Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh and Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Garlic and Lemon

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

I did not exactly start out this week with a bang. I was feeling pretty relaxed on Sunday and Monday and somehow did not see the urgency in getting my cooking groove on early in the week. As a result, I decided to go for the gusto and prepare two recipes in one night. This is my birthday week and in usual form, I plan on milking the fun for as long as humanly possible. I am not especially excited to turn 39 so I might as well find a way to at least enjoy the festivities. Thanks to my husband, my birthday celebration starts tomorrow at 1:30 and doesn't end until late Saturday night. Is he the best or what? Okay, back to the task at hand. My point of all this rambling is that I needed to complete two recipes today in order to only have one remaining recipe to prepare this week. This is the only way this week's recipes will come to fruition.

The first recipe comes to me from 101cookbooks.com via my friend Megan. She has been a dependable reader and supporter of this blog since I started (thank you, Megan)! When she sent me this recipe for Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh last week, I immediately put it on this week's agenda. Not only is this a recipe she and her family enjoy, the flavors are right up my alley and I have been wanting to try a tempeh recipe for the past few months. I must say, this dish was delicious. Ginger, mirin, tamari and maple syrup were a great combination but the piece de resistance was the fresh squeezed orange juice. The organic oranges I used were as sweet as they could be so the juice was unreal. It was refreshing and bright which leads me to wonder why I don't prepare fresh-squeezed orange juice on weekend mornings. I absolutely must add this to my to-do list. I also thought the cilantro and fresh lime juice were the perfect finishing touches to the dish. I served it with white rice and my second recipe as a side dish.

I had some beautiful rainbow chard growing in my garden so I knew I wanted to use it for my second recipe to create a side dish. I did not have quite enough chard to prepare the recipe so I supplemented with organic chard from PCC Market. I also halved the recipe because Brad, Olivia and I cannot eat 4 pounds of chard, nor should we. I will keep my response to this recipe short. This dish was perfect. I love the combination of garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper with chard. Adding lemon zest was new for me and I have to say, it cut the bitterness of the dish beautifully. This is officially in my chard preparation repertoire. Okay, so I never had a chard repertoire prior to preparing this recipe but now I do. :)

Finally, after providing a long-winded description of the recipes, I am ready to share them. Please enjoy!

Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh-

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (3 to 4 large juicy oranges) 1 tsp freshly grated ginger 2 tsp tamari (soy sauce) 1 1/2 Tbsp mirin

2 tsp maple syrup 1/2 tsp ground coriander 2 small garlic cloves, crushed 10 ounces tempeh (or extra-firm tofu) 2 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 lime

handful of cilantro (coriander) leaves

Put orange juice in small bowl. Squeeze grated ginger over bowl to extract juices, then discard pulp. Add tamari, mirin, maple syrup, ground coriander and garlic. Mix together and set aside. Cut tempeh (or tofu) into thin-ish, bite-sized pieces (Megan recommends cutting tempeh pieces 1/4" thick). If working with tofu, pat dry with paper towel. Put olive oil in large frying pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot but not smoking, add tempeh and fry for 5 minutes, or until golden underneath. Turn and cook other side for additional 5 minutes, or until golden. Pour orange juice mixture into pan and simmer for 10 minutes, or until sauce has reduced to a lovely thick glaze. Turn tempeh once more during this time and spoon sauce over tempeh from time to time. Serve tempeh drizzled with remaining sauce and a squeeze of lime. Scatter cilantro on top. Pair with lightly sauteed seasonal vegetables or serve over wheat berries, rice or other grain of choice.

Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Garlic and Lemon-

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

4 pounds rainbow or ruby chard; thick stems discarded, inner ribs removed and cut into 2-inch lengths, leaves cut into 2-inch ribbons

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

In a large pot, heat 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp olive oil. Stir in garlic and cook over moderately high heat until lightly golden, about 1 minutes. Add chard leaves in large handfuls, allowing each batch to wilt slightly before adding more. Season chard with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until leaves are softened and most of liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Transfer chard to bowl. Wipe out pan.

Add remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil to pan. Add chard ribs and cook over moderately high heat, stirring until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in wilted chard leaves and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl, sprinkle with lemon zest and serve immediately.