Jes's Coriander Tempeh & Zucchini with Couscous Upma

Welcome to Ham Pie Sandwiches' first guest post! Well, it's the first guest post if you don't count that one time I was going crazy studying for the GRE and John wrote up a delightful pasta recipe. So. Welcome to Ham Pie Sandwiches' second guest post!

This post comes courtesy of Jes of Eating Appalachia. I’ve been reading about Jes’s food adventures for years--from her vegan days in Atlanta to her current locally sourced Virginia cuisine.

Jes sets a perfect example for eating a truly varied diet. From Pesto-Stuffed Eight-Ball Zucchini and Vegan Pulled Pork with Rhubarb BBQ Sauce to intriguing baked goods like Balsamic Chipotle Roasted Strawberry Brownies and Buckwheat Sauerkraut Rolls, the range of different delicious meatless options is stunning. But Jes also features local and sustainable meat and dairy delights, especially in her restaurant reviews--a great resource for visits up and down the Appalachian range, as well as farther afield. It reads like a perfect Michael Pollan-y dream: food (& not too much of it) made from mostly plants, with some tidbits of delicious meat mixed in here and there. What's not to love?

This year, both Jes and I have been elbow deep in our respective gardens, eager to grow and eat the most local vegetables we possibly can. The zucchini is just starting to run amok--and what better way to use abundant garden zucchini than in Jes's Coriander Tempeh & Zucchini with Couscous Upma?

***

This is the first year that I’ve worked to create a semi-diverse garden. I planted my first garden two years ago as a joint effort with friends, but we ended up harvesting only potatoes and some collards since no one took responsibility for the management of it. So we let it grow wild and we harvested what was edible. Last year, I planted my second garden in the same space and grew mostly tomatoes and peppers with a few eggplants thrown in for color. While I harvested enough tomatoes to can as sauce and last through the winter, it wasn’t extraordinarily diverse and, overall, I didn’t put in the effort or creative thinking to make the garden thrive.

This year I’m a woman with a plan. (Which isn’t to say that the plan hasn’t derailed at least ten times already…)

Garden boxes built in our new front yard (we don’t have a backyard and thankfully the neighbors are fantastic about the non-traditional vegetables), seeds dutifully ordered and started, now, by mid-July, I feel like I can finally say the words “I tend to a vegetable garden.”

I tend to a vegetable garden. Or, more accurately, I cater to a vegetable garden. I say “cater to” because, by now, I’ve learned that the plants have a mind and will of their own, and, supplied with an auto-timed watering system (my partner is an engineer, and, as a writer, I consider his garden contributions akin to magic) and some soil amendments, they’ll outgrow their boxes and take over the sidewalk and rest of the front lawn. I’ve begun to think that the butternut squash vines are just using me for their own end. But I can’t walk away, I’m in love with them too much. I’m truly that woman.

If you think I’m waxing a little too poetically (or overdramatically), let me tell you about the time this year I went on vacation for five days and came home to four 2-4 pound zucchinis. Those zucchinis were only dreams in the mother zucchini’s imagination, maybe a flower at most. Four pound zucchinis. One was adopted, the other three left to me and my endless all-zucchini-all-the-time dinners. Pasta with sautéed zucchini. Zucchini & mozzarella pizza. Zucchini quiche. Zucchini and garlic as a side dish. Zucchini noodles. Pickled zucchini.

It’s too early in the year for this, so help me, and I actually ripped one of the plants out of the garden. Three was just too many zucchini plants. Now that we’re down to two, I’m hoping to keep the harvest manageable, but I’m more than ok with dropping bags of zucchinis on my neighbor’s porches if it comes down to it. Don’t tell them.

In the meantime, as I’m drowning in zucchini, one of my favorite dishes thus far has been Coriander Tempeh and Zucchini and Couscous Upma. A marriage of two different recipes with a little adaptation, this Indian meal is a crowd pleaser. Not hot at all (depending on if you use peppers) but with plenty of savory spice, the meaty tempeh pairs well with the fresh zucchini, the couscous upma a fun take on a traditional dish.

Key to the meal is preparation, preparation, preparation. Having a fully prepared mise en place will expedite the cooking, which is necessary since you’re working with very hot oil and spices. If you waste a second, the spices will burn and you’ll have to start all over again. This isn’t to say that it’s a difficult meal to prepare, just that you need to think ahead and have all of your ingredients laid out and ready to throw in the pot.

Feel free to use whatever vegetables you have on hand for the upma or to use shrimp as the original recipe calls for with the zucchini. As far as it goes though, this light yet filling vegetarian meal is pretty darn good just the way it is—not to mention its powers of making zucchini disappear into everyone’s bellies.

Coriander Tempeh & Zucchini with Couscous Upma

Slightly adapted from Ruta Kahate & Geetha’s Kitchen

For the Coriander Tempeh & Zucchini:

2 packages tempeh
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp Indian sesame oil
1 bay leaf
2 green Thai/Indian chilis
2 tsp ground cumin, divided
2 tsp ground coriander, divided
½ tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp salt
2 lb zucchini, chopped into ½ inch cubes

For the Couscous Upma:

2 tbsp Indian Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp split skinless chana Dal
1 tbsp split skinless urad Dal
1 pinch Asafetida powder
1 tbsp fresh Ginger, finely grated
2 Thai/Indian chilis
1 sprig fresh curry leaves, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 handful cherry tomatoes
1 c frozen or fresh peas
1 carrot, grated
1 tsp salt
1 ¼ c couscous
1 c water

Fill a medium saucepot ¾ full with water. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, prepare all of your ingredients to cook—-before cooking it is essential to have everything measured and ready to throw in the pot or pan as these dishes do not take very long to cook but have a decent-sized ingredient list.

• Cut each block of tempeh in half. Set aside.
  
• Place 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander in a small bowl and set aside.
  
• Cut the zucchini into ½ inch chunks. Set aside in a bowl.
  
• Cut the ends off 2 of the green chilis (if using) and slice length-wise. Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds (if you’re sensitive to the burn the oils will leave on your hands, wear gloves). Slice into super thin ribbons. Set aside in a small bowl.
• Repeat with the other two chilis (if using) and set aside in a different bowl.
  
• Place the bay leaf, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, ½ tsp freshly grated ginger, and 1 tsp salt in one of the bowls with the chili ribbons. Set aside.
  
• Place 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger, 1 spring’s worth of chopped curry leaves (I used 6 leaves), and 1 tsp salt in the other bowl with the chili ribbons. Set aside.
  
• Place the mustard seeds, chana dal, and urad dal in a small bowl and set next to the stove.
  
• Place the Asafetida powder next to the stove.
  
• Place the chopped onion in a small bowl and set aside.
  
• Place the cherry tomatoes, peas, grated carrot in a bowl and stet aside.
  
• Measure out the couscous and the water and set aside.
  

Now that everything is prepared and the water is boiling, place the tempeh halves into the boiling water and add the 1 tsp cumin and 1 tsp coriander to the water. Reduce to a low boil and let boil for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, drain the water and set the tempeh aside.

In a heavy bottomed pot (I used a cast iron Dutch oven), warm 2 tbsp Indian sesame oil over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds, chana Dal, and urad Dal. Cover the pot with a lid and let the mustard seeds pop.

Once they finish popping (or are very close to it—the popping noise slows down as with popcorn), lower the heat to medium-low and stir in a pinch of Asafetida powder. Immediately add the 1 tbsp grated ginger, curry leaves, chilis, and onions. Stir to combine. Let cook for 4-5 minutes, until the onion softens.

Add the remaining vegetables (cherry tomatoes, peas, carrot) and the water (1 ¼ c) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the couscous, stir, turn off the heat, place the lid on top, and leave on the stove until ready to eat.

After the couscous has been prepared, return to your pre-boiled tempeh. Cut the tempeh (it will have expanded) into bite-sized chunks (mine were ½” chunks).

In a wok, heat 2 tbsp Indian sesame oil over medium-high and add the turmeric, bay leaf, chilis, cumin, coriander, ginger, and salt. Stir and cook till fragrant, 20 seconds or so.

Add the zucchini to the oil & spice mixture. Coat well and cover with a large pot lid (the lid from my largest stock pot works well for this). Lower to medium. Cook until the zucchini begins to soften, ~5 minutes, stirring every now and then.

Once the zucchini begins to soften (and liquid is in the bottom of the wok), add the tempeh, and stir to combine. Once everything is coated in the spice mixture, turn off the heat and serve with the couscous upma.

Serves Six.

Ol' Reliable

The other day, John and I were discussing which dinners we would eat with no pause, no matter what mood we were in. The Ol' Reliable--a green salad with seared marinated tempeh--tops the list. (Other candidates included the Big Pan of Enchiladas and the Massive Stockpot of Chili.)

Man, do I love the Ol' Reliable.

We have made and eaten it many, many times. Here's one with carrots, frisee, and mushrooms. Here's one with cherry tomatoes and marinade-based salad dressing. This current salad features mushrooms, sungold tomatoes, cucumber, yellow carrot, and green onion over a farmer's market mesclun mix.

The basic premise is always the same: marinate cubed tempeh in your choice of delicious marinade. Sear. Throw on top of salad greens. Add vegetables and dressing of your choice. Eat. Feel better.

Our base marinade for tempeh is generally olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sriracha, crushed garlic, fresh rosemary, and veg broth, with whatever other additions sound good at the time. The vegetables can range anywhere from plain greens with no dressing to a huge melange of whatever's in the crisper. It's all good.

Roasted tomato & tempeh loaf sandwich

At least the tomatoes are in the oven this time, right?

We actually had this excellent dinner nearly a month ago! That's ok, though--it's way more appropriate for a brisk fall day than a sunny summer one.

In this instance, we wanted a whole lot of roasted vegetables plus tempeh seasoned to approximate meatloaf, so we could have a dinner of fall veg and pseudo-meatloaf sandwiches.

So. First I marinated strips of tempeh in a mix of veg broth, ketchup, hot sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, and probably some fresh rosemary. The secret ingredient to practically any good tempeh marinade is rosemary, in my experience.

We don't steam the tempeh before marinating it. However, we generally do make the veg broth immediately before marinating, so the marinade itself is pretty warm. I'm not sure whether this has any effect on the supposed bitterness of tempeh, since I have nothing to compare against. It works fine.

While my tempeh was marinating, I cut a whole bunch of potatoes into steak fries and broccoli into florets, tossed each pile with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put them all in a 350/375F oven to bake.

Next, I washed a bunch of cherry tomatoes, tossed them with the aforementioned olive oil, salt, and pepper, and threw them in the oven as well.

After the vegetables were about halfway done, it was time to cook the tempeh. I decided to just throw the strips in the oven, basting occasionally as they cooked. While this did produce tasty tempeh, it also produced a pan that was nearly impossible to clean. I'd recommend just searing off your tempeh in a decent frying pan instead.

When everything was done, I whipped it all out of the oven, toasted some bread, and made some tempeh loaf sandwiches. Here, have a terribly lit 9 pm picture!

John's sandwich had just tempeh, mustard, and lots of lettuce; my sandwich had all of the above plus a big layer of the roasted tomatoes. This meant my sandwich was substantially more drippy. That didn't matter. It was totally worth it.

Tempeh chard braise

It shouldn't surprise anybody to hear that the meat substitute of choice at our house is tempeh. (If only we could buy it downtown! But no.) We usually marinate it, sear it, and serve it on top of a gigantic green salad.

The other day, we had tempeh, but no salad greens. Instead, we had kale and chard. This could work, right?

Braised tempeh with chard

tempeh
olive oil
vegetable broth
tomato sauce
soy sauce
red wine vinegar
garlic
red pepper flake, fennel seed, oregano
chard (stems & leaves)
salt, pepper

Start by marinating the tempeh. First, cut your block of tempeh into pieces about an inch square and half an inch thick. In a large bowl, mix together about 1/4 cup of olive oil, a cup of vegetable broth, a couple big spoonfuls of tomato sauce, a few minimal shakes of soy sauce and red wine vinegar, and several cloves of crushed, peeled garlic. Since I was working from frozen vegetable broth and tomato sauce, I heated them both up on the stovetop before I added them to the mix. Season the marinade with red pepper flake, fennel seed, and oregano. A bay leaf couldn't hurt, either.

Put all your tempeh into the marinade, arranging it so it's totally covered by liquid. If you don't have enough liquid, you can add a bit more broth.

Now leave the tempeh to marinate for at least a half hour, and preferably longer. An hour or two is ideal. I personally tend to cut my time as short as possible, because I start cooking when I'm already hungry, but I haven't noticed a huge difference in flavor with a longer marinade.

While your tempeh is soaking, wash a bunch of chard. I used one of the gargantuan bunches with stems two inches wide, partly because they were taking up inordinate room in the refrigerator and partly because I wanted substantial stem content. If you're using smaller chard, you may want to use two bunches. Any color should work fine. Cut (or rip) the leaves off the stems and separate into two piles. Trim your stems and cut them into convenient half-inch pieces. If you have gargantuan chard, cut each stem vertically a few times before you mince across. Essentially, you want to treat it like celery and cut it accordingly.

Give the leaves a rough chop, keeping them separate from the stems. Now set everything aside until your tempeh has marinated enough to cook.

When you're ready, heat up a frying pan, preferably one large enough to hold all your tempeh in one layer. Nonstick or cast iron is good. Warm some olive oil in the pan, add your tempeh (reserving the marinade), and sear. When you've got a reasonable brown color on each side, pour the marinade into the pan and bring it to a simmer. Add your chopped chard stems, turn the heat down to medium, and cook everything together, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is mostly absorbed and the tempeh and stems are tender. Add the chard leaves and a little salt and pepper, mix, and cook for another minute, or until the greens are wilted. Correct seasonings, and you're done.

We ate our tempeh and chard by themselves, but clearly this would be great over rice, barley, or whatever grain you like. If you want to go nuts (or serve more people) you could even do risotto. Voila: dinner!

Tempeh tempeh tempeh!

Sadly, we have no reliable source of tempeh downtown, i.e. within walkable distance of our apartment. This means that since we moved back to CA, we haven't been eating it, um, almost at all. So the other day, when I missed the bus that stops right in front of Whole Foods, I thought, "Hey! I should use some of this boring ten minutes of waiting to go inside and find lots of tempeh!" So that's how I ended up bringing two slabs of tempeh home for us to devour.

After reading about Pupcake's clearly excellent green salad with salmon, I had a serious desire for our classic tempeh preparation, the Ol' Reliable. This consists of a similar big pile of greens with seared marinated tempeh on top. It's always delicious and satisfying, yet never makes you feel glurgy.

Ol' reliable: seared tempeh salad

tempeh
olive oil
rice wine vinegar
hot sauce
soy sauce
fresh rosemary
garlic cloves
a lemon
vegetable broth
salt, pepper
salad greens of your choice
any other salad veg that sounds good

Over the past few years, it's become common knowledge that steaming tempeh before marinating helps it absorb more of the delicious flavor. So we're going to start by steaming the tempeh.

Bring a pot of water (that fits your steamer of choice) to a boil. While it's heating, cut your tempeh into bite-size pieces. Steam the tempeh over the water for about ten minutes.

While the tempeh is steaming, make your marinade. I made mine in a loaf pan, but you can use any bowl, or even a plastic bag if you prefer. Note: make absolutely sure any plastic bag you use has no holes whatsoever; otherwise, you will shortly have to clean up a huge mess. In fact, forget I said anything about bags. Just use a bowl.

Marinade proportions can vary quite a bit according to your preference. Since we wanted spicy tempeh, I used a substantial 3 or 4 tbps of hot sauce, plus 1-2 tbsp each of soy sauce and olive oil, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, four or five cloves of crushed garlic, the juice of a lemon, and the bruised leaves from a 5-inch sprig of fresh rosemary. Then I added about two cups of vegetable broth to make up the liquid content. Keep in mind that I don't ever measure, and am thus estimating from memory. In short: use the amounts that you want. Whisk the marinade together with a fork (another excellent reason not to use a plastic bag; can you imagine?), and you're ready.

Take your steamed tempeh off the heat and discard the steaming water. Put the tempeh pieces into the marinade pan, making sure each piece is as subsumed in liquid as possible. If you don't have enough marinade, add more vegetable broth. Ideally, you want the marinade to just barely crest over the top of the tempeh pieces; this avoids waste while still making sure the tempeh absorbs plenty of flavor.

Now set everything aside for at least a half hour. A full hour is even better. Yes. I know you're hungry, but it's worth it.

Things to do while you wait for the tempeh to soak up all the delicious flavors:
- Wash, dry, and chop up all the greens you want in your salads.
- Chop up any other vegetables you may want. I wanted cherry tomatoes.
- Arrange salad greens and vegetables nicely on plates.
- Turn your tempeh pieces once or twice, to make sure all sides absorb equal deliciousness.
- Laze about.

Ok! When you're ready to sear, heat up a nonstick or cast-iron saute pan. Ideally, this should be large enough to fit all your tempeh pieces in one layer. If you're feeding a ton of people, you may need to sear the tempeh in batches. It's all good.

Lay your tempeh pieces in the pan; they should sizzle. Cook without moving until browned on the bottoms; then flip and brown a new side. You can add spoonfuls of marinade occasionally, but try to keep the pan fairly dry; this ensures a nice brown crispy crust on each piece.

Speaking of the marinade, ladle about half a cup of it into a measuring cup or small bowl. Add a few glugs of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and an additional squirt of lemon. Whisk briskly until emulsified. This is now your salad dressing. See, because no raw meat has contaminated your marinade, you can just eat it! SHAZAM! (You can also use a different vinaigrette, of course, but what fun is that?)

Flip your tempeh a few more times, being careful not to break the pieces. When all sides are sufficiently browned, turn off the heat. Drizzle dressing over your greens; divide tempeh evenly among plates; top with the dregs of the dressing.

Now you can eat it. Hooray! Don't you feel better? I know I do. Clearly, eating salad will continue to build up my immune system. Salad FTW!

Experimentation for the win

Last week I spontaneously had a day off work, so I decided I was going to have the most awesome lunch ever: tempeh and greens.

Normally when I marinate tempeh I end up getting it too salty, which is clearly due to using too much soy sauce. I don't even like soy sauce that much. So I started looking around the kitchen to figure out a better marinade base, and came up with tahini. I love tahini! So I mixed up a marinade a lot like Jo Stockton's tahini sauce. I'd liked it as a straightup sauce with soba; as a marinade, with cooked component, it's possibly even better.

Chard is the best because it has two separate edible components: stems and leaves. The stems are all crunchy yet soft, soaking up liquid like bok choy, and the leaves are intense and green-flavored and delicious. You have to love a vegetable that gives you two completely different experiences like that. The secret is to separate them out, since they need to cook for different times. Chard!

Tahini tempeh with chard

tahini
soy sauce
white wine vinegar/other vinegar
olive/tasteless oil
sriracha/other hot pepper sauce
water
fresh ginger
garlic
tempeh
brown short-grain rice/other grain
a bunch of chard/similar greens
salt, pepper

Marinate tempeh, make rice, sear tempeh, add chard.

For marinade, I mixed up a big spoonful of tahini, a few small splashes of soy sauce, vinegar, and olive oil, and a substantial squirt of sriracha, then thinned everything down with some water. Cut a big slice or two of ginger and add it to the marinade; smash and peel a big clove or garlic and add that too. I never measure any of this stuff, so just play it by ear.

Cube up a bunch of tempeh and throw it into the marinade to soak up all the delicious, delicious business. I used half a brick of tempeh, since I was only going to feed myself. Marinate for an hour or so, longer if you want. I think tempeh can get soggy if you marinate it too long, though, so I wouldn't leave it soaking overnight.

When the tempeh is nearly done marinating, throw some rice and water in the rice cooker (or, you know, a pot) and cook it. You could sub pretty much any grain in place of the rice, so use whatever you have lying around. I like the chewiness of the rice here, so I'd probably stick to something in the barley/wheat family, but things like quinoa and millet should be fine too.

To sear your tempeh, heat up a saute pan to medium-high. Add a little bit of oil, spread it around the pan, and add your drained tempeh in one layer. (Keep the marinade to one side for later.) Cook, shaking the pan and flipping every few minutes, until your tempeh is happy and browned and sizzling all over.

While the tempeh is cooking, wash your chard. I used an entire bunch for just me, because 1. greens reduce and 2. I like chard. Remove the stems from the leaves, and chop each into small pieces. You can throw your stems into the marinade to pick up some of that flavor, if you feel like it.

When tempeh is fully seared, turn the heat down to medium, then add the chard stems and a generous splash of marinade to the pan. Maybe add a touch of salt and pepper here as well. Stir it around to cook the stems for two or three minutes.

Then add the greens and a little more marinade (I just threw all of mine in, minus the ginger and garlic), stir the business up, and slap on a lid. Let everything steam together for a minute or so, or until the greens are fully wilted.

You are done! Fill a big bowl with rice, tempeh, and chard, grind some pepper over it, and eat it hard.

Hooray, lunch!

Ol' reliable: seared tempeh salad

We are finally really eating like ourselves again. I feel much better.

This is a salad with seared marinated tempeh. Flatly, it is my favorite way to eat tempeh. Yes, tempeh bacon is wonderful and makes excellent sandwiches. I like tempeh BLTs, but I really like my salad.

(Actually, it's our friend Ryan's salad.)

Ol' reliable

tempeh
soy sauce
olive oil
white wine vinegar
hot sauce
garlic
salad greens
carrots
green onion
mushrooms

First, marinate the tempeh.

For marinade: get a big bowl and in it mix roughly equal amounts of soy sauce and olive oil. Add a slightly lesser amount of vinegar. I had white wine vinegar but red wine, rice wine, or apple cider should work fine. Then add hot sauce to taste. I only have a dinky little bottle of 79 cent hot sauce right now, so I used that instead of the usual sriracha. Crush and mince a couple cloves of garlic, then add them to the marinade. Whisk everything together with a fork.

I don't measure these, since their amounts depend pretty heavily on the amount of tempeh you have. Maybe start with 1/4 cup soy and oil and go from there. It's not that big a deal, honestly, since you can always add in more liquid. I definitely added more halfway through the marinating process, when it became clear that my tempeh had drunk up all the initial liquid like a raging alcoholic.

You can also add anything else you think might be good in a marinade. Fresh chopped ginger is an excellent idea. Ryan always added fresh rosemary, too, which is pretty great. You can't just walk up the street and pick rosemary off the neighbor's hedge in Brooklyn, though. Of course the north has its own distinct foraging opportunities.

Cut your tempeh into pieces maybe 1 inch square, put them into the marinade, and stir it up to get some liquid contact on each piece. I had some exciting new tempeh with flax seeds embedded in it, which was awesome. It's fine if the marinade doesn't cover all your tempeh; in fact, I think it's better, since you won't have to pour anything down the drain later. Just remember to stir things up every twenty minutes or so: that way the marinade can soak in on all sides.

I left my tempeh to marinate for about two hours, but less (or more) is ok. I think you'd be good all the way back to about 45 minutes.

When you're ready to cook, warm a saute pan big enough to fit your tempeh in one layer. Add some olive oil, tip in the tempeh, and sear, shaking and flipping fairly often, until the tempeh is lovely and brown and fragrant and the garlic has turned into chewy caramelized bits. I only had a tiny bit of marinade left, so I added it to the pan. If you have a lot left, you might want to strain and refrigerate it to reuse later.

While things are searing, wash and chop your salad vegetables. I used spinach and frisee for the greens, plus chopped baby carrots, mushrooms, and a tiny bit of green onion. I think this combination works well, especially when you combine sweet carrots with bitter inner leaves of frisee. Almost anything you want in a salad should be fine, though. Radishes, for instance: ++. If you want a particularly springy salad, do radishes, chopped snow peas, lots of sprouts and sunflower seeds. If you want a fally salad, roast some squash or beets and pumpkin seeds and add those. Whatever you have will work.

Arrange the salad business on plates, top with the finished tempeh, and eat.

I had red grapefruit juice.

One of the best things about a dinner like this is that when you eat as much as you want, you feel good.

Sick weekend

Is it bad when your eyes are already burning by the time you get home? Don't answer that. Actually, John's been sick, and I had an idea that I was catching his sick too. Then we put it together. That grey on the horizon? That's from the fires. That's why John is sick and I have burning eyes. That's it. Fortunately, the air is supposed to be getting better now.

So. Sickness makes John not hungry at all. That's how I ended up eating an entire batch of Vcon spicy tempeh rotelle with broccoli rabe (or in my case actual broccoli) over the course of three days. It's a good thing it's DELICIOUS. The tempeh marinade was done in a totally ingenious way: by braise! No marinade! You have to admit that this business looks disturbingly like very seedy marinade (if, you know, seedy marinade disturbs you), BUT NO. It is very seedy braising liquid instead.

The especially genius part of this was the fennel seeds. If you ever want to make anything resemble sausage, I now recommend fennel seeds. The finished product actually resembled my muscular pasta with fake sausage crumbles pretty closely: pasta, olive oil, spicy protein. The Vcon business was a lot less oily, though.

All of my pictures of the finished product are muddy and unremarkable, but look at the delicious tempeh!




When John did want food, he wanted soothing and indulgent business. I gave him a list to choose from, and he circled this.

Pea and cheese risotto

onion/garlic
olive oil/butter
arborio rice
hot broth on the stove
frozen peas
salt, pepper
grating cheese if you want it

I made this one with half a red onion, some garlic, and romano cheese.

Chop the onion/etc and soften it in olive oil or butter. When it's starting to turn gold and melty, throw in a cup of rice and a cup of hot broth. You want a thick, sloppy liquid. Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently but not necessarily 100% of the time. Add more cups of broth as the previous cups absorb into the rice. This should take four or five cups at least. When the rice grains don't have a hard white core anymore, taste one. If it's cooked, or near enough, dump a bunch of peas and a last half cup of broth into the pot. When the peas are warm and the broth is absorbed, take everything off the heat. If you want cheese, grate it into the pot. Add a pinch of salt and lots of fresh ground pepper, stir the business up, and eat it.

Afterward, have tea and lie down on the couch to watch Battlestar Galactica.

Oh no! It's too delicious!

I was reading the foodblogs and came upon Kamutflake Girl's dinner overflowing with (among other business) all kinds of delicious Veganomicon food. I wanted it! I had the tofu. I even had beets! But alas, I had no other things. I guessed I would just have to console myself with the hot sauce tempeh instead. Oh no!

I didn't want to use hot sauce, though. I wanted to use barbecue sauce: deep dark delicious five minute Joy of Cooking sauce that had been languishing neglected in the side door of the fridge.

This was easily accomplished. I subbed barbecue sauce for the hot sauce. I also used broth for the wine, since we aren't drinking right now and the cooking vermouth was out. I imagine that wine in this would be pretty killer, though. It was pretty killer even without.

Isa also has you parboil the tempeh before cooking. Interesting. I hadn't ever done this before, and to be honest, didn't notice that it made much difference. Of course I had never made this with non-parboiled tempeh, so there's that.


A tomato cracked in my bag coming home. I guess I will just have to have delicious tomato salad. Oh no!

a good tomato
a bowl
salt

Cut up your tomato and put it in a bowl. Sprinkle a little salt on it. Eat it with a fork.

le weekend

IT IS THE WEEKEND! Or "le weekend", as they say.

Look what we had for dinner last night!

Tempeh stirfry

tempeh
vegetables
peanut oil/other oil good for hot hot heat
marinade
something with which to deglaze (dry vermouth)

The marinade (noun: marinade; verb: marinate) is really variable, so I'm just going to give basic instructions first, then come back to it.

Cut a block of tempeh into maybe half-inch thick squares. Stick it in marinade for an hour or so, turning as necessary to get all surfaces fully soaked. Marinade is the key! Leave it more than an hour if you have the time.

Get out vegetables and cut them up. Use whatever you want for stirfry. I had a head of broccoli, a zucchini, half a red pepper, a small sweet orange pepper, and some smashed garlic.

When tempeh has marinated long enough, warm a good sauté pan on medium-hot. Add some peanut oil and swirl it around. Then add in the tempeh. The pan should be hot enough that things sizzle. Cook to brown on one side, then turn.

While the tempeh browns, stick your vegetables in the leftover marinade to absorb as much as possible. When you turn the tempeh, throw all the vegetables on top. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, stirring every once in a while, for about ten more minutes, or until all your vegetables are cooked. Deglaze the pan with vermouth: i.e., pour in some vermouth and stir to get all the delicious brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Leave the pan on the heat another minute to cook off the alcohol.

Now you are done. Eat with lots of rice.


Ok, marinade.

Here's what I used:

olive oil
soy sauce
house of tsang "classic stir fry sauce"
rice wine vinegar
mirin
powdered ginger
sesame oil

I used roughly equal amounts of the first three, and less of the rest. Put as much of each as you want in a bowl/mixable dish and amalgamate with a fork. That's all.

You can do anything you want with this marinade. Rough guide: use equal parts soy sauce and olive oil, then add vinegar and possibly mirin to taste. Since I was using the tsang sauce, I used sesame oil as well. You could just use more olive oil. It's really flexible, depending on what you want and have.

Other options:
- use teriyaki (which is based on soy anyway) instead of soy sauce; use less mirin.
- add a lot of chili sauce for hot hot marinade.
- crush fresh garlic and/or ginger and add it.
- experiment with hoisin sauce for sweet marinade.
- use other oils, like peanut or sesame, instead of olive.
- don't use tempeh at all, but tofu, vegetables, meat, or whatever sounds good.


Also, look what I brought home from work today!

We had an open house, and guess what was left from the buffet? Yes. All the vegetables. They sat in the refrigerator all day. I was apparently the only one eating any at all, so I threw everything into a bag and brought it all home.

Vegetables! What will I do with them?

(Eat them.)

I also brought some of the flowers that would die anyway over the weekend.

There are some grape tomatoes hiding in the vegetable bag. I love grape tomatoes. John made me a really, really good dinner with some of them the other day, but we forgot to take pictures! It was tragic. I wanted to write about it! "Too bad I can NEVER MAKE IT FOR YOU AGAIN," says John. NOOOOOO!