Substitute tofu for mozzarella in your
caprese salad. Photo courtesy
MaiCuisine.com.

They’re also loaded with saturated fats. So one of our 2011 goals is to look for satisfying substitutes.

When we had lunch at Mai Cuisine, a creative New York-area sushi bar-and-restaurant chain, we didn’t have to look far. We discovered Tofu Caprese, which has become a new favorite low-calorie, lowfat appetizer, side or snack.

Mai has cleverly substituted tofu for mozzarella. (Tofu is sometimes called “the cheese of Asia” due to its physical resemblance to a block of farmer’s cheese.) It’s delicious, and it’s also vegan, helping us with our environmental goals to eat vegan two days a week. (If you don’t know how animal-based foods contribute to global warming, here’s the scoop.)

While cheese has protein, it has a lot of saturated fat. An wee ounce of mozzarella (made from the milk of cows or water buffalo) has less fat than other types of cheese, but that’s still 6g, including 4g saturated fat. And don’t think you’re “doing good” by choosing part-skim mozzarella: It saves just one gram of total fat.

Try it; you’ll like it!

Bouquet garni is classically tied with string and enclosed in cheesecloth, for easy removal at the end of the cooking process. The herbs can also be added into a sachet (the type that are also used to fill-your-own tea bags); and you can use a tea ball.

But what if you have no cheesecloth? No sachet? No tea ball?

Use a couple of coffee filters (or just one if the herbs fit). Insert the herbs, tie it closed and add it to the pot.

A bouquet garni is made of particular herbs that accent a recipe. There is no one herb mix: three or four choices are made among a group that typically includes bay leaf, chervil, parsley, sage, savory, rosemary, thyme and tarragon.*

*Did you realize that Simon & Garfunkel were singing about bouquet garni? Here’s the background of the song, Scarborough Fair.

As you cook, enjoy Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits, or at least the MP3 of “Scarborough Fair.”

A bouquet garni of bay leaf, sage and thyme.
Photo © David Monniaux, courtesy Wikimedia.

Make the delicious recipes from Patsy’s
Italian restaurant at home.

Five lucky winners will win the cookbook from the restaurant, to cook the cuisine that Sinatra loved.

Patsy’s Cookbook: Classic Italian Recipes From A New York City Landmark Restaurant, by Salvatore Scognamillo, presents 100 recipes from the classic southern Italian cuisine that’s become American comfort food.

Plan a buffet dinner of Mussels Arreganata, Fettuccine Alfredo, Rigatoni Sorrentino, Chicken Parmigiana, Veal Marsala and Shrimp Scampi, with Tiramisù for dessert.

Directions for the 100 recipes are simple and well adapted to home cooking; the book will please both old and new fans alike.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Italian Cookbooks Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. Approximate Retail Value Of Prize: $27.50. This contest closes on Monday, January 17th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!