Many years ago, after trying Tofurky for the first and last time, I made this stuffed tofu for Thanksgiving. The kids loved it despite their disdain of mushrooms. Tegan has requested the recipe to make for her friends in Abu Dhabi when they celebrate this American holiday.
The idea comes from the prepared food case at Wegman’s Supermarket. I only saw this mushroom stuffed tofu once but felt confident I could reproduce the recipe at home. It requires some very delicate handling with cutting, stuffing and breading. Take your time.
Mushroom duxelles is comprised of my favorite aromatics: shallot, garlic, and thyme. Olive oil is not in the above photo but I used it 50/50 with butter for both sauteing the duxelles and the breaded tofu. Flavor is not the only benefit of the oil/butter combination for the oil retards the butter burning while cooking over medium heat and browning of the tofu.
Small cracks may appear when stuffing the tofu. Not to worry as long as the stuffing remains contained. The flour will fill in the cracks.
My photos always look more yellow because I use pastured eggs (the hens are pastured, not the eggs!). If you use caged hen’s eggs, the coating will not be as colorful.
There was more than half of the duxelles left after stuffing, so I whipped out a quick gravy. I have both mushroom and vegetable broth in my freezer but was too lazy to defrost it. Was unnecessarily concerned that water would not be flavorful enough, however, the duxelle handled it quite well. A vegetarian gravy will never have the umami of scraping the caramelized turkey fat off of a roasting pan. Oh, well, this will do in a pinch. Of course, if you have some broth, use it for more depth.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, pureed
- 1 pound crimini mushrooms, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 block extra firm tofu
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup dry breadcrumbs or Panko
- Remaining mushroom duxelles
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups water or broth
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until melted. Add shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are cooked through and all liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. The duxelle should be quite dry.
- Cut tofu in half crosswise. Then cut on a diagonal to create 4 pieces.Cut a slit into the tofu along the longer side of the triangle.
- Stuff each triangle with mushroom duxelles. Set aside remaining duxelles for the gravy.
- Place flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs in separate wide bowls.
- Dredge tofu in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, carefully coating each side.
- Place coated tofu on a plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes to set breading.
- Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat, until the oil/butter is shimmering.
- Gently place tofu in oil and cook until browned. Turn and continue to cook all sides until browned.
- Place the remaining duxelles in a large skillet. Make a well in the center and place butter in center. Melt butter and add flour on top. Stir for 2 minutes.
- Add water or broth, salt, and pepper and stir vigorously. Simmer until the gravy is thickened.
XO
Sheila
PS It’s a year since Tegan and Johannes’ wedding in Berlin. Here are some photos from the celebration. It was held at Johannes’ brothers’ Art Deco silent film theater, the Delphi. The theater is featured in Netflix’s Babylon Berlin!
Tegan designed her dress and it was the hardest thing I ever had to sew. The top part was made of bugle beads strung on a shear fabric ($210 a yard! – but we only needed a 1/2 yard) so I couldn’t make darts to mold the top to her body. Add in the plunging sides and front and basically it was a memory wire around the collar that held the whole thing together. The photos don’t do the bugle beads justice. When she entered the theater the lights exploded from each bead.
