Roasted Fennel with Tofu and Oranges

Ideas for recipes come to me from television shows, other blogs, meals I eat out, etc. Yesterday morning I was watching Alex's Day Off, and she was making fennel. For some reason that made me want to have fennel, although I'm not a huge fan of this vegetable: not growing up with licorice flavored foods, it's not something I typically crave.

One of my favorite ways to eat fennel, however, is with oranges. The sweetness of the oranges is a great contrast to the strong flavored fennel. I also had a container of Nasoya's cubed super firm tofu in my refrigerator and decided to use that in my dish.

Roasted Fennel with Tofu and Oranges

Ingredients

Marinade
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons microplane-d ginger
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, microplane-d

8 ounces Nasoya cubed extra firm tofu (next time, however, I'd definitely buy the block of tofu and cube it myself because these cubes were too little for my taste)
1 bulb of fennel, cored, thinly sliced
1 orange, segmented
salt & pepper to taste
 


Directions
1. Combine all ingredients for the marinade and pour into two different bowls. Add tofu to one and fennel to another. Marinade for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 450. Drain fennel (keep the marinade!) and add to a cookie sheet. Roast for 15 minutes.
3. In a skillet with a bit of oil stir fry tofu (again, remember to drain it first and keep the marinade).
4. In a small pot add strained marinade and heat until it becomes thick.
5. Combine roasted fennel with tofu (this recipe only needs about 1/4 of the amount--use the rest for another dish) and oranges. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the thickened marinade.



Thoughts: If I were to do this recipe again, I'd add red onions, cubed red peppers and some salted peanuts. But otherwise it was goo, and pretty healthy. What do you think?

PS Don't forget you have a month to enter my Mango & Tomato 2 year recipe contest and giveaway.