Broiled Blackened Tofu with Caesar Chavez Dressing

Doesn't that look good?

For last night's dinner, I made some Broiled Blackened Tofu and Caesar Chavez Dressing from Appetite for Reduction. Now, the dressing, I love. I don't just mean love, I mean luuuuuuuuuurve this dressing. I told my hubby I could take a bath in this dressing. I've made it several times, and it is always fabulous. The tofu, on the other hand, was another thing.

My reaction was (verbatim): "Ugh. I hate when tofu tastes like tofu."

Don't you?

Tofu shouldn't taste like tofu. Tofu, right out of the container, tastes gross. It's got a weird texture and unpleasant flavor. However, if you treat your tofu right (by pressing it, marinating it, and the baking/frying/otherwise cooking it), tofu is pretty awesome. I don't know about you, but I prefer my tofu to be awesome.

I hate to say it, but as much as I luuuuurve AFR, I did not luuuuuurve this tofu recipe.

The tofu is simply sliced, dipped in soy sauce/olive oil, dredged in blackening seasonings, and broiled for 12 minutes. That's it - no pressing, no marinating. I did press my tofu anyway, just because it makes the texture much better. But without any kind of marinade, there was no way of infusing flavor into the tofu. And that left me with unawesome, tofu-y tofu. Blech.

It did look pretty coming out of the oven. Some pieces definitely had more of the blackening seasoning than others, but they all were seasoned. Unfortunately, the inside was still soft and TOFU-Y!!

I sliced up the tofu and put it on top of some raw baby spinach, chopped cucumbers, and steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, haricot verts, green peas). I drizzled the dish with plenty of the Caesar Chavez dressing, which was the best thing about the dish, unfortunately.

So I was kinda bummed that this dish didn't turn out so well. I think I'll stick with marinated and baked tofu from now on.