Cornmeal-Crusted Tempeh over Mushroom-Lentil Stew w/ Pan Gravy

I've apparently saved the best for first. If there's ever a dish that will make you say "Who needs steak?", this is it. It's my attempt to blindly recreate a dish from True Bistro, a vegan restaurant in Somerville that was instrumental in making me decide to go veg. The gravy part is my own invention, though.

(photography by Tianna Tagami)

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 Block of garden vegetable or soy tempeh (~8 oz.)
1/3 cup dry lentils
8 white or portabello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup white cooking wine
Vegetable Stock (preferably in cubes; see 5/3 blog entry)
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1 cup ground cornmeal
1 tbsp Italian (or other vinegar-based) salad dressing
1/4 cup half & half
1/4 cup (max.) white flour

Seasonings (to taste)
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Dry mustard
Garlic powder
Onion Salt
Oregano

Prep:
Par-boil lentils for at least 45 minutes. Drain and reserve the water for another time (lentil stock is good stuff). Set lentils aside.

Cut tempeh in half and then each half down the middle to reduce thickness of each piece. Marinate in red wine vinegar. Put cornmeal in a bowl and stir in salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 225 F.

Cook:
Melt one tablespoon of butter and 2 stock cubes in a saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add all other spices, stir, and cover.

Simmer another 20 minutes. Add lentils and 2 more stock cubes. Cover. Mushrooms and lentils should form a thick, brothy stew. If too thick, add stock. If too thin, simmer uncovered to cook off moisture.

Add oil to skillet over high heat (turn on hood fan now). Wait for it to just start to smoke and reduce heat to medium. Dredge each marinated tempeh piece in cornmeal and put in skillet. Cook 2 minutes without moving, flip, cook another 2 minutes. Do not crowd the skillet; work in batches. When each one is finished, use spatula to cut in half diagonally, giving you a total of 8 triangular pieces. Put them in the in oven, loosely-wrapped in foil to retain moisture.

Deglaze skillet with white wine. Add 5 stock cubes and 1 tbsp butter. Wait for it to simmer, and add cream. Stir. Slowly add flour while constantly whisking. Continue until desired thickness is reached. You can always thicken with additional flour or thin with additional stock. Complete the gravy by stirring in salad dressing.

Divide the lentil-mushroom stew among 2 plates. Top with tempeh and drizzle gravy over the top. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and serve immediately with a side of steamed broccoli or asparagus.