Tofu “Chicken” Fingers

I hate when I forget where I put things.  Like this recipe.

I randomly decided one day to make tofu chicken fingers.  No idea why, since I never really liked the actual chicken fingers from…well, anyplace. So I grabbed a few ingredients, threw them together, wrote it down and ended up with the most awesome chicken fingers ever.  Really. I actually had a friend come over to confirm it, and she agreed that they were awesome.  😁

Since I like to make recipes multiple times before I publish them and unleash them on the unsuspecting public, I decided about a week later to give them another go.  And I couldn’t find the recipe to save my life.  It had vanished. It was not in my notebook, not in my completed recipe file, not on the counter, floor, in the cabinet, under the cabinet, over the cabinet, pantry, closet, hallway, couch cushions or dogs bed.  It had disappeared more completely than the dog when she hears a certain four-letter word: B-A-T-H.

Sadly, this is not the first thing to have vanished in our own personal Bermuda Triangle.

Sometimes though, it’s just a matter of knowing where to look. For example, in this house, (call me crazy) I generally keep things like milk in the fridge, so when someone is standing in front of the open fridge demanding to know why we don’t have any milk and I explain that we do ( 16 or 30 times), and someone still can’t find it, it means that they are just not looking in the right place.  Like the middle shelf.  Right at eye level.  In a large container that says “MILK”.

Other times, things end up someplace even Sherlock Holmes and a team of bloodhounds couldn’t find.

I once lost a piece of jewelry that I had packed to take on a trip back to where we both grew up.  We got there; no ring.  I tore the luggage apart, searched every pocket of every item of clothing, dumped my purse, ripped through out toiletry kits, and was contemplating calling the airlines to complain, but then Tim reminded me that we had driven, so I decided against that plan.

The ring was gone.  I had to believe it had run away, maybe found a new family, changed its identity and was now a bracelet, maybe entered the witness protection program.

When we got back home, I repeated the whole process, but the darn ring was still missing.

Months went by, and one day, I was rummaging around in a box that I kept waaaaaay back in the far corners of the closet which held mementos of our life.  I spotted a small box where I had put the cork from the bottle of champagne we had the night we got engaged.

”Remember this?” I asked Tim, whipping off the lid and thrusting the box under his nose.

”Yeah, I do.  Isn’t that the ring you lost?”

Sure enough, there it was.  To this day, I have no idea how that ring ended up in that box.  I suspect foul play, and a conspiracy of some kind.

And, while I still haven’t found the original tofu recipe (the lead suspect in the disappearance is Tim, although he is a bit too obvious since he clamps his lips shut at the mere mention of tofu like a toddler faced with spinach for the first time), I’ve managed to recreate it after eating enough tofu to sink a battleship.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of extra firm tofu
• 1 batch of my onion, garlic marinade
• 2 cups of Follow your Heart Parmesan ( if you have another favorite kind, you can try it, but I can’t guarantee it will work the same way)
• 2 slices of bread ( I use Ezekiel bread which has a lot of texture.  If you go with a whole wheat or panel, it will work, but it will be a different texture than what I got.  Whole wheat will definitely give you less of a texture and taste)
• 1  1/2 Tablespoons Italian seasonings ( dried)

Directions:

1. Press the water out of the tofu.  This takes about half an hour.
2. While the tofu is draining, make the marinade. You can also toast the bread as well and then put it into a blender to make breadcrumbs.  I mix it with the cheese and seasonings and put it in a container in the fridge till I am ready to use it.
3. When the tofu is drained, cut it across the short end into approximately 1/4” slices, then cut the slices in half lengthwise to look like chicken fingers.
4. Put the slices in an airtight container with the marinade, making sure you get the marinade between the layers, and refrigerate overnight.
5. When you are ready to cook the tofu, heat the oven to 400.
6. Pour the breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture onto a plate, and one at a time, remove the tofu slices from the marinade and press them into the crumb mixture, coating both sides.  Place them on a nonstick (or use a silpat) pan and bake them for 20 minutes,  turn them over and continue baking for 15-20 minutes till they are crispy and browned.
7. Serve with a honey mustard dipping sauce, ketchup, marinara, or just eat them plain.

Enjoy!