Tricked-Out Tofurky

This year, we will have Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday with friends, but I couldn’t let the actual day go by without doing at least some cooking — and we LOVE Thanksgiving leftovers!

I happened to pick up a Tofurky roast on sale, but I always end up making a separate baking dish of my own stuffing.  This time, I decided to transform the humble Tofurky into a holiday roast to be reckoned with by opening it up, stuffing it with A LOT of stuffing, and wrapping the whole thing in yuba (bean curd skin), before roasting it to perfection.

The actual process happened in a swirl of creativity, so I didn’t stop to take step-by-step photos.  I’ll explain what I did:

TRICKED-OUT TOFURKY

Ingredients:

1 recipe of your favorite stuffing, made ahead and refrigerated

1 Tofurky Roast

1 or 2 sheets of frozen yuba (bean curd skin), available in Asian markets, thawed and at room temperature

Method:

1. Make your favorite stuffing ahead of time and refrigerate in a bowl until needed.

2. Cut the ends off the Tofurky and discard the plastic wrapper.  Cut about a 1-inch thick slice off the bottom of the Tofurky and place the roast, cut side up, on your cutting board. Cut that 1-inch slice lengthwise into 2 1/2-inch slices and set them aside.

3. Carefully make a cut long-way through the center of the roast stopping just short of cutting all the way through. (The roast should stay in once piece, if possible.  Removing the stuffing and adding it to your bowl of stuffing. Cut a few diagonal slits in each side of the inside of the Tofurky, essentially to open it up to be nearly flat. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

4. If your yuba is stiff, place it (folded) in a large mixing bowl with about 1 cup of warm vegetable broth.  Let it soak until softened.  Carefully open up the yuba sheets and arrange them in the bowl to line it. (You can leave the broth in the bowl.)

5. Place the cut Tofurky in the bowl on top of the yuba, cut-side up,  Transfer the stuffing into the bowl on top of the Tofurky, pressing to shape it into an oval. Press the sides of the Tofurky into the stuffing to make a nice oval roast shape.  Place the 2 reserved 1/2-inch Tofurky slices on top of the stuffing, pressing them in to make a firm roast.

6. Gather the yuba up and around the sides of the roast so that the roast is entirely wrapped in yuba. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the roast and invert a rimmed baking sheet on top.  Carefully flip the bowl and baking sheet so that the roast is now on the baking sheet.  Remove the bowl.

7. Rub the outside of the roast lightly with oil or spray it lightly with cooking oil spray. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.  Uncover and bake for about 20 minutes longer or until the yuba is nicely browned.

Transfer the roast to a serving platter (it’s easy to do with the parchment paper — you can then slide out the parchment paper and discard.  If your platter is large enough, surround it with roasted veggies.  Cut the roast with a serrated knife and serve with gravy.

We really loved the results.  I served the roast with roasted butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and pecans; twice-baked stuffed potatoes; and cranberry sauce.

Assembling the roastwas much easier to do than it sounds, and way more delicious with all the added stuffing and crispy yuba skin.  Plus you can serve way more people this way. Win-win, any way you look at it (especially for the turkeys).