Let there be Berley

I have trouble remembering to take pictures.  Plus, I'm not a very skilled photographer, so it makes it much more difficult to blog about food.  But I've been cooking up a storm.  Of awesome.

I recently decided to listen to my sister (Lisa) who has been trying to get me to love Peter Berley for ages.  I started reading through "The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen" (from the library) on my flight home from Boston and ordered my own copy as soon as I got home.  I made two recipes in a row this week.

Since Lisa and I were talking about her love for tempeh, I thought I'd share the Moroccan-Style Vegetable Tagine with Chamoula-Baked Tempeh:

While I would tweak a few things when I make it again, I thought it was pretty tasty!  And it's a bit time consuming for a weeknight dinner, but if you plan ahead you can work as you go.  I served this with brown rice, but any grain would be good. And luckily I liked it pretty well despite (my) flaws (see below), because Kevin is out of town til Friday, so I'll be eating three meals worth of leftovers by myself. 

Moroccan-Style Vegetable Tagine with Chamoula-Baked Tempeh

The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen

For the tempeh:

1/2 cup Olive oil 

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup chopped parsley

6 Tbsp lemon juice

4 cloves garlic

2.5 tsp sea salt

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp cayenne

1 lb tempeh, cut into 1 inch cubes

For the Tagine:

2 Tbsp Olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

2 celery ribs, diced

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 pepper

2 cups chopped green cabbage

1.5 cups water

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 zucchini

chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 350F

Whisk ingredients for the tempeh together in a bowl. Arrange the tempeh cubes in a single layer in a baking dish. Pour the marinade over the tempeh and cover securely with foil.  Bake for 35 or 40 minutes, until the tempeh has absorbed the marinade. Uncover and bake several minutes longer to brown. (**I messed this step up because I only had 8oz of tempeh, and halved all of the ingredients except the lemon juice.  So I had too much marinade and it was waaaay too strong... I ended up baking for closer to an hour but the marinade never fully absorbed and the tempeh never browned.)

To prepare the tagine, warm the oil in a 3-quart saucepan over med heat. Add onions and next 5 ingredients (through salt). Turn the veggies over in the oil, raise the heat and bring to a simmer (Hey Peter, how do you simmer w/o any liquid??) Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.

Add spices, along with cabbage, water, tomatoes and zucchini.  Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until the veggies are tender and the tagine has thickened. (I might reduce the amount of water or simmer at a higher temp next time because it took about 45 minutes for this thicken for me)

Adjust the seasonings with salt or a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.