two twists on good ole tofu florentine

Tada! My Tofu Florentine!
I can't even believe I made this.
The sauce was delicious.

Tofu Florentine? I know, I had no idea what this was either when I was browsing a British Vegan blog named Vegan & Demanding. I have never had Eggs Benedict (traditionally an English muffin topped with ham or bacon, a poached egg, and Hollandaise sauce), nor Eggs Florentine (which apparently substitutes spinach for the ham). So I thought, well, I don't really miss it like the author of this recipe does, so I may as well modify it. And that is where it all began last Friday when I printed out the recipe and imagined how the Indian coriander chutney we bought in the giant size bottle at Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights would go great with the lemony soy milk Hollandaise sauce.

On Monday, cooking day, I Googled the recipe again to prepare my shopping list and couldn't find it at all, but found oodles of other vegan Hollandaise Sauce recipes instead -- one of which added mustard for color (and taste) instead of turmeric -- and I thought, hey, I love that idea, because again I am not trying to simulate the real thing here, but rather trying to make a packed-with-taste dish. I like packed-with-taste. I also substituted the toast and opted for kasha (a Russian buckwheat fluffy grain) instead. I thought it would soak up the sauce nicely, and it did.

Here is my recipe below, with many many thanks to Vegan & Demanding, a blog I now love. Here is her recipe for your reference. And her sauce.

Vegan Hollandaise sauce

makes enough for 2 dinners plus 2 lunches (haha)

1 1/4 cup unflavored unsweetened soy milk
dash of avocado oil or extra virgin olive oil
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
dijon mustard (to taste; I like a lot)

Whisk together in a saucepan over medium flame until it bubbles around the edges of the pot. Turn off, let stand and thicken a bit. Heat up right before you're going to serve it.

The rest of it

Tofu (see portioning on tofu package and then decide how much you want to eat)
Kasha (I made one rice-cooker-cup's worth in the rice cooker)
1 box of baby spinach
1 box of baby bella mushrooms
1 onion (I used a red onion)
2 T coriander chutney

Fundamental Order of Operations

First I sliced the tofu into 6-1" thick "mini steaks," boiled them, then pressed all the water out. Then I marinated them in the Indian coriander chutney and let them do their thing.

Then I made the Hollandaise sauce, and let it stand.

Next I made the kasha in the rice cooker. Easy. No stirring required.

After that I sauteed onions, added the sliced mushrooms until browned, and lastly added the spinach, put a lid on the pot to steam, an voilà!, done and delicious.

Then I grilled the marinated tofu on the good ole George Foreman grill for 8 minutes. (a dry pan will also be fine) and reheated the sauce.

To assemble, first kasha, then mushroom/spinach mixture on top (if there are any juices, that's fine, b/c the kasha will soak it up) , then tofu, then sauce. Then eat! It is magical with the lemony-mustardy sauce and the coriandery tofu in contrast to the more earthy kasha and mushrooms. So delicious. Hope you enjoy.