Today’s recipe I found in a French cook book and couldn’t help but be intrigued. Unfortunately the book didn’t provide any information on history or origin of the dish, and so I have no idea where it comes from. Though it is a pretty common practice throughout Europe to cook rich meats with sweet fruits, and the French sure like to make food look fancy so regardless of origin this dish at least fits with my theme.
I’ll admit I was pretty skeptical about this dish when I first attempted to make it. I just didn’t know how seitan would taste when mixed with fruits, guess I needn’t have really worried because the dish turned out amazing! Seriously, it far exceeded my expectations. I myself have only ever eaten duck once, a long time ago, in a Chinese restaurant and I hated it. I thought it was greasy, and fatty and disgusting, I never ate it again. When eating poultry I never liked dark meat anyway and duck is all dark meat. So I was a bit flummoxed as how to make this seitan taste ‘duck-like’ and Google raveled nothing further then what I already knew “Tastes like greasy chicken” thanks, so helpful! In the end I decided to make a basic chicken-style seitan but included in the met ingridients I added a spoonful of marmite and I used sesame oil instead of regular oil. Before I boiled the cutlets I also coated them in oil, then when they came out of the broth I oiled them again and let them sit in the fridge in a bit of their cooking liquid until I used them the next day. I can’t say that the seitan tasted like ‘duck’ but it didn’t have a ‘chicken’ taste either, it was richer, and slightly more greasy then your average seitan. So, while it might not be an ‘authentic’ duck taste, it was certainly different, and enjoyable, and why do you need your seitan to taste exactly like duck anyway?
The true star of this show however is the raspberry sauce. Oh... my.... god.... the sauce alone is amazing and I wish I’d made more cutlets just so I could eat more sauce! If it sounds weird to you to cook raspberries in a somewhat savory dish, I hear you, but trust me when I tell you this will literally blow your mind! Try it, and see! Enjoy with a nice glass of wine, a side of mashed potatoes, a side salad, or as we did, simply with a side of Vichy Carrots.
Seitan with Raspberries
(AKA Canard aux Framboises aka ‘Duck’ with Raspberries)
A Splash of Olive Oil
2-4 Homemade or Store Bought Chicken Style Seitan Cutlets
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
2 tsp Sugar
½ Cup Red Wine
1/3 Cup Creme de Cassis (A Red Current Liquor)
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
9oz Fresh Raspberries
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add in your cutlets and brown 4-5 minutes per side.
- In a small bowl mix together the salt, sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In another bowl whisk together the red wine and creme de cassis, set aside.
- When the seitan is done cooking carefully remove it from the pan and put on a plate. Leave the pan, you are going to uses it again.
- After the seitan has cooled for a minute or two carefully rub the salt sugar, cinnamon mixture into the seitan on both sides. Then return the seitan to the pan and cook on medium heat for another 2-3 minutes per side.
- Add most of the red wine, creme de cassis mixture to the pan with the seitan, reserving a couple of Tablespoons. Mix this reserved wine mix with the cornstarch and then add that into the pan as well. Stir to combine and let simmer 2 minutes until thickened.
- Add raspberries, stir to coat with the sauce, and then simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally until the sauce is thick and the berries are cooked.
- Remove seitan cutlets from the pan, place on individual plates and spoon the sauce and berries over top. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment