Monday, January 17, 2011

BBQ Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes with Polenta Stuffing

Dinner tonight was a rough one - mostly because I was attempting two recipes while simultaneously baking bread and toasting English muffins. I should know better, but I did it anyway.

On the menu tonight was the BBQ Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes from Appetite for Reduction, which Isa recommends topping with the Polenta Stuffing from the same book. Here's how it all went down.

As usual, I managed to leave the grocery store without an item (in this case, two items) on my list, so this afternoon I went running back to Publix for polenta. And also as usual, I didn't really read the recipe before getting started, so I didn't realize that this dish had quite a long baking time on it. Since it was already getting late, I skimped on the time for marinating the tempeh (more on that later).

Other than that, the dish went together really quickly . . . you just make the BBQ sauce, chop the tempeh and sweet potatoes and throw it all together to bake for a while. During that time, I moved on to the stuffing, which was also fairly quick and easy. Both during the cooking process and at the table, I felt like we should have some greens with it, so I will definitely add some steamed broccoli or roasted asparagus next time.

Coming out of the oven, the tempeh dish didn't look all that exciting, but by the time I served it up and topped it with the stuffing, it was looking pretty yummy. And overall, it tasted just as good. The one exception was the tempeh, which was completely bland. Next time, I'll definitely prepare the BBQ sauce earlier in the day and let the tempeh marinate for a few hours. Also, I think chopping the tempeh more finely would help as well.

Apparently, the Sprouts aren't big on barbeque, because they weren't too impressed. They did love the stuffing though!

Sprout Rating
Big Sprout - Stuffing - 5 sprouts; Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes - 2 sprouts
Little Sprout - Stuffing - 5 sprouts; Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes - 2 sprouts
Mama Sprout - Stuffing - 5 sprouts; Tempeh & Sweet Potatoes - 4 sprouts
Daddy Sprout - 4 sprouts (he had his all mixed together by the time I asked them to rate each separately)

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