Green beans, blanched in boiling salted water for five minutes, deserve a place on every salad plate. Add some baked tofu, a snazzy dressing, and you have a salad that's a meal in itself. Best of all, it's ready to eat in the time it would take you to order pizza.
I added the tomatoes for color, since that's all raw tomatoes are good for, but you may eat them if you don't share my low opinion of tomatoes.
You may have to fight your family for the last bean, though.
Directions below:
Green Bean Salad with Toasted Pecans and Tofu
½ lb (250 kg) smoked or plain firm tofu, sliced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ lb green beans, trimmed
mixed salad leaves
½ cup pecans, toasted
4 or 5 cherry tomatoes, optional
Dressing:
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons walnut oil or olive oil
Squeeze out the excess water in the tofu by pressing it gently between the folds of a tea towel. Mix the soy sauce, maple syrup, and red wine vinegar to make a marinade. Place the marinade and tofu in a dish and marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour, turning the tofu halfway through to soak up the marinade. Place the tofu on a baking pan sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 20 minutes at 350F/180C.
Blanch the green beans in salted boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Make the dressing: Whiz the mustard and vinegar in a small food processor or with a whisk. Slowly add oil and whiz until thoroughly combined.
Line a dish with salad greens, and top with green beans, pecans, tofu and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle the dressing over the top.
Notes on ingredients: I used beech-smoked tofu, but you can get the taste of smoked tofu by adding a small—very small—amount of Liquid Smoke to the marinade. A few drops is sufficient. Use water-packed Chinese-style tofu, found in the produce section of many U.S. markets or the refrigerated section of British markets (such as Cauldron brand).
