The idea for this dish came from Antonio Tabucchi’s book Requiem. In one scene, the protagonist dines with a dead friend of his in a restaurant, and they are having sarrabulho, a traditional Portuguese meat dish. While eating, they are discussing how the meat is marinated in some white wine, caraway, garlic, and olive oil. Reading this made me think that it would make a great marinade for tofu, and we did like the end results too. This recipe made a fresh and harmonious baked tofu that had a distinct yet mellow caraway flavor.

As a side we had oven-baked potato wedges and soy yogurt sauce seasoned with garlic and chives.

Marinade for 250g firm tofu (serves 2):

• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 dl white wine
• ½ teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

We just pressed the tofu, cut it into slices, dried the slices with a kitchen towel and put them in a plastic container. Then we mixed all the marinade ingredients, poured them over of the tofu, closed the lid of the container, shook it until the marinade was spread evenly, and put the tofu in the fridge overnight.

Next day we heated the oven to 200 degrees Celcius, spread the tofu slices in a single layer in a baking pan, poured the rest of the marinade over them, and baked them together with the potato wedges (see below) until the marinade was absorbed. In our oven this took 30 minutes.

Spicy Crispy Potato Wedges (serves 4):

• 1 kg potatoes, scrubbed and cut in 6 wedges each
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 3/4 dl dry bread crumbs

Anni first mixed the breadcrumbs with the spices in a big bowl, and then added the potato wedges and the canola oil. Now, she stirred the potatoes until fairly covered with the breadcrumbs, and placed them on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment, the skin side of each wedge facing down. Now, there was some breadcrumbs left in the bowl, which she pressed on the wedges.

Now, we baked the potato wedges in 200 degrees Celcius on the uppermost rack of our oven for 30 minutes, while the tofu stayed on the lower rack of the oven and was cooked in the exact same time.