Whilst sitting in my cube at work yesterday, I was racking my brain trying to come up with something to make for Valentines Day for my significant other with peculiar eating habits. Luckily, the people I work with; besides being fantastic tech support dudes, are also amazing cooks for the most part. My one co-worker, Dennis, provided me with the following awesome idea for a salad to be used prior to a main course, or had alone as an entree:

Balsamic Tofu and Strawberry Salad with Mozzarella Cheese

Indredients:

• One package of Extra-Firm Tofu
• One head of Romaine lettuce
• One red onion
• Some Mozzarella Cheese (I cheated and just got a pre-grated package for time-saving purposes)
• One package of Strawberries
• One bottle of Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette (always had a soft spot for this)

Preparation:

1. Marinate one inch cubed tofu overnight in vinaigrette.
2. Dice up that red onion. (Cue “chopping the carrots” dance).
3. Grate Mozzarella Cheese (if you’re not lazy like I am).

Cooking:

After letting the tofu marinate overnight, sear the cubes on all four sides with some vinaigrette in pan (with lid on, its gonna get messy), on low heat for like a minute per side (shaking the pan as if you were some sort of culinary badass also helps). Once the tofu is sufficiently seared, set aside and get to work on quartering the strawberries, and cutting up that head of lettuce.

Servin’ dat shit:

1. Place lettuce in serving bowl.
2. Add tofu.
3. Sprinkle on some of that red onion.
4. Add the quartered strawberries.
5. Sprinkle on the grated mozzarella.
6. And for a fun effect, pour the left over hot balsamic juice (JUICE!) from tofu-searing over the top to help melt cheese.
7. And serve.

I haven’t made it yet, but when I do (ETA 5:30 PM), I’ll be sure to post pictures.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Bladow.

I meant to post this last night.  It’s relevant to the current discussions going on here about the state of food production/agriculture today.  I’m at work now so I really can’t go too into detail about the movie, but I highly recommend it to anyone who has read The Omnivore’s Dilemma (more as a supplementary piece).

I just read this NYT article about a 12 year old who wants to be a food critic:

Normally passionate for seafood, David ordered a specialty of the restaurant, a prosciutto, as well as what the menu called una insalata di rucola e parmigiano. “Good variety,” he wrote in the leather-bound notebook he brought along, restaurant-critic-like. “Softish jazz music. Seem to enjoy kids but not overly.” In other words, no cloying smiles or insulting offer of grilled cheese.

An Australian couple seated beside him struck up a conversation — he had no idea how much the financial collapse here was affecting the Australian dollar! — and a young couple on the other side of his table insisted, against his polite but firm protestations, on buying him a chocolate mousse. In turn, he recommended that they try the arugula salad.

Made me chuckle a few times.

Via NYTimes