Triple your pleasure, Triple your fun

I have this big binder of recipes. I started it in summer of 2007, right after graduation, when I suddenly had all this time to experiment in the kitchen. I went a little recipe-crazy, taking out tons of cookbooks from the library and photocopying the ones I wanted to try. Of course, quite a few of those original recipes still remain to be attempted.

Today I realized I had tons of salad greens, and will be going out of town for Thanksgiving this week, so I needed to find a use for them. I also had half a package of silken tofu, and other assorted vegetables that needed to be eaten before I leave. I decided to make one of the neglected recipes--Mark Bittman's Triple Sesame Salad--for lunch (in repentance for the junk I'm going to eat later at the football tailgate. Hook 'em horns!)

Here it is...

The Dressing:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
pinch of red pepper flakes

Combine all in blender or food processor and blend away. Easy peasy.

The salad:
1. Cook your protein. I used silken tofu, cut into planks, and pan fried them in a little canola oil. Beware - tofu has a high water content - there will be splashing oil. You should drain the tofu first on paper towels, but if you are using silken as I did, there's only so much you can do. Mark Bittman suggests scallops, and next time I will follow his lead.

This is my tofu-cooking method - cut the tofu into flat "steaks" -
that way you can actually develop some crust on both sides.

2. Arrange your veggies on a plate. Mixed greens + romaine = good. Cucumber = good. Scallions = good. Basil = good. Tomato and mushroom = pretty, but not so good with the dressing.

3. Top with tofu (or scallops) and drizzle with dressing.

In the immortal words of the waitress at Titaya's, my favorite Thai restaurant in Austin, "salad, yummy!"