Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Delicious Asian Pasta with Spicy Tempeh and strange salty asparagus

I really like tempeh. I'm always sad when I meet veggies who do not like tempeh. It hurts me, somehow. Or maybe offends me. How can you NOT love the strange Linkflavor and texture that is tempeh? Yum. If you haven't tried it, go get some: I prefer mixed-grain or three grain or some sort of grain tempeh. But there are different kinds. I really ought to branch out.

Anyhoo, I made this great pasta last night:

Asian Pasta with Spicy Tempeh

It was lovely and spicy indeed. I put in 2 tsp. of the chili paste (I get that stuff that has the rooster on the label. Not only do they make a lovely hot sauce (the large squeeze bottle) their chili sauce is fantastically spicy and tasty. Cheap, too. What's not to like?) and it was SPICY, brotha. Hoo. Admittedly, I made the teaspoons heaping, but still. Next time I make this (and there will definitely be a next time) I will probably ease up a bit on the chili sauce.

I don't like peas and didn't have shelled edamame (my pea substitute of choice....and notice that I said I didn't have SHELLED edamame. I totally have the stuff in the pods, but I was feeling WAY too lazy to cook it and shell it) so I just left it out. I made this strange asparagus as a side dish, so I felt like I didn't really need to peas, anyway. And honestly, I didn't miss the bulk they would have added. However, those little yummy baby peas in the pod (the ONLY peas I like) would be quite nice, as would the aforementioned shelled edamame. Which I enjoy saying. Edamame. Satisfying.

The sauce seems like it won't be enough, but it's the perfect amount. The flavor is ALL OVER the noodles, but this isn't a saucy dish. It's amazing. I highly encourage you to try it.

If you don't have the various seasonings called for, you should. They take your cooking to a whole new level and keep you from wanting to eat out, which ends up being frugal in the long run. Or so I tell myself.

Let me close by mentioning that strange asparagus. I got the recipe from Vegetarian Times, and it calls for miso and tahini. I make this wonderful salad dressing that I found in Veganomicom (thanks, Isa!) that calls for equal parts miso and tahini thinned with water. The salad dressing is shockingly good, but although this recipe calls for similar ingredients, it was just salty and thick and strange. I'm sad, because there's a half pound of asparagus in the fridge that no one will eat. J ate one stalk and said yuck, and P won't eat anything green, despite it being his favorite color. I ate my fair share, but I just don't want anymore. Any suggestions on using this stuff up? Maybe if I put it in unseasoned eggs, maybe it would be better. Hmm.....

I hate to end on a down note like too-salty asparagus, so have a laugh before you go:

2 comments:

  1. Roasted asparagus is yummy, or you could put it in an omelet?

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  2. I ended up adding it to some leftover soup. Added a nice touch, from the miso, and didn't make me twitch with the saltiness.

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