Sorry it's been such a long time between postings, bloggers. It must seem like I dropped off the face of the earth, but I haven't...
Y'all remember the Schultz Fire, back in June? The fire destroyed the forest floor over 15,000 acres on the east face of our mountain, burning so hot that the exposed soil became water repellent. When the annual monsoon rains began, a wall of water and mud poured off the slopes, inundating neighborhoods below and temporarily closing the highway east of Flagstaff. There was simply not enough time between the fire and the onset of the rains to prepare the community. Our home is on the west side of the mountain, so we, our dogs, and our property are fine, but the east side of town is a disaster area, and will be for years to come, until the soil recovers and the forest floor can be stabilized.
Sooo...when I haven't been finishing up landscaping projects here at home, Kris and I have been out off highway 89, filling sandbags. It's amazing how the community has come together to help, providing food and water, mucking knee-deep mud out of houses, digging trenches, sandbagging, clearing culverts. It's something that feels so fundamentally... American. It's what we do.
And so, in the wake of two natural disasters, it's no surprise that I've been reminded lately of Judith, a lovely old soul who came to live with us for a few weeks following Hurricane Katrina. She was an evacuee passing through town on her way to nowhere, with no family, limited resources, happy to have gotten out alive. Tired and disheveled, she ran out of steam in Flagstaff and called the local Unity minister, who brought her to our door.
There's alot to tell about the few weeks she came to ground here; suffice it to say that memories of Judith are among the finest and most pleasurable I have. A retired chef, she left us, too, with one of my favorite recipes, which I call, simply, "Judith's Tofu."
To make Judith's Tofu, assemble the following:
- a pound or so of tofu, pressed and drained, cut to 1/2" dice
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2-3 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed in a mortar and pestle
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Braggs Liquid Aminos
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil (look for it at your health food store; if you can't find it, olive oil will do), or enough to thoroughly coat the bottom of your fry pan
Heat the coconut oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, then add the tofu and onions and cook until the onions become translucent, stirring gently a couple of times with the back of a spoon (using the back of the spoon prevents the tofu from crumbling). When the onion is translucent, add the rosemary and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes more. It will smell divine - especially if you've used coconut oil. I don't have a precise measurement for this next step, but I can describe it. Open your bottle of Bragg's Liquid Aminos and pour it into the tofu in the pan, to a depth of about 1/4". Can you see how deep it is in the pan? You want it to come no more than halfway up the sides of a cube of tofu sitting flat in the pan. Just pour slowly and watch carefully the first time you make this, and it will be just fine...
Stir the Bragg's in a bit, cover the pan with a lid, then lower the heat to simmer and walk away from it for about 12 minutes. Stir once more then re-cover and allow to finish cooking for another 12 minutes or so. Stir in the lemon juice then cook, uncovered, for another couple of minutes to mingle the flavors. Oh, this smells sooo goooood! The lemon, the rosemary, the salty pungent Bragg's...this stuff is heaven on a plate, I promise! It's so good I proudly serve it to dinner guests. Oh - and leftovers make an awesome wrap the next day, along with leftover kale or fresh spinach, or maybe steamed mung bean sprouts, or...you get the idea.
Judith's Tofu is usually plated with brown rice and another household favorite, Steamed Kale with Carrots and Onions. To make this easy and elegant side dish, simply layer coarsely chopped fresh kale, diagonally sliced carrots, and sliced onions in a steamer basket, and steam until the kale wilts and the carrots are tender-crisp.
Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and/or lemon juice, and serve.
I didn't have time today to cook brown rice, and so, with vegetables plentiful from the garden, steamed a couple of fat yellow squashes instead. Doesn't it make a pretty plate?
Bless you Judith, wherever you've landed. Thanks for coming to stay, and for leaving us with this wonderful reminder of a rich and zesty few weeks in 2005.
And thank YOU for playing in Spike's Kitchen! Enjoy! Come again soon! I promise to post a bit more often...
Yes, Judith, thank you.
Posted by: Kris (HTGRS) | 07/29/2010 at 07:25 PM
Mmmmmmm Seems to be delicious....!!!! Cant wait to have it....!!!
Posted by: Kitchen design | 04/07/2011 at 10:52 PM