Tofu Florentine

While I haven't been a vegetarian my whole life, and was raised a meat eater (though I use that term lightly, as I tried my best to never have to actually eat meat as a child), I have almost never eaten straight eggs. I don't mind them when they're hidden away in baked goods, but I always hated eggs on their own. The sulfur smell they gave off when my parents would scramble them used to make me cry. I recall on one occasion my parents forced me to take a bite, and I hated it's squishy, slimy, spongy texture. From that day on, I never let that mistake happen again. Though over the years i've tried to get brave,  and i've nibbled on friends scrambled eggs or omlettes from time to time, I still just can't get into eggs. Which I'm okay with. Because who needs eggs when you have tofu?!
I've been a lover of tofu scramble for a long time. But i've never tried another tofu'd take on an egg dish (eggs florentine and/or benedict) until this fall. The recipe I used then advised to use some vegenaise with spices added to it for the hollandaise sauce; traditionally made with eggs and butter. While I loved the lightly spiced tofu on a crisp english muffin with spinach and tomatoes, I thought the sauce that consisted purely of vegenaise weird and didn't get why this was a dish worth veganizing.

Today I tried a different recipe. Now I understand.
While I haven't ever had real benedict, and have most certainly never had the desire to, I don't ever need to worry about trying the egg version because this recipe is too good to question!


I slightly adapted this recipe from "Being Vegan and Getting Away With It".



Tofu Florentine:

for the tofu:
3 slices extra firm tofu, drained
splash of soy sauce & rice vinegar

sprinkle the soy sauce and vinegar on to each side of the tofu. fry on medium heat until browned. set aside.

for the sauce:
3 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup soy milk
1 tsp curry powder blend (or plain tumeric, curry mix was all I had)
1 tbsp dijion mustard
2 tsp mrs. dash garlic seasoning
dash of salt & pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp parmesean cheese (use nutritional yeast to make this vegan. I didn't have any on hand so i used parm.)
1 tbsp mayo substitute (use vegenaise to make it vegan! I am out and only have mayo in my fridge.)

Heat the margarine in a small pot over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk constantly. Heat for 1 min. Add the soymilk slowly, whisking constantly. Add the spices, mustard, lemon juice, parmeasean, and mayo. Whisk until incorporated.



Now all you have to do to serve is layer a toasted english muffin with slices of tomato, some sautee'd spinach (I sadly did not have any on hand) and then layer on the tofu, then drizzle with sauce.
Sooo good.