Many thanks to those of you who participated in the Desert Island Dishes contest! It was a treat to read through your entries.

It was hard to pick just three, but it had to be done, and Thomas Blythe and I narrowed it down to the following, which showed inventiveness and common sense, and just plain made us hungry. Their authors will receive a Desert Island Dishes cookbook and a Maldon seasoning box.

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Before I met these vegan lemon squares, silken tofu had always stumped me.

Regular, firm tofu, I know what to do with — most often I pat it dry, cube it, and sauté it until golden brown and crisp, to be served over puréed, roasted, or stir-fried vegetables.

But silken tofu, with its strange, curd-like texture and the whey that pools at the bottom of the tub (is it part of the tofu? should I use it? not use it?), has always felt like a riddle. More times than I care to admit it, I’ve bought a package only to use half of it and throw out the rest, for lack of a timely, suitable recipe to use it in.

Enter the Vegan Lemon Squares!

This is why I was so pleased to clip out not just one, but two uncommonly appealing recipes using silken tofu from the September issue of Whole Living: one for Beets and Kale with Creamy Tofu Dressing, and one for Lemon Coconut Tofu Squares.

It is the loveliest of three-bite desserts: the crust crumbly just so, the lemon topping slightly chewy, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

The former I’m keeping under my elbow, as we French say, for when I finally lay my eager little hands on a bunch of Parisian kale*, which I plan to order from Bob’s Juice Bar as soon as I get my act together. But the latter I tried right away, and served it to friends — one of them my son’s godmother — who had come to lunch on a sunny Sunday.

It was wonderfully easy to put together: a crust made with coconut oil that you press into the pan and par-bake, and a lemon filling that is prepared by mixing silken tofu with sugar, lemon juice**, and a touch of flour.

Once cooled and cut into squares — I made sixteen where the recipe suggested twelve — it is the loveliest of three-bite desserts: the crust crumbly just so, the lemon topping slightly chewy, and the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

Vegan lemon squares become vegan “anything” squares

I feel doubly gratified because this is a two-in-one recipe: the crust is particularly good and could be used for all sorts of tarts and fruit squares. With the rest of the package of silken tofu I made a dairy-free yogurt cake (oxymoron, I know!), substituting tofu for the yogurt, and nobody noticed a thing.

What do you like to do with silken tofu? Any favorite idea or recipe to share?

* For the longest time, kale has been a most elusive vegetable in Paris, but thanks to the efforts of a few enthusiasts, it looks like it’s about to finally become more readily available.

** I actually used yuzu juice for this inaugural batch, because I had a bottle on hand brought back from Japan by my friend Chika-san.

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Illustration by MelinArt.

This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Browse the list of idioms featured so far.

This week’s expression is, “Papa gâteau.”

Literally translated as, “cake daddy,” it is used to qualify a doting father, one who’s affectionate and good-natured, and possibly one who allows his children to wrap him around their little finger every once in a while.

Example: “Il n’a jamais été très branché bébés, mais depuis qu’il en a un, c’est un vrai papa gâteau.” “He’s never been big on babies, but now that he has one, he’s a real cake daddy.”

Listen to the idiom and example read aloud:

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You’ve likely heard of Maldon sea salt, an English salt that comes in large, pyramid-shaped, flaky crystals, a format that makes them both very pretty, and easy to pinch and crush and sprinkle.

The Maldon Salt Company is a fourth-generation family business that’s celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, and they’ve invited me to participate in the Desert Island Dishes campaign* they’ve launched to mark the occasion.

The idea is to ask chefs and home cooks to play this little parlor game: “You wake up and find yourself on an empty beach; a castaway on a desert island**. Water is in good supply and there’s a handy cave for shelter just around the corner. Food is what you’re worrying about. Luckily, you’ve been given the miraculous option to create any dish in the world. The catch is: you’re stuck with it.” What would that dish be?

I love this sort of game, and in fact, we play a similar one on roadtrips with Maxence. (“If you could only watch a single movie for the rest of your life, would it be… Scarface or Blade Runner?” or “If you could only pick one vacation destination for the rest of your life, would you choose… Japan or Italy?” It’s as much fun to come up with the questions as it is to ponder one’s options.)

So I was happy to play along, and my answer — “Pasta with radish greens, briefly sautéed with garlic, topped with toasted almonds and a pinch of Maldon Sea Salt” — is printed on the side of Maldon Salt boxes now up on grocery store shelves across the UK, which is fun to think about.

{Read on for the contest details!}

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