles (recipe veganized from Cookery for 1 or 2 (1978)).

I riffed off a recipe from My Pure Plants for the tofu, but I just marinated it for several hours and left out the chili flakes (I wanted savory but not spicy), then baked it at 400 when I was roasting the brussels sprouts. It was delicious! 

I usually prepare brussels sprouts differently, but the sprouts they had at the market were huge and I knew they would do better halved and roasted than boiled and sauced. They turned out really well!

Although I was not really planning to make noodles, I got a little scared of the turnips and radishes, so I wanted something I knew I'd really love in case the veggies didn't turn out that well. I don't have much to say about them other than that I am so grateful that my beloved Light 'N Fluffy macaroni dumplings have returned, and thus I get to have dishes like this again.

Now, as for the recipe I built the meal around: It turns out this is a perfectly good way to eat these less-beloved vegetables! I think next time I'd cook them down a bit more before uncovering them, so they'd get a bit softer and more infused with the brothy, "honey" goodness, but I still enjoyed them, and I don't recall ever really enjoying turnips. You might ask me why, if I never liked turnips, I bought them; well, I don't think I've ever had turnips cooked from fresh. I have dim memories of eating bits of turnips mixed with greens in some sort of rewarmed frozen veggie I was served somewhere occasionally in childhood, but otherwise: People don't serve turnips, really.

There are things I like better, but this was really fun and I'd make it again. I think I'll try turnips other ways, too! If you want to veganize the recipe, here's the substitutions I made: 

For the broth, I just added more water and mixed some No Chicken Better than Bouillon in.

For the honey, I used an apple and lemon juice-based vegan honey I bought some time ago that I don't think I can ever find again. But you could also use agave easily, or maybe even maple syrup, if you don't have a source of vegan honey.

For the butter, I used vegan butter.

Also, this gave me an excuse to add to my herby houseplant collection. Although the aphids ate my thyme, the mint was still going strong, and I picked up a chives plant to give it a friend. So I had the fresh herbs needed in this recipe, and they were great! 

There may be a lot going wrong in the world and in my little corner of it these days, but spring does at least bring about the season where there is something new coming in all the time, some new seasonal option. And I'm looking forward to them all. Maybe I'll have artichokes and rutabagas next.