Beer Baked Tempeh Reuben

Reubens are one of my favorite vegetarian/vegan foods that I've never had the real version of prior to becoming vegetarian. For me the tangy Russian dressing, sauerkraut, and melty Swiss cheese just make for a great sandwich. I had a Tempeh Reuben at a local restaurant a few months ago and when Dave found some at our grocery store I was excited to try it. This recipe made three sandwiches and 1.5 sandwiches was perfect for lunch after our morning boxing work-out. This ended up being a Cleveland themed sandwich because we used Commodore Perry IPA from Great Lakes in the braising liquid and Cleveland Kraut (original with caraway seeds, also great with vegan brats!) on the sandwich. I appreciated that the tempeh really did pick up the IPA flavor which paired nicely with the kraut. 

Recipe from Edible Perspective. 

Ingredients:
Tempeh:
-8oz package tempeh
-12oz IPA beer
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-2 teaspoons stone-ground mustard
-2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

Russian Dressing:
-3-4 tablespoons light mayonnaise
-3 tablespoons diced dill pickles
-2 tablespoons ketchup
-1 tablespoon horseradish
-1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
-1/8 teaspoon black pepper
-pinch of salt

Sandwiches:
-6 slices of rye bread
-6 slices of Swiss cheese
-3/4 cup sauerkraut

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and slice the tempeh into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. Then slice each strip in half so that the strips are 1/4 inch thick.

Pour the IPA into a 9x9 baking pan and stir in the soy sauce, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Add the strips of tempeh in a single layer and bake for 35 minutes. Flip once and bake for 20 minutes more.

While the tempeh bakes prepare your Russian dressing by combining all ingredients in a bowl and stirring together. The initial post indicated that you should drain your saueurkraut but ours was not liquidy so I skipped that step.

In the last few minutes of the tempeh cooking toast the bread and melt the cheese onto each slice if you're using a toaster oven. Remove from the oven and add the beer tempeh, Russian dressing, and saueurkraut.