Originally, I had something else in mind, I wanted to use this tofu as the stuffing of some filo dough triangles. Unfortunately, sometimes things change…since I had no filo dough in my refrigerator. The funny thing is that I was so convinced I had some, so here I am all ready to roll the filo dough but no filo dough at the horizon. I needed a plan B.

Since tofu works well in many different ways, I figure cakes it will be, just no dough.

I wanted some Mediterranean flavors in my tofu, and what’s more Mediterranean than tapenade? This wonderful olive paste that is so fragrant. In this tapenade, I did not include anchovies, I kept it vegan which would go better with this dish.

The great thing about tofu is that it’s naturally bland, so you can season the way you like. It absorbs whatever spice and ingredient you combine it with.

I loved this dish and will definitely make it again for vegetarians and non vegetarians, including myself.

Ingredients for 2

For the tofu cakes

• 230 g extra firm tofu
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 shallot, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 handful kale, finely chopped
• 2 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs + oat flour
• salt and pepper

For the salad

• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 large yellow bell pepper
• 1 medium eggplant, sliced 1 cm crosswise
• 2 tsp Meyer lemon juice
• 2 tbs extra virgin unrefined olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbs cilantro, finely chopped
• salt and pepper

For the tapenade

• 150 g green olives, pitted
• 1 tsp capers, rinsed
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbs olive oil

Preparation

For the tofu cakes

Squeeze water from tofu, using your hands. With a paper towel, pat dry all excess moisture. In a mixing container, crumble tofu using your hands to obtain a very thin and smooth and almost non-grainy texture. There should not be any thick pieces of tofu.

Add carrots and garlic to tofu.

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add shallots and cook until soften. Add tofu mixture and cook for about 5-7 minutes until carrots soften. Mix well. Remove from heat and place in a mixing container. Add all other ingredients and add the flour at the end. If the mixture is too liquid, add a little more flour.

At this point, the mixture is ready to form little cakes of about 2 inches diameter.

Heat olive oil in a pan. Cook cakes at medium temperature until golden brown on both sides.

For the salad

Char broil the peppers under a broiler. Turn peppers on all sides until the skin is burnt. Remove from oven and place in a plastic bag until cool. Peel the peppers and remove seeds. Cut strips of 1/2 inch wide.

Heat skillet, add eggplant slices and cook until golden brown on each sides. Cut each slice in quarters.

In a mixing container, add peppers, eggplant, and all other ingredients.

For the tapenade

Mix all ingredients in a mixer until smooth but a but with a bit of a grainy texture.

Place some salad on a plate, top it with tofu cakes and add a tsp of tapenade on top

Tian is a traditional dish from Provence, and should be made in a clay dish…since I just broke mine, I had to use a Pyrex one. The vegetables are sliced thinly, placed upright and cooked in the oven for a long time. You can add goat cheese as well, but I wanted to keep it vegan and light, so to get additional Mediterranean flavors, I served it with a tapenade tartine. This is a very simple dish to make yet delicious due to the slow cooking of the vegetables and all the herbs that have infused in it.

Of course, there are various recipes for tian, some people don’t add onions, but fennel, or potatoes, but tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants should always be around. You can play around with herbs, cheese, etc…but I wanted to keep it simple. Sometimes I like simple flavors and don’t want to add too many intricate and complex flavors into a dish. The slow cooking turned the vegetable almost “confits” in the herbs and own juices.

Usually tians are served with grilled meats or fishes, they add wonderful aromas to a dish. I have to admit that I ate the whole tian by myself and was still hungry. Usually this would be sufficient for four, if you serve it with a fish or meat, or also rice in case you want to keep it vegetarian. It really depends on how much vegetables your guests can eat. Quand on aime, on ne compte pas, that’s what the French say, when you love, you don’t count…which is true for many things. The tapenade tartine is a nice element if you want to keep your meal vegan, that olive spread is simply divine with this tian.

Ingredients for 3-4

• 3 large tomatoes, sliced crosswise
• 3 zucchini, sliced crosswise
• 2 medium eggplants, sliced crosswise
• 1 onion,
• lavender salt
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 tsp basil, chopped finely
• 2 tbs olive oil
• pepper

For the tapenade, see recipe here

Preparation

Spread some olive oil, all over the dish, preferably a clay dish.

Place all vegetables upright in the dish, alternating between a slice of tomato, two slices of zucchini (since the zucchini tend to be smaller), one slice of eggplant, and onion. The vegetables need to be tightly arranged so they stand still.

Add herbs and garlic, sprinkle with lavender salt and pepper. Add olive oil all over the vegetables.

Cover with aluminium foil and cook in a pre heated oven at 365-370 for about 40-45 minutes. Remove the foil and let the vegetables get golden brown.

If life leaves you pizza dough, make more pizza!!

I love mini sizes portions, and bites, I think there is some cuteness in the size of a small bite, you don’t have to cut it, destroy it in from of your eyes before it reaches your mouth. It fits there perfectly.

As far as pizza and coffee are concerned, I tend to be a real snob and compare all pizza to pizza in Italy, after all they invented it, so throughout the centuries, they have mastered the art of pizza making. There are a few good pizzeria in San Francisco where the pizza is close to Italian pizza (France has awful pizza, I remember a pizzeria in Nancy where I grew up called La Mamma, where they served pizza with gruyère cheese, that was terrible). I have no idea if the greatness of Italian pizza has to do with the brick oven where it’s cooked, with the natural flavor of the ingredients that is different, but it’s something hard to describe, the dough is thin and crunchy, there is little cheese and the cheese melts to perfection and does not hardens that quickly.

I am not going to discuss the perfect dough texture, or flavor, nor give the description of the perfect thread of melting mozzarella, (maybe if I was Balzac I could)! because I don’t think I have enough English vocabulary but it’s something you have to experience for yourself. I was thinking to build a brick oven in the garden mainly to cook pizza, but unfortunately the size of the garden will not allow it.

I think we all have our particularities in the way we approach certain traditions and traditional dishes.

We all have our favorite pizza, it can be deep dish, thin crust, with one or two toppings, etc…and that’s the way it should be. Eat pizza the way we like it.

These mini pizza are not what you would find in a traditional pizzeria in Italy even though last time I was there, I was invited by the family to try a pizzeria that had dessert pizza on their menu, such as orange pizza, chocolate and nut pizza, etc…and were surprisingly enough, really delicious.

These mini pizza combine the flavors of Mediterranean countries, and are delightful. The beauty of small bites is that you eat one or two and you feel satisfied, when you have a whole pizza in front of you, you feel somehow “obliged” to finish it (I do).

Ingredientsfor one large pizza or 4 small

For pizza dough

• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) flour
• about 5 fl oz (or 150 ml) lukewarm water
• about 0.4 oz (or 12 g) compressed yeast dissolved in the water
• 1.5 tbs olive oil
• salt

For the topping

• red pepper pesto – see here for recipe
• 4 small Italian eggplants, sliced
• 4 tbs feta
• 8 baby artichokes (+juice of 1 lemon)
• kalamata olives (optional)
• basil, chopped (optiona)
• olive oil for drizzling

Preparation

For the dough

Place flour in a working surface, gradually add yeast/water mixture, salt and oil. Mix well to obtain a soft dough, the dough should be elastic and souple, almost sticky. Cover with a towel and let it rise for about 2 hours.

For the topping

Grill the eggplant slices on a grill pan. Cut in halves and set aside. Trim the artichokes, removing the green leaves around, cut the top and cut in quarters. Place in a lemon juice/water bath to prevent them from staining. Saute in olive oil and garlic until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Cut dough in four equal parts. Roll each dough portion with a rolling pin (or with your hands if you have mastered the art of twisting the dough). Spread some red pepper pesto on top of the dough, add eggplant, artichokes and feta, if you using olives add at this point.Adjust with salt and pepper if necessary but the feta and olives being already salty, you might decide not too.

Cook in a 390 F pre heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the bottom is cooked.

This post is overdue, I started it before I went to Tel Aviv, but never managed to finish it, so after days of wonderful fresh food, I came back to France where the bad weather conditions made me want to go back to sunny Israel. There is definitely a Greek flair to Tel Aviv, probably the Mediterranean climate and fresh produce you find all over the markets. So Moussaka here we come.

What if you feel like moussaka without meat? People might tell you, then it’s not moussaka. So not to upset anyone, I just decided to use the word fake, even though it is prepared in the same “spirit” as a moussaka.

Since I arrived at my parents, meat, prosciutto, pâté, fois gras and other ingredients have been around the table for the holidays, and I don’t know now how I have to explain my mom that I do not enjoy to eat meat THAT much. Seems like she doesn’t believe me, or doesn’t want to believe me. So I had to somehow cook something for them today, to make them believe that vegetarian dishes are quite tasty and enjoyable. France is certainly not the country for vegetarians, and Italians are not vegetarian either, so I am just wondering if you are a vegan how you will survive here.

We went shopping to a wonderful organic supermarket with so many amazing products called “La Vie Saine” (healthy life) and came back with tons of great healthy products, I am trying to make them eat less animal based products but it’s quite a challenge to change people’s habits in their late 60s. I don’t want to change anything nor anyone but at least make them enjoy other cuisines. My parents are quite open in trying new cuisines and a lot more open minded than some other French or Italians of their generation.

So I found a lentil mix of red, green, and beluga lentils that I absolutely wanted to use, then I had eggplants, so I figured that a vegetarian moussaka would be perfect…and they really enjoyed it. So I will make this dish more often.

I am not sure there is a morale in this story, probably not but I was very happy that my vegetarian moussaka was successful in a traditional Italian and French table!

Ingredients for 4-5

• 1/2 lb (or 250 g) green lentils
• 1 yellow onion, cut in half
• 3 cloves
• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 eggplants, sliced crosswise
• 5 medium size tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 7 oz (or 200 g) gruyère cheese, grated
• 3 tbs parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cook lentils in water and add carrot, celery, bay leaf and onion with cloves stuck in it. Cook until lentils are cooked but not mushy. Drain water and remove carrot, onion, bay leaf and celeri. Set aside.

Start with grilling the eggplants using either a grill pan or broiling them under the broiler, after sprinkling them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set them aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onion and brown them. Add tomatoes and cook until water is evaporated for about 10 minutes.

In a mixing container, add lentils, garlic, tomato mixture, parsley, egg and egg white, chili, salt and pepper.

In small ramequins, add a little olive oil, add one layer of eggplant and one layer of lentils. Sprinkle with cheese and proceed with another layer of eggplants, then lentils and cheese.

Cook for about 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375F until the cheese has melted.