 Calabrian chile paste has become one of the ingredients du jour at pizzerias where pizza is taken very seriously. Hailing from the Calabria region of Italy, this pepper adds a surprising amount of heat to dishes so take note if you are not wildly fond of spicy meals. There is both a sweet and a spicy version of Calabrian pepper, which I learned the hard way. Let’s just say that not paying attention to what I was grabbing out of the pantry led to a soup that was deemed too spicy by someone who won’t travel without hot sauce or red pepper flakes in her bag.
Cooking the chickpeas with a chile de arbol infuses a subtle heat into the beans, which is lovely but the dish will still work without it. By roasting the vegetables we develop the natural sweetness in the fennel and the onion while increasing the umami flavor in the mushrooms. Both of these tastes provide a wonderful base for the Calabrian chile to really shine.
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 This is a fresh and colorful salad that utilizes the abundant zucchini of summer. The pine nuts add depth while the fresh herbs offer brightness and panache. By salting the zucchini first you are allowing much of the water to be leached out resulting in a texture that is similar to pasta. If you want a more toothsome, crisp bite then skip Step 1 entirely and omit the squeezing. Go easy on the salt initially as some would have been washed away as the zucchini drained.
 This dish was inspired by a recipe in the incomparable “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi. His version is just tofu and included copious amounts of butter and deep-frying. I decided to make it less labor intensive and a bit healthier by baking instead of frying and using a food processor to reduce the time mincing.
 Tempeh doesn’t get a whole lot of love outside of Indonesia. This is such a shame because it is such a versatile, protein packed ingredient. A block of tempeh consists of soybeans that have been fermented with a fungus called rhizopus oligosporus. As the fungus grows its mycelium knits the beans together into a cake. This results in a higher protein and fiber content as well as an earthy flavor.
The most important part of this recipe is sourcing the tempeh. Use a low quality block and your dish will suffer. The most readily available brand I like is Tofurky’s Indonesian Style Tempeh. It has converted many a tempeh hater to reason.  I used to think that bean salads were a joke. I hail from the Midwest and was accustomed to three bean salads with vinegar, vegetable oil and chopped celery. Maybe some black pepper for zest. The beans were canned, of course. I think this dish is the reason I don’t care for kidney beans or celery to this day.
I wrote bean salads off and that was wrong. Done properly a good bean salad can be an affordable and deeply satiating and nourishing dish. I like using garbanzo beans for salads because they hold their shape and can stand up to additional ingredients. |
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