Orange Greens & Mushrooms served with Blackened Tempeh

Orange Greens & Mushrooms w/Blackened Tempeh

I had a big mess of fresh greens leftover from making Jana’s Spring Garden Soup. The greens were still crisp, as I had wrapped them in a damp paper towel and placed them in a loose produce bag in the fridge, but I wanted to use them up before they got limp, so here’s what I improvised. You can start with a LOT of greens because they’ll cook down. I had a very large colander full. Sorry to admit, I ate the whole lot in one sitting.

Ingredients for the greens:
1-3 TBS olive oil
2-6 garlic cloves, depending on your love for garlic, and the amount of greens you’re using
1/2 to 1 entire onion (yellow, white, or red)
4 to 8 oz. mushrooms (I used white – you could get fancier with this)
Fresh greens: kale, Swiss chard, collard greens, spinach, whatever
1/3 to 1/2 cup vegetable base, bouillon, or strong stock
1 orange
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Ingredients for the tempeh:
1 block of tempeh – whatever kind you like
1-2 TBS olive oil
“Blackened” seasoning to your liking

Preparation:
Clean, dry, and chop the greens roughly and set aside. (I recommend taking out the spine of the kale and the collard greens.) Separate the onions into rings, or half-rings and set aside. Roughly chop the garlic. Slice the mushrooms fairly thick. Zest half of the orange, reserving the zest and that half of the orange (slice the other half of the orange for garnish). Slice the tempeh into 1/4” thick slabs.

Directions:
In a very large skillet (or heavy soup pot - you'll need a lid for either) heat the olive oil over medium to medium-high heat (...without the lid... unless you want a fire). Sautee the onions, mushrooms, and garlic until the onions start to turn translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the greens and vegetable base/bouillon/stock. Cover and reduce heat to simmer; simmer until the greens are not quite tender.

While the greens are simmering, heat a medium-sized nonstick skillet on medium to medium-high. Brush the tempeh slices with olive oil and sprinkle with blackened seasoning on both sides. Put them in the skillet and cook until browned, checking that they don’t burn, while finishing the next steps.

Remove the lid on the greens, increase heat to medium, and add the orange zest and a good squeeze of the half that you zested. Add salt & pepper, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid is reduced and the greens are as done as you would like. Plate it, garnish it, serve it, and enjoy it!