Hello! Mia here, filling in for Emily Weinstein today. I’m delighted to be here in Five Weeknight Dishesland — I’m usually hanging out in the Cooking newsletter with Melissa Clark and Sam Sifton — to talk about my new favorite thing.
I first found tofu cream — a pourable sauce made from blended tofu, miso and garlic — in Hetty Lui McKinnon’s 2023 cookbook, “Tenderheart.” Her sauce coats a mix of chewy udon noodles and sautéed mushrooms and leeks, creating a lip-licking pasta that’s filling without feeling heavy. In her creamy vegan tofu noodles (below), the tofu cream is punched up with five-spice powder, tossed with wheat noodles, then drizzled with soy sauce, black vinegar and my forever favorite thing, chile crisp. As Hetty notes, this 20-minute dish will win over everyone, vegan or no. (Case in point: I’m not vegan.)
Tofu cream, I’ve found, works with any type of tofu: Add more water if your tofu is very firm, less or none if you have soft or silken tofu. Toss in some nutritional yeast, fresh herbs, onion powder, more garlic. Make it on the thicker side as a dip for veggies; thin it out to dress salads and grain bowls. But definitely, absolutely make tofu cream noodles.
1. Creamy Vegan Tofu Noodles
I know the word “vegan” is shaking off years of bad P.R., but please know that I made this recipe once and then proceeded to make it three more times in the following week.
2. Chicken Fajitas
Every once in a while, I just really want chicken fajitas for dinner. (Perhaps the result of a childhood obsession with the El Machino tortilla robot.) Ali Slagle’s recipe smartly roasts everything on a sheet pan, flipping on the broiler for a few minutes at the end to give the lime-adobo-marinated chicken, bell pepper and onions just enough char. Don’t forget the flour tortillas.
