[1] Tofu salsa verde makes a delicious salad dressing and all-around condiment (photo © House Foods).

[2] Cubes of fresh tofu (photo © Kamala Bright | Unsplash).

[3] Salsa verde (Gemini Photo).

[4] Parsley is the base for Old World, or European, salsa verde. Mexican salsa verde, made with tomatillos and chiles, is a culinary cousin.

We’re in an Asian state of mind today; in addition to this homemade ramen soup recipe, we whipped up a green salad with a salsa verde tofu dressing.

Tofu is a wonderful ingredient for salad dressing, adding protein and fiber to a condiment that typically has neither.

This recipe was created by Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, stars of Cooking Channel’s show Extra Virgin. They used House Foods Organic Soft Tofu, but you can use any soft/silken tofu.

Below:

> Recipe: romaine hearts salad with tofu salsa verde.

> What is salsa verde?

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> What is tofu?

> Tofu health benefits.

> More tofu recipes.

> The history of tofu.

> The year’s 6 soy food holidays.

> The year’s 11 Japanese food holidays.

> The different types of salsa.
 
 
ABOUT SALSA VERDE

First, there are two different basic salsas verde. Both are green sauces. The one used in this recipe is the European herbed-based sauce; we’ll designate it Old World or herb-based salsa verde. The other is the New World, tomatillo-based salsa verde, using the small green fruit that’s native to the Aztec Empire. See the comparison chart below.
 
 
Old World Salsa Verde

Old World salsa verde is a cold, rustic sauce/dressing with a base of parsley plus anchovies, capers, garlic, olive oil, onion, parsley, vinegar, and sometimes, mustard. The parsley gives the sauce its green tint.

The concept for the family of herb-based cold sauces common in Italy (salsa verde), France (sauce verte), and Germany (Grüne Sosse [Soße]) likely originated in the Near East more than 2,000 years old.

Historical evidence suggests that the basic formula—pounding fresh herbs with oil and vinegar—originated in ancient-day Levant and Mesopotamia*.

The Roman Legions encountered these aromatic herb pastes during their Eastern campaigns and brought the concept home, where it became a staple for preserving and flavoring meats. From there it traveled to other parts of what is now Europe.

Today salsa verde is used as a condiment or dipping sauce for meats, fish, poultry, or vegetables. It’s a great accent to many dishes; and because it’s so flavorful, you can cut back on added salt.

 
The recipe follows.
 
 
New World Salsa Verde

Another salsa verde was developed halfway around the world, also around 2,000 years ago, in the Aztec Empire (modern Mexico). The base ingredient is the tomatillo, a green berry that is not related to the red tomato but is sometimes called field tomato or husk tomato.

The Aztecs called the sauce miltomatl (Nahuatl [Aztec language] for the husked berry (“tomatillo” and “salsa verde” were bestowed much later by the Spanish).

Tomatillos, green chiles, and squash seeds were ground into a sauce that was served as a sophisticated condiment with seafood, turkey, and venison.

In 1571, the Spanish priest Alonso de Molina officially applied the word salsa (Spanish for sauce) to these condiments. The Spanish also:

 
Types Of Mexican Salsa Verde
 
As Mexican cuisine evolved, salsa verde was created in different styles based on how the tomatillos were prepared:

 
Salsa verde didn’t become common in the U.S. until the mid-20th century, as Tex-Mex cuisine spread nationwide.

In 1941, the La Victoria company in Los Angeles introduced the first commercially bottled green taco and enchilada sauces to the American market.

The New Mexico style of salsa verde originated in New Mexico, where salsa verde often refers to a sauce made with the local Hatch green chiles (roasted) rather than with tomatillos.
 

Gemini Chart.
 
 
HEARTS OF ROMAINE SALAD WITH TOFU SALSA VERDE (SALAD DRESSING)

In this recipe, Debi and Gabriele substitute tofu for the olive oil.

Dressing Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE tofu, parsley, capers, anchovies, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. PLACE romaine and other salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss with salsa verde. Leftover dressing can be kept refrigerated in a covered container for 2 days.

VARIATION: To make this recipe vegetarian/vegan, replace the anchovies with 2 more teaspoons of capers.

Find more delicious recipes with tofu at House-Foods.com.
 

[5] Salsa verde can also be a dip for crudités (Abacus Photo).

________________

*The Levant is an English term that first appeared in 1497. It originally referred to the “Mediterranean lands east of Italy.” The historical area comprises modern-day Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. Among other popular foods, Levantine cuisine gave birth to baklava, balafel, kebabs, mezze (including tabbouleh, hummus and baba ghanoush), pita and za’atar, among other dishes that are enjoyed in the U.S. and around the world.

Mesopotamia was located further east, centered between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Together, the Levant and Mesopotamia formed the two main parts of the Fertile Crescent.

Mesopotamia primarily comprised modern-day Iraq and parts of eastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. The two regions were separated by the Syrian Desert. A historical note: The Assyrians, from northern Mesopotamia, eventually conquered and controlled the Levant.
 

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Homemade ramen soup Photo courtesy
MalaysianKitchenNYC.com.

Packaged ramen soups are popular with some people because they’re inexpensive yet tasty.

And salty. There’s much more much salt in packaged ramen soups than is good for you. One label we checked had 1434mg of sodium which is 60% of your Daily Value of salt; and if you eat the whole package (two servings), you’ve exceeded your Daily Value.*

So here’s an easy solution: Make your own ramen soup. It’s easy, and you can make as large a batch as you like. It’s also a great catch-all for leftover pasta, meats and veggies. Just follow this recipe template:

Choose Your Base

Buy beef, chicken or vegetable broth or stock, preferably low sodium. If you like to make your own stock, by all means, use it. If you find yourself with pork bones, make pork stock.

Taste your stock; if it needs a bit more salt, use low sodium soy sauce.

You can select any pasta width or shape, from slender angel hair to flat fettuccine to round spaghetti or spaghettini. There’s no reason why you can’t use very wide pasta, like papparadelle, or nonwheat pasta such as rice noodles or cellophane noodles. (See our Pasta Glossary for the different types of pasta).

Even though ramen is a noodle soup, if you’re carb counting, you can leave out the pasta altogether and add more veggies.

Choose Your Protein

Protein is one of the standard ramen toppings, but we like to break it out from the vegetable toppings.

As mentioned earlier, ramen soup is a great way to use leftovers: cooked ground meat; fish or seafood including sliced fish cake (kamaboko, a type of surimi, Japanese processed seafood that includes imitation crab leg); sliced beef, lamb or pork; a soft- or hard-cooked egg or tofu.

Customize the recipe to your preferences (every recipe!). There’s no reason that you can’t use a combination of proteins.

Choose Your Toppings

You’re the cook and the consumer, so add whatever toppings appeal to you. Consider bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, bell pepper, cabbage, corn, mushrooms, pickled ginger or plums, seaweed or spinach and thin-sliced scallions.

Choose Your Seasonings

We feel strongly about adding fresh herbs to every dish. For Asian soups, we particularly like basil and lemongrass, but don’t leave out the parsley that’s hanging out in the produce drawer.

If you like heat, add thin-sliced of your favorite chile. For more depth of flavor in the broth, add a spoonful of miso paste.

Add Some Color

We also like a touch of color to every dish. While it isn’t traditional, try a garnish of finely-diced red bell pepper or hot red chile.
 
WHAT EXACTLY IS RAMEN?

Ramen is a Japanese noodle dish made with Chinese-style wheat noodles (as opposed to rice noodles), served in a meat- or fish-based broth. It’s a meal in a bowl, often enjoyed for lunch.

Toppings vary widely based on local preferences. Every region in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, to the miso ramen of Hokkaido at the opposite end of the archipelago.

Ramen is of Chinese origin, but there is debate over the etymology of the word. One of several theories is that ramen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word lamian, meaning “hand-pulled noodles.”

*Daily Value nutrient targets, set by the government, vary by age, gender and calorie intake. For adults under 50, the Daily Value for sodium is 2300 mg/day. As long as we’re on the topic, other DVs to watch include cholesterol, 300 mg/day; fiber, 25 g/day for women, 38 g/day for men; saturated fat, 10% of total calorie intake. It is worth noting that for sodium, cholesterol and saturated fat, eating less than the DV is beneficial; for fiber, eating more is beneficial.

A colorful and yummy beet dip. Photo
courtesy Dole.com.

We love beets in every form: baked, Harvard, pickled, beet ravioli, steamed beats, soup (borscht is Russian beet soup), in gourmet appetizer recipes, in green salads, with goat cheese and endive…even beet ice cream (substitute beets in a strawberry ice cream recipe) and beet cake (food trivia: the original—and best—red velvet cake recipes got their red hue from beets, not food color).

You can even enjoy beet juice in cocktails: a beet Martini or this beet Mojito, for example.

Now, here’s another way to enjoy beets: as a dip with crudités or a bread spread. The recipe is courtesy Dole Foods.

It’s a beautiful color for Easter or any other festive occasion.

Ingredients

1. PULSE beets in bowl or food processor wuth scallion and spinach, until finely chopped.

2. ADD cream cheese, lemon juice and salt, and process until well-blended, leaving some texture in dip. Transfer to bowl and stir in chives.

3. SERVE as a dip with crudités or as a spread on toasted french bread.