Cooking With Campiche: Garden vegetable and tofu stir-fry

Starting A Vegetable Garden

The reward for a little effort in your own vegetable garden is a harvest of fresh-tasting goodness. The key to success is ensuring that vegetables get the right conditions: water, sunlight, soil and nutrition.

Find a spot in your yard that gets 6 to 8 hours of sun each day. Ensure that the soil is healthy and amend it as needed.

Summertime and the living is easy. Well, easier. The garden is blooming with fresh lettuce, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes — and if you are lucky, a bit of basil. My asparagus crop didn’t do so well, and large heirloom tomatoes could use a boost (more sunshine). Email any ideas for large ripe tomatoes other than moving to California’s Central Valley.

Here is a vegan recipe from a carnivore, a tofu stir-fry and dressing. So simple, so good.

Garden vegetable and tofu stir-fryIngredients

• Three cloves minced garlic

• One-half diced onion

• 3 tablespoons virgin olive oil

• Four ancho chili peppers, whole (pull before serving)

• A square of firm tofu, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

• Cooked fava or white beans

• Three large carrots, parboiled, drained and saved

• One-half pound asparagus

• Salt and pepper

Dressing (throw all ingredients into a blender)

• 1/4 cup virgin olive oil

• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

• One large clove garlic, finely minced

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Saute three cloves of garlic and the half onion in olive oil until translucent. Throw in the chili peppers. Add a firm tofu to the mix. Saute the parboiled carrots with the tofu, garlic and onions.

Now add a can of beans, like fava or white beans. Canned and drained is fine. At the last minute, toss in the asparagus. When the asparagus is just barely cooked through, al dente, pour in the dressing. Add salt and pepper, toss and serve.

If you must, you could also throw in seafood or chicken, or prepare a lamb roast. I cover mine with 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of hot paprika, 1 teaspoon of coriander, seven spice and garlic powder, all mixed in a bowl and sprinkled over the lamb. For this side, slow bake for three hours at 230 degrees. A glaze will form over the top of the roast. Slice thin and serve with your favorite accompaniments.

Source: discoverourcoast.com