Here’s the vegan recipe for this dish with peanut butter dipping sauce from Sanctuary Bistro
by Asha Ellison | photographs by Peter Taylor
It’s a busy day in Barry Horton’s kitchen at Sanctuary Bistro – a warm and welcoming staple of Charlotte’s Shops at Piper Glen. At the 5-year-old restaurant, which opened just weeks before the pandemic in February 2020, the food is fresh and ethically vegan.
As Chef Horton works orders down the line with this team, he begins to feel a familiar rush of adrenaline. Leaning forward on the tips of his toes, he steals a glance of the packed dining room. Laughter erupts from the bar — and he stops, only for a moment, to savor the scene. His inner child — the kid who happily devoured PB&J sandwiches while watching Graham Kerr’s “The Galloping Gourmet” reruns on PBS — would be so proud of the man he is today. This was his dream.
“I always enjoyed the fast-paced environment of cooking,” says Horton as he recalls his culinary journey. “[It’s an] always-on-your-toes job.”
Food became the center of Horton’s world at an early age. As he got older, he found ways to incorporate it into his daily life: He took his first job delivering pizzas, baked cookies with the kids he babysat and, eventually, enrolled at a small community college in Lawrence, Kansas, that would propel him to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Portland, Oregon.
After culinary school, Horton took an internship at The Stanford Inn, a vegan resort and farm in Mendocino, California, where he learned in-depth about vegetable cookery under owners Jeff and Joan Stanford. Horton worked his way up from intern to executive chef at the inn’s Ravens Restaurant, where he transformed the menu from vegetarian to vegan. In 2006, at that very restaurant, he would meet the love of his life and doting business partner, Jennifer Jones Horton.
After a philosophical awakening in 2007, the parents of two children committed their lives to ethical veganism as a way to honor the interconnectedness of animal welfare, environmental sustainability and personal well-being.
“[We] opened a meal-prep service in the Bay Area, then our first restaurant in Berkeley in 2013,” says Horton. In 2019, the Hortons relocated to Charlotte to be closer to Jennifer’s parents in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Despite the difficulties of balancing family and career, Horton discovered an appreciation for teamwork and adaptability, essential qualities in both the kitchen and life. This philosophy of simplicity and flexibility mirrors his approach to cooking.
“Someone else’s recipe is just a guideline and starting point,” he says. After that, it’s up to the aspiring chef or home cook to be unafraid to make culinary art.
The Moroccan Tofu recipe he shares from Sanctuary Bistro is a simple-yet-elegant dish, and a gateway to the world of plant-based cuisine. This and other gluten-free and vegan recipes can be found in the Hortons’ cookbook, Sanctuary Bistro’s Recipes for Everyday Living: An Easy and Loving Approach to Gluten-Free Veganism, available on Amazon. SP
Moroccan Tofu
serves 4
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small yellow onion, julienned
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup tamari
1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed and minced
Pinch chili flakes
16 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-by-1/2-by-2-inch strips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a sauté pan at medium heat, sauté onions until lightly browned, then add garlic and garam masala. Cook until fragrant.
3. Deglaze the onion mixture with white wine, and reduce by half.
4. Place the sautéed ingredients and the next five ingredients in a blender and process until smooth to make your marinade.
5. Place tofu in a single layer in a baking pan and cover with marinade. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Any leftover liquid can be used as a sauce for the meal.
6. Skewer tofu and serve hot along with peanut butter dipping sauce (see recipe below).
Peanut Butter Dipping Sauce
While this pairs well as a dipping sauce with Moroccan Tofu, it is also delicious for stir-fries, rice or pad thai dishes.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 can coconut milk (refrigerate the whole can prior to cooking)
2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
10–15 cilantro leaves
2 cups smooth peanut butter
Directions
1. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil on medium heat.
2. Add the shallots into the pan and cook until they begin to brown.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients gently. Cook until the peanut butter is melted.
4. Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender.
