Tofu for the Marmalade Lovers + Protein Tips

This is my most favorite tofu lately; it's bright & bitter

Just when I think I’ve exhausted my tofu creativity, along comes a new idea, and this one couldn’t have arrived at a better time. It’s bright with color and flavor — ie, dead-of-winter relief — and also lets an orange express its fullest self.

But first, are you into bitter flavors? I really am. Bitter chicories, bitter coffee, bitter chocolate, I think it’s all exciting, and I like the task of manipulating bitterness with fat, sugar, and/or heat to make it palatable.

Orange marmalade is a good, perhaps extreme, example of this. The peel of an orange is bitter, but cook it down with enough sugar (from the fruit itself, as well as granulated sugar) and the bitter becomes complex, mellow, and sophisticated. Or at least that’s how I taste it.

Marmalade is the “secret” ingredient in this tofu marinade. Combined with miso paste, it makes a light glaze that clings to the tofu and vegetables as they roast in a hot oven. I’m also adding a whole orange to the pan, peel and all, sliced into wispy wedges. I find this helps to amplify the marmalade vibe, but if you aren’t into orange peel, you can either trim it off, or leave the orange out.

Protein Tips for this Recipe