Dinner Plate #83
Now we're getting somewhere! (Or at least I got somewhere on one day. Let's not overpromise things to ourselves.) Here we have mashed potatoes, baked crispy tofu (recipe from Eat Plant-Based), roasted frozen cauliflower (recipe from The Full Helping), and garlic-sauteed baby kale.
I'd never tried baby kale before; it tastes of kale, unsurprisingly. I'm glad I tried it!
Although Wegmans was out of tofu, I did have one block I'd nearly forgotten in my freezer, which was perfect for this. The recipe has pros and cons. It's oil free, which in this economy is a welcome relief, and it tasted amazing. However, the breading did stick to the parchment paper I baked it on, so this is less coated than topped, I guess. And the gravy just wasn't right. It wasn't awful, but I found I preferred the leftovers of this without gravy.
Summer is coming and I'll be roasting fewer veggies in the oven, but I loved this cauliflower, and I'm very likely to make it again in winter!
The kale and mashed potatoes were both good; I have little to say about that. Who doesn't love a mashed potato, really?
A few comments:
ReplyDelete1) Mashed potatoes are No. 1 on the comfort foods list, imho (e.g. I could eat a meal of mashed potatoes and some petits pois and be very content).
2) Roasting frozen veg: yes. And if a tasty sauce can accompany, all the better.
3) Baby kale: Interesting you should mention baby kale, which has become a fairly recent fav. I use it when making this favorite vegan lasagne, in place of spinach: https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/03/my-favorite-lasagna.html; use it to make delicious pesto which I use as the 'sauce' on ww or spelt flour pizza; in place of swiss chard in this fav from NYT: Valencian Chickpea Soup https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014284-valencian-chickpea-and-chard-soup; used in Mexican fare, such as quesadillas, tacos, burritos (shredded and mixed with other greens, as it's more tender, and mild tasting, in raw form than regular kale). Will experiment with it in Asian dishes. Finally, I love to shred it and do a quick stir-fry with garlic, lemon zest, a little chili powder or flakes or sambal, and toss ww angel hair with it; delish, easy weeknight fav.
4) Mention of less oven use as hot weather approaches reminds me to take the small air fryer I bought two years ago and sits, unopened, in the garage, out of its box and use it!
Mashed potatoes are amazing! I may try more baby kale. It did have a more tender texture.
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