Marry me tofu
Golden seared tofu in the famous creamy sun-dried tomato and parmesan sauce with spinach and garlic, with crusty bread for dragging through every bit.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $4.08 a serving
- 820 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 package extra-firm tofu, drained
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed, chopped
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 4 slices French bread
- 2 tbsp fresh basil, torn (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 820 calories, 38 g protein, 46 g carbs and 56 g fat, and costs about $4.08 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No extra-firm tofu? Firm tofu works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No baby spinach? Kale or arugula works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Wrap the tofu in a clean towel and press it under something heavy for 15 minutes.
Timer: 15 min
Cut the tofu into 1-inch and with the cornstarch and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heat
Cook the tofu, turning every few minutes, until on most sides, about 10 minutes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 10 min
Food safety: Tofu is safe to eat straight from the package; cooking is only for texture and flavor.
Move it to a plate.
to medium and add the rest of the oil, the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes. Stir 1 minute, .
Reduce the heat. It means turning the burner down, usually to medium-low or low, so food cooks gently instead of hard. Electric burners cool slowly, so lift the pan off for a moment if it’s bubbling hard.
How you’ll know: Within a minute the bubbling calms to a gentle simmer, or the sizzle turns quiet.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Pour in the broth and 2 minutes, scraping up any from the bottom of the pan.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Stir in the cream and parmesan and 2 to 3 minutes, until the sauce enough to coat a spoon.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Keep it at a gentle bubble. A hard boil can make a cream sauce split.Add the spinach and stir about 1 minute, until .
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Return the tofu and turn it in the sauce to coat. Taste and add the rest of the salt if it needs it.
Scatter the basil on top and serve with the bread for the sauce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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