c-c-c-cold! May 11, 2009

who hates this icy cold weather? me, that’s who!

these wintery mornings are contributing to an extra sluggishness at the start of my days. the remedy? cooked breakfasts of course! i’m not afraid of hectic savory flavours in the morning – most notably garlic and shallots. delish i say!

cold morning cook-up up

ingredients:

• splash of olive oil (or melted nuttlex)
• two shallots, sliced (spring onions are good too, or you can use regular brown onions)
• as much garlic as you can handle, diced
• handful of mushrooms, sliced (the more the better!)
• sliced firm tofu (aka stir fry tofu), approx 1cm thick – i like two slices
• corn bread (that’s a recipe for another day!)*
• sprinkling of sweet red paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• avocado  (enough to spread – be generous)
• lemon / lime wedge (to serve)

tofu marinade:

• 2 tablespoons soy or tamari sauce
• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• one teaspoon powdered ginger

how to:

1. the night before, mix marinade ingredients in a bowl until combined. with a fork, stab the tofu slices a few times (this helps the marinade absorb into the middle of the tofu). place the tofu slices in the marinade and toss until marinade evenly distributed. cover the bowl and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. in the morning, heat oil (or nuttlex) in a reasonable sized fry pan, and saute shallots for a few minutes.
3. add the diced garlic and mushrooms. toss and saute for another couple of minutes.
4. stir through the paprika, and a dash of salt and pepper.
5. move this mixture to one side of the pan. place the pre-marinated tofu slices in the other pan. fry for 3 minutes, turning as required.
6. pour the remaining marinade mixture over the tofu. if some of this mixes with the mushroom mix, that’s ok! extra flavour!
7. take off the heat once most of the sauce has evaporated.
8. cut two slices of cornbread and heat (in the toaster or under the grill).
9. to serve: spread warm bread with a generous amount of avocado. plce tofu slices on the bead, and top with the mushroom and spring onion mix. serve with a slice of lemon or lime.

* you could use any sort of bread here really!

a note on avocados:

these things really are delicious! i read somewhere (sorry, no reference here at all!) that if you could only eat ONE thing to keep you alive, you could survive longest on either bananas or avocados. that’s fairly awesome. i would hazard a guess and suggest that this is due to the high fat content of avocados, and the potassium in bananas.

regardless, avocados are joyously creamy and a tasty addition to almost any meal!