A Confession and a Tofu Salad

I'm one of those cooks who does everything intuitively. Therefore it's kind of hard for me to try to put everything from a right-brained to a left-brained format and figure out proportions and everything. I think from now on I will just list all the ingredients and have anyone reading this just figure it out. Besides - I've been looking around and there are some WONDERFUL vegetarian recipe sites online where they are really good at talking about all that measuring stuff.

Anyway, here's today's recipe:

Tofu Salad

Ingredients:
Tofu
lettuce
fresh chopped garlic
fresh chopped bell pepper
raisins
olive oil
lemon juice
salt

enjoy

Spanish Tofu Scramble

I have no idea if they eat tofu scramble in Spain for real. I made up the title just like I made up the recipe. But I imagine that if they did take time off from the high-meat Spanish diet, come home from a bull fight and fancy a little T-scramble, that mine is the recipe they would reach for. I'm sorry if any of that sounded racist. It certainly wasn't intentional. I just have this real big problem with bull fighting. And the Spanish Inquisition. But apart from that, let me go on record as saying that all the Spaniards I have met have been charming and lovely and alarmingly good looking. Now on to the recipe:

Here are the things you will need to make this for two people. If you want to make it for four, just double everything. I can't believe I'm telling you that. It should be obvious:

1 pkg. firm tofu, chopped up and crushed with a fork
1 large Bell pepper (a.k.a. "Capsicum") chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 chili pepper (if you're good with hot things - otherwise leave this bit out)
1 large spoonful sesame seeds
1 vegetable boullion cube, disolved in 1/2 a cup of hot water
1 large spoonful olive oil
1/2 teaspoon tumeric (this will make everything yellow and appealing and apparently is also good for you)

Set the stovetop on medium-high. Place frying pan on said stovetop (very important step). Chuck in the olive oil, crushed tofu and chopped onion. Stir it all around as it cooks until the onion bits seem to soften a bit, then add the chopped bell pepper and garlic (and chili pepper if you're going that direction). Keep stirring everything around until you start to see some browning sort of around the edges. At this point, add the sesame seeds. As soon as you notice the slightest bit of browning in the seeds, add the bouillion water and the tumeric. Keep stiring this occasionally until the moisture cooks out. Serve over buttered toast. Mmmmmm!!!

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Did you know that "normal" French Onion Soup is made with beef stock? Isn't that gross? Just think of all those people thinking they're ordering vegetarian when really they're getting murdered cow. Yeeeeuch!.....OK. Try to get that image out of your head (sorry - I really shouldn't have said anything), and now on with the recipe:

Stuff you will need:

10 small/medium onions, very thinly sliced

About 5 tablespoons olive oil (you can reduce this a bit if you're freaked out about the oil, but really try not to, as it really is a key ingredient. Also it lowers cholesterol. It's good for you. Stop complaining.

2-4 (depending on your sense of adventure) large cloves of garlic, chopped.

About 1 tablespoon of chopped hot chili pepper. Red is best because it looks nicest. Must be fresh. Use less if you're a little wimpy. But don't leave it out. It's important.

1 1/2 cups red wine (don't worry - the alcohol completely cooks out).

2 vegetable bullion cubes.

If you want to be fancy you can add bread and cheese to the top later.





Put the onions and olive oil in a pot, crank the heat to medium high, and stir as you cook it. Keep frying the onions until they are smooshy and everything starts to go a pale brownish color. At this point, add the garlic and the chili peppers and keep stirring it around. Also while you're doing this, be boiling water.

When slight bits of the onions start going darkish brown, pour in roughly 6-8 cups boiling water (depending on the size of your pot), add the red wine and boullion cubes, and when it comes back to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let the whole thing simmer like this for an hour. Yeah, you heard me. And preferably, after the hour, it's good to take it off the heat, still covered and let it just sit there for another hour or so, then bring it to a boil real quick again when want to serve it.

The way to do the fancy bread and cheese thing is to put a chunk of bread in the top with shredded cheese on top of that, in a ceramic serving bowl, and put that under a grill until it gets all melty-crusty. Make sure to tell your guests not ot touch the bowl as it will be very hot. Of course if your guests are anything like me, the fact that you've just said not to touch the bowl will guarantee that they will. That's their problem. As long as there were witnesses who heard you give the warning, you're probably OK from a legal standpoint.

Enjoy!