yet another hippie dressing

If you're fond of tahini-based salad dressings, as I am, you'll probably like this one as well as my Goddess and Woodstock clones. It has an east Asian flavor profile, and would likely overwhelm a plain lettuce salad, but it nicely complemented the seaweed Waldorf salad I made recently and is also good with heartier greens like cabbage and kale.

Creamy Gingery Dressing
makes about a pint
1/2C tamari
1/2C tahini
1/4C sesame oil
1T agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup)
1/4C apple cider vinegar
fresh ginger, about 1 1/2T, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 oil (olive or canola)
juice of half a lime

Whiz everything in your blender till smooth. It will be pourable at first, but thicken up as it rests.



My seaweed Waldorf salad is made with about 20g mixed dried seaweed, rehydrated in cool water, along with a banana, an apple, a couple of green onions, a couple of stalks of celery, and some finely shredded cabbage, all mixed together with about 2T of Gingery Dressing.

The below-pictured coleslaw was made with half of a small green cabbage, finely shredded, along with a chopped apple, a big handful of briefly-soaked-in-tea sultanas, and maybe 3T of Gingery Dressing. Both salads keep well for a couple of days, so are good for work lunches.

a light wintery soup

Mushroom Soup
serves 3
10g dried porcinis
2t olive oil
a medium red onion, julienned
2 medium carrots, diced
250g creminis, or a mixture of fancier mushrooms if you like, thinly sliced
marjoram, thyme, urfa biber (or similar mild chile), a big pinch or two of each
2t of a light miso, like chickpea
2t black vinegar or sherry vinegar
1/2C chopped parsley

Cover the porcinis with water and let them soak while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Heat the oil in a big soup pot over medium-low heat and add the onion. Stir occasionally. Dice the carrots and add them. When the onions are well-done and the carrots are beginning to brown a little, add the sliced mushrooms and turn the heat up to medium. When the mushrooms have gotten nicely limp and are beginning to brown, strain the porcini soaking water into the pot and add enough additional water to cover everything generously. Slice the softened porcinis and add them to the soup along with the marjoram, thyme, and urfa biber. Bring to gentle boil, turn down the heat, cover the pot, and let simmer for about ten minutes. Take of the heat and add the miso (using a miso-koshi if you have one) and vinegar. Stir thoroughly, then taste for seasoning. Does it need more salt than was provided by the miso? More vinegar? Finally, mix in the parsley and serve.
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tuna-safe tempeh salad

I made this tempeh salad for my work lunch a couple of days ago, and thought I'd better chronicle it here so I don't forget about it. It's really quick and easy, though not very fishy-tasting.  Next time I'll try it with some stronger-tasting seaweed like hijiki, even though it will be less attractively pink than  it is with dulse.... I had intended to eat it with crackers but was too lazy to make the crackers so ended up making little lettuce wraps. That was good too, though maybe not quite as satisfying as the cracker would have been.

Tempeh Salad
serves 3
8oz tempeh, cut into little 1/4-1/8" cubes
a handful of seaweed
a medium avocado
1 1/2T Vegenaise
juice of 1/2 a lemon
a small dill pickle, minced
a smallish shallot, minced
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1T soy sauce
2t seedy mustard
1t vinegar (whatever kind you like)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
pepper

Steam the tempeh for 10 minutes and put the seaweed in a cup and cover it with water. Meanwhile, scrape the avocado insides into a big bowl and mash it thoroughly with the Vegenaise and lemon juice. Mix the remaining ingredients in, then add the tempeh. When the seaweed's soft, drain it and squeeze it, then chop it finely. Stir it in, and then let everything rest in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.