Monday, January 14 Smoked BBQ Tofu, Grilled Veggies and Slaw Rating: 4.5

I confess, I used bottle BBQ sauce for this. Anyway, my mom got me an indoor stovetop smoker for Christmas and I wanted to take it out for a spin. I’m only including the link to the product because it worked great and we loved the results. We don’t have anywhere to grill outdoors at our building, so we really miss the smoky flavor of “real” grilled food instead of what we cook in the grill pan. I sometimes add some liquid smoke to marinades, but it’s really not the same. I saw one of these little gadgets on line and thought, well, it’s worth a try. It’s clear the manufacturers never dreamed someone would put tofu in this thing because all of the cooking times and instructions refer to dead animals, so I really had to guess, based on the relative size and shape of a block of tofu vs. animal parts. I decided 20 minutes or so should do it since I wasn’t really looking to cook the tofu, just to get a nice smoky flavor. The instructions say use 1-2 tablespoons of the supplied wood chips, depending on your preference and what you’re cooking – ok, not the best instructions in the world, so 1 ½ tablespoons it is! I had to adjust the lid a little bit and laid a kitchen towel over a small opening, but really, it didn’t let a lot of smoke out into the kitchen. And by not a lot I mean almost none at all. My grill pan smokes up the house much, much more. I have a gas stove, so it was perfect for the smoker, but it also comes with a little stand and a cup you can place a can of sterno in if you need to. I pressed the tofu and put it in the smoker whole; when I took it out, it was nicely browned on the outside. I smoked the tofu the on Sunday night so it could sit in the sauce all day Monday and absorb the flavor as much as possible. This also made making dinner on Monday really, really easy. We had some mini bell peppers in the fridge that wanted to be used up (I swear those things breed in there!) so I made a quick marinade of wine, olive oil, chopped parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic (pressed) and some thyme. I added half a zucchini and a small onion to the mix along with some grape tomatoes and let them sit for about an hour while I did other stuff around the house. (hanging out with the cats reading a book)  I don’t really use a recipe for slaw – I just sort of eyeball it – but the basis for my version is the recipe in 1000 Vegan Recipes if you’re looking for a good one. When it was time to cook, I put the tofu (still in the sauce) in the oven to bake & get nice and chewy and cooked the veggies in the grill pan. So, how was the tofu? It was amazing. It really absorbed the smoke well and I think I could actually use a little less of the wood chips and maybe reduce the time a little. If you’ve never tried smoked tofu – do it now. And if you don’t have an outdoor area to get that yummy, smoky taste, give an indoor smoker a try.