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The Vegan Lunchbox appears to be done for the summer. (Perhaps for good! OH NO!) But that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy some of the recipes. Jennifer is working on a cookbook, but was kind enough to post a few recipes throughout the year. One that intrigued me was for tofu fish sticks! How cool is that? As some of you know, I grew up on the East Coast of Canada and despite what some might assume, I was never a seafood lover. I really liked salmon and if I can find a way to make veggie salmon*, I'll be all over that. Another fishy thing I did like was fish sticks. Friday is a good fish day, so I printed off the recipe and got to work.
I cut up my tofu, but I made rectangles instead of sticks. I'm sure it will do. I squeezed them and patted them dry.
Then dipped them in "milk."
I had the crumb mixture all prepared and on a plate ready for rolling the rectangles in after they were dipped in the milk. Working one piece at a time, was exhausting work. I needed help.
Dip, roll, drink. Dip, roll, drink. Ahh, yes. This is going along much better now.
I put the rectangle-sticks on a baking sheet and popped them into the oven. They were looking good. 15 minutes; flip; 15 minutes more. I'm sure you'll understand that I had to keep drinking. All this dipping and flipping was really stressing me out. I needed something to calm my nerves.
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Just half an hour later, they were ready!
We also had fries, macaroni salad and coleslaw with lemon wedges and tartar sauce on the side. Wow! That's a lot of food. All that work certainly built up my appetite.
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The "fish" sticks were a success! I even have 1/2 of the breading mix left that I've put into a Ziploc® bag and put in the freezer for the next time. I only had previously frozen tofu to work with today, so it was a little chewier than I would have liked. Next time I'll use fresh tofu. The flavour was great and the lemon and tartar sauce added a really nice touch. I highly recommend these.
*If anyone has a recipe for veggie salmon or knows if there is such a thing, please let me know!
9 comments:
Carrie, you are so funny.
"More wine for my friends, please..."
Love this post.
I used to eat fish sticks with ketchup as a kid... I was a fan, to be sure, mostly 'cause they were easy and didn't taste "fishy" to me. (Wasn't a big fan of fish unless they were my pet goldfish or guppies I swam with at Lake Michigan...)
I am going to try to make them with tofu, this is a kick-arse idea of yours here!!
I haven't been to Farm Sanctuary but there is one here in California that I so much want to visit!! Also Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah. I almost went there last year with Peter on another one of our grand adventures... just made it to Zion National Park tho...
More wine please! Oh wait, I can't, I'm at work! Rats...
Hope you have a fab weekend. Still lovin' the pix and captions with Simon as the star. Fun!!
oh my goodness. I have a BUNCH of tofu in the fridge right now and some sweet potato fries. I am seriously having this for lunch tomorrow
what a great post!
Teddy
I'm so glad you posted about the fish sticks. I've wanted to try those for some time now, and just haven't gotten around to it. Now I will make sure I do it.
I've never seen a salmon recipe, but i have seen veggie salmon at a restaurant/veggie grocery store in Toronto called King's Cafe. I didn't try it...it looked SO real!
I cracked up reading this post.. a little wine makes everything easier... :-)
I'll bet this recipe would work well with seitan too..
What a great dinner Carrie! I love how the wine helped make the finicky part easier! LOL!
KleoPatra, these don't taste the same as fish sticks, but they are a good facsimile. If you make it to the Farm Sanctuary tell me all about it. I sounds like an awesome place.
Teddy, did you make them? How were they? And how was your movie?
Megan, I've heard of King's Cafe, but never been there. Are they in Kensington market? It would be worth checking out!
Melody, a new visitor! Thank you for your comment. I'm sure you could use this on seiten. It would be chewier....like veggie calamari!
Dragonslayer, wine makes everything easier. :o) Seriously though, this recipe was super easy.
that made me laugh too. alcohol really can make evertything easier.
i love salmon and talapia. those are my fav fishes. salmon with a creamy dill sauce? Oh god!
another thing i like is seared ahi so i marinated tofu in a soy sauce mixture, pressed it in to freshly ground black pepper and sliced it very thin, seared it and served that with wasabi, soy sauce and ginger. it was phenomenal.
yay for me!
and you!
You could always try freezing your tofu, and then marinating it in oil with a little sea vegetable (I usually use nori) and lemon to give it a stronger sea flavour. You could also smoke the tofu (give it that smoked salmon flava). You could also try beer battering...
There's a restaurant in MTL (Chu Chai) that serves a few mock fish dishes (it's just general fish, no particular species), but it's the texture is flaky and rich. My guess is they get it shipped in from Taiwan, though (fake meat's big business in Taiwain).
I've read of mock salmon recipes, but nothing that would really approximate the taste or texture. :(
i love this post carrie! "Dip, roll, drink. Dip, roll, drink." & that final picture looks delicious ~ you didn't forget anything.
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