Appetite for Reduction (29 page)

Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion in the oil for about 4 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so. Crumble the tofu into bite-size pieces and add to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the tofu has browned on some of the sides. Use a little nonstick cooking spray if needed.

Add the curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a few splashes of water if it’s too dry. Mix in the arugula. Cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the arugula is wilted.

Taste for spices and add another teaspoon of curry powder if needed; it will depend on the strength of your curry powder. Serve!

SERVES 2 ● ACTIVE TIME: 25 MINUTES ● TOTAL TIME: 90 MINUTES

I
’ve never been to Greece, but I imagine the vegan gods and goddesses would go crazy for this. Kalamata olives and red wine make for a succulent tempeh whose flavor just explodes in your mouth. Thin slices of tempeh ensure that the flavor is really absorbed. If you steam it for 5 minutes beforehand, it will absorb even more marinade and remove any bitter taste.

Serve with
Caulipots
(page 54) or a cup of whole wheat couscous and lots of steamed veggies, such as broccoli and zucchini. You heat up the marinade in the pan at the end, so it makes a great sauce to pour over everything.

Prepare your steamer. Prepare the tempeh by slicing it widthwise into four equal pieces. Slice each of those pieces horizontally across the middle (like a clam) so that you have eight thin slices. Steam the tempeh for 5 minutes, if you like, and in the meantime prepare marinade.

Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until the olives are pureed. They won’t be completely smooth, but that’s okay.

Pour the marinade into a mixing bowl or large zippered plastic bag.
Add the tempeh and let marinate for at least an hour or up to overnight, flipping once if needed to make sure the flavor absorbs evenly.

Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium heat. Spray it with nonstick cooking spray, then add the tempeh in a single layer.

Cook for 15 minutes, flipping every few minutes and adding marinade as needed to keep the tempeh from getting dry. In the last minute or so, add the remainder of the marinade and turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Let boil for about 3 minutes.

Serve over Caulipots and veggies, and make sure to pour the remaining sauce over everything, for lots of flavor.

SERVES 4 ● ACTIVE TIME: 15 MINUTES ● TOTAL TIME: 70 MINUTES

(CAN BE MADE GLUTEN FREE IF USING GF TAMARI IN PLACE OF SOY SAUCE)

T
art tamarind is often a secret ingredient in BBQ sauces, but I love it as an in-your-face, not-so-secret ingredient. I also love that this dish comes all together in one pan, with minimal prep. The sauce glazes the tempeh and sweet potatoes and creates the perfect mingling of sweet, tangy, savory, and smoky. The longer you marinate, the more flavor will permeate the tempeh.

You can even assemble this the night before or the morning of, store in the fridge, and pop into the oven when you’re ready to go. If you’re going to skip the marinating phase, then remember to preheat the oven while you’re prepping the veggies. Serve with
Polenta Stuffing
(page 66) and
Shaved Brussels Sprouts
(page 92) for a Thanksgiving dinner that will have your hot pants thanking you. You can also just serve with some rice and a green.

Spray a 9 by 13-inch casserole pan with nonstick cooking spray. If using glass (which I don’t recommend! But I can’t stop you!), then line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients. Make sure to get the tamarind dissolved.

Place the sweet potatoes and tempeh in the prepared pan. Pour the sauce over them and use your hands to coat well. You can bake immediately or let marinate for at least an hour to get more flavor into the tempeh.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 4oo°F. Cover the pan with tinfoil and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss out the tinfoil. Flip the tempeh and sweet potatoes, making sure to scrape the bottom with a spatula in case anything is sticking. Bake for another half hour, flipping everything once. The sweet potatoes should be tender but not mushy, and the sauce should be thickened and coating everything. Serve!

SERVES 4 ●ACTIVE TIME: 15 MINUTES ● TOTAL TIME: 30M MINUTES

(CAN BE MADE GLUTEN FREE IF USING GF HOT SAUCE)

H
ot sauce lovers only! When you’re craving something spicy, saucy, and greasy, this tempeh does the trick. The thing is, they aren’t actually greasy or fatty, they only look like they are. There’s no oil in the marinade, and don’t be suspicious that it contains only four ingredients; plenty of garlic and oregano will make you crave these winglike tempeh wedges even when you’re not watching the big game. I love to mix this sauce with
Mac & Trees
(page 184), so pour some
Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce
(page 173) over your macaroni and then top it with Buffalo Tempeh. Or, try Buffalo Tempeh with
Cool Slaw
(page 38). Anything creamy and cooling will be great with this recipe.

To create wedges, slice the tempeh in half across the waist. Slice the resulting square in half. You’ll have four rectangles. Slice each of those rectangles corner to corner. The resulting triangular wedges are great for baking, grilling, or sautéing.

Prepare your steaming apparatus. Steam the tempeh for 5 minutes; this will loosen the tempeh up and get it ready to absorb the marinade flavors.

Mix together the marinade ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl. When the tempeh is done steaming, immediately transfer it to the marinade. Let it marinate for at least 10 minutes, up to an hour.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray the pan with a bit of nonstick cooking spray. Add the tempeh slices and reserve the marinade. Cook the tempeh for 10 minutes, flipping it often, until it has browned a bit. Add the remaining sauce and turn up the heat to high. Let the liquid boil and cook down for about 5 minutes. That’s it!

CHAPTER 6

Talk Pasta to Me (& Noodles!)

O
H, THOSE CARB-FEARING ’90S. THEY HAD EVERYONE RUN FOR the hills the moment a forkful of pasta was spotted. Look at them all, slurping up those long strands of fettuccine (a.k.a. pure evil), dripping with sauce, washing it down with wine ... surely if you’re enjoying life, there has got to be a price to pay! And so they took to their ThighMasters, cursing the carb eaters and weeping into their Atkins bars.