Maple-Dijon Tofu Filet. With charred lemon, a pistachio crust and some oblong roasted vegetables. Eat this and you will poop out a Michelin star.

As always, if you dig this recipe, tag me at @draggedthroughthegarden on instagram and I’ll cook this exact plate for you for $100 or the first nine digits of your social.

Maple-Dijon Tofu Filet…tofilet?

MAPLE-DIJON TOFU FILET

prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 75 minutes

I should have dimmed the lighting.

This recipe requires you press some tofu, marinade it for 24 hours, bake it, sear it, sauce it and eat it. The directions for the (optional) radish & carrot sides are at the bottom of this page.

What you’ll need:

super firm tofu
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes
garlic powder
maple syrup
dijon mustard
balsamic vinegar
pistachios
olive oil
lemon
carrots (optional)
radishes (optional)

First, you are going to press and drain your tofu. Once you’ve done that, cut it into rectangles like pictured below.

Next, you’re going to make your marinade. I marinaded these for 24 hours but anywhere over 2 hours should work just fine.

In a bowl, add a cup of maple syrup. Then add half a cup of dijon mustard.

In a large container that will hold all of the tofu, add your maple-dijon mixture. Do a second run of mixture if you need more.

Add a quarter cup of water to your mixture, some red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Add your tofu.

I added more maple-dijon after this photo was taken.

Now throw a lid on it and stick the tofu/marinade in the fridge for a few hours.

Assuming it’s been a few hours, next you’re going to set your oven to 350°. Throw some parchment paper on a baking sheet and add your tofu. Bake the tofu for an 45 minutes, flip them and cook for 15 more. Brush on more of the marinade if they start to dry out at all.

Don’t mind the carrots, I’ll get to those at the bottom of this page.

Now that your tofu is baked, you’re going to sear it on a griddle pan. Or whatever you have on hand. A panini press might even work honestly.

Take your marinade from earlier and add a generous splash of balsamic vinegar to it. Mix it up and now this will get brushed on your tofu as it’s searing.

Turn your griddle up to high heat. Brush the tofu with a little bit of olive oil and place carefully on the griddle. I couldn’t take pictures here because I burnt one of them oops. Using the same brush, add some of the marinade onto the tofu.

Gently lift the tofu once it’s cooked and spin it 45° so you get those cool crossed grill marks. You can flip and do the other side if you want but I preferred the texture doing only the one side. Continue to baste the tofu as it cooks.

Repeat this until you’re out of tofu. This also makes for good meal prep.

Now set these aside to rest for a moment. Next you’re going to get your pistachios.

If you have shelled pistachios, remove the shells and add the pistachios to a ziplock back. Use a glass or whatever heavy handheld object and crush the pistachios in the bag. You don’t want them to be a super fine powder, just a crushed version of what it once was.

Now that you have crushed pistachios, baste a little more of the marinade onto the tofu if needed and add the pistachios. Slice up a lemon and char it up a little on the pan and add that too.

You can add more pistachios if you want, it’s cool.

And look, check it out, you want super fancy meal prep? Look no further —

Whip this out at lunch time and impress your friends. Or maybe they’ll be worried about you, either way.

For the radishes and carrots in the photo:

Cut the ends off of the radishes and rinse them off. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Bake them at 350° with the tofu. They will only take about 35 minutes though so keep an eye on them.

As for the carrots, rinse off a few and get to peeling. You want to ribbon the carrots and make them look super fancy. Take one of the ribboned carrots and roll it tightly. Then continue to roll other ribbons around it. Once you have a few wrapped around each other, stick a toothpick through them and add a tiny bit of olive oil and salt. These will go in the oven for the same amount of time as the radishes. I realize this would be much easier with a video.

After it’s baked. Now you have delicious carrot roses.