Sunday roast... veg style

I've been playing a bit with tofu. Tofu, I have decided, really is an acquired taste, and now that I've acquired a taste for it, I want to test exactly what I can do with it. It's quite versatile, mouldable, absorbs all flavours, comes in a all sorts of textures. I've tried it in stir fries, in miso soup, in curries,
recently in veggie patties and for dinner last night I decided to try a tofu roast. You can buy Sanitarium vegie roasts but they are rather expensive ($7 each), so I figured there must be people out there in the world who make vegie or tofu roasts and I went hunting. The total cost of my loaf was $5 ($4 for the block of tofu, and about $1 for everything else, since I had dried the herbs from my garden)

I was prepared for failure: I was expecting it to be bland and unexiting, but I was pleasantly surprised. The taste reminded me of stuffing but with a more kick and with a meatloafy texture. I'd love to play with different recieps, but I was extremely happy with this recipe, from The Common Ground, which I borrowed heavily from as the basis for my creation.

Beth's surprisingly tasty tofu roast

• 1 slice sprouted wheat bread, processed to bread crumbs
  
• 1/3 cup Massel vegetarian stock
• 1 large onions, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500 g firm tofu
• 45 ml soy sauce
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp each dried basil, sage, oregano and rosemary
• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 egg
  

Combine bread and stock. Fry up garlic and onions in olive oil until soft. Put bread mixture, onions, garlic and all remaining ingredients in a food processor. Process for about a minute until all ingredients are combined, but still kind of chunky. Place into a greased loaf tin and bake for 30 mins. Set aside for 15 mins to cool. Slice into 8-10 slices.

• The pumpkin, beets came from the farmer's market.
• The roasted cauliflower was inspired by Maggie Beer's roasted cauliflower salad (we just used the first three ingredients)
• The green/purple leafy side is actually beetroot leaves. I have never cooked with these before, but I followed Maggie Beer's instructions to cook them like silverbeet in a bit of butter in a pan until wilted. The leaves were exceptionally fresh and they tasted delicious. Slightly bitter, reminded me of English spinach.
• Served with gravy, of course.