Beet'atini: yup, say it, grimace and laugh, but it's tasty

Toasted tofu lomein: veggies, carbs, protein, and a buzz

 My pal Lauren received a juicer for Christmas, and since about then I've been begging her to please make some more "beet juice" because of the treat I had the fortune of enjoying from that first batch.  It's primarily beets, then it's apples, carrots, celery ( I think) and lemon juice-- if Lauren remembers to add it.  The result is umami rich, and once you shake it with vodka, fresh lemon and lime, and ice...

...poured into a frosted cocktail glass with homemade sour ' n spicy pickles...oh my: tasty. 

The main event this evening is a toasted tofu lomein with oil scorched fresh Thai chillies, thinly sliced garlic, smashed and minced ginger, campari tomatoes, cotija cheese, and finished with a toasted sesame oil and soy sauce slurry.  In case you're wondering, before scorching the chillies, I cut pressed tofu into half inch cubes and tossed them about in kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and arrowroot.  I stir fried the tofu first-- mind you, arrowroot gets gummy-- separating th chunks as they fried and turned golden brown. 

When the tofu was done, I removed it to a paper towel on a plate, to drain.  Then I scorched the chillies, followed by the garlic and ginger, then by the wheat flour egg noodles (made fresh, boiled for 45 seconds and rinsed with cold water after draining); after tossing the well drained noodles at about 22,000 BTUs in the wok, in went the cheese-- toss toss toss-- then the tofu and tomatoes, and finally the aromatic slurry.  I tossed the whole thing to incorporate it well and served.

Cheers! 

Baked potato, pressed tofu and roasted poblano chilli croquettes

Dressed in chilled Mexican cream-- harking back to rajas con crema-- the croquettes are served with a cucumber, tomato and cilantro salad tossed with lime juice, garlic, red Thai chillies and sesame oil, with a few dashes of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Cornbread dressing croquettes

Cornbread dressing croquettes on a bed of quick pickled fennel and red onions Since I used *dashi *instead of turkey or chicken stock to make the cornbread dressing, it seemed a shame to not do something a bit different and unexpected with the Thanksgiving leftovers. I formed the croquettes to the size of large hushpuppies, dusted each one with flour, dunked them in a salted egg wash and finished them with panko crumbs before gently sliding each into a sauce pan half filled with refined (salad grade, i.e. not extra virgen) olive oil heated to 350 degrees F. They came out in batches... more »