Parmesan Crusted Garlic Tofu

Typical conversation when Tim is home for dinner, held at about 7 am:

Me: So what do you feel like tonight?

Tim: I don’t care.

Me: Okay, so I’m making tofu.

Tim: Okay, so I’m eating out.

Me: Then what do you want?

Tim: I”ll just have pasta.

Me: You had pasta last night.

Tim: It’s what I like. You know I could eat Italian every night.

Me: So I’lll make Italian tofu

Tim: So I’ll still be eating out.

Me: Sigh

So if your mind is not as closed as some people’s…maybe you’d like to try my Italian inspired tofu.

Ingredients:

• 1 block of extra firm tofu
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 head roasted garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• cornmeal
• vegan parmesan (or nutritional yeast)

Directions:

1. Drain the tofu and press out the extra water (either with a tofu press or you can just use paper towels a clean dish towel and place a heavy pan or pot on top for about a half hour, but make sure you don’t crack it.)
2. While the tofu is draining, puree the vinegar, oil, garlic and salt.  Put it in a fairly flat container that has a lid (I used a glass baking dish)
3. Cut the tofu into approximately 1/4 inch slices across the short end.  I got about 14 slices.  Put them into the garlic marinade and let sit for at least 1/2 and hour, longer is better.
4. When you are ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400.
5. On a plate or shallow dish, combine the cornmeal and parmesan (I used approximately 1/2 cup cornmeal and 1/4 cup of the parmesan, but you can adjust the parmesan to your own taste.)
6. Remove the pieces of tofu from the marinade and gently push off any extra marinade so only a thin coat remains.  Place the tofu into the cornmeal mixture, gently pressing to coat, then turn it over and coat the other side.  You just want a consistent coating, not super thick, but enough to stick and cover the tofu.  Place each piece on a baking sheet (no need to line or oil the sheet, I’ve never had the tofu stick) as you complete it.
7. When all the tofu is coated, put the pan into the oven for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, use a spatula to flip the tofu and bake another 15 minutes.  It will brown on the bottom, so don’t worry after the first 15 minutes when you look at it that the top isn’t browned.
8. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.  I recommend serving it with a marinara sauce or my basil cashew cream sauce.

Enjoy!