The wrongness of yesterday

A list of wrong things:

1. Meredith Music Festival sold out the day before I get a bonus from work, and I discover there won't be a second release and scalpers are charging criminal amounts on ebay.
2. My exam timetable - two three-hour exams on consecutive days
3. The realisation that I am never going to be able to come up with a test to prevent child abuse cases slipping through the Family Court. A year's work resulting in . . . a discussion about the limits of rights theory. What a contribution.
4. Bali
5. Last night's dinner

Quasi-Schnitzels
A friend who has turned strict vegetarian after his stint at the Castlemaine Bacon Factory had come over to perv at the new printer. I had a block of tofu, a packet of soba noodles and some broccoli from the CERES market. I had been stuck with the tofu for a while, stirfrying being a bit of a non-event on our electric stove, but was stumped how to cook it. Solution: faux chicken schnitzels.

I cut the tofu into three slabs, and marinated it in the dregs of a bottle of mirin, soy sauce, the juice from two lemons, some minced garlic and a finely chopped chilli.  I left it there for about twenty minutes, then dredged it in polenta, and grilled it on the Beautiful Birthday Grillpan. 

Sounds good, you're thinking, but then the incredible wrongness of yesterday came into play.

I didn't put any oil on the pan for the first 'steak' - as with meat - but because there is no inherent fat in tofu, it caught and burnt really quickly. I didn't want to oil the tofu itself because all the polenta would fall off, so for the second steak I put a bit of oil on the pan. But it just smoked out the kitchen and burnt the second steak.

I then decided the pan must be too hot and adjusted the temperature, resulting in the third steak barely colouring at all.

In retrospect, they might have been better cooked in a normal frypan given the delicateness of tofu. Or maybe it would have worked on a stove that allows a spectrum of temperatures.

Or maybe I should have just retreated with Milo and sardines on toast and waited for the wrongness to pass.

Comments

[Rubydot]

Maybe try baking it? I know that sounds a bit weird but I've baked chicken schnitzel before and it's been fine - just watch the temperature and put a tin of water in there with the schnitzel so it doesn't dry out too much. Having said that, I have no idea what happens to tofu when you bake it.

[catonthebench]

Thanks rubydot. I don't think I will repeat the schnitzel experiment, but baking it it in foil with the marinade might be nice. I feel obliged to eat tofu, but am a bit flummoxed what to do with it other than stirfry or in miso soup.

[Rubydot]

I used to make blueberry muffins with tofu. They weren't too bad but a bit too self-righteously healthy. I have never really understood the point of tofu, though.

[catonthebench]

tofu? its cheap and lasts in the fridge for yonks.

did it make the muffins moist? I made polenta and blueberry muffins last weekend but they tasted like hockey pucks.