Thursday, August 24, 2006

Smoked Tempeh with Butternut Squash, Vegan Marshmallows with Sweet Potato

I was surprised several days ago to find butternut squash, a winter squash, at my local coop - and some of the smallest ones I've seen. I prefer small squash as it cooks faster. I had this idea of baking the squash and serving it with smoke-flavored organic "fakin' bacon" strips of tempeh and perhaps other vegetables, similar to a course I made at the last wedding that I catered of tempeh and vegetables stuffed within acorn squash, and topped with melted vegan "cheese".

I preheated the oven to 375°F and baked sweet potatoes for about an hour (normally, allow 40-70 or 80 minutes, depending on the size; when done, the potato should give with pressure). I prepared the squash by cutting in half and spooning out the seeds, then baking for about half an hour (I added it to the oven half an hour into the sweet potato bake time). In the meantime, I sauteed the smoke-flavored tempeh in very little oil in a cast iron pan. I served the tempeh simply atop the tiny squash, and dabbed it with some Indian chutney that we got last Friday at an Indian restaurant. It was surprisingly good, though I'd like to try this again with more normally sized squash that can accomodate additional sauteed vegetables.

Marshmallows are not usually vegetarian as they are traditionally made with gelatin from animals. However, the all-vegan store Pangea (which also soon should be set to sell my cookbook!) sells marshmallows! I picked some up when I was at a conference a few weeks ago. I served the sweet potato with marshmallows in the middle.

10 Comments:

At Sat Aug 26, 05:18:00 PM EDT, Blogger Susan Voisin said...

I'm excited to hear that you have a cookbook coming out! Please post the details as soon as it's available.

 
At Sat Aug 26, 05:29:00 PM EDT, Blogger aimee said...

hi Dilip...
Your dinners look delish! Thanks for posting! Another Vegan cookbook to look forward to!

 
At Sun Aug 27, 03:03:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dilip said...

Thanks so much for the kind comments - and thanks to Susan for featuring my blog on her blog today! I have a self-published cookbook that I've put together over the past 10 years of teaching cooking.

 
At Mon Aug 28, 01:38:00 AM EDT, Blogger KleoPatra said...

Wow, totally gorgeous meal! I LOVE THIS!!!

Is the cookbook available?!

 
At Mon Aug 28, 01:43:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dilip said...

Thanks, kleopatra. Yes, I do have self-published copies of my cookbook available - just email me for details.

 
At Mon Aug 28, 01:46:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dilip said...

BTW, sorry that I've not been blogging for a few days - but watch for an update Monday evening. On Friday I had some great ideas for dinner, but friends are moving away on Monday and we ran into them and they convinced us to eat out with them. On Saturday, I did cook but it was one dish for a potluck dinner (and chocolate fondue party!). Tonight was the going away party for the couple moving - I organized it at a good South Indian restaurant. I have some new ideas for meals this coming week!

 
At Mon Aug 28, 10:07:00 PM EDT, Blogger funwithyourfood said...

hey there
lurker here just wanted to agree with susan. tell us about the cook book!

Teddy

 
At Tue Aug 29, 01:58:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dilip said...

Thanks for the kind words, all. I have a self-published cookbook that I have put together over the past ten years or so - just email me for more details. It's all vegan and should soon be available not just from me, but also from Pangea and Vegan Essentials.

 
At Wed Aug 30, 12:25:00 AM EDT, Blogger KleoPatra said...

Those vegan 'mallows are WONDERFUL. I love what you did with them...

 
At Wed Aug 30, 01:26:00 AM EDT, Blogger Dilip said...

Thanks, Kleopatra! I don't usually have marshmallows "in stock", but picked some up for our fondue party this past weekend, and bought an extra bag for myself.

 

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