Vegan She Wrote: Crispy Almond Crusted Tofu Cutlets

Almond Crusted Tofu Cutlets

Gluten Free

Indulge me.

A few years ago I was an intern in the glorious city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Andrew (my then boyfriend now husband) and I spent a glorious year living in a one room efficiency apartment. I say this with no sarcasm. That one little room was heaven. It was cozy, and perfect, and we loved it.This tiny little efficiency had a tiny little kitchen in which I, of course, loved to cook. There was a fabulous farmers market on Saturday mornings that I always walked through on my way to work (yes, in the theatre Saturday is our Friday). And that fall I was obsessed with one thing: Butternut Squash. I'm amazed I didn't turn orange from all of the beta carotene I was ingesting. Anyway, that fall was particularly good to the local butternut squash crop, and at one point I had at least ten of the little circus peanut looking things on top of the fridge in that tiny kitchen. So when I say obsessed, I mean it.

Now, I could absolutely eat butternut squash on it's own as a meal any night of the week, and did. Frequently. However, as most of my favorite butternut squash recipes are side dishes, I was also constantly trying to find new main course recipes that would go with my plethora of of delicious squash dishes. Of all of the recipes that we went through, a recipe I found on vegweb.com for Tofu Cutlets quickly became a favorite. Andrew and I would set up our little assembly line on the 16" of counter space we had, dredge, batter and bake these up several times a month. That recipe is the inspiration for my interpretation of it, and I highly recommend giving the original recipe a go!

Now about this recipe.

One of my very dear friends who is also vegan, has also recently discovered that she is gluten intolerant. She has been inspiring me to come up with gluten free alternatives for many of my favorite recipes, because I like her and want to cook her dinner :) So last night, I was thinking about this cutlet recipe, which I hadn't made in quite a while, and thinking "I should see if I can make this gluten free..." I dug around the kitchen, until I spotted my jar of almond flour, and a light went off. Almond crusted tofu cutlets! Taking my inspiration from the tofu cutlet recipe we made in Milwaukee, I came up with a gluten free, baked and damn tasty alternative. And I must say, I like this version even better. As the nuts bake they release their oils and create a very satisfying crunch while providing a richness that you just don't get form plain old flour. Nutritional yeast gives even more depth of flavor and a very satisfying flake. I highly recommend making these along side my recipe for scalloped potatoes and some simple sauteed greens for a highly satisfying meal.

Almond Crusted Tofu Cutlets

Gluten Free

1 lbs extra firm tofu, cut into ¼” slices

Breading

1/3 cup almond flour
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
Pepper to taste
¼ tsp paprika (optional)
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried thyme
(or, 1 tsp Italian seasoning or Mrs. Dash)

Wet Ingredients

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk or water
1 TBS whole grain or Dijon mustard
2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional – can you tell that I REALLY love garlic?)

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

Lightly oil a sheet pan, and set aside. You could also use parchment paper if you’re into that : )

In a pie plate, or large plate, combine the dry ingredients and mix them together with your fingers.

Almond flour breading close up.

In a second pie plate, or wide bowl, whisk together to wet ingredients.

Now, begin your breading process.

I like to set up an assembly line – wet, dry, sheet pan. It helps if you have a friend. I like to place two tofu cutlets in the wet mixture, sort of press them down so that they absorb a bit of the liquid, flip over and lightly press again. Pick them up and allow the excess liquid to drip off before placing in the dry mixture (you don’t want your breading to get too goopy), and again lightly press down into the breading, then flipping and repeating on the other side. Place breaded tofu cutlets on the sheet pan side by side about ½” apart (depending on the size of your pan), and continue until you run out of tofu.