Banishing Seitan

I know I post a lot of seitan-centric meals on this blog.  It's not that Andy and I worship seitan or anything - it's just that we always have some in the freezer, as it's a good way to use up okara, which we produce in droves from making soy milk.  But in reality, we also eat lots of non-gluten based proteins, like lots of beans, and sometimes tofu. 

As much as I love tofu, our consumption of the white block has dropped dramatically for a few reasons.  First of all, for a few years it was consistently marked down to ridiculously cheap prices at our local Cole's.  Like, every month we were able to purchase it for $5 a kilo, or often cheaper.  We tended to buy every tofu with a reduced sticker on the shelf, filling up our freezer for later consumption.  The only limit to our purchases was that we were usually on foot and literally couldn't carry any more home.  When Wesfarmer's bought out Cole's, they must have put in some efficiency measures, or something, because we haven't seen a reduced-to-clear block of tofu in yonks.  Which is very sad.  And although tofu at regular price is still a pretty good deal, we just can't get over our past - we are always reluctant to pay full price for tofu, so we only buy it every now and then.

For a while we were regularly making our own, which totally rocked my soy-based world.  Homemade tofu is seriously yummy.  But then our stocks of the little salty tofu coagulant started to dwindle.  We keep meaning to order more, but then not ordering more, so in the meantime we have made tofu less and less often.  We're down to one little packet.  Consider this my public note to self that I must purchase more coagulant!

So anyways, when we do have tofu on hand these days, it's difficult to decide what to do with it.  One recipe we keep coming back to is this dijon and lemon baked version that Andy found while wasting time at uni one day many months ago.  I don't know his source, so unfortunately cannot properly attribute (if it's your recipe, let me know!).  We seriously love it, so in the spirit of sharing, I will put it up here for you all - if you try it, let me know what you think.

Dijon-Lemon Baked Tofu

1 block of tofu, cut into 'steaks' or triangles
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. lemon juice
2 T. olive oil
2 T. dijon mustard
1 t. sugar
1 t. basil
1 t. thyme
freshly ground black pepper

In a jug, whisk together all of the ingredients except for tofu.  Give it a little taste and adjust the flavours if it needs it.  Beware - it's a punchy marinade, that makes for a punchy dinner, just how we like it!  Put the tofu into a rectangular glass baking dish and pour the marinade over.  Give it a good shake to cover the tofu evenly.  Marinate for at least an hour, or longer in the fridge if you have the foresight.  Turn the tofu over once in the middle of your marinating time.  Bake at 190 (375F) for about 30 minutes, until the marinade is thick and the tofu is delicious.