Why BLT when you’ve got TLC from a TLT?
Once upon a time, I messed around with tempeh… ultimately resulting in a complete failure of a dish. I had dumped the dry thing into hot EVOO with some veggies hoping to make a yummy vegetarian stir-fry. Horrible stuff it was; I ended up throwing the whole dish away. It crumbled into tiny bits and the whole product was bland and unappealingly sour. A few months later go by which brings us to today. I’ve decided to give tempeh another try. There are just way too many tasty-looking dishes that include tempeh, that I just couldn’t resist avoiding the odd soy product.
Today, I sliced these mother effers into thin pieces and marinated them for 45 minutes in: organic agave nectar, brown sugar, EVOO, soy sauce, liquid smoke, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and pepper. Placed them into a pan on medium heat until a bit brown on the bottom and added the marinade. Flipped them, and waited til’ the marinade has evaporated and the little guys were dark and crispy.
The result: a very distant cousin of bacon. I mean, VERY distant. I easily whipped up a veggie omelet and voila! A perfectly healthy, meat-free, yet absolutely tasteful dish.
For lunch, I fried up a few more slices and made me a TLT: Tempeh, Lettuce, and Tomato. I cut off the very top of a sesame bagel, as well the very bottom (for a healthier portion of carbs), and putting the thick middle part of the bagel back in the bag — I suppose someone would eat it in the long run. Smothered the bottom piece with garlic hummus, and added the rest from there. It was so good, Ronald even asked me to make him one before he left for work.
Tempeh, you’ve officially have a place in my heart (:
Cheers!
