Creamy Lemon Vegetable Soup with Rice and Tofu

As many people have been doing over the past year (?) or more, we have been having family game nights.  Typically, we play cards, but every once in a while we break out a board game.

Over Christmas, we were feeling nostalgic, and took out Clue, which we have not played in a loooong time. It wasn’t until we were well into the second game that I remembered why we hadn’t played in so long.

First of all, people take the game very seriously.  Like as though it was an actual murder and the outcome of world peace hinged on them solving it. Everyone thinks they are Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew and Encylopedia Brown all rolled into one…only smarter.  There is a lot of eye rolling when someone chooses to enter the same room or chooses the same weapon more than the acceptable number of times. People grudgingly show their cards as though they were giving you the secret code to Fort Knox, and even then only allow a fraction of a second to look.  I’ve seen slight of hand magic tricks performed more slowly and with greater transparency.

But the best is when you have someone who thinks they have really nailed down at least part of the solution and they are very insistent on finding the final piece of the puzzle….and everyone else knows they are dead wrong.

Such was the case when someone  thought he had the room locked down.  Every single turn was the same: In the Kitchen, Professor Plum with the knife.  In the kitchen, Colonel Mustard with the rope. In the kitchen…….

And every single time, he was wrong.  And everyone else at the table knew it.  Because the person sitting immediately to his right had the card for the kitchen, which everyone  else at the table had already seen.  And this is where we all switched from being Holmes to being Moriarty. Every time he started with: In the kitchen, we all rubbed our hands together gleefully and chuckled our most evil mwahahahahahaha, which only made him all the more insistent (and loud) that the murder had taken place In. The. Kitchen.

It got to the point that as soon as he rolled the dice, everyone yelled: In the kitchen!  Which sort of had the same effect as guessing Rumplestiltskin’s true name. Let’s just say there were a lot of theatrics involved.  And maybe a bit of name calling.  Perhaps a few threats of bodily harm and dismemberment.

When the final puzzle was eventually solved (not in the kitchen), the game was packed away for another decade or so until the memory fades a bit.  Maybe we should just stick to Life. Or Go Fish.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. extra firm tofu, pressed and cut into medium dice
• Juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 small onion
• 2 stalks of celery
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups mixed chopped veggies: carrots, cauliflower, broccoli
• 4 cups vegetable broth (homemade or boxed, low-sodium)
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1  1/2 cups cooked brown rice

Directions:

1. Combine (puree) the zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1 lemon, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup vegetable broth and 2 Tablespoons oil.  Marinate the tofu in this mixture overnight for best results or at least an hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the tofu on a lined sheet for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. (You can bake it longer if you want it crispier).
3. Meanwhile, pulse the onion, celery and garlic in a processor till finely diced (you can chop it instead, but try to get it really fine).  Saute it in 1/4 cup of water till soft, about 5 minutes).
4. Add the carrots, broccoli and cauliflower and 4 cups of broth.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer about 30 minutes till vegetables are tender. **see note
5. Puree the vegetable mixture till smooth and creamy, then add rice, tofu, zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1 lemon, turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Enjoy!

** For a quicker version, process the vegetables with the onions, celery and garlic to cook, then add the broth when they are tender. Heat, then puree and add the rest of the ingredients as called for in the recipe.