Y’all have been very patient with me as my catering and client work have gotten hectic, and I so appreciate your patience.
As you may have guessed from the title, we’re going all-out this week. Wanna impress the living daylights out of someone who’s vegan or gluten-free (or not at all vegan or gluten-free)? Make them this meal. Have someone in your life who’s worried about vegans getting enough protein? Make them this meal. If it sounds intimidating, don’t worry- you’ll see that each component is actually fairly simple and I’ll walk you through all of it.
This particular take on tempeh was the brainchild of Chef Matt Props, and he and I worked together when we owned Stay Fresh Veg to create this particular meal. Major props (PUN INTENDED) to Matt for being an incredible innovator as always.
Cannelini Bean Puree:
- 1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cube bouillon (or the amount of bouillon you’d use for one cup of water)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/3 cup water
Put all ingredients into a small saucepan on medium-high heat. Simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, then blend into a puree
Braised Red Cabbage:
- 1 small red cabbage, cut into thin strips
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 3-4 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
Heat a large pan or pot on medium-high. Add olive oil. Add cabbage, salt and vinegar and stir thoroughly. Once the cabbage has cooked down for about 6 minutes (stirring frequently), add the mustard and cook for another 3-4 minutes
Crispy Kale:
Just make any simple kale chip recipe. Kale ripped into pieces, some olive oil, some salt, and an oven preheated to 400 for a couple minutes and ya done.
Tempeh:
- 2 8oz blocks Tempeh
- 2/3 cup corn starch
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup Sriracha
- 1/3 cup tamari or Soy Sauce
- 4 Tbsp grapeseed, canola, or vegetable oil
- Cut tempeh into rectangular cutlets about 1cm in thickness (for most tempeh blocks, that means cutting them in half widthwise). If they are too thick, they will not cook thoroughly. If they are too thin, they will fall apart easily.
- Place cornstarch into a shallow bowl and dredge each tempeh cutlet so that it is fully covered in a thin layer of cornstarch. Gently pat off extra starch off tempeh and set aside
- In another bowl, whisk together maple syrup, siracha and tamari/soy sauce. Taste to adjust for desired levels of heat, sweetness and saltiness
- Heat a seasoned cast iron pan* on medium heat for approximately seven minutes or until hot. Once it is hot, reduce heat to medium and add oil and distribute evenly around pan. Allow oil to heat for an additional minute
- Once oil is hot enough to sizzle when tempeh is added to it, carefully place tempeh in pan. Allow it to cook undisturbed for approximately 6 minutes per side or until each side is golden-brown. If needed, add more oil as tempeh cooks. Once tempeh is cooked on both sides, turn the burner completely off
- Wipe out excess oil and starch from the pan with a paper towel
- Return tempeh to pan and pour sauce over it. Allow sauce to bubble, reduce, and coat the tempeh thoroughly as a thick glaze
*you can get away with a regular skillet, but cast iron works infinitely better here
Assemble:
Spread some of the cannelini puree on a plate, then pile some of the red cabbage on top of it. Layer a couple pieces of tempeh on that and finally, top the tempeh with some crispy kale. If you have a little extra sauce from the tempeh, go ahead and drizzle that in some sort of fancy way. Look at you being impressive.
Katya Weiss-Anderson 