Marry Me Tofu
I know right now most are too busy looking for a guy in finance, with a trust fund, thick thighs, blue eyes… But I'm always looking for something that can be made in under 30 minutes that I don't have to think about and that viral marry me chicken recipe is exactly that.
If you don't know what I am talking about - don't worry I got you. A while back a guy shared a recipe for his Marry Me Chicken that was the dish that made his wife realize he was marriage material. Naturally I had to see what all the hullabaloo was all about and I'm here to report that it is indeed - fire.
Of course I had to make some tweaks and veganize it. I also added orzo because what better way to enjoy the amazing sun dried tomato sauce without something to soak up all those flavors. This is one of those recipes that is so good to have in your memory because it doesn’t take a lot of prep, is pretty budget friendly and tastes like something from a restaurant.
Marry Me Tofu
Serves 2 Ingredients
2 tbsp - grapeseed oil for cooking
1/2 cup - diced yellow onion
1/4 cup - chopped sundried tomatoes
2 tbsp - minced garlic
1 tbsp - vegan butter
1/2 tsp - tomato paste
1/2 tsp - red chili flake
1/4 cup - white wine ( optional )
1/2 cup - vegetable stock
3/4 cup - canned coconut milk
1/2 tsp - salt
1/4 tsp - black pepper or to taste
1/2 cup - orzo pasta
2 tbsp - lemon juice
1/4 cup - shredded vegan parm cheese ( I recommend violife brand )
Ingredients - Tofu Marinade
1/2 a pack of tofu ( I saved the rest in a container to use for something else later )
2 tbsp - grapeseed oil
2 tbsp - soy sauce
1/2 tsp - garlic powder, lemon pepper, paprika
Garnishes
Basil leaves
Instructions
Step 1 - Marinate the Tofu
For the tofu I cut the block in half and reserved one of the halves to use later. With the half I had, I cut them into 4 rectangle slabs and then cut off some corners to give it a chicken looking shape. Feel free to skip this part as chopping the tofu into cubes or another shape won’t change the taste.
I layed the tofu in a glass dish and allowed them to sit in the marinade while I prepped everything else. I would say 20 minutes will do the trick but tofu can always be marinated for longer.
Step 2 - Sear the tofu
In a medium sized sauce pan I heated it up to a medium high heat and placed 2 of my cut tofu slabs in and allowed each side to sear until golden brown. Then I set them to the side on a plate and paper towel to use later.
Step 3 - Preparing the sauce
Once the tofu has been removed from the pan, add some grapeseed oil or what ever oil you like to cook with and saute the onions until golden brown. Once the onions are where I want them I plop in the chopped roasted tomatoes and garlic allowing everything to combine and saute together in a little bit of vegan butter. This is when I add in the tiniest bit of tomato paste for some extra color and flavor.
Step 4 - Deglazing
This step is always my favorite. Time to deglaze the pan of all that golden brown goodness. Pour in the white wine and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan and give everything a nice stir as the alcohol cooks out. Pour in the vegetable stock and canned coconut milk and mix well to combine everything. You may have to use a whisk if the coconut milk has some chunkies. No worries though, they will dissapate and dissolve into the sauce just fine. Allow the sauce to simmer on medium heat until it starts to bubble up with heat.
Step 5 - Orzo
Once the sauce is hot after pouring in the stock and coconut milk. Add in salt and pepper as well as 1/2 cup of dried orzo pasta and allow that to cook and thicken the sauce being sure to stir gently here and there to ensure the orzo doesn’t clump or stick to the bottom of the sauce pan. Let this cook on medium heat for about 10 min before turning off the heat. Orzo can cook in as little as 6 minutes so it doesn’t take long to reach al dente. Finish all of this off with some lemon juice and vegan parm cheese. I like to use the Violife parm cheese block and a microplane to get the perfect shredded parm texture.
Step 6 - Plating
To plate I spooned over 2 ladels of pasta into each bowl and served them with the seared tofu sliced on top with some more sauce from the orzo as well as an extra topping of parm cheese. If you wanna elevate it the flavors just another touch more this is where I like to do a little it of zested lemon on top and some fresh baby basil leaves on top.
