Anniversary (of meeting) Dinner (3 years with no repeats!) - Red Artichoke, Spinach-Tempeh Rainbow Orzo

Three years ago today, I first met my wife and made her the first of many dinners - and haven't repeated the same dinner yet. I found lovely red artichokes in the store today - they may be Anzio or Campania varieties. I prepared them in the way I normally prepare them, by steaming them for 35-40 minutes. First I removed the top inch or so then I steamed them, face down, in my vegetable steamer. In the meantime, I prepared the dipping sauce by melting Earth Balance margarine and mixing in herbs from my garden, fresh lemon juice, lime zest, salt, and pepper. (You eat the chokes by removing each leaf, dipping the inside end in the sauce, and peeling off the little bit of white flesh; once you get to the "hair", that is removed and the underlying heart is dipped and enjoyed.)

I also served a dish that I had conceived earlier in the day and which we both enjoyed. I sauteed in my cast iron pan 4 or 5 stalks of green onion, diced to about 1/2" pieces, small chunks of tempeh, and, after a few minutes, leaves of baby spinach, roughly torn into approximate halves. I made some rainbow orzo simply by combining it in a ratio of one part to four parts vegetable broth and simmering for about 15 minutes till the broth was absorbed. I mixed the vegetables and tempeh with the orzo and added salt, Colgin Liquid Smoke, dill weed, a little basil and oregano from my garden, and about a fifth of a raw red onion, diced into 3/8" or so pieces.

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American Dance Festival opens tomorrow night and runs through July 21! We love this, the country's largest contemporary dance festival, and go to see most, if not all, of the performers. We may have some dinners out or late dinners at home on the nights we attend.