Scrambled Tangerine Tempeh, Potato Artichoke Salad with Lemon and Leek

I want to give the Progressive brand onion chopper another try or two, and it helped me to make a unique dish tonight. I thought that I would make a simple side dish of shiitake mushrooms with tempeh, onion, and spinach. But, after dicing a medium Vidalia onion with the chopper, I thought I'd put tempeh in as well - it worked okay; I used about 2/3 of a tempeh cake and ran it through the chopper after first cutting it into about five chunks, each then chopped in turn.

That gave me the idea to make a scrambled tempeh dish. In November 2006, I had made a scrambled tempeh dish, but it was quite different, using salsa, other spices, cut much coarser, and was stuffed in squash. I put a seeded Anaheim pepper through the chopper, and it came out nicely chopped.

I started the onion and tempeh sauteeing in tangerine olive oil over medium heat in my cast iron pan. Once the onion was clearing up and the tempeh getting a little brown, in maybe 6-7 minutes, I added the pepper and cooked for a few more minutes, mixing in a little salt and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder, and, just before removing from the pan, 1/2 teaspoon or so of turmeric. I then took the scramble out of the pan and mixed in a little (maybe a tablespoon or so) vinegar-based organic hot sauce and served. It was good!

I also served a prepared potato artichoke salad that I had purchased from Whole Foods. It ingredients were more or less red potato, artichoke, lemon zest, lemon juice, canola oil, and leek, as well as some cherry tomatoes. I heated it (except the tomatoes) mildly - it was good and a surprising combination that would be fun to make.

By the way, yesterday my parents joined my wife, a few students, and me at Panzanella Restaurant in Carrboro after my photography class. I had my usual - a vegan pesto pizza. Yum! I had some grilled onion and artichoke on top, and as an appetizer, shared an arugula salad with beets and pine nuts.