Maggie's Grilled Tofu

It's summer. I love summer for a number of reasons: Shana loves summer, the world is full of beautiful colors, and the foods planted in the spring are ripening like magic. Our CSA is in full swing, so we are reaping the bounty of summer foods. This week, we got green beans, a head of lettuce, two cucumbers, a zucchini, fingerling potatoes, onions, garlic, and two kinds of tomatoes.

Here's the problem. I hate humidity paired with any temp much above 70, which pretty much captures midwestern summers perfectly. For me, what ends up happening is that I don't want to eat or cook anything. Combining this tendency with our travels, we haven't eaten anything new or noteworthy in weeks. Feeling ready for something new, tonight's dinner on our weekly meal plan simply said "new." Such dinners work well when I plan what I'd like to cook early in the week, but I neglected to do that this week. Luckily, my lack of planning led to a thrown-together dinner highlighting summer's bounty. We had a simple green salad (CSA lettuce, carrots, celery, and cucumber, with peppers and toasted almonds) with vegan ranch dressing, CSA green beans, sweet corn from another local farm (which we grilled to perfection), and grilled tofu (which is simple enough that I feel silly calling it a recipe). Altogether, this dinner was amazing and the quintessential vegan summer meal.

Maggie's Grilled Tofu
Ingredients
1 block tofu
1/2 recipe all-purpose marinade

Directions
1. Gently press the tofu to rid it of some water and then cut it into 1/2 inch slabs.
2. Marinate the tofu in the all-purpose marinade for at least 20 minutes, but longer is always better.
3. Preheat the grill. Once hot, turn the heat down to low.
4. Put the tofu on the grill. Grill for 5-8 minutes and then flip, grilling for another 5-8 minutes.

Helpful Hints

• If you press more water out of the tofu, more of the marinade will be absorbed. Speaking of the marination process, I've found that a disposable loaf pan, slightly folded, makes a perfect marinating tofu holder. 

• Tofu cooks very quickly on the grill, so you'll want to check it on the early end of the time ranges. It will go from grilled & delicious to charred & inedible very quickly. 
• The tofu may also stick to the grill. There is some oil in the marinade, but feel free to spray your grill with a grill-friendly cooking oil or rub the grates with an oil-doused paper towel before cooking the tofu. 
• If you have leftover slabs of tofu, they make a great filling for a sandwich the next day. It tastes just a good cold as it does when hot! 

The post "Maggie's Grilled Tofu" originally appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.