A few years ago, we celebrated Halloween by making a bit of art on our plates with Monster Mash Stuffed Portobellos. This year, we decided to play with our food again to come up with this spooky vegetarian dandy!
It’s comprised of extra firm tofu cut out with a cookie cutter to make the spider’s body and sauteed asparagus for legs (and pincers). Then, the fried tofu is topped with a creamy asparagus sauce and green olive cross-sections for eyes. Our last decision was to pick an appropriate carb…and since pearled couscous was best suited to play the role of “spider eggs” in our dish, we picked it. That said, we think spaghetti or angel hair could be nicely arranged to look like a spider web if you’re so inclined.
Anyway, this was a tasty, whimsical meal that we think is sure to delight vegetarian adults with childlike wonder in their souls.
Time: 25 Minutes
Ingredients:
- Extra Firm Tofu
- Asparagus (~15-17 spears per spider)
- 3-4 Raw Cashews per spider
- 1-2 Teaspoons of Water per spider
- Garlic Powder
- 1 Green Olive per Spider
- 1/4 Cup Pearled Couscous per serving
Method:
- Remove your tofu from its packaging, and wrap it with absorbent paper towels to remove excess liquid.
- Pour a little olive oil in a saucepan, and heat. Then, add your pearled couscous, and toss to coat with oil and toast for a minute or two. After that, add some water (1.5x volume of your couscous), and bring to a simmer.
- As your couscous cooks, remove the bottoms of your asparagus. Heat some oil in a pan, and add your asparagus. Sautee all of it, and sprinkle in a little salt as it cooks.
- As your asparagus cooks, slice your tofu into thirds to reduce the thickness. of each piece. You want to create “tofu sheets.” Then, use round cookie cutters to cut your spider’s body and head out of the sheets.
- Heat some oil in another pan, and add your tofu circles. Fry until crispy and golden brown on both sides.
- As your tofu cooks, count your asparagus, and leave 10 spears per spider in the sautee pan. And transfer the rest into your blender with your cashews, water, and garlic powder. Puree.
- When your couscous is ready, arrange it in one corner of your plate.
- Place your tofu on your couscous (with the spider butt on the couscous and the head next to the butt).
- Arrange your spider’s eight legs on your plate. Then, cut your two extra spears and arrange them as pincers.
- Spread your asparagus puree atop your tofu, and then slice and arrange your green olive for eyes.
- Devour, and enjoy!
