Tofu Parmigiana

My mother is a vegan and in the 70’s the tasty vegan options we can find in grocery stores just weren't out there. Slimy fried tofu still in a pool of olive oil wasn’t very appealing. Also well, mother wasn’t much of a cook. Let’s just put that out there. She was a “modern hip college class taking animal loving career making gal” and nobody was going to find her slaving over a hot stove. Then I came along and what do I spend most of my time doing? A whole lot of slaving over a hot stove. One large step for feminism and then two steps back. Sorry mom. Anyway animal agriculture is a wasteful way of producing food, because feeding farm animals uses water, land and fertilizer that could be used to directly produce human food. Animal waste is also the main cause of pollution in rivers and groundwater. For that reason and the fact I’d never eat my dog and really once I looked at the dog and the cow, I decided that eating mammals just wasn’t going to work for me. So at 7 I gave up red meat. We do eat chicken and fish but I’m trying to decrease the amount of that we do eat simply because of the impact on the earth. So tonight fro dinner here’s to good ole’ tofu!

Tofu Parmigiana

• plain dry breadcrumbs ( I make mine from whole wheat bread “ends”)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 14-ounce package firm or extra-firm water-packed tofu, rinsed
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 ounces white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup marinara sauce (prepared if you’re in a pinch)
• 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Preparation

1. Combine breadcrumbs and Italian seasoning in a shallow dish. Cut tofu lengthwise into 4  pieces (“steaks”) and pat dry. Sprinkle both sides of the tofu with garlic powder and salt and then dredge in the breadcrumb mixture.
2. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until beginning to brown, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until they release their juices and begin to brown, 4 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the tofu “steaks” and cook until browned on one side, about 3 minutes. Flip over and sprinkle with Parmesan. Spoon the mushroom mixture over the tofu, pour marinara over the mushrooms and sprinkle mozzarella on top. Cover and cook until the sauce is hot and the cheese is melted, about 3 minutes. Scatter with basil and serve.