Preparation

• First of all, prepare the tahini:

  I have repeated this crusted tofu several times, producing a different tahini each time. Therefore, I leave you with three variants, all three excellent and suitable for use in this recipe, all three transformable into lemon tahini simply by adding (it might be obvious but it is so) the lemon juice to the freshly prepared sauce.

  1) Tahini made with unroasted sesame soaked in water, a recipe I learned thanks to the cooking class;

  2) Tahini made in the most well-known way, that is, with toasted sesame seeds;

  3) Sunflower seed tahini (or with both seeds, that is, half sesame and half sunflower), which can be made either with toasted seeds or using the seeds directly without toasting or soaking, and which is prepared very quickly by blending the seeds directly from the bag.

  Decide which of the three you want to try considering that:

  – For tahini number 1 (with unroasted sesame) you can consult the full recipe here.

  – If you want to try tahini number 2 I have not published a recipe but I assure you it’s very simple to make, you just need to toast the sesame before blending (or pounding it in the mortar) together with the oil. Toast the seeds in a pan for a few minutes and consider, as for no. 1, a proportion of 150 g toasted seeds and 50 g oil. For some more information I refer you to the recipe for carrots with sesame and breadcrumbs where I explained how to toast sesame.

  – For tahini number 3 there are no particular explanations: the seeds (whether sunflower or mixed) should be treated the same way as sesame seeds, toasted or blended naturally together with oil. The result will be a delicate and creamy sauce, thanks to the sunflower seeds which are more… pasty. (For more details, here’s the recipe: sunflower seed tahini).

• Once the sauce is obtained, squeeze the lemon (or lemons) and add the juice mixing with a spoon.

  In all three versions, the sauce can be more or less grainy depending on how much you blend it, without the consistency affecting the final taste.

  I show you here the photos I took on two different occasions, where you can clearly see the greater graininess (with sesame seeds well recognizable, that is, less blended) of the first, and the greater creaminess of the second (half sesame and half sunflower). The different color is given by the different seeds used and the toasting of the first case (and unroasted seeds in the second photo).

  

• With the tahini ready, prepare the tofu:

  Rinse the tofu to remove the residues of the preserving liquid and pat it dry.

  Slice it thinly. The block of tofu is usually a not too high slab. For this recipe, it can be sliced either from the short side or the wide side, should you want to obtain larger slices.

  Place the slices in a baking pan brushed with a little oil. The slices can be arranged side by side, so the tahini can cover each slice completely, or they can be arranged slightly overlapped as I did. For the final taste, the difference is negligible, while aesthetically it might be preferable not to overlap them if you want each slice of tofu to be totally covered with tahini, and thus fully gratinated.

  Cover the tofu with lemon tahini.

  

• Bake at 356°F (180°C) for about 15 minutes, until the tahini is golden brown.

  And here’s my crusted tofu just out of the oven:

  

• An extra tip:

  One of the things I was taught in the cooking class is that tofu should be boiled for a few minutes in water before being used. The purpose of this treatment would be to make the tofu softer – and indeed we were advised this treatment in the preparation of sauces and spreads – but it would also, and especially, aim to eliminate the bitter aftertaste that tofu sometimes has. To be honest, I only tried boiling it once, after which I never did it again because I like tofu as it is, and I didn’t feel the need to extend the preparation time by boiling it.

  However, I pass this information on to you because I find it useful, especially as it could be an extra idea for those who don’t like tofu: if a few minutes of boiling can make it to your liking, why not try? 🙂