eclaire (what’s in a) name?

ok, so it’s two days before thanksgiving, and i’m guessing that most of you, dear readers, have your thanksgiving food planned out already. but i have this delicious recipe that i’ve been meaning to share with you. and i meant to post it weeks ago, but i’ve been busy reorganizing my kitchen, baking breads, soups, & pasta dishes with delicious fall ingredients (you’ll see these in later posts!), celebrating mike’s birthday, celebrating mike’s birthday again (the recipe for the peanut butter chocolate cake is here: smittenkitchen.com), and celebrating olivia’s birthday.

i know, it’s a really rough life, huh? so here we are, two days away from t-day, and i’m going to share this recipe anyways – just in case you’re still looking for a vegan dish to make.

this recipe for sweet and sour red cabbage packs a ton of flavor without the heaviness of many traditional thanksgiving recipes, and offers a combination of fruit, protein, and vegetables all in one dish. with the combination of cabbage, tempeh, apples, onions, and pecans, plus cider and balsamic vinegar, the flavor is very unique and tangy. it is unlike anything i have ever made (in a good way!).

honestly, i’m not a huge fan of cabbage, so i’m not sure how mike convinved me to make this dish. but once i began to slice the gorgeous purpley-red head and smell the aroma of the the tempeh, onions, and apples, i couldn’t wait for the finished product. we ate it as an entree, with some hearty bread on the side – but i think in the future, i would serve it as a side dish, because really, a person can only eat so much cabbage in one sitting. i also ate it both hot and lukewarm, and i thought that lukewarm, the balsamic mellowed out a lot. this leads me to the final push for you to make this dish for thanksgiving – it doesn’t have to be piping hot to taste delicious, which is a really great thing when you’re trying to make sure everything else is as hot as can be. have i convinced you to make this yet? if i haven’t, or if you already have a set menu for thanksgiving, then you should definitely try it next week, when you’re detoxing from pies and stuffing and tofurkey – oh my!

sweet and sour cabbage with tempeh

adapted from vegetarian times, october 2008
yields 6 servings

• 1½T olive oil, divided
• 8oz tempeh, diced (we love turtle island brand tempeh)
• 1T soy sauce
• 2 large apples, peeled cored, and chopped
• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 2lb red cabbage, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced (8c when prepped)
• 1/2c apple cider
• 1/3 balsamic vinegar
• 3½T brown sugar
• 1½c pecans, chopped
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1. heat ½T oil in large skillet over medium heat
2. add tempeh and saute 4 minutes, flipping once
3. stir in soy sauce and 1/2c water, then simmer for 5 minutes more
4. remove tempeh from pan and set aside
5. heat remaining 1T oil in same skillet over medium high heat
6. add apples and onion and saute 12 minutes
7. stir in cabbage, cider, balsamic, and brown sugar
8. reduce heat to medium and cover skillet
9. cook 25 minutes, or until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally
10. stir in tempeh and pecans, season to taste with salt and pepper and serve!