Fourth of July Feast!

I went home to NJ last weekend and we ended up having a 4th feast although we hadn't originally planned on it. Here are the components of a very good meal:

-Hot Sauce Glazed Tempeh: Another great tempeh dish coming from Veganomicon. While the rest of my family had burgers and hot dogs, I marinated some tempeh and panfried it up. It got slightly crispy and had some bite from the hot sauce. It was perfect for the barbecue mood.

-Grilled zucchini and squashed: This side was made by my mom. I actually have never cooked on a grill. It's so simple yet so tasty with a little bit of herbed olive oil brushed on prior to grilling.

-Baked "fries," two ways: Crispy delicious fries can be created by baking! One need not ruin potatoes in a deep fryer. We made these by slicing thin potato wedges and tossing them in some olive oil in a large bowl. Some were then covered with a Cajun seasoning (pictured) and others with Herbes de Provence. They are then placed on baking sheets and put in the oven or about an hour.

Smoky Grilled Tempeh and Collard Greens

These recipes come from Veganomicon. I was originally just going to make the tempeh but the intro to the recipe suggested making collard greens using the leftover marinade so I decided to give it a try. (I had never had collard greens and learned from this meal that I'm not a huge fan.)

The marinade for the tempeh is made using liquid smoke. I didn't know such a product existed but it's wonderful. And it seems to be available in just about every grocery store, including the ones around here which can sometimes be limited. The recipe recommends grilling but I panfried the tempeh triangles and thought it was great. I think next time I'd use kale or spinach, my preferred dark leafy greens, as a side.

Warning: marinating takes an hour, so this is not a good dish to make for those pressed for time or who are extremely impatient.

Tempeh and Sweetcorn Roast with Tahini-Mushroom Sauce

Okay, I'll admit that I didn't know exactly what I was making when I started this recipe. It comes from Vegan Cooking for One by Leah Leneman and since she is a Brit, some of the terminology is different than what we use in the United States. Soya milk rather than soy milk, for example. Well, I now know that this roast means basically the vegan equivalent of meatloaf.

This is a Sunday Dinner recipe in the book, which lists recipes for 9 weeks using spring/summer produce and 9 using fall/winter produce. Sunday dinners are generally a little more complex than the weeknight recipes and this one did take awhile. First the tempeh must be sauteed, then the loaf made, then the loaf baked, the sauce made, and once the loaf is out of the oven, everything can be put together and dinner served.

The loaf had a really lovely flavor. Tempeh is a great protein for a meatloaf alternative because of its texture. The tahini mushroom sauce is very savory. I also sliced up some red pepper with the dish.

Spicy Tempeh and Brocolli with Pasta

I'm fairly new to tempeh. I had never tried it until this past winter at Weird Fish in San Fransisco. I had not had it since but I've had a craving for it recently and looked for a good tempeh recipe. This recipe is from Veganomicon and is actually "Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle" but I'm more of a broccoli person. I'm not even sure if the groceries around here carry broccoli rabe anyway.

This dish is absolutely delicious. I made the full recipe so I could bring the leftovers for lunch the next day and I even had some leftover for dinner the next night. It was that good. The dish is a bit complicated to make and does take some time because there are three different parts of the cooking process: boiling the pasta, steaming the tempeh in a marinade of sorts and then stirfrying it, and also stirfrying the broccoli. The tempeh is so flavorful as a result of the marinade with the right amount of bite from red pepper flakes. I love tempeh because of its nuttiness. Tofu can be bland and its texture uninspiring but tempeh is just great.

Once the three components are cooked, all are tossed into a large bowl and mixed together. The spiral of the pasta catches crumbles of the tempeh. There is no real sauce for the dish. Rather, the tempeh and broccoli are strong enough to stand on their own and a bit of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper is sprinkled over the mixture. The lack of heavy sauce is refreshing and again, the tempeh is just so good. I will definitely be making this dish again.