Don’t get me wrong, I adore tofu. Really, I do. I like it in stir-frys. I like it crispy and pan-fried in olive oil. I like it instead of ricotta in my lasagna recipe. And I like it - um, wait. Those are all of the things I ever do with tofu. For someone who was vegan for over a year, my lack of tofumagination is kind of depressing. So today, I did something I sort of rarely do for a regular weeknight dinner - I actually sought out a recipe! I landed on Katie and Leeanne Chin’s Braised Stuffed Tofu, which looked perfect except for the fact that I A) didn’t have Sichuan cabbage, mushrooms, cornstarch, bok choy, or oyster sauce and B) was totally skeptical of the proposition that I could panfry a delicate stuffing-filled tofu square on both sides without it sticking to the pan, imploding into a goopy mess, or setting off my fire alarm (or all of the above). So I improvised. 

Stuffed tofu squares:

• 1 block firm tofu
• 2 frozen veggie burgers of your choice (or half a baked potato and some curry powder, or whatever you think will be yummy)
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup frozen spinach
• about 4 tbsp olive oil
• about 4 tbsp soy sauce, tamari or namashoyu

1. Cut the tofu into twelve equal-sized squares and dry them as best you can with a cloth (don’t use paper towels, you’ll go through a whole roll).
2. Carefully scoop out a small spoonful of tofu from the middle of each square - don’t scoop all the way through to the other side, and leave enough of a border that the squares remain sturdy. Douse the empty squares with soy sauce.
3. Cook the veggie burgers, frozen vegetables and scooped-out tofu innards in a saucepan until cooked through. Fill each tofu square with a spoonful of the mixture.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large wok or skillet. Place the squares in the wok and cook until at least the bottoms are panfried. If you’re brave, try flipping them. If you’re me, cover with a lid to steam the tops.

Oven fries:

• 1 large russet potato
• about 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne
• KETCHUP

1. Wash the potato and slice it up into equal-sized slivers. Toss them in a bowl with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne (as much as you’re into). Place fries in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet or dish and bake at 400 degrees for about an hour, depending on how crispy you like them.
2. Serve with SO MUCH KETCHUP. MORE. MORE THAN THAT.

Xi’an Famous Foods has been on my to-eat list for months. In my mind, incredibly cheap, unique and fantastically good food is what eating in New York is supposed to be about, and besides, Anthony Bourdain loves it. But for the past few weeks, every time we’d meant to go to Xi’an, we’d ended up somewhere else instead - Takahachi, or DBGB, or Arturo’s. Yesterday we finally made it to Xi’an on St. Mark’s, where I was expecting excellent, delicious, greasy noodles for under ten bucks. I got all of those things. But I couldn’t have predicted just how much of all of those things Xi’an is.

The hand-ripped spicy cumin lamb noodles are the item to order and have reached a certain celebrity status, for good reason. “OHMAGAPHNFHDJ,” I said through my first giant mouthful. “Have you ever walked into a place you’ve never been before and felt like you’re coming home?” That’s how this dish tastes. Entirely familiar and entirely unlike anything I’ve eaten in New York or anywhere. The noodles are steaming hot and fresh and tender, not at all mushy, and the sauteed lamb is incredibly flavorful and generously portioned (I hate to say it, but it tastes like the best taco meat you could possibly imagine). But it was the crunchy cabbage, which holds the majority of the heat, that I really fell for.

I expected the savory cumin lamb burger to be pretty much the same thing, just minus the noodles, but it wasn’t. The meat is sweeter, almost reminiscent of a sloppy Joe, sauteed with onions and jalapenos and scallions. The flatbread “bun” tastes accurately homemade, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, perfect to soak up any remaining sauce from the noodle dishes. We ordered one burger to go with each plate of noodles, and the varying flavor profiles couldn’t have meshed better.

I loved the Liang Pi vegetarian cold skin noodles just as much, for different reasons. Full of lime and cilantro, bean sprouts and strips of sauce-absorbent zucchini, the chewy wheat noodles are topped with cubes of wheat gluten that are lighter and more delightfully textured than I’ve eaten at any vegan restaurant.

Writing this, I want to go back again today. I want to eat the hand-pulled beef noodles and the pork burger and the lamb spine and the spicy soft tofu. I want to eat tingly lamb face and lamb treasures soup (“”what is a lamb treasure?” that is one of the most frequently asked questions. our general response is: “it is mr. lamb’s treasures,” or, “mr. lamb only has two of these treasures.)

I haven’t been this excited about a restaurant in a while. My only regret is having taken so long to get there.

Tonight is my first night in Evanston, not counting last night, which consisted of me getting lost in the O’Hare baggage claim, borrowing a stranger’s cellphone, getting home an hour later than I expected, changing into leggings and falling asleep before 10 p.m. So tonight I thought I’d try to be a better houseguest and make my parents dinner. They are some of my favorite people to cook for, despite (or because of) their largely vegan, gluten-free diet: I feel much more productive and unconflicted about making wholly healthy food. For dinner we had these creamy, cheese-less stuffed potatoes with roasted vegetables and a big salad - and when I saw organic bilberry jam in the fridge, I couldn’t resist making some thumbprint cookies too.

Tofu twice-baked potatoes:

• 4 potatoes (I used red)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 package tofu
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano to taste
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard

1. Poke potatoes all over with a fork and bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Let cool.
2. Meanwhile, saute diced onion until translucent and golden. Add to a bowl with mashed tofu, parsley, mustard and spices. Mix well and season to taste.
3. Slice baked potatoes in half and scoop out the insides, leaving about a quarter inch around to provide the empty skin with sturdiness. Mix the crumbled potato guts with the tofu mixture and spoon it back into each potato shell. You can sprinkle cheese or nutritional yeast on top of each, but they’re good enough without!
4. Re-bake filled potato skins for 10-15 minutes.

Thumbprint cookies:

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• jam - not jelly - your favorite flavor. 
• 1-2 tbsp milk - just enough to keep the dough sticking together (this is especially helpful if, like me, you’re using your fingers instead of an electric mixer.)

1. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and add the vanilla.
2. With mixer on low, add flour bit by bit until combined. Add in milk as needed.
3. When dough is just starting to come together, remove it from the mixing bowl and roll it into a flat disk.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Roll the dough into balls a little over an inch big. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press each one down with your thumb so that they flatten and there’s an indentation in the middle. Spoon about a half a teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Dinner tonight from Precious: vegetarian General Tso’s with wheat gluten instead of fried tofu. Honestly, I’m loyal to the original from China Fun - this version was a little too sweet and chewy for my taste - but the beef with broccoli was delish.