Sequestration Meal #429

 

On a rainy, chilly day (yes, we have those in May, I do not know what gives), I took "eat the colors" into a somewhat more subdued direction than usual, and had vegan American soul food. This is mashed sweet potatoes topped with chopped pecans (recipe roughly based on this one at Simple Vegan Blog), collard greens with tomatoes (recipe at Real and Vibrant), a few slices of tempeh bacon, and half a cornbread muffin (recipe at Minimalist Baker).

Something about this was so comforting. It all goes really well together--sweet, savory, smoky--but I think it tasted like a memory I couldn't place, a vague hint of my grandmother or something. Greens and bacon I do know of as a memory, of a sort, but this isn't how my family ate sweet potatoes--we almost always had them sliced up and cooked in a skillet with a bit of water, brown sugar, and butter. But cornbread was perpetual for us growing up, and I really can imagine these ingredients appearing all together, even if not in this format. All it needs is some macaroni and cheese to finish it off.

Although these aren't bright colors, they are still many colors--orange, green, red, yellow, brown--and I think it looks pretty, even if the colors may suggest fall more than spring. Collards and tomatoes were on sale and I already had sweet potatoes, so when I was planning my grocery list this was the meal that came to mind. I don't always plan everything out to that detail, but this time I did. I've so missed tempeh bacon. It's pricey compared to a lot of other things, but my goodness, is it delicious. So I sprung for the bacon. A little goes a long way, and this is otherwise a pretty humble plate.

Do you have flavor memories?