Shepard's Pie

This is more of a guideline type of thing than it is an official recipe.  You can use lots of different stuff for your filling.  I'm using ground seitan here, because Drew likes his to be "meaty" and also he's not terribly fond of vegetables.  There are several different things you could use to emulate meat if you so wish--steamed and ground tempeh, tvp, and of course ground seitan.  This is also REALLY good with just a vegetable base--lentils and onions, diced zucchini and yellow squash, the traditional mix of peas, carrots, and potatoes, etc. etc.  If you like it, you can put it in your Shepard's Pie; my personal favorite is lentils, onions, and zucchini.

This version is actually my "cheater's version", meaning that instead of actually making gravy, I used a can of soup.  You can use cream of anything soup (I used potato, because that's what I had).  That makes this particular recipe not vegan, but if you make your own gravy, it's quite easy to veganize.  I do that most of the time anyway, but I was in a real hurry when I made this.  We needed something hot, healthy, filling, and we needed it relatively quickly.

Shepard's Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground seitan
• 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into uniform pieces (I only tell you this, because my husband and I once had a huge fight over whether or not to peel and chop the potatoes before boiling them.  He insisted that since the recipe didn't specifically state that the potatoes needed to be peeled and chopped before they were boiled, then he was supposed to boil them whole, peels on.  I tried to tell him that it was pretty much common sense that you peel and chop potatoes before boiling them unless you want to be boiling potatoes for three hours; he continued to insist that if he was supposed to peel and chop, then the recipe would have said peel and chop.  The stupidity of that fight made me see that either it's not so much common sense to everyone, or common sense is not so common!  Draw your own conclusions here.)
• 2 TBSP butter or margarine of choice
• 1/2 cup milk of choice (I used soy.)
• 1 can cream of something soup plus 1/3 can water
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 20 minutes.

2.  Spray non-stick skillet with olive oil, and brown onion and garlic over medium heat.

 3.  Add seitan (or whatever you're using as the filling) and 2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce.

4.  Cook until everything is well coated with the sauce, about five minutes.

5.  Add cream of whatever soup and 1/3 can of water, stirring until everything is mixed well and heated through, about five minutes more, remove from heat.

6.  Salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Mash potatoes with the butter and milk.

8.  Pour seitan/soup (or gravy) mixture into a sprayed 9 x 9 pan.

9.  Spread mashed potatoes over top of the mixture, pushing to edges of pan.

10.  Cover and bake 30 minutes in a 350° oven.

11.  Remove foil and broil for two to four minutes, until potatoes are browned but not burned.

Enjoy!

Steak-Seasoned Seitan Cutlets and How to Roast Garlic

I suppose it would be too cheesy to call these Steaktan, huh?  Yeah.  That's what I figured.  Anyway, I make absolutely flavorless, seasonless seitan in the crock pot all of the time.  I don't bother to season it, because I grind it up and use it in things with lots of flavor, like tacos and enchiladas and fried rice, or I cube it and use it in a spicy general tso's stir fry type dish.  The crock pot makes a large firm roast that's good for grinding, as it's not very tender at all.

I don't often do the oven simmered cutlets.  Now I remember why.  Wow it's a lot of work!  However, while it may indeed be labor intensive, it sure is worth the effort.  These cutlets turned out tender and juicy and chewy and very flavorful.  I adapted a basic recipe from The Best Cookbook in the World ™. 

Seriously I love this cookbook!  This is the book that actually convinced me that, while I may not like it, I can actually cook!  There is SO MUCH goodness contained within these pages.

Steak-Seasoned Seitan Cutlets

 Ingredients:

Broth:

• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 3 TBSP steak marinade of choice (I used bourbon peppercorn)

Cutlets:

• 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup cold vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup steak marinade of choice (once again, I used bourbon peppercorn)
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 1/2 tsp steak seasoning (or you can make your own)

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°.

2.  Bring six cups broth and 3 TBSP marinade to boil in a large pot; then turn off heat and cover.

3.  Place the vital wheat gluten in a mixing bowl.

4.  Pour the cold vegetable broth into a measuring cup or bowl, and then add the steak marinade.  Add the oil, garlic, and steak seasoning and mix well.

5.  Pour the wet mixture into the vital wheat gluten and stir with a wooden spoon until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

See, it looks like brains this.

6.  Knead with your hands for three minutes, until the dough is elastic and fights back.

7.  Divide into six equal pieces.  I sliced mine with a knife, because it's just easier that way.

8.  Take each piece and stretch it and knead it into a cutlet shape, about 1/2 inch thick.  This offers a lot of resistance, and it keeps snapping back into shape, so you've got to keep at it.  Don't worry too much about little holes you may make in it, because the cutlets plump up and seal them.

9.  Pour the heated vegetable broth/marinade into a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.

10.  Place the cutlets in the broth.

11.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

12.  Turn cutlets using tongs and bake for 30 minutes more.

All the tiny little holes I made while kneading it have already filled in.

13.  Remove from oven and place the cutlets in a colander to drain.

14.  At this point you can use it in whatever recipe you wish, or you can store it in the refrigerator in the cooking liquid. 

I can't stress enough how CAREFUL you need to be while moving about a large baking dish of very hot liquid!  It's not exactly the most stable thing in the world; it's pretty unwieldy, and it's HOT!

While I was cooking the cutlets, I also roasted a bulb of garlic.  It's a real pain to turn on the oven and heat up the house to roast one measly bulb of garlic, but when the oven is already on, it's the perfect opportunity.  Roasting garlic is a piece of cake.

All you have to do is cut the top off of the bulb, so that the tops of the cloves are exposed.

Then you lay it out on tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil.

Wrap it up really tightly and pop it into the oven.  It takes about 45 minutes.  Fortunately, that's just about how long we needed to cook our cutlets!

And speaking of cutlets, this is what I did with mine...

1.  After the cutlets have drained, place them into a Tupperware dish with a lid.

2.  Cover with the same marinade you used for the cutlet mix.

3.  Let marinate for at least a couple of hours, shaking about every now and then to evenly coat cutlets, then cook in desired manner:  pan fry, grill, broil, bake, etc.  I put a couple of shakes of steak seasoning on top and cooked mine on the George Foreman Grill for about eight minutes.

These freeze fantastically, as well.

Drew didn't like these.  They were too chewy for him.  So be warned, they are indeed chewy.  If you don't like your seitan chewy, then the oven simmered cooking method is not for you.  Now having said that, there are a few things to keep in mind.  First of all, he's all about the texture of everything.  There are things that he actually likes the taste of, but can't eat, because the "mouth feel" is all wrong.  Secondly, he is an omnivore and does eat meat when not at home, and he's comparing to how meat feels.  I haven't had meat in so long that I'm not even sure I remember how it feels.

The kiddo and I both enjoyed them very much--eating one and half cutlets each.

Shown here with Super Fast Dinner Rolls, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and steamed corn on the cob.

Enjoy!

Italian Marinara Seitan on Herbed Ciabatta Rolls

Drew requested that I attempt to make my seitan "lunch meat" in an Italian flavor so that could have a sandwich like the Italian Meatball Sub from Subway.  I'm pretty proud of this actually, because this is only the second recipe I've ever made up completely by myself.  I didn't even wait for it to cool off when it came out of the oven before I tasted it, and I immediately had to text him "I made up something, and it's GOOD!"  I was so excited.  I have a few tweaks already in mind, but for now, this turned out fantastic, so here it is.

Italian Marinara Seitan Lunch "Meat"

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Italian seasoning, to taste.  I used 2 TBSP.
• 1/3 cup marinara sauce + enough cold water to make 3/4 cup
• 4 tsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 TBSP cold water

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 325°

2.  Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix them VERY WELL.

3.  In a liquid measure, measure out 1/3 cup marinara sauce and then add enough cold water to make 3/4 cups.  Mix well.

Apropos nothing, this measuring cup belonged to my grandmother, and I'm inordinately attached to it.  She died when I was 15, and to this day, she remains just about my favorite person ever.  I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to cook without this particular cup!

4.  Place marinara/water mixture into small bowl, and add the rest of the liquid ingredients. Whisk well.

5.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and mix with hands.

6.  Knead until fully incorporated.  There will be a point where it looks like it's not going to mix.  Keep kneading.  It will mix.

 When you're finished kneading, you will have a very unappetizing looking lump.  Don't worry; it's supposed to look this way.

7.  Roll into a log shape and wrap in two layers of foil, making sure the seam is in a different place both times.

Don't worry about trying to smooth it out and make it even.  It will plump and snap into shape in the oven.  All you need to do is make it vaguely log shaped, and you're good to go.

8.  Twist ends tightly to seal.  It should like like a giant Tootsie Roll.

9.  Bake 90 minutes, rolling log over halfway through.

Though it looks like it, it's not burned on one end.  That's my shadow, because I was ditsy enough to stand in the light while taking the picture.  See how nicely it snapped into shape?  Drew likes this, because it's got the texture of Summer Sausage.  He's all about the texture; there are things that he actually thinks taste good but he can't eat because the texture isn't right.  Woohoo WIN!

Herbed Ciabatta Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 TBSP vital wheat gluten
• 2 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast
• 2 TBSP sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 scant TBSP dried Italian seasoning (or use 1/2 cup fresh herbs)
• 1 cup hot water
• 2 TBSP olive oil

Directions:

1.  In food processor, mix flours, vital wheat gluten, salt, sugar, herbs (either dried or fresh), and yeast.

2.  Transfer dry ingredients to large mixing bowl.

3.  Turn on faucet until water runs as hot as it will get.  Measure 1 cup water and add to dry ingredients.

4.  Knead until blended.

5.  Add olive oil and knead for another three to five minutes until well incorporated.  Yes, the dough is supposed to be very soft and very sticky at this point.

6.  Place dough in a greased bowl, coating all sides.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise somewhere warm for 20 minutes, until dough has doubled in size.

7.  Punch dough down.

8.  On a well floured surface, portion dough and form into round or oval shapes.  How many you make depends on what you're making.  You should get about 12 dinner sized rolls or 6 sandwich sized rolls.

9. Coat dough with flour and place on a greased cookie sheet.

I made sandwich rolls.  Ciabatta is the perfect bread for something you want to eat with lots of sauce, because it's dry, and all of the nooks and crannies hold the sauce well.  They plumped up to about twice this size after the final rise.

10.  Cover all rolls with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 40 minutes or so.

11.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in 350° oven, until bottoms of rolls are golden and tops are soft.

I mixed up the seitan first and started it baking, and then I started on the rolls.  The timing came out almost perfect, and the rolls were ready to go in when the seitan came out.

Slice the seitan into coins, slice open a roll, add as much lunch meat as you wish, top with soy cheese of choice (or actual cheese if you eat dairy), and add some more marinara sauce.  Pop the whole thing in the microwave for 30 - 40 seconds, and you've got yourself a completely vegan Italian sub!

Enjoy!

Hearty Noodle Bake

This is one of those things that's a comfort food for me.  It reminds me of the goulash my grandmother used to make, though hers was made with ground beef and white pasta.  This isn't vegan, but it is a vegetarianized version of that childhood comfort food.  Kids love this, and it's also good for them.  It's one of those dishes where you can throw in shredded veggies, and they won't even notice.

Hearty Noodle Bake

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces whole wheat elbow macaroni, cooked to the package directions
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 pound ground seitan or reconstituted TVP or a combination of the two
• 1 1/4 cups marinara sauce
• 1 tsp salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried Italian seasoning blend
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 2 TBSP unbleached flour
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese of choice (I used sharp cheddar)

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

2.  Add onion and carrot and sauté for about five minutes.

3.  Add garlic and sauté a minute more.

4.  Add seitan (TVP) and cook five minutes more, until seitan starts to crisp up a bit.

5.  Add marinara sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper.

6.  Cook for two minutes or until left with very little liquid.

7.  Stir pasta into beef mixture and remove from heat.

8.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together milk, flour, nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Cook approximately two minutes, until sauce begins to thicken, whisking continuously.

9.  Add 1 cup cheese, stirring until melted and smooth.

10.  Pour cheese mixture over pasta/seitan mixture and stir to combine well.

11.  Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish, lightly coated with cooking spray.

12.  Evenly cover with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.

13.  In 350° oven, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

14.  Let stand for five minutes before cutting

Enjoy!