FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Hipper, Hotter Artichoke

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I’ve been off the blogging rocker for the past couple days.  Yesterday I showed up at Cassis in St. Pete to meet up with Greg & Grant of SippitySup and Gina of Zest Foodie and her husband with a dead camera.  So you are correct in assuming that I have zero documentation of meeting one of my very first blog crushes.  I’m still kicking myself in the toosh.

And tonight as I sat down to eat a whole choke, I realized that I didn’t have any pictures to document this meal either.  I was so focused on footage for the next FoodFash Mash…

Luckily you can take screen captures of videos in Picasa.

Fuzzy, non-DSLR screen captures.

FoodFash’s Hipper, Hotter Artichokes

1 Large Artichoke, Trimmed

2 TBSP Earth Balance

3 Cloves Garlic, Crushed

2 TBSP Lemon Juice

1/2 TBSP Red Pepper Flakes

Salt To Taste

Boil the artichoke for 30 minutes or until you can easily pull a leaf from the stem. While the artichoke is cooling, simmer Earth Balance and garlic until the garlic is slightly browned.  Mix in the lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and salt.  Peel the leaves from the stem, toss the leaves in the Earth Balance mix, and enjoy!

Im-Pressed

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Clearly, I didn’t win the tofu press.  But I have fallen in loves with pressing tofu, so heavy cookbooks and sopping paper towels will have to do for now.

I left the tofu under the massive stack of books for a little over four hours and then sliced it into crouton-esque squares.

I adapted my croutons from this recipe.  I didn’t have corn meal or Italian seasoning on hand so I blended together a few things from my herb shelf.

FoodFash’s Modified Tofu Croutons

1 TSP Basil Leaves

1 TSP Rosemary

1 TSP Garlic Salt

1 TSP Oregano

2 TSP Olive Oil

12ish Ounces of Extra Firm Tofu, Pressed

Put all of the ingredients into a container with a lid and shake until all sides of the tofu are evenly coated.  Some of the tofu squares may stick together, so you may have to manually separate to coat all sides of the tofu.  Place on a greased cookie sheet and set on the top rack of a pre-heated 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

You could hear the tofu “screaming” in the oven as the moisture was escaping.  They also popped around the cookie sheet like little jumping beans and shriveled up quite a bit.  I would have never guessed tofu to be so crispy.  Random details aside, they were awesome.    And if you read yesterday’s post, you know these croutons were so awesome that I ate every last square and they never made it atop a salad!

White Wine-O

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Since discovering how easy it is to make marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes, that’s what I do!  Well, as often as I remember that’s what I do.

It’s always olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and basil.  However, I never use the same proportions, because what I also can’t remember to do is write this stuff down.

Well, tonight I made a mental note to make a mental note of proportions.

And I changed it up a bit!

FoodFash Marinara

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

5 Cloves of Garlic, Crushed

4 Vine Tomatoes, Chopped

1/4 Cup White Wine (perhaps leftovers from a meal gone wrong?)

Lots of Fresh Basil, Chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat and add the crushed garlic.  Just as the garlic starts to brown, add the tomatoes.  Increase heat to medium high and let the tomatoes cook down for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add the white wine and cook at medium high for another 10 minutes, again stirring often.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook until tomatoes are mush.  Add basil, stir, remove from heat, and serve!

Do you think it’s a coincidence that I stumbled upon a kick butt sauce creation and a newfound appreciation of freezing in the same week??