So apparently I have become the kind of person who cooks nut-crusted tofu and serves it with quinoa. Well, I’m alright with that because this evening’s dinner tasted amazing.

This was another recipe from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook. It’s not the kind of thing I normally cook, but I thought I’d give it a try. It was very straightforward. I’m not going to reproduce the entire recipe here (copyright and all that – buy the book!), but essentially it involved making a crumb from pistachios, breadcrumbs (I used Ryvita instead), and a few other bits such as lemon zest, garlic and tarragon.

I used Tofoo brand Tofu (this has become a favourite), and spread it with a mixture of Dijon mustard and lemon juice before coating it in the crumb mixture and baking it in the oven.

I had never cooked quinoa before, and had no idea how what it was like or what to do with it, but we had some in the cupboard so I thought I would give it a try. Plus, I thought I needed to see what the fuss was about. I soaked it, rinsed it and then boiled it in some vegetable stock for 20 minutes before letting it stand for 10 minutes (basically what it said on the back of the packet). Some steamed sugar snap peas completed the meal.

The verdict
Seriously good. For a relatively quick meal, this was something special. The nut-crust had a wonderful nutty and zesty flavour and complimented the tofu really well. The lemon flavour and the texture of the tofu reminded me of white fish or calamari. The quinoa went well as an accompaniment; it was a good experiment and I’ll be making it again. In fact, I’m sure I’ll make this whole meal again; it would work well for entertaining and I can imagine it would be really good with a glass of white wine.