Good morning. I may hawk recipes in this space, but I don’t always use them. That’s especially true in the middle of the week when I’m ground down by the realities of a working life and don’t have a moment to browse our app. Time sneaks up on me, and suddenly it occurs to me that dinner needs to be made.
What’s in the fridge? I browse the shelves as if I were shopping in a not particularly well-stocked store, and then wait for the muse to alight on my shoulder. Recently that led to a dinner of bulgogi-style tofu (above). It was a no-recipe recipe, which meant I cooked it on the fly, as you might do tonight.
The process is simple: Wrap a block of firm tofu in a clean dish towel and set it on a rimmed plate with something heavy on top to press water out of it. Make a marinade: soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, minced garlic, grated ginger, a spoonful of gochujang, a splash of neutral oil, some sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds. Then cut the tofu into cubes and add those to the marinade. Let that sit for 30 minutes or longer if you have the time. Roast the cubes on an oiled foil-lined pan in a hot oven until they’re crisp.
And then serve them with bibb lettuce cups to make little packages with rice, kimchi and a dipping sauce of ssamjang and a little bit more gochujang thinned out with neutral oil and a splash of sherry vinegar. Omit any ingredient you don’t have, and add those you wish to add for reasons of taste or necessity.
