Holiday Ham'fu Roast and Lemony Asparagus

I had no idea what I was making with potato "eggs" and my Lemony Asparagus for Easter until I was cooking them today! Then, a question...would it work to roast a whole block of tofu like a ham...with a smoky, pineappley glaze?  Oh yes! Yes, it works, and yes, it's delicious!  Here's the recipe, guys and I have to say, it was really good and has a very fun presentation.  I'd make one roast per every two hungry guests.  You can do a bunch of them in a big roasting pan, no problem. Double, triple, or quadruple the recipe below and just use a big enough roasting pan for however many roasts you require.   

Holiday Ham'fu Roast!

Holiday Ham‘fu Roast 

This makes one ‘fu roast.  Double, triple, etc. as needed!

Ingredients:

½ cup pineapple juice (basically all the juice from a can of pineapple slices)

2 T. Tamari

2 T. Vinegar (I used Rice Vinegar)

2 T. Packed Brown Sugar

1 T. Texas Pete Hot Sauce

Dash of liquid smoke or a good sprinkle of smoked paprika, smoked salt, or whatever “smoky” ingredient you like.

1 T. Nutritional Yeast

1 tsp. Breakfast Sausage Seasoning (Penzeys)

Sprinkle of Onion powder (I would have put more but it was an afterthought).

One block of extra firm tofu, drained and “lightly” pressed*

*You don’t want to press the heck out of this or your presentation and roast will suffer, about 20 minutes should do it (I use a TofuXPress).

A few pineapple slices

Method:

First, make some marinade holes! Using a metal skewer, poke holes through the center of the tofu, all the way through, to produce two parallel rows of holes along either the length or width of the tofu (doesn’t matter) .  See photo.  Twist your skewer so that it expands the holes a bit.  If you’ve got a flavor injector, you can just inject the marinade instead of making these holes.  I couldn’t find mine!

Keep making the holes all the way across, about every centimeter or so.  

Then, make another row about a centimeter below that one. 

Now, score the tofu as you would a ham, cutting almost to the bottom of the ‘fu (but not through it!) to create spaces for the marinade to really get into the ‘fu!  

If you look closely, you can see the two rows of marinade holes here, too.

Carefully transfer the scored tofu roast to its marinating container.  I used the TofuXPress for this, too, as it is the perfect shape to allow the marinade to get all the way up and into the loaf.  Cover with the marinade.  Marinate for an hour or up to overnight.

Of course, you can always just slice your ‘fu however you like and marinate and bake the slices! 

Top your roast with a pineapple slice! Bake your Ham'fu roast at 375 for about 45-60 minutes, basting every 15 minutes or so.  Some of the marinade will get absorbed by the ‘fu and the remaining marinade will thicken up into a nice glazy sauce.  When the ‘fu is roasty and has nice brown edges, and the sauce is reduced by about half or more, your ‘fu is done!

This roast is almost done!

Serve with the reduced glaze sauce, potato “eggs” (or just some mashed potatoes!) and Lemony Asparagus.  I modified Joni Marie’s Potato Mochi recipe from her new vegan fusion book, then shaped them like eggs before sautéing.  Super yum!

This was deeelish!

Lemony Asparagus is just fresh asparagus spears sautéed for about 12 minutes over medium heat (in a cast iron pan) in some olive oil and rosemary salt.  The juice of one organic lemon is added at the end to steam the asparagus a bit.  Cover your pan for the last minute or two after adding the juice.  Serve with more salt, pepper and organic lemon zest.  You can roast the asparagus in the oven, too, if you want.  It takes about 25 minutes if you put it in with the ‘fu, just drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and lemon juice.

Quick pics of Lemony Asparagus:

 Just hit the pan, almost raw.

 After about five minutes or so, it's taken on that gorgeous bright green color!  

And after the full 12 minutes, here they are, fully adorned with lemon zest and rosemary salt:

Lemony Asparagus

Hope you all had a wonderful day!  Happy Spring!