Portuguese Night presented by an Italian and a Hungarian

Saturdays!! The best night.  I like totally got wasted and made out with this dude.  No, actually I got slightly buzzed from the AA special, Mount Gay and Soda and spent 3 plus hours cooking with my roomie! After a 4 mile walk to support Planned Parenthood, it was hard enough to go grocery shopping.  My arms are tired from holding a sign up.  Out of shape much?  But alas, a food reward was due for all those standing up or in this case walking briskly for women's rights! Lots of people showed up and it felt a little weird to not be a part of some student organization, but I think I was in the right place anyways.  Sometimes protests are just so anti-climactic.  When we finally got to the Boston Common at the end of our walk, there were some speeches and some chanting.  But most of the talks were uninspiring and the pinnacle was a mass phone call to Scott Brown.  Obviously everyone got busy signals.  I tried to leave feeling positive and mostly I did.  Maybe it was the leg fatigue or the lack of counter protesters, but I wanted MORE! I think people are just starting to get organized here in Boston, specifically around all of the attacks on public funding that are occurring.  So I can't wait until the next weekend of rallies!

Anyways, a large feast was much needed.  My roommate prepared a tasty Kale, Potato and Fava Bean Soup with Homemade Vegan Linguica Sausages.  So good! I decided on Saffron Millet Stuffed Peppers with Tempeh, Roasted Root Vegetables and a Creamy Celeriac Sauce.  Here I'll be sharing my recipe! The sauce was actually a recipe from Bryant Terry, so I have no claims to that except that it's delicious and I ate a lot of it.  As per usual, I don't have exact measurements for the whole recipe. FORGIVE ME.

Ingredients:

4 big red peppers, cut in half lengthwise

1 1/2 cups millet
4 1/2 cups of broth (I used a fake chicken bouillon)
white wine
1/8 tsp saffron threads
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
some olive oil
rosemary sea salt to taste
black pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup of chopped parsley plus extra for garnish
3 scallions, chopped

The Tempeh:

1 block of multi-grain tempeh, crumbled
olive oil
1 Tb soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
hefty pinch of cumin
small pinch of allspice
1 tsp. smoked paprika
cayenne pepper
a splash red wine vinegar

The Roasted Vegetables:

   Are these not the cutest veggies you ever did see?

1 parsnip, small dice

1 carrot, small dice

1 large sweet potato, small dice

olive oil

rosemary sea salt

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. sweet paprika

a swirl of maple syrup

pinch of all spice

First you want to start roasting the veggies.  375F for probably 35-40 minutes.  Roast them in the same pan you are going to bake the peppers in.  Preferably a glass casserole dish. 

In this meantime, you prepare the millet kind of like a pilaf or risotto.  Saute the onions, celery and garlic in some olive oil over medium high heat until softened.  Add some rosemary sea salt to hasten the process.  Then add the millet and coat with olive oil.

Throw in a splash of white wine, let simmer for 30 seconds and then add your broth, saffron, and rosemary.  Turn up the heat and bring to boil then immediately lower to simmer and cover for 30 minutes.  Check at 20 and then you may need to leave it for 40 minutes.  For some reason, millet is never consistant with me!

While the veggies are roasted and the millet is cooking, start the tempeh crumble.  Lightly fry in some olive oil for a couple of minutes.  Then add the soy sauce.  After a minute add the cumin, garlic powder, allspice, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper.  Get crispy!! Add a splash of the vinegar and get more crispy!!  This should not be mushy or paste-like in any way.

At this point, the veggies should be done.  Take them out of the dish and put aside.  Place the sliced peppers in the casserole dish.  Oh right, only 3 peppers/6 halves will fit in my dish! I made more for leftovers.  Fill with an inch of water.  When the millet is fully cooked, mix in the roasted vegetables, peas, parsley and scallions.

Immediately stuff the pepper halves halfway with the millet mixture.  Then you want a layer of the tempeh crumble.  And of course some more millet on top!

Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  Then broil them for a few. Keep an eye out though!

During the steamy bake time for the peppers, you can prepare the celeriac sauce from Vegan Soul Kitchen.  It has tofu, celeriac, lemon, cayenne pepper, garlic, parsley and other fun stuff.  If you don't have the strength or patience to make another recipe, use tomato sauce or daiya! Hell, you could eat these without sauce or cheese! But it's most certainly more delicious with. 

Well that's all for now folks!

love,
jp