Things to do with Rocks and Vegetables

This week I borrowed the Alford/Duguid book Flatbreads and Flavours from the library. One of their suggestions for authentic flatbreads is to place a piece of unglazed quarry tile on the bottom rack of your oven to replicate a hearth-like baking surface. I bought two slate tiles at Home Depot for about $2.50 each. I placed them in the oven before turning it on to preheat, then I made their Naan with Onion and baked it right on the surface of the tile.



The bread was soft but the bottom was slightly crispy, and it never stuck to the tile. It tasted very much like the naan I've had in restaurants. I have also baked pizza on the slate with great success.

To accompany the naan, I made VwaV's Curried Split Pea Soup and let it thicken a bit so we could scoop it up with the bread.



Yesterday I needed to clean a few leftovers out of the fridge and managed to create a dish which didn't require me to be constantly present in the kitchen while it was cooking. Pete said that he really enjoyed it. I didn't measure out the ingredients at the time, but wrote down my best guess.



Asian Roasted Vegetables

1 lb extra firm tofu, cut into 2-3” long sticks
3 sweet potatoes, cut into ¼” thick “fries”
1 red pepper, cut lengthwise into strips
3 portobello mushrooms, gills removed, sliced lengthwise
¼ cup whole almonds
1 package soba noodles (or other asian noodles)

5 tbsp peanut oil
3 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp asian chili-garlic sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee brand)
Salt and pepper
Toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Nori strips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In one dish, marinate the tofu in 2 tbsp peanut oil, 2 tbsp tamari, 2 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp rice vinegar and the chili-garlic sauce.
In another dish, marinate the portobellos in 1 tbsp peanut oil and 1 tbsp tamari.
In a 9x13 glass pan, drizzle the sweet potato and red pepper strips and almonds with the remaining peanut oil and rice vinegar. Mix to combine and season with salt and pepper.
Roast the sweet potato mixture in the oven for 20 mins. Stir, and add the tofu and portobellos without adding their marinade to the pan. Roast for another 20 mins, stirring after 10 min.
Warm the leftover marinade in a small saucepan on the stove. Cook the noodles according to directions. Serve the veggies over the noodles, drizzle with marinade, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and nori strips.