Baked tofu | With lemon, olives, and tomatoes

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This baked tofu is soft, refreshing, juicy, lemony, and full of Mediterranean flavours. It's baked in the oven, with cherry tomatoes, olives, and lemon, and wrapped in baking paper to concentrate its aroma and keep it juicy.

It's really a simple dish, that you can cook in half an hour in the oven, as an everyday dinner. We serve this one as a fish replacement, and we cook it exactly like white fish is cooked in Italy.

Jump to:

• Introduction to baked tofu
• Ingredients & substitutions
• How to make baked tofu
• Tips
• Storage
• Dinner Ideas
• Recipe

Introduction to baked tofu

We developed this recipe of baked tofu as a vegan alternative to a popular Italian recipe of baked fish, wrapped in parchment paper and baked in the oven.

This type of cooking, called "al cartoccio" in Italian, helps preserve moisture and aroma in the final dish. And we realised that it works very well for tofu.

So, from this recipe, you can expect the familiarity and flavours of a traditional Italian recipe: confit lemon, caramelized tomatoes, a mild garlic scent, fresh parsley, salty capers and earthy olives.

Instead of fish, we use tofu. And to recall the flavour of the sea, we add a piece of nori seaweed. The result is very mild, don't worry, and definitely less fishy than real fish. We think it's perfect for this recipe.

The final dish is served wrapped, directly on a plate, and it creates a beautiful surprise effect when you unwrap the tofu, and you are inebriated with a beautiful aroma and a bright colour palette.

Ingredients & substitutions

• Tofu: we use firm tofu. We don't recommend using silken tofu or soft tofu.
  
• Nori seaweed: the same that is used for sushi. You can find it in most supermarkets these days, or in asian markets. Nori seaweed adds a very light sea flavour. It also looks a bit like the skin of a fish, which makes this dish even more realistic and suitable for non-vegans too.
  
  If you can't find nori seaweed, or if you don't like its taste, then you can just leave it out. The tofu will still be delicious!
  
• Cherry tomatoes: you can replace them with any other small tomatoes, like dates, or plum tomatoes.
  
• Lemon: since you can actually eat the peal after it's baked, we recommend using an organic lemon.
  

• Olives: we like to use mixed black and green olives to make the dish more colorful. We like small olives with the stone. But you can use any olives, even canned ones without the stone.
  
• Capers: they add so much flavour to this dish. You can use either pickled capers, or the ones that come in salt. In this case, wash away the salt.
  
• Garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil: best if the olive oil is extra virgin.
  
• Parsley: fresh flat-leaf parsley is very common in Italy when cooking fish, and it works great with tofu too. You can replace parsley with dill, thyme, rosemary or oregano.

How to make baked tofu

Preheat the oven to 360F (180C).

Cut 6 slices of tofu, ⅕ of an inch (0.5 cm) thin. Then cut 3 nori pieces. Each portion is made of 2 slices of tofu, and the nori sheet should be of the size of those two sizes of tofu put together.

Cut 3 thin slices of lemon, then cut each lemon slice in half. You should have 6 half-pieces of lemon.

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Prepare 6 pieces of parchment paper. They should be large enough to accommodate all the ingredients. Half the size of a standard oven baking tray is enough.

Then, put a piece of nori sheet on top of 3 pieces of parchment paper and season it with salt.

Now add two tofu pieces on top of the nori sheet, then season them with salt, pepper, and olive oil.

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Add 1 piece of lemon on top of each tofu slice. Then, for each portion, add 4 cherry tomatoes (cut in half), 10 olives, 7 capers, 1 crushed clove of garlic.

Season each tomato with salt and pepper and a few drops of olive oil.

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Cover each portion with the remaining parchment paper, and seal the edges, by folding and crushing the edge with your fingers. Put on a baking tray and bake at 360F (180C) for 30 minutes.

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Serve the whole wrap on a plate. You can remove the top part before serving it, or let the person who eats it remove it themselves and have a surprise effect. I love to see the smile on people's faces when they open the wrap.

Tips

Nori sheet: adding one piece of nori sheet under the tofu is a great way to recall the sea flavour. Also, the nori sheet looks a bit like the skin of a fish, making this dish super realistic in flavour, texture and look.

Tofu: do not press the tofu before baking it. A lot of tofu recipes require that, but in this one, pressing is not necessary, as we need moisture in the tofu to create vapour while the tofu cooks.

Fresh herbs: I use fresh flat-leaf parsley, but feel free to use any other Mediterranean fresh herb, such as rosemary, oregano, or dill.

Storage

Baked tofu is best eaten straight out of the oven, still in the baking paper wrapping.

If you have some leftover, then transfer the tofu and the other ingredients from the baking paper and onto a container. Then store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days max.

Reheat the tofu either in a preheated oven at 360F or 180C. Alternatively, you can reheat it in the microwave, or on a pan with a drizzle of olive oil.

We do not recommend freezing this baked tofu recipe.

Dinner Ideas

Did you know that we develop our recipes to go together for a complete dinner meal plan? Serve this baked tofu with:

Bruschetta with tomato and avocado as a starter.

Roasted potatoes with rosemary as a side dish to the baked tofu.

Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you might also like:

• pan fried tofu with lemon sauce
• lemon pasta with spinach
• lemon blueberry pound cake

Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below, or take a picture and tag us on Instagram @italiaplantbased.

Buon appetito!

Nico