Grilled and chilled jerk tofu with hearts of palm, mango and avocado salad

It’s become a joke in our house now that when I ask Matthew what he wants me to cook with the tofu in the fridge, he always responds with “Something from Horizons”. I do agree him that some of my favourite ways to eat tofu come from these books, so I went off searching for a different way to use it.

I don’t generally eat much cold food and I’ve made little from the salad sections of either book, but we’ve been having some hot days recently so I decided to try the grilled and chilled jerk tofu and the salad that came recommended as a side dish with it. I did alter the proportions of some of the salad ingredients just to fit in with what I had and I certainly used less mayo.

This was a perfect hot weather meal which I enjoyed far more than I expected. I served it alongside some plain rice, but one of the great things about being vegan is that you can reuse your marinades without fear of food contamination, so I drizzled the leftovers over the rice. The tofu itself was tangy and perfectly spiced and would be fantastic in a sandwich too.

Caribbean Caesar

 

 

 

We generally have a light starter before our Christmas meal, just something to keep the hunger pangs at bay while the roast potatoes cook, and to give us a chance to have a glass of something light and crisp alongside it. This version of a Caesar was very simple, and the picture makes it look dull, but it wasn’t. The dressing uses one of the trademark Horizons spice mixes, which give anything a zing. I tweaked the ingredients a touch just because the vegan mayonnaise and the dijon mustard we get here are a bit different to US brands. The optional plantain chips aren’t optional as far as I’m concerned; they added a great crunch and flavour.

Grilled Tofu Provencale

Another Horizons recipe, another new method of preparing tofu. This recipe marinades the tofu, then grills it, then it goes back in the fridge to cool and then gets reheated in the Provencale sauce just before serving. The sauce has wine, tomatoes, black olives, capers, thyme and mustard, and is seriously delicious.

I served it on a bed of cooked spinach with some baby potatoes. The recipe headnotes says it tastes better cold the next day. I find it hard to believe but next time I’ll make extra on purpose so I can try it!

Seitan Feijoada

I fancied making a thick hearty comforting stew and my first thought was the feijoada from Viva Vegan, which I’ve made several times. Then I remembered that there’s a feijoada recipe in Horizons that I haven’t tried before so I decided to try that version instead.

This one is different in that it uses seitan and one of the brilliant Horizons spice blends. The portions at Horizons must be massive as the recipe calls for 1lb of dried beans and 1lb of seitan for just 2 servings! I chopped it down a bit and used 8oz dried beans and 10oz of seitan and still got 4 servings. Unusually, the recipe uses the bean soaking liquid which gives the stew an extra dark colour and a thick rich earthy flavour.

I served the feijoada with 2 side dishes from Viva Vegan – the yellow rice with garlic and the braised Brazilian kale. They were perfect choices as they paired perfectly with the dark spicy stew. We drank a big Portuguese wine with it and it was a wonderful match to a great dinner.

Korean Grilled Tofu Steak

Tami has already reviewed this one and I’ve made it before we started this blog, but it was so good I couldn’t resist making it again. I’d managed to get hold of some fresh tofu, and when I do that my first instinct is always to look at the Horizons books, because they do tofu so well. This spicy sauce, made with Gochujang Korean chilli paste, is perfect with the  tofu.

I served it some sesame seed rice, and stir fried morning glory or water spinach, which I picked up when I got the tofu. It was an amazingly tasty dish.

 

I also got some morning glory or Chinese water spinach

Baby Spinach Salad with Fresh Mushrooms, Vegetarian Bacon and Horseradish Roasted Onion Vinaigrette

As written, this salad is very quick to put together. Rich gives suggestions for possibly adding radicchio (didn’t have any) and croutons. To keep with the roasted theme of the dressing, I roasted some quartered tomatoes to add the color the radicchio would have had. And croutons as an option? More like a necessity. We love croutons and eat them almost like popcorn when we’re waiting for the meal. Not a good habit, but a very tasty one. I used sourdough for the croutons and made them my favorite way: on the stove. I like them rustic and the cast-iron imparts a little added flavor.

I wasn’t crazy about this dressing. It was on the sweet side for me. I liked it, but it wasn’t the best dressing ever. Jim, who is far less receptive to salads, and even hates creamy dressings, actually loved it. I used the full amount of water and reduced the oil to 3 tablespoons. I think if I were to make it again, I’d add some vinegar. But the horseradish and mustard flavors are wonderful with the spinach and mushrooms. After I finished, I thought that some vegan blue cheese might have been a great addition. Next time!

Chickpea Tuna Salad

I’ve made quite a few vegan versions of tuna salad now, but this one was probably published first out of the ones I’ve tried. It’s very straightforward, based on chickpeas, and uses Old Bay seasoning to give it some oomph. I am a huge fan of Old Bay so I was always going to like this a lot. I’ve made this a couple of times now on Sundays and used it for lunches during the week. The version above is grilled in a sandwich with tomato, but I’ve also had it cold in pitta bread and in little lettuce cups as salad. My type of salad!

Yucatan Grilled Tofu with Green Sauce

If I had a pound for every time I’ve praised the spice blends in the Horizons books, I’d be able to fly to Philadelphia with the money AND eat at Vedge. This recipe is going to add another pound into the pot, because the tofu is coated with the Cajun spice blend mixed with oil and soy sauce, then grilled.

I wasn’t quite so sure about the sauce, but I don’t know whether it tasted how it was supposed to or whether I got some of the ingredient quantities wrong. I never like to see ingredient quantities defined as “bunch”, because bunches differ so wildly, so I wasn’t sure how much coriander was supposed to go in. The sauce was a bit bitter, probably from the green pepper. I kept on adding more sugar, then more salt, then more lime. In the end I did like the sauce; the flavours grew on me as I was eating it, and it went well with the tofu. I was also surprised at how creamy it was for something that didn’t have anything creamy in it at all!

Jamaican Mango Jerk Seitan Tips

We had these as part of an appetizer dinner, something I love to do and should do more often. It’s so much fun to “graze” at a meal, munching a bit of this and a bit of that. The other dishes were the Roasted Red Peppers with Onions, Olives, and Capers (previously reviewed) and a fantastic bruschetta made with heirloom red and green tomatoes.

For the tips, the recipe is written for 12 ounces of seitan and says some sauce will be left over. I used 9 ounces and made a half batch of sauce and still had a couple of tablespoons. I omitted the agave. Although jerk can have a slightly sweet edge to it traditionally, I knew we’d prefer it without. Next time, I’ll add a little cayenne because we like things spicy. But overall the sauce was fantastic. It had a great depth of flavor and was perfect with the seitan. Another time, I’m going to make the sauce and cut the seitan into strips for a sandwich.

Next time you’re entertaining, add these to the appetizer menu. This is the kind of food that can start the vegan conversation with omnis.

Roasted Peppers with Carmelized Onions, Olives, and Capers

Such a pretty dish! We eat with our eyes first, and this one makes you want to dive in. I have to admit that I planned to make these for about 2 months. Jim loves roasted peppers, and I was sure this would be a huge hit with him. I’m afraid I over-hyped in my head: it turns out we only liked it, didn’t love it. I can’t put my finger on what didn’t work for us so my only conclusion is that it was my own doing.

Roasting your own peppers is never time wasted, and I loved that the onions are cooked in the oven right after the peppers. The onions call for more olive oil than I used. For the “exotic” olives, we went with oil-cured black which had a nice tang against the pepper. The recipe calls for 6 peppers and says it serves 2 to 4. My 2 peppers were on the large size and could have served 4 people, so keep that in mind when preparing this one. I couldn’t resist drizzling a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar on the plates, just because I have some “good” stuff that I rarely use. The French bread for serving is a necessity.

It would make a good appetizer for a fancy meal as it can be prepared ahead of time. Or this and the White Bean Provençal Soup would be a lovely lunch menu.