Grilled Avocado Salad with Garlic Scapes, Sea Beans, Chili & Mint

The farmer's market provided me with most of the awesome ingredients that composed this salad. Garlic scapes are soft to the touch but long and curly. They have a mild garlic flavor and can be used like scallions would. Sea beans are one of my new favorite vegetables, crisp and salty like really thin green beans that need no seasoning.

Fresh salad with grilled ripe avocado, salty sea beans, garlic scapes, mint, serrano chili, red bell pepper and heirloom cherry tomatoes.

Grilled Avocado Salad with Garlic Scapes, Sea Beans, Chili & Mint
serves 2-3
4 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 avocado, halved
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1/4 cup roughly chopped garlic scapes
1 serrano chili, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, medium dice
3 cups spring greens
2 cups sea beans
1 cup orange cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tbl mint leaves
salt and pepper

Preheat a grill or grill top to medium high. Drizzle the avocado cut side up with 1 tbl of olive oil. Grill, cut side down for 5-7 minutes until lightly charred. Toss the shallots, scapes and chili on the grill and cook for 4 minutes just to soften lightly.
Toss the avocado, shallots, scapes and chili with the remaining ingredients.
Dress lightly with the remaining olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Tempeh Bacon, Sweet Potato & Grilled Avocado Sandwich with Shallot-Garlic Mayo

Sometimes all I want is a great sandwich. A new take on an old favorite is always the best way to get the sandwich spice back in your life. Originally this sandwich was intended to be merely a grilled sweet potato sandwich with avocado but I needed something with texture to hold it together so it wasn't just mush between bread. Tempeh was suggested to me by a friend and I immediately thought tempeh bacon would not only taste great, but make this a BLT type sandwich that I would be excited to eat.
Make sure when picking an avocado you get one that is firm but has a little give. This will allow for the avocado to keep its structure while grilling it without making it overly soft and mushy.

Tempeh seasoned with soy, maple and smoke for a perfect vegan bacon flavor sandwiched between grilled avocado, sweet potato, sprouts, greens and a caramelized shallot and garlic mayonnaise.

Tempeh Bacon, Sweet Potato & Grilled Avocado Sandwich
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 80z package of tempeh, 1/4" slices
salt and pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp liquid smoke
2 tbl soy sauce
1 tbl maple syrup
1 large sweet potato
1 avocado, halved
1/2 cup sprouts
1/2 cup baby spinach
Seed bread

Heat the oil in a saute pan and add the tempeh. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Saute over medium-high heat until the tempeh is golden brown. Add the liquid smoke, soy sauce and maple and saute 5 minutes more until all of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside.
Boil (or zap) the sweet potato until just tender. Slice into discs and season both sides with salt and pepper. Season the two avocado halves with salt and lay on a hot, oiled grill. Grill for 3-4 minutes on each side of the potato. (Just grill the side of the avocado that is meaty.)
Assemble a sandwich with shallot-garlic mayo, tempeh bacon, grilled sweet potatoes and avocado, sprouts and baby spinach.

Shallot-Garlic Mayo
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping tbl minced shallots
3 garlic cloves
sea salt
3 tbl vegenaise

Combine the oil, shallows and garlic in a small saute pan and turn on the heat to medium. Season with a pinch of salt. Saute for 5 minutes until the shallots are soft and the garlic is toasted and fragrant. While warm, transfer to a bowl with the vegenaise and let chill, allowing the flavors to meld.