Miso-Honey Roasted Tofu and Vegetables

Got crisper drawers full of random vegetables and no plan? I get a weekly produce box from Hungry Harvest - we’re collaborating with them on this food-waste-fighting recipe - and sometimes have small amounts of a bunch of different veggies left from other meals. This clear-out-the-fridge dish is a great way to use them all up at once! Make a simple sauce/marinade, toss in all your veggies, roast them all up and you’re done. I added in a block of firm tofu for extra protein and loved the way the edges got all caramelized and crunchy.

The Rough Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need:

One 14-ounce block of firm or extra-firm tofu

Roughly 6 cups of vegetables - I happened to have a small head of broccoli, a few Brussels sprouts, some tiny wrinkly peppers, a handful of mushrooms and a watermelon radish hanging around from my Hungry Harvest box. I think you could roast up just about any vegetable except Lighter Leaves, by which I mean the most delicate of salad greens.

For the sauce:

1/4 cup neutral oil (olive oil or sesame would also work but have stronger flavors)

2 tablespoons miso

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons honey (depending on your honey and how sweet you like it)

What to Do:

Heat the oven to 425.

Remove the tofu from its container and wrap it in paper towels or kitchen cloths. Put it on a sheet pan or baking dish and put something heavy on top (I use my big cast iron pan). This helps press the water out so it can soak up more delicious flavor. Leave for at least 10 minutes, or as long as it takes you to prep the rest of the ingredients.

Cut all your vegetables into bite-sized pieces. I broke up the mushrooms with my fingers, peeled and sliced the broccoli stem and cut up the florets, cored and sliced the peppers, and quartered the Brussels sprouts. Save any scraps for your Veggie Stock Bag.

Put all the sauce ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine. I start with 1 tablespoon honey, then taste and adjust as needed, given that honey can have very different consistencies and flavors. If you want it more savory, stir in a bit more soy or miso. If you want more acid, up the vinegar amount. If you go overboard on flavor, stir in a bit more oil or a splash of water.

Once I started measuring, I realized that I was at 6 cups without the watermelon radish, so I sliced it up and made pickles to top the dish instead. Since I had the rice vinegar next to me, I made Right-This-Minute pickles by just dousing the radish matchsticks with a splash of vinegar and a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. Another alternative would have been to just add it to the large bowl of veggies and stretch the sauce a bit farther by splashing in a bit more soy or oil or both.

Once the tofu is pressed, slice it horizontally through the middle, then cut through the top into quarters. This gives you 4 square-ish two-layered stacks of tofu. Cut each one on the diagonal and you get tofu triangles! Continue to cut if you want some smaller pieces - I cut half of them in half again.

Put the tofu into the large bowl with the sauce and turn the pieces over carefully with a spatula until everything is nicely coated. Tofu has a tendency to crumble, which is why I put it in and toss first, then add the rest of the vegetables. Slowly scoop and turn until all the vegetables are lightly coated, then transfer everything to a sheet pan.

If you want more crispy bits - which I always do - it’s best not to crowd the pan. Too much stuff all bunched together will lead to steaming instead of browning, so just after snapping this photo I spread everything out across two pans.

Start by roasting in the oven for 20 minutes, until you start to see browning on the sides and edges of the tofu and veggies. Flip pieces over with a spatula if you like, and keep roasting until you like the look of everything. As you can see towards the top of photo below, I wanted some well-browned tofu surfaces, some crispy Brussels sprouts and charred broccoli florets.

Then, thankfully, it’s time to eat. This dish is super versatile - eat it on its own, over rice, over noodles, stuffed into a wrap. Leftovers can be reheated and eaten the same way, or chopped up and cooked into a frittata, a scramble, served in tacos, or wrapped into summer rolls. It’s good hot or at room temperature, so you can let it cool then pack it into a container for a picnic. Enjoy it any way you like!