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News and Views:
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Making Tofu Taste Good
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Tofu is one of those foods that I believe I should like, but usually don't. I buy it, and then don't cook it. I've probably thrown away more than I've eaten. Recently a recipe in The New York Times offered a small epiphany about tofu. The author, Jack Bishop, admitted that most of the time tofu didn't seem to be worth the bother. He advised treating it the way one would a chicken cutlet or a fish fillet: slice it, pan-fry it, and sauce it or glaze it. Golden brown slices of fried tofu will soak up flavors without losing their crisp exterior or compromising their high-protein, low-fat virtues. You can serve it with rice and vegetables, or roll it up in a tortilla, or get creative. Here is the recipe that was my tofu enlightenment:
Pan-Glazed Tofu with Thai Red Curry Sauce:
1 one-pound package firm or extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon peanut oil
minced cilantro for garnish
Cut tofu into 8 slices, each 1/2" thick. Blot dry between layers of paper towels. In a small bowl, combine coconut milk, chicken stock, fish sauce, lime juice, curry paste, and sugar, and set aside. Heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet until shimmering; add tofu and cook over medium heat until golden brown (about 6 minutes); turn and cook other side (about 5 minutes). Add sauce mixture to pan and simmer, turning tofu once, until liquid reduces and tofu is glazed, about 2 minutes. Place tofu slices on a serving plate and pour pan juices over the slices. Garnish with cilantro and serve. Makes 3 to 4 servings.
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Nifty!
The pizza slides
obediently over
its cornmeal
ball-bearings onto
the hot stone
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It all started with homemade pizza. We have a pizza stone (excellent for creating a good crust) but have always improvised when it came to sliding the raw pizza onto the ultra-hot stone in the preheated (450° F) oven. We'd assemble the pizza on our largest wooden cutting board atop copious amounts of cornmeal and hope we could coax it to slide onto the stone. This took the best efforts of at least two people, and on more than one occasion we suffered minor burns and our pizza suffered major pleating and folding. 
Then we had supper with friends who own a pizza peel, like a big flat snow shovel made of wood. Nifty! The pizza slides obediently over its cornmeal ball-bearings onto the hot stone with just a flick of one person's wrist.
We checked at the local kitchen store for a pizza peel and could find only a small and very expensive ($35) model. So we went to www.bigtray.com, searched for "pizza peel," and now our lives are sublime. We chose one ($18) with a short handle and a size to match our pizza stone. Anyone with a real pizza oven on premises can get a long-handled peel, and even a peel rack to store it on. Of course, Bigtray has many other temptations too. Even though it is designed for commercial buyers, Bigtray will take your money and be cheerful about it. Another otherwise good source for kitchen equipment, www.chefscatalog.com, has lots to offer, but no pizza peels, alas.
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Do Spring Tonics Really Work?
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What is your
"spring tonic"?
What do you like to eat to celebrate the start of spring?
Please send your
thoughts or recipes to:
springtonic@
digitalhearth.com.
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When I was growing up, my grandmother, who lived next door, always watched for the first dandelion greens in the yard and harvested them (tender leaves and the first tight buds) to cook with a hunk of salt pork or slab bacon and a dash of vinegar. She may not have known that dandelion greens are rich in vitamins and iron, but she knew they were good for us. She believed they stimulated our blood and gave us a boost.
A little later in the spring, she'd harvest the first stalks from her rhubarb patch and make sauce. Pie would come later; rhubarb sauce was the real spring tonic, made from the spring's first garden vegetable. Sweetened with sugar and laced with cinnamon, rhubarb sauce was as true a sign of spring around our house as the first robin.
Although our supermarkets today are filled with fresh produce year-round, we can still gather the first edible local crop dandelion greens, rhubarb, purslane, fiddlehead ferns, watercress, chives, or what have you - and eat it in celebration of the freshening of the season and of our own spirits. Do spring tonics work? You may as well ask, does spring "work"? Of course!
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Tomato Dreams Can Come True
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There is nothing like a cold, gray, sleety day spent in the company of a seed catalogue. All of those colored photos of lush red tomatoes make my mouth water and my brain spin with visions of this summer's garden. March is the perfect time to start tomatoes from seed in time for planting near the end of May. (In northern New England, gardening zones 4 and 5, Memorial Day is the traditional date for setting out tomato plants.)
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Here's what to do:
Count back about 7 weeks from the time you'd like to set out tomato plants; this will give you the date for starting your tomato seeds.
Acquire seeds from your local garden store, or order online from any of the multitude of seed houses, such as www.johnnyseeds.com, www.burpee.com, and www.parkseed.com, all personal favorites.
For what it's worth, if your goal is to have the very first tomatoes in your neighborhood, you will sacrifice flavor for speed. The first tomatoes are not usually the best tasting. For example, 'Celebrity' and 'Better Boy' (both from Burpee) mature a good 10 days later than some of the early varieties, but taste incomparably better. And the longer they remain on the vine, and the redder they get in the warmth of the sun, the better they will taste.
Do not set plants out until the soil temperature is 60°F or warmer. Use a thermometer, or (when no one is looking) plunk yourself down bare-bottomed to see if the soil feels comfortably warm. If it's comfortable for you, your tomatoes will love it too!
May all your tomato dreams come true.
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