Hello fan. This will be brief, terse, to the point, and not beat around the bush.
I'm hosting Thanksgiving, and I am not preparing a turkey. It was considered for a few minutes; I crave protein like Chrysler craves a few billion dollars, except that my craving doesn't involve screwing people. Just meat. Not screwing meat, eating it. Anyway, here's what's on the menu for tomorrow's feast:
Walnuts toasted with butter, cayenne, and rosemary
Olive bread & goat cheese (the cheese was free from a friend of Liz's!)
An abstract expressionist salad, provided by Tobias
Carrot ginger soup
Roasted roots (good band name, btw)
Lentil Fake Sausage Casserole
Dairy-free pumpkin pie
Homemade ice cream or sorbet
Booze. Well, wine
Tony.
This last dish is the most appetizing, as far as I'm concerned. I hope your mouth is leaking, 'cause mine is. Pictures of food and fun to follow.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tempeh-mental (and welcome)
Hi. I cook a lot. My cooking footprint is probably bigger than my driving footprint, and perhaps even bigger than my actual footprint. Being unemployed leaves me with idle hands, an idle mind, and overactive tastebuds, so I spend some of my day scheming up recipes and perusing cookbooks from the library. Except for the mystical world of manmade leaveners (read: baking powder/soda), I use recipes more as guidelines than actual rules. This abstract will attempt to explain my current state of tongue, and will introduce to you a blog, the distracted cousin of my other blog, Lost In America, called Kitchen in America.
It is not a very creative title, but it generally sums up my location: a kitchen somewhere in America. Eugene, Oregon, America. I hope to be able to translate the neural communication between my mind, hands, and mouth into this other, more readable form of communication in order to improve my writing skills, put my own food ideas on the internet, use up some of my free time, and let my parents know that I am most certainly eating my veggies. Actually, that's just about all I eat.
Sometimes what I eat does not look exactly like vegetable matter. Sometimes I eat tempeh, another fermented soy product which looks a little like agglomerated bird poo and seashells, but is a great absorber of flavors that also flavor meat. I get my tempeh from a place in town called Surata, which makes the tempeh and sells its seconds at half price on Tuesdays and Thursdays (52 oz. for $3? Yes!). My most recent tempeh creation was a real inspired moment:
Blackened Cajun Tempeh
1 8 oz. tempeh patty, sliced crossways into 1/2" strips
3T olive oil (non-virgin is fine, you prudes)
2T balsamic vinegar
hot horseradish
cayenne
paprika
salt
pepper
In a dish just big enough to hold the tempeh in one layer, add the tempeh, oil, and vinegar. Tempeh is like a sponge, it's great. Rub as much horseradish as you want on the top, then sprinkle with similar amounts (personal preference, artistic license, etc.) of cayenne, paprika, salt, and pepper (I like heavy on the peppers). Don't use a whole lot of salt. Flip the lot over and repeat.
To cook get a nonstick saute pan nice and hot, then reduce the heat to medium. No need to oil, it's all soaked up in the tempeh. Put the tempeh in (it should sizzle like meat) and let it sit in the pan until you can't take it anymore, or until it just barely smokes. Turn each piece 90 degrees, and let that side blacken-- don't be too afraid of burning, that's part of what makes this delicious. Turn until all 4 sides are black (I know it has 6 sides. Don't worry about the little ones.).
Serve as an appetizer or side dish with some barbecue sauce to dip, and eat it with your fingers, please.
Well, that concludes the first portion of many meals. I'll be putting up pictures just as soon as I remember to take them.
It is not a very creative title, but it generally sums up my location: a kitchen somewhere in America. Eugene, Oregon, America. I hope to be able to translate the neural communication between my mind, hands, and mouth into this other, more readable form of communication in order to improve my writing skills, put my own food ideas on the internet, use up some of my free time, and let my parents know that I am most certainly eating my veggies. Actually, that's just about all I eat.
Sometimes what I eat does not look exactly like vegetable matter. Sometimes I eat tempeh, another fermented soy product which looks a little like agglomerated bird poo and seashells, but is a great absorber of flavors that also flavor meat. I get my tempeh from a place in town called Surata, which makes the tempeh and sells its seconds at half price on Tuesdays and Thursdays (52 oz. for $3? Yes!). My most recent tempeh creation was a real inspired moment:
Blackened Cajun Tempeh
1 8 oz. tempeh patty, sliced crossways into 1/2" strips
3T olive oil (non-virgin is fine, you prudes)
2T balsamic vinegar
hot horseradish
cayenne
paprika
salt
pepper
In a dish just big enough to hold the tempeh in one layer, add the tempeh, oil, and vinegar. Tempeh is like a sponge, it's great. Rub as much horseradish as you want on the top, then sprinkle with similar amounts (personal preference, artistic license, etc.) of cayenne, paprika, salt, and pepper (I like heavy on the peppers). Don't use a whole lot of salt. Flip the lot over and repeat.
To cook get a nonstick saute pan nice and hot, then reduce the heat to medium. No need to oil, it's all soaked up in the tempeh. Put the tempeh in (it should sizzle like meat) and let it sit in the pan until you can't take it anymore, or until it just barely smokes. Turn each piece 90 degrees, and let that side blacken-- don't be too afraid of burning, that's part of what makes this delicious. Turn until all 4 sides are black (I know it has 6 sides. Don't worry about the little ones.).
Serve as an appetizer or side dish with some barbecue sauce to dip, and eat it with your fingers, please.
Well, that concludes the first portion of many meals. I'll be putting up pictures just as soon as I remember to take them.
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