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 The
zucchini plants in our garden got a little carried
away this summer, as they are prone to do. You know
the story: it starts out nice, with fresh young
zucchini you pluck and cook up as a side dish. But
then they start coming faster and faster, and you
can't keep up. One day, you stroll out into the
garden and encounter The Great Zucchino, huge, old,
and full of attitude.
When
zucchini get large, the seeds mature and become too
tough to eat, and the skin thickens up. All is not
lost, though, as the flesh is still tasty - you
just need a clever way to prepare it to disguise
the fact that you are making a meal from The Great
One.
If you don't
have overgrown zucchini at your disposal, you could
try this with a winter squash like butternut, but
you should increase the baking time to 45 minutes
or so. You could also try the barbeque tempeh over
rice.
Preparation
(Serves 2)
Cut 1-inch
slices (crosswise) from your overgrown zucchini.
Remove seeds and pithy interior. Each slice is now
a ring with an open center. If rings are small (3-4
inches across), make three per person. If they are
truly gigantic, use one or two. Preheat oven to
375.
Tempeh
Barbeque
1 8-oz.
package tempeh, the multi-seed kind, cubed
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic
canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (1 pepper,
finely chopped, and a teaspoon or so of sauce)
1 tsp white vinegar or lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
a couple drops Liquid Smoke
1 small (8-oz.) can tomato sauce or 1/4 cup
ketchup
3/4 cup frozen corn
2 tsp muscovado sugar
olive oil
In a large
frying pan, heat a little oil and sauté the
onion until it starts to brown. Add tempeh and
garlic and continue sautéing. Add bell
pepper. When the tempeh and onion are getting
nicely browned and the bell pepper is softening,
add the tomato sauce, chipotle, vinegar, salt,
Liquid Smoke, and sugar, with some water as needed
to make a liquidy sauce that coats everything.
Simmer 5 minutes or so, then add corn, and simmer
another 5 minutes.
Assembly
and cooking
Lay zucchini
rings on a foil-lined baking sheet that has been
sprayed with cooking spray. Fill the center of each
ring with barbeque mixture, heaping up if
necessary. Put in oven and bake 30-35 minutes,
until zucchini is tender. Remove from tray with
spatula and serve.
Notes
You can try
different things in the barbeque, of course.
Instead of bell pepper, I've used fresh tomatoes
(and cut down on the tomato sauce). Tabasco is a
fine addition to the barbeque sauce. The key
ingredients are the tempeh, chipotle, and corn. The
rest is up for grabs.
Feel free to
experiment with the sauce. Everyone has their own
preferred blend of spicy, acid, and
sweet.
Ingredient
Corner
Tempeh is a
fermented soy product, much firmer and nuttier than
tofu. We like the multi-seed kind, that has lots of
differen whole seeds in it. Look for it in the
refrigerated section where you find tofu or fake
meats.
Chipotle
Peppers in Adobo Sauce come in a small can in the
Mexican food section. Chipotles are
jalapeños that have been allowed to ripen
red and are then dried. The sauce is very spicy,
and has a rich, smoky flavor. Sample them before
using, to make sure you can handle the
heat!
Muscovado
Sugar is very dark brown and vegan. It gives a
molasses-like sweetness to the sauce.
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