Vine and Dine – Cuban pan seared tofu with onions and mojo

I have been eating other food since the last Vine and Dine, honest, but I’ve also been away a bit, so it’s straight into another wine matching post.I didn’t even get time to join in with Food Network Friday 😦

The dish we chose this time was much harder to match with wine; we wanted to give the boys a challenge! Horizons again provided both the main element, the cuban pan seared tofu, and the side dish, caramelised cauliflower in spanish green garlic sauce. I also served some brown rice with parsley alongside as the thought of a meal without a carb gives Matthew the creeps.

The meal was very easy to make for such a high end result. The spice mix and the method for cooking the tofu resulted in a fabulous juicy tasty tofu and the mojo sauce was sharp yet rich and decadent. The garlicky cauliflower was a brilliant accompaniment and the rice mopped up all the rich juices. I enjoyed leftovers of just the rice and cauliflower on their own; they were that good. Matthew said that it rates with the best tofu he has ever had – and we have eaten a lot of tofu both at home and in restaurants, so that’s high praise. There’s lots of the spice mix left, so I’ll definitely be making it again. This time, I didn’t make many changes, the only one was to reduce the garlic in the cauliflower a bit. It’s a fabulous method for cauliflower as it was tender but not mushy, and you could alter the sauce to fit the rest of the dish.

We both loved this meal. Here’s what Matthew had to say about the wine:

The flavour that was worrying me most in choosing a wine to match the Cuban tofu was the lime,  so on the principle of matching like with like, I figured that a more acidic wine like a young Bordeaux or South of France red would work. What I hadn’t accounted for was the power of the rest of the dish, with very prominent spicy heat. The wine that we chose with it was a 2008 VDP d’Oc Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon Domaine de Brau, from Languedoc-Roussillon, vegan and organic, which retails for an amazingly generous £6.95 at those lovely Vintage Roots people. It’s a beautiful wine, dark, sweet-hearted and super ripe, with all of the delicious wild herbiness that comes from a lot of wine from that part of France, and with scrumptious menthol overtones from the Cabernet Sauvignon. We thought it was almost big enough for the dish, although if we had realised beforehand how powerful the spicy flavours would be, and how much the lime was just a back note, I think I’d have chosen something even more powerful and a bit more mature, possibly from the Southern Rhone, maybe Vacqueyras?

I’d love to stay with Horizons for more Wine and Dine, but next time we’re moving on to two recipes from The Conscious Cook so stay tuned to see the food and wine matches, and don’t forget to check what Tami and Jim thought of the dish and drank with it over at Vegan Appetite.

 

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