Meat-Optional Meal: Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Tofu (and Pork)

Here at Food Junta, we talk a fair amount about the realities of eating local, sustainable, organic, etc etc food on a meager, twenty-something (or any-something) budget. The fact of the matter is that for most of us, it’s not so realistic to be perfect eaters, in terms of not just cost, but also time and energy.

For me, while living in Brooklyn, that meant that I bought all my produce at the Park Slope Food Co-Op, so almost all of it was local and/or organic, but — deep dark secrets revealed — when I ate meat, usually I bought it at the much cheaper and much more convenient C-Town, just down the street from my apartment. Okay, I admitted it, and no gods of free-range chickens smote me with lightning.

Now that I am in Minneapolis, however, I find that the reverse is true. Organic/local vegetables here are astronomically priced, while it is actually quite possible to find free-range everything for incredibly decent prices. Go figure. And so, I have watched as my balance of grocery money and shopping time shifts to pursue non-confinement meat/eggs/dairy, while I worry slightly less about the provenance of my produce.

No, this is still not an absolute ideal, but it is important to eat sustainably in all senses of the word — not just that the food you are consuming is sustainable itself, but that it is sustainable for you. That means: You’re not going broke buying it, you’re not driving way out of your way to get it, you’re not killing yourself figuring out how to cook it. That means that you will keep eating that way, not give it up because you went whole-hog (sorry, I couldn’t help myself) too early. Or cold turkey. Or some other food pun.

While my philosophy is basically do what you can, if you can stop eating confinement meat, then that is what you should do. Factory farmed meat is basically the root of all evil in America. Okay, maybe I go too far, but some evils are certainly attributable to factory farming: pollution, corn surplus, health issues, myriad social injustices for the workers. There’s also the enormous issue of the inherent rights of the animals, but I will let Jonathan Safran Foer speak to that.

Unlike Safran Foer, I am not willing to go vegetarian, nor do I think such a stand is really necessary with the great meat producers that exist, if you only seek them out. As reasonably priced as it is, however, I can’t really afford to buy sustainable meat as the main portion of every meal, nor, honestly, am I really inclined to. I like having some days where I eat no meat, or where I eat meat only as a small part of a dish — not out of any ethical stands, but simply out of my tastes and health.  And so, I have resolved to eat less meat, but better meat, because that is the stand that I’m both ethically and financially comfortable with.

It’s still not a black-and-white issue for me. What am I going to do when I’m out at a restaurant? At someone’s house? Well, probably I’m going to eat some factory-farmed meat. What should you do if you can’t afford or find non-confinement meat? Don’t eat meat one day a week (maybe Monday, because then you have an alliterative reminder). If you are a poor and overworked twentysomething, you probably already do eat a meatless meal every week, if not several. Feel good about that!

So here is a meal I call meat-optional. I was, in fact, the culprit who even added meat in the first place, because I had just started my non-confinement kick and was excited about it and saw some really beautiful free-roaming boneless pork chops tempting me from the butcher case. Here again, though, the meat is more of a seasoning — there is less of it than of either the tofu or the Brussels sprouts — and you could certainly do away with it completely.

Brussels Sprouts with Caramelized Tofu (and Pork)

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Serves 4

Ingredients

-       1 lb. Brussels sprouts, rinsed and cut into 1/8-inch wide ribbons

-       1 lb. extra-firm tofu, patted dry with a paper towel and cut into 1-inch segments

-       5 cloves of garlic, minced

-       ½ c. pecans, chopped (I used TJ’s Sweet and Spicy pecans, which were awesome in this; if you use regular ones, toast them first to bring out the flavor)

-       6 Tbsp. brown sugar

-       salt

-       Optional: 1 boneless pork chop, cut into 1-inch segments

-       Optional: some brown rice to go with

1. Heat a splash of vegetable oil in one skillet. Add tofu and sauté until golden, flipping occasionally, about 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, if making pork: Heat a splash of vegetable oil in another skillet. Add pork and sauté until cooked through (also flipping occasionally), about 5 minutes. Add pork to pan with tofu.
3. Add garlic to tofu/pork. Stir in sugar. Season with salt. Cook a few more minutes, until everything is covered with caramel. Remove from heat.
4. Meanwhile, in a second skillet (either the pork one or a new one, or you can wait til the tofu is done and use that one, but I hate waiting that long), add some oil. When oil is hot, add shaved Brussels sprouts. Season with salt. Cook until some sprouts are browned and all are cooked through (they will be bright green). Remove from heat.
5. Serve tofu/pork on a bed of Brussels sprouts (over rice?), with a sprinkling of pecans on top.