Over the last month, my husband and I have been caught up in what feels like the never-ending process of moving house. But after the stacks of boxes began to diminish, I was able to find a work-appropriate pair of shoes, and the cat came out from behind the dryer, we suddenly realized that it was still summer and we now have the ultimate cooking tool for summer: a deck with a bbq. Our past house had no outdoor space at all so grilling has become a huge novelty. Conveniently, Vegetarian Food for Friends has an entire section devoted to outdoor grills.
The marinated tofu recipe looked easy and cheap – perfect for this month. I easily mixed up the marinade sauce in the morning, it was a fragrant mixture that included a great deal of ginger and sesame – yum. The amount of spice is up to you and for me that means a new experience each time since I don’t tend to measure spice. This recipe called for serrano chile but I was lazy and just used red pepper flakes. The tofu was left marinating throughout the day. By the time I got home from work and grabbed the tofu from the fridge, the marinade has seeped into all pores of the tofu, turning it a rich dark colour. I grilled it on a medium-high bbq for about 5 minutes per side, and was finished. It was delicious. Even my dad, a self-professed tofu hater may have considered eating this meal.
To go along with the portobello mushrooms, I decided to keep with the grilling theme and do another simple recipe from the Outdoor Grills section at the same time. The arrival of asparagus signals the beginning of spring and in Vancouver, which is currently draped in pink and white cherry blossoms, it finally feels like spring. The flavour and appearance of this recipe masks it’s simplicity. You can easily impress people by serving food in season because the ingredients themselves are just asking to be eaten. The beauty of this recipe is you can substitute whatever vegetable happens to be in season and is suitable for grilling. Simply snap off the ends of each asparagus spear before marinating and tossing on the grill. The spear will break naturally where it should.
Both the mushrooms and the asparagus were delicious accompaniments to our main course – our after-work standby of veggie burgers! It was nice to have some elegant sides to an otherwise commonplace meal.
Having committed myself to cooking through this entire book without actually having tested any recipes, I felt a bit nervous about the first blog. I decided to go with some simple vegetables, both from the Outdoor Grills section of the book.
Since I don’t actually have any outdoor space in my house I’m improvising with my electric grill. The grill was a wedding present and when we opened it up my first thought was – great, a large item to take up space in the cupboards. I was seriously wrong. In the three years we’ve had the grill, it has consistently been one of our most used kitchen items. It has a flat side for items like pancakes and a ‘grill’ side. The grill side will serve as my pseudo bbq during this blog.
A very simple recipe, the first step is to marinate for about 30 minutes. The marinade ingredients are simple and you would likely have them on hand. I accidently bought fresh thyme instead of rosemary – I’m sure it will still taste great.
What exactly are portobello mushrooms? Are they exotic? These questions led me to a quick internet search, where I discovered that portobellos are actually just grown-up versions of simple brown crimini mushrooms. Most importantly, they taste good and provide an almost meaty texture.
After grilling the mushrooms had dense flavour and the experience of eating them was almost reminiscent of eating steak. And although Dave purports to hate mushrooms, he gobbled his up pretty quick.