Tempeh Milanese with Creamy Caper and Lemon Sauce

I found a new way to use the recipe for the Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh that I posted previously. It actually works great as a vegetarian substitute for Giada de Laurentiis' recipe on the Food Network website for Pork Milanese with Creamy Caper and Lemon Sauce. I combined the ideas of the two recipes.

In Giada's recipe, she dips the cutlets into flour, eggs, and then breadcrumbs before frying. Instead of doing that, I dipped my cooked/marinated tempeh into buttermilk and then the cornmeal mixture from the tempeh recipe I posted from the Candle Cafe Cookbook. The coating stuck very well to the tempeh and became crispy once fried. I have no idea why I dipped them into buttermilk before the cornmeal mixture, it's not a part of either recipe, but it worked out nicely. It is optional.

The tempeh was delicious dipped into the Creamy Caper and Lemon Sauce. I was supposed to add parsely to the sauce, but I didn't have any.

We ate the tempeh with roasted cauliflower, sweet potatoes and red onions along with some garlicky kale. The bowl of Creamy Caper and Lemon Sauce is not visible in the above photo, but we found that everything tasted great dipped into it, not just the tempeh.

I suppose this can be the featured Meal of the Week #5. Here is the summary of the meal:

• Protein: Tempeh (the main source) plus whole grains and dairy
• Dairy: Mascarpone cheese and milks
• Whole grain: Cornmeal, Barley Flour and Potatoes
• Fruits/Vegetables: Kale, Cauliflower, Onion, Sweet Potatoes
• Fats/Sugars: Olive oil on all of the vegetables, grapeseed oil for frying tempeh, whole milk/cheese, a bit of maple syrup in the tempeh marinade

Meal of the Week #4

A crew of painters we met through friends has been painting the exterior of our house this week. They have actually done other work on our house in the past, so we've come to know them pretty well by now. I have been getting great practice with my Spanish, and I really cannot believe how much easier it comes to me these days. Anyway, DH and I decided to offer them a buffet style lunch, as they are finishing everything today. (They did work on our kitchen when it was being remodeled too, so the gesture was also in recognition and appreciation of how much we have been enjoying our kitchen). So, this is the Meal of the Week.

In approximately the order shown in the photo, from top to bottom:

• Roasted vegetables, salsa de chiltomate, refried black beans, chopped hard boiled eggs.
• Whole wheat empanadas filled with varying combinations of cheese, veggies and beans.
• Wedges of limes, pickled red onions, avocado and tomato salad
• Corn tortillas (under the cloth) and cantaloupe.

We also put out (after the photo was taken) some Mexican crema and some crumbled Mexican queso fresco. Also not shown was a pitcher of homemade Jamaica, which is iced tea made from the dried leaves of the hibiscus flower. Jamaica is a very common thing to drink in Mexico.

Every one of our guests commented about how healthy the meal was. Everyone ate everything on their plates, even after second and third helpings. From the smiles, easy going laughter and camaraderie at the table, we could tell they were all very happy. And then they all got straight back to work. So, it was a success.

Summary of Meal

Protein: Black beans, eggs, whole grains, cheeses
Dairy: Cheese, cream
Whole grains: Whole wheat and spelt empanadas, corn tortillas
Fruits/Vegetables: Cantaloupe, Limes, Avocado, Tomatoes, Onions, Asparagus, Zucchini, Summer Squash, Peppers
Fats/Sugars: Sweetener for Jamaica, cheeses, olive oil in roasted veggies

Meal of the Week #3

Last week I shared breakfast for my meal of the week, so this week I am presenting a dinner. We actually ate this dinner last week, but I am feeling motivated to show this taco meal after last evening's episode of Top Chef. On the show the guest judge, Chef Rick Bayless, challenged everyone to make upscale tacos. Several of the contestants were not happy about it, one whined loudly saying that Mexican food is not gourmet. I'm not claiming that my tacos are upscale or gourmet, I'm just saying that tacos can be made with anything, so to me the challenge was really not a stretch.

We have been on an habanero kick since returning from Yucatan. Asparagus is not ordinarily eaten with habanero. In fact, my Mexican mother-in-law had the first asparagus of her life only a few weeks ago. But, that didn't stop us from pairing the two. A lot of the tacos that DH and I eat are not what the typical American or even a typical Yucatecan would eat as a taco. Tacos work very well with fusions of many different cuisines.

I roasted asparagus with white onion, garlic cloves and shitake mushrooms that had been lightly coated with olive oil and very simply seasoned with salt and pepper. In the same roasting pan, I added two slices of tofu that I liberally coated with some homemade salsa de chile ancho. It didn't take long to roast in a hot oven of about 400 degrees F. I stirred the vegetables and flipped the tofu after about 5 to 10 minutes, then they cooked only a short time more.

We made homemade corn tortillas and then served the roasted tofu and veggies with refried black beans, lime wedges and two different habanero salsas. We sprinkled everything with lime juice and each taco we made had a different combination of the ingredients.

Summary of Meal:

protein: black beans, tofu, and corn tortillas
whole grain: corn tortillas
dairy: none
fruits/vegetables: onion, mushroom, asparagus, chiles, limes
fats/sugars: minor use of olive oil

Balanced Breakfasts Food Event

This month there is a food event for Weekend Breakfast Blogging that calls for Balanced Breakfast Meals. To be considered balanced, the guidelines encourage us to use more than one of these four food groups: fruits/vegetables, grains/cereals, dairy, vegetarian proteins.

I am providing four hearty protein-packed vegetarian breakfasts that include all four of the food groups. They are all very easy to make using leftovers, so why wait for the weekend to make these wholesome morning meals?

Number One: Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, Roasted Red Pepper, Mozzarella and Wholegrain Bread

Protein: Eggs, Whole grains in the bread, Cheese
Grains: Whole grain bread
Dairy: Cheese, Butter (on bread)
Fruits/Vegetables: Red Bell Pepper, Spinach

Number Two: Veggie Melt: Wholegrain Toast topped with Tomatoes, Spinach and Cheese

Protein: Cheese, Whole grains in bread
Grains: Whole Grain Bread
Dairy: Cheese
Fruits/Vegetables: Tomatoes, Spinach

Number Three: Enfrijolada topped with Fried Eggs, Onion, Cilantro, and Queso Fresco

To make enfrijoladas: Warm corn tortillas. Warm some refried black beans or pinto beans and thin them out with a bit of water. Dip the tortillas into the beans to coat them completely. Then fold them or roll them. Top them or fill them as shown or with whatever you have on hand. Some suggestions are salsa, chopped tomatoes, cream, jalapeno or serrano chile strips...

Protein: Black beans, eggs, corn in tortillas, cheese
Grains: Corn tortillas
Dairy: Cheese (queso fresco)
Fruits/Vegetables: Onion, Cilantro, Lime juice generously coating everything

Number Four: Moyete with Fried Egg and Grape Tomatoes

Note: Moyetes are slices of bread with refried beans and cheese and sometimes other toppings that are baked in the oven until the cheese melts and the beans warm. Sometimes they also have a tomato sauce or hot chiles, etc.

Protein: Black beans, egg, cheese
Grains: Whole grain bread
Dairy: Cheese
Fruits/Vegetables: Tomatoes, Serrano chiles

Meal of the Week #1

This is a feature for my blog that I am thinking of attempting for this coming year. I feel like most food blogs post recipes, and that is wonderful, as it is a huge resource even for me, for finding new things to make to eat. But, I think it is also interesting to see what a whole vegetarian meal looks like, in addition to recipes for individual dishes.

Anyway, here is how this meal came together. The above soup is the first thing I made upon returning from our trip to Mexico. I hadn't been to the market yet, so I just did what I sometimes do when I don't have much in the house, I threw together a soup using what I had on hand. We had the soup for lunch with some slices of toasted homemade bread that I found in the freezer. Then the leftovers of the soup became a side dish for the next night's meal, alongside baked barbecue tempeh, brown basmati rice and sauteed greens.

This isn't a recipe, but here is what was in the soup: vegetable broth, olive oil, spring onion (which was also the garnish), garlic, carrots, 1 small potato, 1 very small butternut squash, zipper peas (see below), green peas, datil pepper sauce (see below), dried epazote, a bay leaf or two, and salt and pepper. (If I remember correctly).

I recently bought these zipper peas and hot sauce at a small country store outside of St Augustine. Both are delicious!

Summary of the dinner:

• Protein: Tempeh, Brown Rice, Potato, 2 kinds of Peas
• Whole Grain: Brown Rice, Potato
• Vegetable/Fruit: Swiss Chard, Carrot, Onion, Squash, Potato, Peas
• Dairy: None
• Fats/Sugars: Olive Oil

My notes: you can see I was very hungry for a wider variety of proteins after returning from my trip where eggs, black beans and corn had been my only protein sources. I wished I had even more vegetables in the soup, as I was also desperate for vegetables. I made up for it in later meals that week.