There is a muscle memory to cooking as much as to dance, the other physical activity that took up most of my time as a child. My mom would pick me up from dance rehearsal, tow me home, and we would begin our own kind of kitchen choreography, slicing, measuring, tossing, whipping. The recipes entered my mind, my blood, my bones. The choreography of cooking is its own art.
Today’s addition to the Kale & Caramel vegetarian Thanksgiving feast menu is a main course my mom taught me to make, simply through time spent leaning over the kitchen counter with her. It’s one of those recipes I never needed to measure (until now) because the muscle memory of it is in my bones.Let me be clear: Though this is my mother’s tofu, this is not your mama’s tofu. It’s dipped in olive oil and tamari (wheat-free soy sauce), and coated with a breading of nutritional yeast, dried herbs, and cornmeal. It’s what every tofu dreams of becoming for Thanksgiving. And it’s paired here with a shiitake mushroom gravy that is completely life changing. A healing balm of a gravy—something we all need in the wake of this week’s tragic events.
I can truly mark two eras of my life: The one BSMG (Before Shiitake Mushroom Gravy) and the one ASMG. And all holidays that came before this insanely delicious, nourishing, psychoemotionally healing vegan gravy truly pale in comparison. I wish I could say it were my recipe, but it comes from a wonderful yoga teacher on Maui named Jennifer Lynn. It’s got the incredible umami of caramelized onions and garlic, mixed with the gentle gaminess of fungi and an incredible bouquet of fresh sage, rosemary, oregano, and thyme leaves. Plus the creamy love of cashews. Don’t be scared. Vegan gravy is here to change your life, too.
But back to the dance: Can I tell you a secret? I was diagnosed with congenital bunions as a very young babe, and after one podiatrist told my parents I’d have to wear leg braces and could never run, they left his office and took me to another physician who recommended I start dancing to strengthen the bones in my feet. I started ballet around age 4 (DO NOT LET YEARS STUDIED IMPLY BALLERINA SKILL), and continued on to jazz and modern dance as a middle school and high schooler. My time with my high school’s dance company was enriching and insane and FUN and deeply formative—I now have a secret love for applying wild amounts of make up and breaking into impromptu dances. And I adore spandex.
But more importantly, all of this bred in me a crazy obsession with So You Think You Can Dance (in its early years). I used to watch it with my parents and cry at every Sonya Tayeh leg flick, every Mia Michaels romantic gesture, every Travis Wall moment of drama. So this week, when I had the opportunity to go to a friend’s son’s ballroom dance competition, I leapt at the chance.
Never have I been in a room full of so much youthful and enthusiastic screeching. The decibel level was off the charts, and it only escalated as the competition rumba’d on. The best part? WE WON!!! I cannot explain to you how thrilled I was to be in that gymnasium in the middle of Koreatown—how deeply I did not want to leave. My future child better be into dance. (Jk, I’ll accept them however they come. But mostly if they’re into dance.)
At home, though, I knew there would be other kinds of choreography. And gravy. There would be gravy to soothe our tragedy-steeped minds and hearts.
Stay tuned for the other incredible dishes in our Kale & Caramel vegetarian Thanksgiving feast!
HERB CRUSTED TOFU WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOM GRAVY
Ingredients
herb crusted tofu (serves 4, so double if matching the gravy proportions)
- 1 block extra firm tofu (16 ounces)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons tamari gluten-free soy sauce
- 1 cup nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup corn meal
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried onion
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 ¼ teaspoon sea salt
shiitake mushroom gravy (adapted from a recipe by Jennifer Lynn, serves 8)
- 2 medium yellow onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- ½ cup olive oil
- 12 med. shiitake mushrooms sliced
- ¼ cup fresh rosemary leaves
- ¼ cup fresh sage leaves
- ¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- ¾ cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 2 tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water more as needed to reach desired consistency
Instructions
for the tofu
- Preheat oven to 425º. Get out one large (about 15"x10") glass casserole dish.
- Drain tofu and slice into 1/3" thick slabs as pictured. Set aside.
- In a large, shallow bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 ½ tablespoons tamari. In another shallow bowl, mix nutritional yeast, corn meal, sea salt, and all spices. Combine thoroughly, using your fingers to break up some of the herbs.
- Immerse the tofu in the olive oil-tamari mixture, coating on all sides and making sure tamari clings to tofu as much as the olive oil does. Then dip tofu slab in the herb mixture, and coat all sides. Flip a few times to ensure even coating. Place directly on glass casserole dish. Repeat, leaving about ½" between slabs as you lay them down.
- Bake 20-30 minutes, until the breading is golden brown and a bit puffy.
for the gravy
- Combine onions, garlic, and olive oil in a large frying pan and sauté over medium flame until onions are tender and bordering translucent, stirring frequently, at least 10 minutes.
- When onions are translucent, add the fresh herbs and the mushrooms. Stir to incorporate with the onion mixture, and allow to cook another five minutes.
- Add cashews and give them a few minutes in the pan to marry flavors. When everything is soft, remove from heat and transfer mixture from the pan into a Vitamix or blender.
- Add tamari, Braggs, and water to taste, then blend to incorporate. It may look thinner than you expect, but it will thicken as it cools. Adjust saltiness as desired with tamari and Braggs.
- Serve with any main and side dishes—incredible with all veggies, potatoes, and anything else you can imagine slathering with gravy.
