“tofish” with morel mushrooms and chestnuts

In a light blood orange sauce

A big thank you to Sam from “It doesn’t taste like chicken” for her ingenious way of tricking tofu into thinking that it’s fish. The method and the marinade are hers. (She uses this to make a fabulous “fish” and chips that you must try!) The rest is me, making a vegetarian version of my Chilean Sea Bass with Morel Mushrooms and Chestnuts in Blood Orange Broth.

You’re going to want to plan ahead for this dish, as the tofu needs to marinate for at least one day, and up to three days.

Note: If blood oranges are out of season, use sweet oranges with a squeeze of lemon.

Ingredients:

For the “tofish”

1 block (420g) firm tofu, drained and pressed

½ cup vegetable broth or water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon white miso paste

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 sheet of nori seaweed (the kind for rolling sushi)

neutral oil, such as avocado, for frying

For the Sauce

As many dried morel mushrooms as you can bear to use.

1 ½ cups no-chicken, or chicken, broth

1 large shallot, minced

1 stick sweet butter (or make it vegan with vegan butter)

1 clove garlic, minced

5 ounces pre-cooked chestnuts, cut in half or quarters, depending upon the size. (The ones in foil packs are fine)

2 tablespoons flour

A sprig or two of fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Optional: a splash of white wine

1 cup blood orange juice

Method:

For the sauce

• Put the dried morels into a small bowl.

• Bring the broth to almost a boil and pour it over the mushrooms. Let them stand for at least 30 minutes. Then drain the mushrooms, preserving the broth.

• Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium saucepan and add the shallots. Add a pinch of salt and sauté the shallots over medium heat until soft and translucent.

• Add the garlic and the chestnuts and sauté for a few more minutes until the chestnuts develop a bit of color. Then add the mushrooms and sauté for another minute or so.

• Sprinkle the flour over and stir for a minute or two, to coat everything evenly and to cook the flour.

• If you’re using the wine, add it now to deglaze the pan and stir until it’s almost evaporated.

• Add the reserved broth and stir until smooth.

• Add the thyme sprigs, the bay leaf, and the blood orange juice. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

• Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the rest of the butter, one small piece at a time. Check your seasonings, then cover the pot and keep the sauce warm until your tofish is ready. Remove the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf before serving.

To prepare the “tofish”

• Press the tofu for thirty minutes or more, to remove as much of the water as possible. Then stand it on end, resting on one of the long sides. Using a thin, sharp blade, slice the tofu down the middle so that you have two thin pieces that are the same length and width as the original. Lay the two pieces out on a cutting board and cut each one into four rectangles, by cutting in half one way and then the other way. You will now have 8 pieces.

• With sharp kitchen scissors, cut 8 pieces of nori to the size and shape of your tofu, and set them aside.

• Now, work with one tofu rectangle at a time. Make diagonal slashes every ¼ inch, down the length of the piece, but be careful not to cut down to the bottom. This will allow the tofu to soak up the marinade and have a flaky fishy texture. *Here’s a trick from Sam: lay a chopstick on either side of your tofu rectangle before you make your slashes. They will stop your knife and prevent you from cutting all the way through.

• Lay the tofu pieces out in a shallow dish that’s just big enough to hold them all, and pour the marinade over the top. Cover the dish and refrigerate it, overnight or even for a couple of days.

• When you’re ready to make the tofish, put some flour on a flat plate. Remove the tofu pieces from the marinade and pat them dry. Then set them down on the floured plate, slashed side down, to dredge it in the flour.

• Give the nori pieces a quick dip into the leftover marinade and shake off the excess. Place a nori piece over the top of each tofu triangle and dust flour over the top. The easiest way is to put some flour in a strainer and just kind of shake it back and forth.

• Heat a generous glug of oil in a non-stick pan. A well-seasoned cast iron works, as well. Make sure your pan and your oil are quite hot before adding the tofu pieces, nori side down. Be careful that the oil doesn’t jump out at you.

• Fry the tofu pieces over medium heat for a few minutes and then carefully turn them over with a thin spatula and fry them for a few minutes on the other side. They should be a nice golden color on both sides. 

To Serve:

I served this with black rice, but green bamboo rice would have been lovely, as well. On each of four plates, I filled a greased ring mold with the rice, packed it down, then inverted it in the center of each plate and removed the ring. Two pieces of tofish topped the rice, nori side up, and I poured the sauce over, making sure to divide the morels and chestnuts evenly among the four plates.

I also roasted some whole baby carrots in orange and honey, and added them to the plate.

Did you make it? Was it fabulous?