Mediterranean Tofu Cutlet

 So last Saturday evening, I finished filming on Some Girls 2. I didn't actually get home until 12.30am and proceeded to watch the Voice and Million Pound drop (I probably shouldn't admit that) until at least 4am. I don't know what it is with work, but even if I work late I still feel like I have to have a an evening. Needless to say, I was a bit knackered on Sunday and so I didn't cook. However, on Monday evening, I attempted Tofu.

I never really cook with Tofu but when I eat out, I usually have it in a noodle soup or something where it's been deep fried in some sort of batter. I'm not sure how healthy this is and also it doesn't taste of much. As Tofu is an ingredient with which you need to infuse flavour, I want to experiment a bit with it to see how it can be used in all sorts of recipes.

On this occasion, and I think it does work nicely, I cut it into slices and marinaded it. Prep time is only 5 minutes so it's very easy. My marinade consisted of garlic, zest and juice of half a lemon, olive oil, fresh thyme and oregano, dried herbs, salt and pepper. I left it to marinade for an hour.

I then shallow fried it in the marinade juices for around 4 minutes on either side and served it with roasted butternut squash, tomatoes and onions on a bed of pearl barley. I think it worked nicely and would also work as the topping for a salad. If you do cook it like this,  you need to buy a very firm tofu so that it has a good solid texture. Otherwise it won't feel like the centrepiece to your meal and will fall apart easily.


Ingredients (serves 2):

1 carton firm/ extra firm Tofu. 350g
As it was only two of us eating I only used half a pack but a full pack would do for 4 people.
Half a garlic clove
Zest and juice of half a lemon
Fresh herbs: oregano and thyme
Dried herbs: anything you have in the cupboard: Italian spices and the like.
Generous glug of Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to season.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Marinade time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 10 minutes maximum- that's only for the Tofu mind. It depends what you serve it with.