Monday, February 27, 2012

Green beans, tofu and chocolate truffles



Over the past week or so, I have enjoyed revisiting a few older recipes. The boys love it when I go through this phase as I always give them the chance to request meals that they cherish. My son (who shall be known as "the young man" from this point forward, thanks Cindy) surprised me with a request for a green bean and tomato side dish we all used to love but I have not made in recent years.

We watched Jamie Oliver make this side dish of beans and tomatoes on one of his TV shows a long time ago and were intrigued with the combination of these simple ingredients. When I tried the recipe, it became a household favourite that remained on regular rotation for many years. Jamie didn't include any herbs in his recipe and somewhere along the way I decided that I liked it more with some fresh basil which is how I make it these days. It is a fairly quick side to prepare with the only downfall being that it uses more than one pot.  

After deciding that I would appease the young man further by serving mashed potatoes with the beans and tomatoes, I wanted to include a bit of protein to round out the meal. I purchased a grill pan towards the end of last year on the spur of the moment as I had been thinking about buying one and found one on sale. It has been a fabulous tool for making tofu bacon but I hadn't put it to the tofu steak grilling test yet.

It took a while to decide on a marinade for the tofu as I wanted to use one with lighter flavours rather than something that would be too overpowering or spicy. After going through several cookbooks, I finally settled on making a teriyaki marinade from Vegan Planet. The man and young man can either love or hate tofu so they eyed their steaks off with initial scepticism but after tasting it they declared that the tofu was excellent as was the rest of the meal.  


Valentine's Day is not usually a celebratory event on the calendar in our house but this year we cheated and had an indulgence on some delicious assorted truffles. It was purely because I was the lucky winner of this adorable box of Sjaark's vegan chocolate truffles thanks to Mandee of Cupcake Kitteh. If you would like the details of some online stores where a range of Sjaark's chocolates can be ordered from, head over to this post at Mandee's blog.


Teriyaki pan-grilled tofu (Adapted from Vegan Planet)

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ginger, finely chopped
350g firm tofu, drained and pressed

Whisk together the soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, garlic and ginger. Cut the tofu into 3 thick slices, place in a shallow dish and cover with the marinade. Allow the tofu to sit for about an hour, flipping the slices over after about 30 minutes.

Heat a grill pan and spray lightly with olive oil. Cook the tofu for about 3 minutes on each side or until slightly browned on each side.


Green beans with tomatoes (Adapted from Jamie Oliver)

250g green beans, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g fresh tomatoes, chopped or 1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
10-12 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the beans in a saucepan with some salt and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 7 minutes or until the beans are tender. Drain in a colander and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the garlic. Fry for about 30 seconds or until the garlic is sizzling, then stir through the tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, the tomatoes should be completely soft and broken down after this time. Stir through the green beans, basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

12 comments:

  1. Oh I thought it might be more tofu bacon - I made some on the weekend and forgot the grill pan and the camera!!! The teriyaki sounds lovely - it is the sort of flavour I really enjoy - and beans with tomato sounds lovely too - esp with basil

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    1. I'm still planning on doing a proper tofu bacon post but I keep forgetting to take photos of the whole process. :(

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  2. PS - have you seen the harry enfield sketch with the "young man" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEBIOmd-F9k - it is what I think of when I hear young man - though I am sure your young man is busy with younger ladies than in this show!!!

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    1. Thanks for the link, I got a really good laugh of it. There's nothing like British comedy although I'm not really familiar with Harry Enfield.

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  3. What a gorgeous box of truffles - only just lovelier looking than the tofu and green beans!

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    1. The box is still gorgeous even though it is empty now but I am hanging onto it because it's so cute!

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  4. That looks like a great meal, and I really wish I had some chocolate truffles at the moment!

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    1. I didn't realise how much I had missed indulging on a truffle until the other day, they really are my type of chocolate.

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  5. Ha, I'm tickled pink that you took me up on my suggestion for your son!

    I really like the look of that tofu marinade, especially since your two sceptical fellers gave it the thumbs up.

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    1. It was so fitting I had to take you up on it! It was either that or "the baby" which we still call him when he is having an immature moment but I think "the young man" is more appropriate and kinder.

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  6. This post drew me in at the title, and it only improved from there :) I love the look of both the beans and the tofu. And I am now dreaming of those truffles. Definitely worth making a Valentine's Day exception for!

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    1. Glad you like the look of it all and the truffles were definitely worth breaking our Valentine's Day boycott. :)

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