Greek Salad

There is something about the combination of olives, onion, feta, and lemon that make this salad my personal favorite. A greek salad from Pappadeux is the next best thing to making my own. A traditional greek salad has parsley and bell peppers instead of the lettuce, in my version it's lettuce and no peppers.

-Romaine or Green Leafy Lettuce

-Red onion, chopped into rings

-Kalamata olives

-Crumbled feta cheese

-Sliced cucumber

-Roma tomato, cut into

-Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Dressing:

Olive oil, 1 part

Red wine vinegar, 2 parts

Freshly ground pepper

Dried oregano (optional)

If you don't want to make your own dressing, this is the brand I recommend: Cardini's Light Greek Vinaigrette

Tofu "Chicken" Nuggets

My apologies for the blur.

1 block firm or extra firm tofu, pressed

Peanut oil or Canola oil (enough to coat the bottom of the frying pan)

1/3 cup plain, unsweetened soymilk

2 Tbsp mustard

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried parsley

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp freshly milled black pepper

1 tbsp cornstarch

¾ cup bread crumbs (Panko are nice, but you can make your own as well)

Prepare your tofu by cutting it into 1 ½ by 3 inch slices about ½ inch thick. Wrap in a clean dishtowel and press gently to remove excess moisture. Place the tofu into a zip lock bag and put in the freezer for at least two hours. To thaw leave in the zip lock bag, making certain the bag is sealed, and run cold water over it until the original color returns. (Frozen tofu becomes a darker yellow color) Once it is thawed, remove tofu from zip lock bag and wrap in a clean dish towel to absorb excess moisture.

*You may skip this step, but I do not recommend it because frozen and thawed tofu will take on a meatier texture. You still must remove excess moisture from the tofu no matter what.

1. Cut the tofu into small pieces, approximately 1 inch square pieces. You do not want the nuggets to be too big because you want them to cook quickly and evenly so the tofu does not soak up too much of the frying oil.

2. Wisk together milk, mustard, cornstarch and spices until smooth in a wide bowl. Spread the breadcrumbs out on a plate and set the two side by side.

3. Put the oil in your frying pan and heat it over medium heat. It should become hot enough that anything that falls in it will sizzle.

4. Coat each piece of tofu with the mustard mixture, then coat with the breadcrumbs. Once all pieces are coated, place them in the frying pan and fry each side until golden brown.  Drain on a paper towel and serve immediately.

Frying in Action.