tofu burgers

We first tasted these tofu burgers at Emily and Eamon's one night and I was totally surprised at how delicious they are. Since we have taken over Mim and Tom's place in the neighborhood tofu collective for a while, we've had to get a bit more imaginative with using tofu. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of tofu but these are great. Especially made with beautiful fresh tofu. The recipe comes from an article in the epicure section of The Age a while back.

I've made a few changes, just using things that are more common in our household and reduced the quantity. I also think that they hold together a bit better if you put an egg in them, but they are totally fine without an egg. As Gerard says, they really don't need an egg nutritionally. Serve with bread, salad and sweet chilli sauce. Or with greens, grilled eggplant and mushrooms. They are very filling. And pretty nice the next day, cold for lunch too.

Ingredients

about 350g of firm tofu, patted dry
1 egg (very optional)
1 sheet of nori, shredded finely with scissors
a small onion, diced
1/2 a cup of breadcrumbs
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp neutral oil for frying (we use grapeseed)

To make

• Put half the tofu, the shredded nori, the diced onion, egg (if using), sesame seeds, tamari or soy sauce and sesame oil into a blender or bamix container and process until the tofu is fairly smooth.
  
• Crumble the rest of the tofu into a bowl and mix with the breadcrumbs and processed mixture.
  
• Shape into nice flat burger shapes with your hands.
  
• Allow to sit for about ten minutes before cooking so they firm up a bit.
  
• Fry in a little bit of oil and turn when they have a crisp outer. It's best not to crowd them as they can be a bit delicate while cooking, especially if you don't use the egg. They can also be barbecued.

Beetroot Risotto

I'm starting to get the hang of growing beetroot and this how most of it is used. It's not really what I'd call a proper risotto, made with stock and constant stirring, rather it's the sort of dish you can knock up the night before shopping day and fold some washing (or go on the internet) while it's cooking*. And it will be good.

It contains a small amount of chilli, not so much that it tastes hot, just enough to lift the flavour a little. I also tend to use cooking sherry (Mildara Chestnut Teal) rather than red wine**, because that's normally what I have on hand and it seems to work pretty well. Red wine gives a better colour, but I think the sherry gives a better flavour. If you were cooking this for children, you could leave out the alcohol(which cooks out anyway) and the chilli but it wouldn't taste nearly as good. If I'm light handed with the chilli, Grace likes this dish and there's an amusing photo of her somewhere covered in it.

You will need
a large onion
several cloves of garlic
about half a small chilli (depending on strength, we're going for buzz not fire here)
a big handful of aborio rice per person ( I use 3 handfuls for the two of us and a Grace meal the next day)
a 400g tin of crushed tomatoes
2 medium sized beetroot (the leaves too, if nice and fresh) peeled and cubed into chunky bite sized peces
a good slosh of cooking sherry or red wine
olive oil and butter
a good handful of mint leaves
paremesan cheese for serving

To make
Dice the onion, garlic and chilli and saute gently for two minutes in a tablespoon of olive oil and about the same of butter. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. When the onions are translucent, add the rice and cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. The rice should take up all the oil and look pearly. Add the slosh of sherry or wine and let it all bubble up. Stir well.

Add the beetroot cubes and stir. Add the tinned tomatoes and stir. Add about a tomato can and a half of water and stir well. Cover and adjust the heat so that it just simmers. Return in fifteen minutes, remove the lid, have a stir. The rice should be nearly cooked and the beetroot done. Cook a little longer if necessary. Stir to remove any excess liquid. Add the beetroot leaves if using, and the chopped mint.

Serve with shaved parmesan.

*I cook this dish in my heavy Le Creuset frypan that I've had for more than twenty years, that I cook nearly everything in. It's a very forgiving pan and it occurs to me that the cookware might have something to do with being able to leave it simmering.
**Once I made this with Port and thinking that I was using red wine, used quite a bit. The resulting rissotto was delicious and i think the extra sweetness in the port made up for the woody end of summer beetroot.

Herb pesto

This pesto uses easily grown herbs from the garden and nuts such as almond and/or walnuts. We think it is just as nice as basil pesto with pinenuts. And you don't have to wait until summer. I use a bamix hand held blender in a two litre honey bucket to make this and usually have a lot left over for lunches. It keeps better than basil pesto too. Proportion is the key. The bulk of the herbage should be a mild herb such as parsley with accents of stronger herbs such as sage and rosemary. If you don't eat cheese, leave it out, it will still be nice.

I serve it on pasta with sauted mushroom and diced fresh tomato or capsicum. It is quite rich so a little goes a long way.

You will need

three cups of parsley
some or all of these herbs; thyme, sage, rosemary, marjoram, oregano
two small cloves of garlic
about 60g grated parmesan
about quarter of a cup olive oil
about half a cup of almonds and/or walnuts
salt

To make

Wash and de-stalk herbs. Place in bucket with chopped garlic and other ingredients. Process with bamix or food processor until it is a coarse paste. Taste and adjust salt.

Serve about a tablespoon per person over pasta. Add other bits like diced tomato or sauted mushrooms, if you like. Also nice with gnocci or on toast