Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle

This week's recipe was chosen based on ease. But honestly, it did have quite a bit of intrigue with it's chili peppers, garlic and rapini. As we drove in the car and chose the recipe this a.m. we also thought about what we knew we had at home in terms of ingredients. We didn't want to go home to check, so this recipe seemed straight forward and relatively easy to navigate when it came to grocery shopping.

So, Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle it was!

I followed the recipe exactly with the substitution of gobbetti pastas for the rotelle. See that bulb of garlic? All but three cloves of it were used. Another allure of the recipe.


As the pasta boiled on the stove, the directions had me make the sauce for the tempeh. It consisted of red pepper flakes, fennel seeds, soy sauce, vegetable broth, dried oregano, and tomato paste. It was quite delicious and not nearly as hot as I thought it would be. The tomato paste added a little sweetness and the soy brought out the savory.


The tempeh and sauce steamed for about ten minutes and then were put in a separate bowl. By this time the pasta was finished and sat in the drained pot, with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a lid on it to keep it warm.

As the tempeh and sauce simmered, I chopped ten cloves of garlic. It smelled so great! Hope it helps to keep all of those lingering cold germs away too!!!


Then, the garlic was put in the, now empty, pan that the tempeh and sauce had simmered in. The garlic cooked in a little olive oil and then rapini was added.


It steamed for eight minutes with the lid on and then two without, as the final liquids evaporated.


Shazam! It was finally time for all ingredients to meet! The tempeh which had since been added to the pasta, was now poured in with the cooked garlic and rapini.


And very quickly, dinner was served!


Mark and I both liked the recipe, but I think Mark liked it better. For me, the rapini was just a bit too bitter. Also, I'm not sure if was the cooking of the fennel seeds or the combination with the rapini, but the fennel seeds really turned bitter and were somewhat overpowering. It was fun to cook and definitely a healthy dinner, but I will definitely try some other recipes from the book before making this one again.

I'm the Author of Great Vegan Food!

While this post seems to not fit with the rest of the theme of the blog, let me assure you, it most certainly does.

One of my New Year's Resolutions for this year is to eat vegan for the whole day three days a week in the New Year. This means several things for me: a gradual release from my dearly beloved Half and Half in my coffee, and a concerted effort to learn how to cook vegan.

This is not a new thought for me, but this Christmas I acted on it and requested vegan cookbooks that were easy to follow and had food that was "mainstream." My brother and his fiance came through with two great cookbooks.

Tonight, I made my first vegan meal from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.


After Mark and I perused the book, we settled on Tempeh Shepherdess Pie. The recipe seemed easy enough but incorporated new flavors and new ingredients.


So, we made a list and headed out to Whole Foods.

Our new ingredient of the day? Grapeseed Oil. Who knew? From the looks of it, it is from green grapes. I just had no idea that they had it let alone, for sale.

After our run, we set to work.

The recipe took a little bit to follow but was very clear and had concise times for everything which I really appreciated. It was my first time cooking with tempeh and I found it all very easy to do.


I love the consistency of tempeh in my food so I was so excited to work with it and see how it was cooked. Above it's in the pan, simmering with some tamari sauce and water.

Once most of the water evaporated it was poured in the collander, where it waited until the mushrooms and onions were sauteed. Then it went back in the pan with the awesome smelling onions and garlic, where it simmered for a while as spices and other ingredients were added.

As I worked on the tempeh mix, Mark mashed the baby Yukon gold potatoes, adding in soy milk, grapeseed oil, and some salt and pepper.

Finally, the two parts were ready to meet...

Into the casserole dish it went...first the tempeh mix...

And then topped with the layer of mashed potatoes....

It only required 20 minutes in the oven and an additional four under the broiler to get the crunch, crispy potato top.

Served and voila! I've made an awesome vegan dinner! It was delicious! Already looking forward to my vegan cooking next adventure!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a year of new food and resolutions!