Breakfast: Gary talks a lot about Original Joe’s in San Jose. I remember going there when I lived in the Bay Area, late at night after performing in a show. They had huge plates of pasta, which was the best way to calm the post-performance adrenaline and get a good night’s sleep. Gary’s favorite dish from OJ’s used to be Joe’s Special which is a San Francisco specialty dating to the 1920’s made with spinach, eggs and ground beef. Gary put his talk into delicious action and made his version, vegan, of course, which I am certain is better than the original or any of the versions based on it.
Here’s how it came together:
Sauté spinach, onions and seasoned tempeh. Mix together a simple Socca batter.
Transfer the spinach/onion/tempeh mix to a baking dish.
Pour the socca batter over it.
Bake it in a hot oven and in no time you have the final masterpiece: Gary’s Special, which was served with creamy Béchamel and Spicy Tomato Sauce.
We began editing episode 3 of the REAL Good News in Review. It’s a long process and when rendering a portion of the film you need to be patient and wait for it to finish, multitask and work on something else.
Afternoon Snack: The satisfaction from our hearty breakfast lasted well into the afternoon when it was time for tea, and a cookie!
Dinner: The editing continued and hunger called. It was time to make dinner. Nothing goes to waste in our home. There were a variety of foods in the refrigerator from past meals – the remainder of the escarole and radicchio, a portion of which had been grilled a few nights ago, made a great salad with a new dressing, Creamy Balsamic. I made Polenta using fresh parsley instead of basil. When it firmed up I cut them into triangles and grilled them in the oven to give a crunchy exterior to balance the creamy inside. We also had some eggplant that needed to be used. I sautéed it with onions and stirred in a quick sauce made from apricot butter, Balsamic vinegar and water, which made it like a plum sauce. You may notice that Apricot Butter appears a lot in this blog. We always have it in the house because it’s easy to make, delicious and so versatile. Try it!
Evening: Editing takes a long time! We took another oatmeal cookie break with peppermint before putting in a few more hours of work before going to bed.
How do you prepare socca batter?
Great question! I thought I added the link to today’s post but I didn’t. It’s now corrected, thanks for catching that. Socca is a chickpea flour crepe. It is so easy to make. I use either chickpea flour or garfava flour which is a mix of chickpea and fava bean flour. Here’s a link to the Socca recipe: https://responsibleeatingandliving.com/?p=18109. It’s just a cup of flour to a cup of water. I like to add different herbs and spices to improve the flavor.