Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pumpkin!

October 8, 2012

The fall colors are becoming more prominent on the landscape of northern Poland and in the city of Gdańsk.  It is simply beautiful and so different from South Carolina. I am excited to be living somewhere that has real seasons!  

During the last week of September the fresh fruit and vegetable market at the Hala Targowa exploded with dozens of varieties of squash.  Every shape, size and color was represented, and oh! The pumpkins!
It has been a challenge over the years to get my husband to eat squash. A few years ago he was tricked into eating my Aunt Susan's homemade pumpkin pie, and thankfully he has not looked back.
*For improved viewing of these photos, click on the picture, and view through the slideshow*

The ladies who come to sell their home-grown fruits, vegetables, flowers and eggs outside the main market.
I try to buy as much as possible from them.

Not a bad day to walk to the market!  
Now I will present, the colors of the Autumn market 


Pumpkin, in Polish, is "dynia"















I could not help myself, I bought a Hokkaido pumpkin on the spot. It's skin was smooth and lustrous and I felt a bit seduced by this little gourd of goodness. But what to do with it?

I am definitely not a pumpkin cooking expert. Luckily, the pumpkin came with a little tag, which had on it a soup recipe.  Soup sounded like a great idea on a crisp fall evening.
I hurried home and got to work translating it from Polish to English. 

Once the translation was finished, I was a little disappointed, because the soup sounded a little, well, bland. The original recipe only called for a little allspice and that's it. I shouldn't have been surprised, as the Poles are not known for using a lot of spice in their dishes. I know that some things are best simply prepared but, I just had to experiment a little.  I'm glad that I did, the results were outstanding!

This recipe can easily be made vegetarian or vegan. You can make it "healthier" by cutting down on the amount of fat by choosing a 0% or low-fat yogurt or sour cream.

Pumpkin is also full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. If you buy a Hokkaido variety pumpkin, you can boil or roast it with the skin on. The outer peel is edible, very thin, and cooks down easily. This keeps many of the vitamins and minerals in your soup, the reason you bought the little guy to begin with! 

Polish Pumpkin Soup - My Version
makes 4-6 large portions
Ingredients:
1 kg (2.2 pound) pumpkin, variety such as Hokkaido or butternut squash
500-1000ml (17oz) chicken or veggie stock (homemade with organic or local veggies is always best!)
1 medium sized onion (spanish or Vidalia), diced
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon allspice 
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 
dash of ground thyme, or 2-3 springs of fresh thyme leaves
2 cups, packed chopped spinach (fresh is best). If using frozen, be sure to squeeze out excess moisture.
100ml sour cream or creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste 
scallion, chopped for topping
raw pumpkin seeds, for topping

Method:
Wash the skin of your pumpkin with a soft vegetable brush. As Alton Brown has said, "These things grow in the dirt, ya know."
On medium-high heat, in a stock pot, cook your onion until translucent and fragrant. Take off the heat.
Cut into the pumpkin and remove the seeds.  Save these for later, they are yummy when toasted!
Cut the pumpkin into 2 inch pieces, all uniform in size. 
Put the pumpkin into a stock pot with the onions and add the chicken stock. 
Bring to a hard boil, then lower the heat to a simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Once the pumpkin is tender, take off the heat and let cool slightly.
Remove the pumpkin pieces and put into your blender or food processor. Process until smooth.
If you have an immersion blender, this is a good time to use it, directly into the stock pot.
Add your pumpkin puree back to the stock and bring to a simmer on low heat.
Add in the chopped spinach, ginger, spices, salt and pepper to taste.
Once the spinach is wilted, turn off the heat.
Allow soup to cool slightly before serving and remove bay leaf.
Offer the raw pumpkin seeds, sour cream, chopped scallion as toppings.
Adding a tablespoon of sour cream to each bowl, and stirring it in slowly transforms the soup into a rich, luxurious appetizer or main course.
This is absolutely delicious served with warm, crusty bread.

Smacznego!



Thursday, August 2, 2012

Zupa!

August 1, 2012

The beautiful days of summer are slowly getting shorter here in Gdansk.  Pretty soon the dark, cold days and nights of winter will be upon us and I will be further compelled to make SOUP! 

Soup in Polish is "zupa" and it is a staple if not the backbone of Polish fare.  It is hard to say if it has evolved this way due to 50 years of Communist rule, when the Poles had to stretch every calorie, or not.  There is no better way to make do with nothing than with soup.  It fills you up and contains relatively low calories because, well, let's face it, most of it is flavored water.

There is not enough time in the day or in my lifetime to talk about all the different types of Polish soups.
The ones that are most familiar to some Americans (ok, maybe not to you in the Deep South) are barszcz (beet soup- there are white, red and Ukrainian varieties), cucumber soup, and Zurek.

This Southern cook decided to make Zurek for dinner the other night.  I scanned recipes online in Polish and in English, and found that I did not have everything on hand to make Zurek. In fact, it would be impossible for me to run to the local grocery store and get everything I need.  Zurek takes at least 4-5 days to prepare!
The key ingredient is what takes so long. It is also the key to Zurek's trademark sour taste.
What is it?, you ask?  It is a sourdough starter of rye flour and water.  
You mix up some rye flour and water and leave it out on your counter top to sour in a jar for 4-5 days. Now, this sounds great if you live in the San Francisco Bay area, where the wild yeast is fabulous and makes stuff super sour. 
I may have to get brave and try it here in Gdansk.  I may just have to make some bread too!
Who knew that a sourdough starter could be used to make....soup???

So, my idea for Zurek was shot down pretty quickly.  So what did I do?  

I just made NON-SOUR Zurek!
For 4-6 portions of soup:
I bought 200g of chicken bones for 25 cents from our butcher lady, and brought them to a boil in the biggest pot we have, (with about 2-3 liters of water) with leek, carrot, parsley root and leaves, entire head of garlic, celery stalk, and celery root.  Added salt and pepper to taste, and strained off the beautiful broth (technically this was a stock since there were bones involved).
Simmered for 4 hours, then allowed to cool before straining out all the spent bits.
When it was time to cook the soup, I took half of the stock, brought it to a simmer, and added:
- 3 large carrots, scrubbed, chopped fine
- 1 large onion, chopped fine
- 1 large celery root, peeled, washed, chopped fine
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped fine
-  big handful or two of spinach, chopped 
- 2 links of white pork sausage (still hooked together...how cute is that!)
- 2 hard-boiled quail eggs per person (or 1 hard boiled chicken egg per person) -cook in another pot-
The key to cooking hard-boiled quail eggs is to bring the water to a boil, gently slide in the eggs, and boil for 4-5 minutes.  Remove from water and peel them under running cool water. 

Simmer the soup until the pork sausage links are firm to the touch (~10 minutes on a medium-hard boil), then remove the sausage and let it cool slightly.  When cool enough to handle, slice into 1 inch chunks, then put them back into the soup.
Simmer for another 10-15 minutes or until the small bits of veggies are cooked through.
Peel your previously cooked quail or chicken eggs and slice in half. (Be sure to cook these in another vessel - not in the soup!)
Toss in a handful of chopped parsley and chives into the soup pot right before serving.
Ladle the soup into bowls, and float two quail eggs on top.



Quail eggs are a delicious and a very petite, gourmet touch to such a humble soup.
They are extremely easy to find in Poland. I have not seen a grocery store or market without them yet.
You can even buy them from the little old lady on the curb next to the main market - the same one selling mushrooms she picked in the forest and has sunflowers from her own garden. 
Smacznego!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Blueberry Adventure in Poland

July 27, 2012

Well, here I am writing from the "Lowcountry" of Poland....the Baltic Coast!  If you have not been following our move from Northern Virginia to Poland, please check out shoresofgdansk.blogspot.com

So, from one Lowcountry to another, my food adventure has been rewarding in this first week in Europe. I was amazed to see that the main farmer's market of Gdansk is both outdoor and indoor - fresh produce, flowers and fruit on the outdoor street-level, and then one level below is where you find the meats, fish and dairy.  It is an amazing place with beautiful colors and smells!  We have been buying our food almost every day fresh from the market and cooking it for lunch and supper.  The market is about a kilometer away from our apartment; an easy, romantic and picturesque daily walk through the medieval city.

One of the best things I've come across so far is the European Bilberry, a type of wild blueberry that Europeans have been consuming for food and as medicine for over a thousand years. The Poles call these berries Jagody Leśne or forest berries. They are about half the size of the typical American High Bush blueberry variety that we are used to seeing in the States. They have a blueberry taste to them, but it is not as strong. 

If you have ever had a wild blueberry in the States, even in a blueberry muffin, you have probably consumed a Native North American Wild Blueberry, or "star berry." They are super tiny but pack a flavor punch! I prefer them to "normal" blueberries for baking. 
For those of you who want to get nerdy, 

On the left is a typical American Highbush Blueberry variety. On the right is a Native American Star Berry.
Both of these types of blueberries are growing on my parent's property in Banks County, Georgia.
The European Bilberry is about halfway between these two varieties in size and flavor. 

Blueberries are finished for the year in the Southern United States, but the season is still going strong in northern Poland!
The Highbush Blueberries in Poland are called "American Blueberries."  The varieties are American in origin, but Poland produces them commercially on a huge scale. 

Supposedly the forest berries (bilberries) are not cultivated here. People go out into the forests and gather the berries to sell at the markets. The forests in Poland are also all government owned and managed. There is no such thing as a private forest in Poland, unlike in the UK or in the States.  You can go pick your own if you want to!

What did we do with our forest berries?  We ate them with our normal morning yogurt and granola.
There is also about a kilo of them in our freezer for those cold winter months! I can't wait to make some muffins!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Home Economics

May 20, 2012

Did anyone take home economics in middle or high school?  I took two semesters in middle school, in which I learned (among other things) to bake a cake from scratch (no cake mix from the box), sew a hem onto trousers, and perform a manicure.  It was absolutely hilarious watching the football players giving each other manicures. I am so glad that they were taught the value of having healthy cuticles.  

While these are awesome skills to have, one thing I don't remember is the economic part of home economics, also known as how to run your household on a budget or how to cut costs from your existing budget.  That lesson did not come until 11th grade Economics class, and it seems to have taken a worldwide recession and part-time work to really drive the points home for me. 

In my ongoing pursuit of physical fitness and having to cut household costs before moving to Europe, I have gotten very creative about where I find the calories that I eat (see my post about foraging).  I'm trying to get the most nutritious bang for the buck, and have been pleasantly surprised with the results.  I wanted to show you that you CAN eat healthy, local and gourmet food on a reasonable budget, but you have to do some work and be open to trying new foods.

BUT.... you often also have to sacrifice something.  This may mean that you have to give up 15 minutes of TV time to chop up your own veggies, or just cut back on your $25 foie gras burger a week habit. (Sean, nothing can replace the Red Fish kobe beef foie gras black truffle cheeseburger, but, a girl's gotta do something!)

There unfortunately comes a time when the weekly luxurious dinner treat is no longer economical or good for you.  It actually was never either in the first place.

Doug and I together have cut our food budget down in a huge way by doing three things.  
1. We "eat out" 1 night a week, and it's usually around $10 per person. 
(Think Chipotle, falafel cart or Chop't)
2. We prepare and cook everything else from scratch at home. You can control the salt content, and know exactly what's in your food.  It may take 30-60 minutes each night to cook, but, it's worth it for me. It helps me to wind down from the day and relax.  
Short on time?  Dust off your CrockPot or cook and prepare on the weekends.
3. Eat. More. Beans.  Yep.  They're cheap and there are a thousand ways to cook them. When paired with rice or quinoa, they provide complete protein.

90% of the food we buy comes from the Arlington Courthouse Farmer's Market.  Everyone thinks that farmer's markets are super expensive, but it's not!  You will soon see why.....

Below is $85 dollars worth of groceries, all from the farmer's market.  
This is 90% of what we eat in two weeks. I'm serious. 



What is all this? (10 dinners, 10 lunches and 10 breakfasts!)
- broccoli - enough for 4 stir-fry portions
- fennel bulbs and fronds -  4 portions 
- onions - goes into everything we cook
- turnips and greens - 4 portions
- 16 oz of honey
- 1 pound bag of spinach - 4 portions
- 1 pound of asparagus
- kholrabi - 4 portions in stir-fry
- lettuce - 4 large portions
- 1/2 pound heritage breed Maryland grown pork tenderloin
- 1 pound heritage breed Maryland grown pork mexican chorizo 
- 2.5 pound Virginia grown bison shoulder roast - 8 portions!
- dozen free-range eggs
- 1/2 pound of aged Monterrey jack cheese
- 4 tubs of local 0% Greek-style yogurt
- a chocolate chip cookie and a pain au chocolat  :)

The veggies vary from week to week, depending on what's in season.  In January I was having to get creative with all the kale, sweet potatoes and apples we had to buy week after week....

We also try to buy veggies that produce little waste after cleaning. This saves you money too!
100% of the leaves and stems of the broccoli, turnips, fennel and kohlrabi are cooked and eaten.

Last week we planned ahead and spent $35 extra on 4 weeks worth of strawberries to put in the freezer, which we thaw and put into our yogurt every morning. That's $1.45 per person - 5 large strawberries each. 

We spend about $20 a week on other foodstuffs at the regular grocery or Whole Foods.
What do we buy there?  The Staples: milk, flour, yeast, raw nuts, lemons, spices, fresh ginger, dried beans, canned tomatoes, tofu, tempeh, quinoa, stone-ground grits, oats, brown rice.
No soda. No chips. No frozen ready meals. No booze (beer has it's own separate budget in our house).

For two people, that is a total of $100-120 per week.   
That's $5 per meal ($2.50 per person!) for healthy, super fresh, locally grown food.  
You can't spend $5 at Chic-fil-a and get the same kind of nutrition or value.
I don't think you can buy a Lean Cuisine for less than $5 in DC.
I know that this is a great way to lose weight, eat healthy, and support local agriculture.  
How?
Since August 2011 I have lost 17 pounds and am wearing clothes I have not seen since college. 
I have lost 3 dress sizes since 2008.
Local eating a win-win and you just can't get the same benefits from Diet Coke and Ramen noodles. 

What can you do?  Find a Farmer's Market, local CSA or road-side stand.  No farmer's market?  Every town has a Costco or Sam's Club!  Buy your veg in bulk and it really cuts down on cost, especially when you buy citrus and poultry.  You CAN have a healthy and ecological diet without breaking the bank and I promise - it will change your life.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Spring Foraging

May 19, 2012

Ah, yes. Spring.  Warm weather, longer days, and things are blooming!  In this kind of weather, I take my daily anti-histamine and start walking all over the roadways, trails and off the beaten path.  I am a huge fan of foraging for edibles in our environment, not only because it's FREE, but they are also interesting to cook with. In the past I've written about finding blackberries and pecans in South Carolina, but Virginia has presented me with more interesting options!

Straight away, I must thank my mother Ginny Summerour Barber, both grandmothers (Ruby Messer Barber and Mary Lynn Morris Summerour) and my cousin Buddy Cook for teaching me about wild edible plants and flowers in the Southern United States.

My two latest finds have been right here in the heart of the city, within a mile of my apartment and where I least expected to find something edible. This spring's "foraging" has taught me two important things: 1. weeds and trees are everywhere.  2. most people don't know what they have growing in their own yards.

Almost every day I walk past the Arlington fire station 10 here in Rosslyn.  They have a lovely herb garden between the sidewalk and their front door and currently, their chives are in full bloom. These beautiful, tiny purple flowers are dainty and add a nice mild onion burst of flavor when you add them to your food.  After asking permission from one of the firemen to collect a few flowers, I recently took several home and added them to my tempeh sweet potato curry.  It was such a pretty, gourmet touch to my cooking - and it did not cost me a thing!  The firemen thought I was crazy, and I am, but it was also a teaching moment, I think I convinced them to sprinkle some chive flowers on top of their next batch of alfredo pasta before serving.

Tempeh sweet potato curry with chive flowers


Last weekend, Danger, Doug and I were walking along the C&O Canal in Georgetown, when I noticed a few familiar berries smashed into the walkway, and hanging from a tree above - a type that I remembered picking in my grandmother's Atlanta backyard during my childhood.  No, it was not the blood of Pyramus. I had stumbled upon a mulberry tree.
In the last two weeks the little tart pink berries are ripening and the birds are going crazy for them.  As you can see in the picture below they look kind of like an oblong blackberry, but the taste is very different.  Their flavor is a little lemony with a mild sweetness. Mix them into your morning yogurt or sprinkle on top of vanilla ice cream. WOW!

Unripe and ripe mulberries on a mulberry leaf. The ring is a size 5, for scale.


I like to write about foraging to encourage you to be more aware of your surroundings, and spark further interest in the natural world.  Foraging is so much fun, and another way to get you and your family out of the house, exercising and learning about nature.  

Here are some educational resources on foraging and edible flowers:





*Just because it is "natural" and came out of the woods does not mean it's safe to eat! Please confirm your plant identification and/or consult a trusted naturalist before digging in!*

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Comfort Food

March 24, 2012

This blog post is a little late hitting the web, but, I think that many of us may still be in need of it's content. With spring upon us, outdoor temperatures have been anywhere from scorching to near freezing, and the Devil has cursed us once again with a super-size dose of pollen.   This past winter was hard for many of us who had cold upon cold, and now we get to suffer through spring allergy season.

If you're not feeling well, the recipe in this post is for you!  I made it a few weeks ago when Doug was feeling under the weather with a cough and sinus congestion.  Poor guy!
When we're not feeling well, we tend to turn to comfort food.  Everyone has their own favorite, be it macaroni and cheese, lasagna, or our personal favorite: chicken and dumplings.

This recipe is from Alton Brown, with a few modifications.  I was so excited to make it, since it required the use of the pressure cooker that I got for Christmas!  On this episode of Good Eats, Alton cooks his whole chicken in a pressure cooker, which yields tender, perfectly cooked meat in a quarter of the time and a delicious golden broth to boot.  

Alton also discusses the controversial topic of how to make the dumplings.  Some cooks like the "fluffy" (dropped) dumplings, while some like the "flat" (rolled) dumplings.  He goes on to comment that difference in techniques has nothing to do with The North vs. The South. The "fluffy" ones in soups originated somewhere in England, while the "flat" dumplings originated in Germany.  

Anyways, my Mom has always made the "fluffy" dumplings, while I have also enjoyed the "flat" variety made by my friend Natalie.   Alton's recipe allows for both styles and methods of dumpling creation.


The dropped dumplings recipe did NOT take 2 hours.  
Another note on how we changed the recipe to our liking:
- We cooked a local free-range 4 pound hen, bought at the farmer's market of course
- I added a medium sized onion in with the chicken while it was cooking in the pressure cooker.  
-For an extra serving of vegetables, I chopped into small pieces 2 large carrots, 2 large stalks of celery and a handful of fresh parsley and added them to the gently simmering broth before I started making the dumplings.  By the time the dumplings were ready to go in, the veggies were soft.
-We also used King Arthur White Whole Wheat all-purpose flour for our dumplings.  They came out light brown in color, but the taste was not much different from using regular all-purpose flour.



I hope that I've inspired you to make something yummy when your loved ones are feeling "under the weather."  As good as this is while you're sick, it's even better when you're not....after all, half of what you taste is what you're able to smell!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Homegrown Science Experiment


January 23, 2011

I am sure that you, dear reader, in some point of your life have had the experience of finding a "science experiment" in your home.

You know what I mean. I won't go into details, but we all have found the 6-week old pizza slice under the couch or that brie that "went missing" and re-emerged in grotesque form in the back of the fridge. Many a parent and college student has had this experience.

We are surrounded by the fungus among us. In the immortal words of Dr. Frank Austin, it's a microbial jungle out there. Millions of spores invade our homes every day. Some of them are good and some of them are bad. Many people have dreadful allergies due to these floating reproductive parts, or spores. Some of them, such as the wild yeasts in San Francisco, are quite useful.

Today I am going to share with you a fantastic "science experiment" that I conducted recently.
Fear not, for this experiment was delicious!

I was searching for a weird, quirky and fun Christmas gift for members of my family. I hit the myco-jackpot when I stumbled upon Back to the Roots, a company in Oakland, California.
They specialize in home mushroom garden kits. These kits are easy to use, and made from composted coffee grounds mixed with oyster mushroom spores. You can grow your own gourmet mushrooms at home in as little as 10 days. They also have a program for donating mushroom garden kits to schools and science education centers.

Here are the pictures of my kit at day 8 and day 14:




The fruits of our experiment made us want to eat something delicious and unhealthy:
Venison Stroganoff
Serves 4
Ingredients:
3-6 oz mushrooms, such as oyster, portobello, sliced
1 pound beef stew meat OR
1 pound venison cube steak, sliced into 1/2 inch wide strips
1 medium onion, diced
6-8 tablespoons flour for dredging the meat
1 tablespoon flour for the roux
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
2-6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried or fresh thyme
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup sour cream (use non-fat if you wish)
2 cups low fat, low sodium beef stock, homemade is best
1 cup rice or
8 oz egg noodles, cooked per package instructions

Method:
Place 2 tablespoons oil into a saute pan on medium-high heat.
Sautee the onions and mushrooms until tender. Set aside.

In a dutch oven with high sides and a lid:
Heat 2-4 tablespoons of oil on high heat.
In bowl, mix together 1/2 of the salt and pepper, and 1/2 of the flour. Coat the stew meat or strips of venison in the flour mixture, and fry until cooked through and browned.
Drain the meat on paper towels and set aside.

Remove excess oil from this frying vessel, put heat on medium.
Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Cook until a dark blonde color (roux).
Then, de-glaze with 1 cup beef broth.

Scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the pan, and then decrease heat to a simmer.
Add the tomato paste, cooked mushrooms/onions, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and cooked meat and stir to combine.
Allow to reduce/simmer for 10-15 minutes with the lid cracked.
Add broth as needed for a thicker/thinner gravy.
Once at desired consistency, turn off the heat and slowly stir in the sour cream.

* If you realize at the end of cooking that need to add a thickener, I always recommend arrowroot powder. 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in 1 teaspoon cold water. Stir into your finished dish slowly, it will thicken quickly. It's tasteless and it won't clump like wheat flour!

Serve over rice or egg noodles.
We added chopped flat leaf parsley on top to make it pretty, and I like the flavor of fresh parsley.

MMM Science is tasty!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Witam Nowy Rok!
Happy New Year!
4 stycznia 2012 January 4, 2012

Every year many Americans find themselves making a New Year's Resolution, and promising to stick by it. No matter what it is, be it weight loss, going vegan, or learning a new language, most people don't come close to success.
I have decided that my New Year's Resolution (and yours too!) will be to try new vegetarian or vegan dishes in the coming year.

Mostly this Resolution stems from curiosity and recent good experiences with what's available at the self-serve buffet at our local Whole Foods Market.

I find myself eating yummy tofu or seitan
(yep, pronounced just as folks do in Lower Alabama , when referring to the Devil: SAY-TAN, LOL) from the Whole Foods buffet and thinking, "Man, I can make this at home!"

Trying something new is fun, can be inexpensive, and hey, it's so easy, you can't make excuses for not fulfilling your New Year's Resolution.

For those of you brave enough for my challenge, here is an easy step-by-step photograph series on how to make Baked Asian-style tofu and veggie stir-fry.

First: Buy a block of firm or extra firm tofu. Drain off water. Then wrap it in 2-4 paper towels, then wrap in a clean kitchen towel, and weigh it down for 30 minutes to get rid of excess moisture.


Step 2: Now that some moisture is gone, cut into 1" cubes as seen below.
Step 3: Dice a medium onion, cut 2 peeled large carrots into match-sticks, and cut up some broccoli florets into bite-sized pieces. As you can see in the photos, I decided to use brussels sprouts, cut into quarters. Somehow brussels sprouts are good in a stir-fry.

Step 4: Now for the flavor. Whisk together: 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 cloves garlic minced, a 1-2" piece of ginger grated, pinch or two of red chili flake, 1 tablespoon of Mirin, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon honey*.
Also, don't start your marinade at the same time you're cooking the veggies. Marinade first!
* To make this dish vegan, omit honey and just use agave nectar instead.
If you don't have mirin, just use apple cider vinegar and a little more honey.
Toss in your tofu cubes and let marinate at least 30 minutes.
Step 5: Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Remove tofu from marinade, save the excess marinade. Evenly spread out your tofu cubes on parchment paper and bake for 30-40 minutes, stir them about halfway through.
Step 6: While tofu cubes are baking, stir-fry in a wok or large skillet all of your veggies. You can use a tablespoon of sesame oil or olive oil for this. Put onions and carrots in first, then your greenery.
*If you want to bump up the flavor and are not vegan/vegetarian, add a tablespoon of fish sauce to the pan during this step.
Step 7: Remove tofu cubes from oven when they have browned edges. Allow to cool slightly.
Add the remainder of the marinade to the pan when the veggies are mostly cooked. Toss to combine. Add a little water if too dry. While veggies are hot, toss in the baked tofu cubes.
The purpose of baking the tofu is to keep it from getting mushy in the pan. I have tried many different methods of cooking tofu in a stir-fry, but I lack essential wok-skills and this is a good way to have non-mushy, flavorful tofu.
Makes 4 hearty servings. Serve with brown rice, white rice or quinoa.

Step 8: Eat and enjoy! Let me know what you think about this one! It is a favorite of ours. We make it weekly with whatever is at the farmer's market (hence the brussels sprouts).

This is a perfect way to try something new, it's easy and healthy!