Recipe after hiatus

Holy cow it's been nearly a year since I contributed to this blog--what have I been doing?!

Anyhow the other night I decided to cook something inspired by a recent Portland trip. So without further ado here is the recipe.

Cornmeal Crusted Tempeh Meal: cornmeal crusted tempeh, served with pinto beans, corn, black lentils on a bed of sauteed greens and dressed with Tofu-Cilantro "sour cream". Phew what a mouthful but it will be worth it! The dish in Portland also had quinoa but I didn't feel like making that this time. Additionally the dish had a "pumpkin seed relish"--I didn't think that would be a hit with James (I was already pushing my luck) so I omitted that--point being, do whatever you like!






The "sour cream" can be made any time because it's delicious and can be put on everything. I recommend making this a day in advance--one less thing to worry about, right?

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe with Cilantro

Makes about three cups

* 1 pound silken tofu (Isa says – not the vacuum packed kind!)
* 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from one lime)
* 1 tablespoon of agave nectar or 1 teaspoon sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 2 cups loosely packed FRESH cilantro, with leaves and stems (you can half the amount if you’re not a cilantro fiend like I am)

1. Remove tofu from packaging and squeeze gently to remove any excess water. Place in a blender or food processor along with the lime juice, agave, and salt. Blend until smooth.
2. Heat a small pan over medium-low heat, and add garlic and olive oil. Cook gently for three minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not burn the garlic… you want a nice, blonde-brown color. Add to tofu mixture and blend again. Add cilantro and blend until “smooth and light green with some flecks of dark green.” Don’t forget to scrape down the sides.
3. Add more salt and lime to taste, then transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill for at least thirty minutes.




Now the Cornmeal Crusted Tempeh. This will take 1 hour and 10 minutes of your time. Plan accordingly.

Serves 4

2 8-ounce packages tempeh, each cut into four triangles
1/3 cup wheat-free tamari
3 tablespoons agave nectar
1 clove garlic, minced
3 slices of fresh ginger
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried cumin
pinch of sea salt
coconut oil (or olive oil)

Preheat oven to 350 F

Place tempeh triangles in baking dish. In small bowl, whisk together the tamari, 1/2 cup water, agave nectar, garlic, and ginger and pour over the tempeh (you can also do this the day before). Cover and bake for 1 hour, turning tempeh halfway through. While this is going on, you can make the sour cream recipe or you can get prepped for the kale, beans, rice, quinoa, whatever. After an hour remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a large shallow bowl, mix together the cornmeal, red pepper flakes, thyme, oregano, cumin, and sea salt. Dip the tempeh pieces into the cornmeal mixture to coat. At this point I would put on the beans, rice and lentils onto the stove because you're almost done.

In large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until hot. Cook the cooked tempeh until golden brown, about a minute on each side. Add additionally oil if necessary.

Remove from heat.

Now the beans, corn and black lentils
-All supplied from Trader Joe's (blushes) so just reheat per directions on can or bag. Who said I had time to make everything from scratch?

The kale (or chard or spinach...go nuts!):

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup diced, onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 cups kale, washed
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a 10" skillet over medium-low heat.

2. Add the onions and cook until tender but not brown, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

3. Add the kale, salt and pepper and toss with the olive oil and garlic until the kale begins to wilt, about 2 minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice over the mixture. Remove from the skillet.

Kale is your bottom layer, beans, rice and black lentils and whatever you decide to throw in is your middle layer, and finally the tempeh is popped on the top (I put 4 triangles) and dressed with the sour cream. MMMM....yummy!

And yes, this is vegan! Now go cook you hippy!