Vegetarian tofu blanquette

 

The week ahead will be all about France, and its cuisine, starting with this homey, classic French dish – la blanquette. Usually made with veal or chicken, I revisited the recipe to make it vegetarian for Meatless Monday. This tofu blanquette is more a weekend lunch dish as it is quite long to prepare, but it’s worth it!

The quantities in the recipe here are for 2-3 people. It’s ready in 60 minutes or so.

Ingredients

For the tofu

• 300 g block of extra-firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon of dried thyme
• A pinch of ground cayenne pepper

For the vegetables

• 2 ½ cups of water
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into thick slices
• 3 large crimini mushrooms, cut in half, then sliced
• 1 celery stalk, cut into thick slices
• 2 shallots, peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 bay leaf
• ¼ teaspoon of dried thyme
• 1 clove
• ¼ teaspoon of salt (I use Himalayan salt)
• A pinch of black pepper

For the sauce

• 1 tablespoon of plain flour
• ¼ cup of heavy cream or half and half
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Salt
• Black pepper

Preparation

Marinate the tofu: drain the tofu, pat it dry, and cut it into bite-size cubes. Put the tofu into a food container (with a lid), add the olive oil, dried thyme and cayenne pepper. Close and shake the container, and let it marinate.

In the meantime cook the vegetables: in a large saucepan over high heat, bring to a boil 2 ½ cups of water with the carrots, mushrooms, celery, shallot, garlic, bay leaf, dried thyme, clove, salt and pepper. Turn down the heat to medium-high, and simmer covered until the carrots are soft, about 20 minutes. Strain the vegetables through a colander placed above a measuring jug – set aside the vegetable cooking liquid (about 1 ¼ cups remaining, if not top up with water) and the vegetables (but remove and discard the bay leaf).

When the vegetables are ready: in a cooking pot over high heat, sauté stirring often the marinated tofu with the marinade until slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour on the tofu, stir well, cooking 1 minute more. Then add the 1 ¼ cups of vegetable cooking liquid, turn down the heat to medium-low, and simmer stirring constantly for 5 minutes (the sauce is going to thicken). Remove from the heat, and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, whisk with a fork the cream, egg yolk, and lemon juice. Stir in 1 ladle of the tofu sauce, then whisk this mixture back in the cooking pot with the tofu. Add the vegetables, stir to combine, and warm up the blanquette at low temperature until just hot – but not boiling as this will cook the egg. Taste the blanquette, add some pepper, and more salt if needed.

Serve with rice, and eat at once!

Note: I think this dish is at its best when prepared in advance, when it had time to rest. So I prepare it ahead and warm it up covered at low temperature before eating time.