Grilled Tofu with Salsa Verde y Roja

Threw together this dish last weekend without significant forethought and it turned out better than most of the tedious, time consuming dishes I make.  The tanginess from the tomatillos was so beyond delicious. I have to say this is probably one of the best meals I've made in recent history.

First, press a pound of tofu. Must. Do.  I think a lot of tofu-adverse people are turned off because they have only eaten unpressed tofu which has been steamed or deep fried.  I also find this style of preparation quite unappealing and wish everybody could just give the soy bean curd a second chance.  Just press it. Press it real good.  This involves draining the block and sandwiching plates together then placing heavy items (liked canned goods) on the top plate and squeezing all the water out.  An hour is sufficent but 8 is best, especially for a grill type situation.

Marinate the (pressed) Tofu.  I used the following marinate from Veganomicon:

1/2 c white wine
2 T olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T tamari
2 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
pinch basil, marjoram, and thyme

Make the Tomatillo Sauce.

8-10 tomatillos
1 jalepeno, stemmed, seeded and diced
3 T cilantro
1/3 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
1 tsp oregano

First roast the tomatillos. About 8-10 minutes at 400F then flip and bake another 8-10 minutes. Let coolish.  Combine with the remaining ingredient in a food processor.

Make the Garlic Hot Pepper Sauce. You can use any pepper you see fit to make this recipe.  A friend had just gifted a variety of peppers so I used 1 habanero, 1 serrano, 3 anaheim and 1 pimiento. I think.. I don't know for sure.

5-8 various hot peppers, stemmed
4 cloves garlic
1/3 c onion, chopped
1 t tamarind paste
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 T sugar
2 T olive oil
1 t salt

Place everything in a food processor into a fine mush.  I didn't remove the seeds from any of the peppers and my sauce actually didn't end up anywhere remotely hot, but I think that's just luck of the draw of whatever pepper you use. It was still delicious.

After the Tofu has been marinating for at least an hour or so, heat your grill and rub some oil on the grates to avoid sticking.  A friend gave me some tips on alternative tofu grilling techniques which included pregrilling the tofu then marinating the "par-grilled" tofu and grilling again later -- but I was going to minimal effort for this meal so I skipped experimenting with that for now.

Once hot, grill the tofu on each side for 7ish minutes.  Be sure not to disturb the tofu steaks between flipping and you'll be sure to get some fancy grill marks.  Add the leftover marinate on top of the steaks as they are cooking.

I placed the tofu atop the warmed tomatillo sauce topped with the hot pepper sauce and some basil for good measure.  I served this dish with marinated mushrooms, eggplant, and zucchini grilled on skewers and wild rice.  Observe.