French Inspired "Venison" Seitan Casserole

Yesterday was Litha, or Summer Solstice. I made lots of delicious food and sweets, but one of the dishes I want to share most with you is a French Inspired Casserole. The Original Recipe calls for Venison but I used Gardien Beef Tips, though you could easily use homemade seitan (I would have, if I'd had any prepared.)  The dish is super rich, and flavorful and tastes wonderful alongside roasted tomatoes with thyme, charred asparagus and soft bread for sopping up excess sauce. It's a fairly simple recipe though does require some advanced prep.

French Inspired "Venison" Seitan Casserole.

1 Yellow Onion
4 Cloves
8 Juniper Berries Crushed
8 Black Peppercorns Crushed
1 1/2 Cup Red Wine
2 Celery Stalks
2 Carrots
2 Bay Leaves
6 Whole Garlic Cloves sliced
Zest of half a lemon
5 Sprigs Rosemary
2 Packages Gardien Beefless Tips (or Equivalent amount of homemade Seitan)
All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Earth Balance
4 Shallots Sliced
2 Cups Brown Stock
2 Tbsp Raspberry Jam
1 Heaping Tbsp Marmite
1 Vegan Beef Bouillon Cube (Optional but recommended)


- First defrost Tips or Seitan (if frozen) Place seitan in a large bowl.

- Quarter the Onion and stick a clove in each quarter. Place the Onion Quarters into the bowl with the seitan.

- Add Juniper Berries, Crushed Pepper, Chopped celery Stalks, Chopped Carrots, Sliced Garlic, Bay Leaves, Lemon Zest, and Minced Rosemary from the five sprigs to the bowl. Stir with a large wooden spoon to combine.

- Place a medium sized sauce pan on the stove. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, and add in the Marmite and Bullion Cube. Whisk until the marmite and cube dissolve and you have a nice brown liquid. Add in 1 cup of the red wine, and raspberry jam, whisk to combine and lower the heat. Simmer for five minutes.

- Pour the stock/wine mixture over the beef and veg in the bowl. Stir to combine and make sure everything gets nice and covered. Place the bowl in the fridge and let marinate overnight.

- After the stew has marinated. Melt the Butter and oil in a large fry pan on the stove. remove the Onions from the bowl discard cloves and slice onions thin. Slice the shallots as well. Add both onions and shallots to the butter in the pan, fry until brown.

- Place the Tips or Seitan in a zip-lock bag and dump in enough all purpose flour to cover all the pieces. Shake the bag around to make sure evenly coated.

- Once onions are cooked place them in a well oiled cast iron casserole dish.

- Use the same pan to fry the floured seitan. Fry until brown, and add it to the Casserole.

- Add the remaining veg to the casserole. Then strain the marinade into the casserole through a fine mesh sieve. Discard bay leaves, peppercorns and juniper berries. You can season to taste with additional pepper and salt if you like but it should be salty enough.

- Bake in the oven at 350'F for 1 1/2 hours until tender and marinade has reduced by half. Serve with roast tomatoes, asparagus, a salad and soft bread like pita.

PS: Sorry for the poor picture quality I was more interested in eating, drinking and being marry to care much about photography.

Roast Seitan With Spring Vegetables...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Though I normally go 'all-out' when it comes to holiday cooking, I just don't really have that level of dedication in me these days. Most often I'm looking to cook something simple and quick that's healthy and tastes good, and on those days where I like to spend a little more time on something I typically only make one really nice dish rather then a dozen.

So this year we kept Valentine's Day low-key. At first I struggled with what to make, and then I decided to make something French (of course!)  Last year when we were in Paris I bought a cook book, it's non-vegan but I wanted it because it was full of 'traditional' French recipes as opposed to 're-imagined' French-fusion. I love the idea of French food, even if I can't eat most of it, and I bought the book with the intention of trying to veganize some of the less common recipes.

As I was thinking about what to cook, it occurred to me that Valentine's Day was the perfect opportunity to try something new, so I dug the book out and flipped through it. Suddenly a recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring vegetables caught my eye. I have no idea what makes this dish inherently French, or if you can really consider it much of a recipe but something about the photo was appealing to me. All those tasty spring vegetables I imagined sitting around a Seitan Roast and it just seemed perfect. I'm tired of winter, tired of winter food, lets bring on the Spring already!  So here's my version of it, you could use any seitan roast you desire I suppose, but I made my own. I used the 'Moo-Free Seitan" recipe from "Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day" cooked it in the slow cooker then left it in roast form rather then slicing it as the book suggests. If you make your own roast for the recipe or buy a roast I suggest buying or making one that's beef flavored as opposed to chicken flavor. Beef and Lamb taste little alike, but Beef Seitan is as close as I'm coming to lamb in this life. I also used the original cooking liquid from the seitan roast as my stock, but you could use any vegan beef stock. Also take into consideration that a store bought roast will be much drier then a homemade one, so cooking time may vary.

Roast Seitan with Spring Vegetables

1 Large Seitan Roast
3 Sprigs Rosemary
3 Sprigs Thyme
6 Garlic Cloves Sliced Thin
1 Pound Baby Potatoes Cut in Half
8oz Baby Carrots Left Whole
2 Medium Sized Zucchini Cut into Rounds
6 Small Leeks or in lieu of that 6 Large Green Onions
2 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Red Wine
2/3 Cup Vegan Beef Stock
Earth Balance as needed
Sea Salt, Black pepper and Garlic Powder to taste

- Pre-Heat Oven to 350'F

- Spray a large roasting pan with a little non-stick spray. Place the roast inside. With a small knife make several incisions in the top of the roast. Slip the sliced garlic into the incisions. Lightly season the roast with sea salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Add two small dollops of Earth Balance to the pan and place the roast in the oven.

- Cook for 15 minutes. Add the Potatoes to the pan remove the Rosemary and Thyme from their sprigs and scatter it over the roast and potatoes. Season the potatoes with a little salt and pepper then return to the oven and cook another 15 minutes.

- Flip the Roast over, season the underside with salt and pepper and garlic powder. Add the carrots to the pan along with another 2 dollops of Earth Balance. Return to the oven and roast for 20 minutes.

- Flip the Roast Over once more.  Add Zucchini and Leeks to the pan. (If using Green onions instead do not add them yet) Continue to roast until all the vegetables are fork tender.

- When the vegetables are fork tender add in the green onions if you're using them instead of leeks and roast for an additional five minutes until they are wilted and browned a little.

- Remove the whole pan from the oven. Transfer the Roast to a carving board and spoon the vegetables into a serving dish. Making sure to leave behind any juice

- Now to make the gravy. Heat your roasting pan over medium heat on the stove top. If there wasn't a lot of juice left over in your pan at the end of cooking add in two nice dollops of Earth Balance and wait for it to melt.

- Add the flour and whisk the flour around in the juice and EB until it has become a roux.

- Slowly pour in the stock, and then the wine, whisking the whole time. Season lightly with salt and pepper if you like and whisk slowly until the gravy has thickened to your liking.

-Slice the roast, divide it amongst plates, add a scoop of vegetables and drizzle with gravy. Enjoy with some nice red wine.

Vegan Mofo #23: Seitan with Blackberry Sauce...

I’m telling you, there is something about fruit in savory dishes that just gets me. The idea of seitan steak covered in blackberry sauce just sounded to good to pass up. The original French recipe calls for Venison medallions but I think beef seitan works just as good. I’ve had venison plenty of times growing up and I don’t like it, never did so I didn’t bother with trying to make my seitan taste like venison, any richly flavored seitan will do I think. It’s so much tastier this way anyway!

It might sound weird to you to serve blackberry sauce with seitan but trust me on this, give it a try and you’ll be amazed. This sauce is so flavorful, it will literally blow your tastebuds out of your mouth! Plus the recipe is relatively simple yet elegant enough for you to make to impress company! How can you go wrong?

Seitan with Blackberry Sauce 

4 Beef Style Seitan Cutlets
3 Tbsp nondairy butter
20 Pearl Onions Blanched and Peeled
8oz Fresh Blackberries
3 Tbsp Blackberry Jam
1/4 Cup Red Wine
1 2/3 Cups Vegan Beef Stock or water mixed with Vegan Beef Bouillon
1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour

- Heat 1 Tbsp of the Butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the Seitan Cutlets and fry on each side for 8 minutes until nicely browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

- Heat remaining butter in the pan, and add the onions. Saute for 15 minutes until nicely golden brown and beginning to caramelize.

- Meanwhile in a small pan combine the blackberry Jam with 3 Tbsp of water. Whisk until smooth and then bring to a boil, add in the fresh berries and simmer for 5 minutes until berries are soft and beginning to break down. Set aside.

- Add the Wine to the pan and boil for 30 seconds. Add the Stock and simmer until reduced by half. About 10 minutes.

- Melt the remaining Tbsp of butter in a bowl, then whisk the flour into it. Add this into the stock and simmer for two minutes constantly stirring.

- Add in the Blackberry Sauce and stir to combine. Pour the sauce over the cooked seitan steaks and serve with your favorite side. Something simple like garlic roasted potatoes works well.

Vegan Mofo #22: Seitan Stew from The Hague...

When we were in The Netherlands back in March we stopped in the Hague on our way from Brussels to Amsterdam. It was it was only scheduled to be a pit-stop, a one day adventure, a chance to see the Peace Palace, some other historical landmarks and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. I had not intended to fall in love with The Hague, but I did. The people there - and everywhere in The Netherlands really - were so friendly, the city was so calm and peaceful, a really nice change of pace from busy Brussels and crazy Amsterdam. I wish we had been able to stay their longer, and I wish we could have eaten more of the local food.

Our trip to The Netherlands inspired me to check out some books on Dutch cooking, and in one of those books I found a recipe for ‘Duck Stew from The Hague’ That sounded interesting to me, and since I’d already tailored my go-to seitan Chicken recipe to be a bit richer as a stand-in for Duck I thought I’d give this stew a try. It didn’t turn out quite like I thought it would, but it was still good. I have the feeling that it is lacking something though I can’t quite put my finger on what. I’ll have to play around with it in the future to get it just right, but overall I thought the experiment went well. The stew was tasty, and rich, and I liked the combination of red wine, olives, mushrooms and onions. Put olives in anything and I’m bound to eat it.

Seitan Stew from The Hague

Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
1 ½ lb’s Chicken Style Seitan
1 Large Onion Diced
2 Cups Vegan Chicken Broth or 2 Cups Water + 2 Vegan Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1 1/4 Red Wine
1 tsp Dried Tarragon
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Sea Salt
Ground Black Pepper to taste
1 ½ Cups Pitted Green Olives
1 Leek (White and Light Green Part Only) Sliced
2 Cups Button Mushrooms Sliced
6 Garlic Cloves Minced
1/4 C All Purpose Flour
½ Bunch Parsley Minced

- Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add seitan and brown on all sides. About 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat.

- Melt the nondairy butter in the pan, add the onion, and leek. Saute for 5 minutes until tender.

- Add the Mushrooms, and Garlic, saute for another 5-10 minutes until veggies are soft.

- Add in the flour, and stir to combine, coating all veggies.

- Add in the stock, wine, olives, seitan, tarragon, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine, bring to a boil then reduce heat and let simmer for 40 minutes.

- Add parsley and stir to combine. Serve in large bowls with toasted bread and extra parsley for garnish.

Vegan Mofo #21: Seitan aux Pruneaux d’Agen...

I came across this recipe in Joanne Harris’s book “The French Market” and found it interesting. The original recipe calls for Rabbit which I have no idea how to veganize since I’ve never eaten it before but I thought seitan would make a good stand-in. I love the idea of cooking savory dishes with fruit, and so the combination of seitan and prunes really got me thinking. A bit of Googling told me this is a pretty popular recipe in Southern France where Prunes from Agen are a pretty big deal. I like interesting culinary traditions so I was excited to give it a try. Obviously the original recipes call specifically for prunes from Agen but you can use any large plump pitted prunes, California Plums are what I used and it worked out great. I know it probably sounds weird to you, but give it a try, you might be really surprised.

Seitan with Prunes 
(A.K.A Seitan aux Pruneaux d’Agen) 

2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 Bay Leaves
1/3 C Brandy
2 Stalks Celery Diced
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme
2 Cups Red Wine
1 ½ lb’s Beef Style Seitan
25 Pearl Onions
2 tsp Liquid Smoke
20 Agen Prunes (or Large Dried California Plums) Halved
Sea Salt and Black Pepper as Needed

- Heat a small pot of water over high heat, when boiling add the onions. Boil 1 minute then drain and drop into a bowl of iced cold water to blanch. Slide off the skins and put the onions aside.

- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Melt 1 Tbsp of the nondairy butter and cook the seitan until brown on all sides. In batches if necessary. About 8-10 minutes. When browned, remove from the pan and set aside.

- Heat the remaining nondairy butter in the pan and add the peeled onions. Saute for 5 minutes until golden, add the garlic and celery. Saute another 3-5 minutes until celery is soft.

- Pour the wine into the pan, and add bay leaves, thyme, and the browned seitan back with it. Let come to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

- Add in the Brandy, the Prunes, liquid smoke and season with salt and pepper as desired. Let simmer another 20-30 minutes.

- Remove from the heat, taste for seasonings and adjust as needed. Remove the bay leaves and serve with mashed potatoes and peas as I did, or whatever your favorite side dish. Some crusty bread wouldn’t hurt either!

*** Note - Unfortunately this recipe is my best approximation as I didn’t actually write anything down while cooking. Since I made this several days ago I’m relying solely on memory here.*** 

Vegan Mofo #20: Entrecote a la Bordelaise...

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Entrecote a la Bordelaise is a classic French dish, simple yet elegant as so many classic French dishes.  Apparently there is a bit of a distinction between Entrecote a la Bordelaise and Entrecote Bordelaise. The first being a dish of seared steak served in a red wine and shallot sauce, the second being a seared steak dish served with raw chopped shallot, and no wine.  I liked the idea of the wine sauce and so that’s why I decided upon veganizing this version. The original recipe uses bone marrow as an ingredient, since there is no real way to veganize that I didn’t bother trying and I don’t think the dish suffers from the lack of it. I suppose if you want a ‘richer’ sauce you could simply add more fat in the form of oil or butter to make up for the lost marrow, but really, it isn’t necessary. In French Entrecote basically means rib steak, or more generally it’s known as a prime cut of meat, so I recommend using good quality seitan, or really good home-made seitan cutlets. Again for this recipe I made The Gentle Chef’s Filet Mignon seitan, and it turned out so good!

Entrecote a la Bordelaise 

2 Tbsp Nondairy Butter
3 Shallots Diced
2 Cups Red Wine (Preferably Bordeaux)
1 Cup Vegan Beef Stock or 1 Cup Water with 1 Vegan Bouillon Cube
1 Tbsp Parsley Minced
4 Beef Style Seitan Cutlets
Olive Oil as needed.
Sea Salt and Black Pepper to taste

- Splash a bit of olive oil in a large saute pan and heat over medium high heat. Add the Seitan Cutlets and cook for 5-8 minutes per side until nicely browned. Remove the steaks from the pan and put on a plate.

- Melt the butter in the pan and add the shallots.  Saute for 7 minutes or until they are soft.

- Pour in the wine and simmer until reduced by two-thirds.

- Add the stock and continue to simmer until reduced by half.

- Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and parsley.

- Pour the Sauce over the Cooked Steaks and serve. I served our steaks with Boulangere Potatoes but you could serve then with any roasted, boiled or mashed potatoes too.

Vegan Mofo #16: Seitan a l’Orange...

I’ve never had Duck a l’Orange before, because I never liked duck, but there was something really intriguing to me about trying to veganize this recipe. I thought it might work out well with seitan in place of duck and since I had some ‘duck’ style seitan left over from making the Duck with Raspberries I thought I’d give it a try. I have to admit I was really skeptical about it, because I had to really play around with the cooking method and times, and I wasn’t at all sure it was going to be any good, but much to my surprise it turned out really, really well. The sauce is so flavorful and on a nice juicy piece of seitan it works so well. Though I imagine the sauce would also be a nice accompaniment to tofu or tempeh as well.

Certainly there is a bit of work involved in a recipe like this, but that’s French cooking for you right? The end result is worth it, so I hope you give it a try. Enjoy your seitan a l’Orange with some simple sides like rice and broccoli as we did, or potatoes and asparagus.

Seitan a l’Orange 
(AKA Canard a l’Orange, AKA ‘Duck’ a l’Orange, ) 

2-4 Homemade or store bought Chicken Style Seitan Cutlets
5 Large Oranges
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1-2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Mint Leaves
½ Cup Brown Sugar
½ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/3 Cup Grand Marnier
4 Tbsp of Nondairy Butter + 1 Tbsp
1 Tbsp Cornstarch


- Preheat the oven to 300'F

- Grease a glass baking dish that’s large enough to hold your seitan. Slice two of the oranges into thin slices. Line the bottom of the glass dish with the slices from one orange. Place the cinnamon sticks over top of the oranges and sprinkle with mint. Layer your seitan cutlets over top, and then top those with the remaining orange slices.

- Roast in the Oven for roughly 30 minutes.

- Meanwhile zest and juice the remaining 3 oranges.  Heat a small pot of water over high heat. When it’s boiling blanch the orange zest Refresh under cold water, drain, and set aside.

- Heat the sugar in a saucepan over low heat until it melts and caramelizes, use a whisk to whisk the sugar a bit so that it caramelizes evenly. When the sugar is a rich brown add in the vinegar, but be carefully as it might splatter.  Boil for three minutes then add the reserved orange juice and grand Marnier. Simmer the mixture for 2 minutes.

- Remove the seitan from the oven, and pour a third of the sauce over the cutlets. If using 2 cutlets place 2 Tbsp of Butter on each Cutlet, if using 4 Cutlets place 1 Tbsp on each cutlet. Then Sprinkle the cutlets with about a quarter of the orange zest. Place back into the oven and roast for another 30 minutes.

- Mix the Tablespoon of cornstarch with a bit of water and whisk to combine. Slowly add it into the pot with the sugar, vinegar, juice mixture. Increase heat and simmer, whisking constantly until the sauce has thickened. Add in the remaining tbsp of butter and the orange zest stir to combine and turn off the heat. Set aside.

- When the seitan is ready, remove it from the oven. Place one cutlet on each plate, and top with as much sauce as you like. FYI the sauce also tastes great over broccoli and rice!

Vegan Mofo #9: Seitan with Raspberries...

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!

Vegan Mofo #7: Beef Carbonnade...

So, I found Beef Carbonnade listed in a French Cook book, but the internet says it’s a Belgian dish originally. Since the French are more accustomed to cooking with wine instead of beer I suppose that wouldn’t surprise me but the truth is I don’t know where it comes from and I don’t care to wager a guess. They eat a lot of French food in Belgium, and what with the countries bordering one another, and sharing similarities in cuisine origins can be confusing. In any case the dish is delicious regardless of whether it’s French or Belgian. Think of it as a more basic Bourguignon but just as delicious!

I never actually ate Carbonnade in France or Belgium but from the moment I saw the recipe for it I knew it was something I’d have to veganize and I’m really glad I did. Typically in Belgium a dish like this would be served with Frites (Fries) but in France it may be served with boiled or mashed potatoes. On the day I made this I decided to opt for something a little lighter and served our Carbonnade alongside Salade aux Noix. You could do either or both, and make sure you enjoy a nice glass of wine or a bottle of beer with your meal too!

Beef Carbonnade

2-4 Tbsp Non-Dairy Butter
2lbs Home Made or Store Bought Beef Style Seitan Cubed
4 Onions Sliced in Quarter Moons
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
2 tsp Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
1 Bottle of Stout Beer
2 Bay Leaves
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme Leaves
1 tsp Sea Salt
Black Pepper to taste
6-8 Slices Baguette
Dijon Mustard

- Preheat the Oven to 300'F

- Heat 1 Tbsp Butter in a large pan over medium high heat. Add the beef seitan in batches and brown on all sides. Add a second Tbsp of butter for the second batch if needed. This could take up to 10-15 minutes and it’s okay if they get a little extra brown. If they stick to the pan deglaze with a splash of water.

- Once the seitan has browned remove from the heat and place in a large lightly greased Dutch Oven.

- In the same pan add the sliced onions. Add a little more butter if needed and saute for 10 minutes until softened.

- Add the garlic and sugar to the pan with the onions and saute another 5-10 minutes until the onions are nicely browned. Then remove the onions from the pan with a slotted spoon and add them into the Dutch Oven.

- Stir the seitan and onions together until they are well mixed.

- If the pan is a little dry, heat one more Tbsp of butter in the pan, and add the Tbsp of flour. Stir to make a roux, and cook it for a minute or two until it’s golden. Add in the beer, the bay leaves, the salt and pepper, and let simmer gently for 3-4 minutes.

- Pour the beer mixture into the Dutch Oven with the Seitan and Onions, add the thyme leaves, and mix to combine.

- Place a lid over the Dutch Oven and place into the oven and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour. After it’s done cooking remove from the oven, take the lid off and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

- Lightly toast the baguette slices on both sides, then spread one side with Dijon Mustard. Arrange the slices mustard side up on top of the Carbonnade, then return the dish to the oven and broil on high for a minute.

- Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy!

Vegan Mofo #5: Steak au Poivre...

Steak au Poivre is a pretty typical French dish, and one that can be found in most traditional French restaurants. I saw it on a lot of menus when we were walking around Paris and I found the concept intriguing because I’ve never tried it before as a meat eater. I thought it might be a fun, and relatively simple recipe to veganize. The internet says the dish comes from the 19th Century, and became popular In restaurants in Normandy where men would take their women in the hopes that the peppers aphrodisiac properties would work their magic. I don’t know how true that is, but it’s a cool story.

For my veganized version I decided to go with some homemade Seitan Steaks. I used Skye Michael Conroy’s Filet Mignon recipe from his book “The Gentle Chef Cook Book” because traditional Steak au Poivre used cuts of filet mignon, though I think any seitan steak would work just as well, and you could probably even use steamed tempeh for a gluten-free version, or perhaps even large portobello mushrooms for a gluten and soy free version, though obviously taste and cooking times would be different. I also decided to use a blend of peppercorns rather then just regular black pepper, and I did so because I wanted a richer more unique flavor, but any old peppercorns would do just as well I think.

Overall I think the dish turned out quite well. I was pretty nervous about the flambe because I’ve never had to do that before, and being so close to a large open flame kind of freaks me out, but I had some help with that and because the alcohol content is so small the flame didn’t get all that big. The ‘whoosh’ was kind of fun! My only complaint - okay I have two - is 1) A large dose of pepper can be quite overpowering, I ground the peppercorns by hand and I think it might be easier to grind them coarsely in a grinder, also use less then suggested if you don’t want as much heat. 2) As with before I found the texture of the seitan a bit soft for my liking, I said the same thing the last time I made the Filet Mignon and I thought that a longer cooking time would firm it up a bit but it did not. I realize traditional Filet is quite soft, because it’s served rare but I guess that just isn’t my thing. Flavor wise the seitan is great, and I recommend the recipe if you like Filet. My husband loved the dish, and so I would make it again with a few changes. Anyway, without further adieu, here is Steak au Poivre, enjoy!

Steak au Poivre 

4 Seitan Steaks (Homemade or Store bought)
6 Tbsp Black or Mixed Peppercorns Crushed
2 Tbsp Non-Dairy Butter
3 Tbsp Cognac
1/4 C White Wine
½ C Cashew Cream (for a thicker sauce) or ½ C Non-Dairy Milk of Choice for a slightly thinner Sauce.
Olive Oil as needed.
Sea Salt to taste

Instructions

- If your seitan steaks are a bit dry rub them in enough Olive Oil to coat. Spread the crushed peppercorns on a plate and place the seitan down on top, pressing each side into the crushed pepper, use your fingers if needed to press the pepper into the steak so it sticks.

- Melt the non-dairy butter in a large pan over medium high heat. When melted add the steaks and let them sizzle. Let brown on each side for 4-5 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired brown/doneness level.

- Once your steaks are cooked to your liking add the cognac to the pan.  Using a long match, or barbeque lighter quickly (and carefully) light dish on fire. You want to make sure you light the dish as soon after adding the cognac as possible, leaving the cognac in the pan too long will result in the steak having a bitter or alcohol taste. Also please make sure you are not sticking the flame into the pan and lighting the actual food, what you want to do is light the alcohol fumes on fire. Stand a little bit back so you don’t get engulfed, and make sure you have a lid ready to throw over the pan incase things go awry.

- Once the alcohol has burned off and the flame has gone out on it’s own (it will happen quicker then you think!) Remove the steaks from the pan with a spatula and place on individual serving plates.

- Now add the wine to the pan and boil stirring for one minute to deglaze the pan.  Then add the cream and stir to combine, simmering one to two minutes or until the cream has warmed through and the sauce is combined. Taste, and add some sea salt to season, and extra black pepper If you desire.

- Spoon the Sauce over your steak, and serve with a side of steamed asparagus, and a mound of mashed potatoes, plus a glass of wine, you deserve if after your flambe experience!

For anyone interested I lightly steamed my asparagus so that they were tender crunchy, then I drizzled them in Lime Olive Oil, and tossed them with Sea Salt and Course Ground Lemon Pepper. The Mashed Potatoes were made with Unsweetened almond milk, Earth Balance, Sea Salt, Garlic Powder and a little of the leftover crushed peppercorns. I used 4 Medium Sized Russet Potatoes, and FYI the Cognac sauce tastes just as good over the potatoes as it did over the steaks. Actually the sauce was probably my favorite part of the whole Steak au Poivre experience!

Vegan Mofo #2: Irish Beef and Barley Soup...

Every country it seems has some kind of beef stew as a part of their traditional cuisine, so just like with Buttermilk Pancakes, Beef and Barley Soup is one of those recipes that I can’t find reliable origin information on. The Irish cook books I’ve looked through all claim that Beef and Barley Soup is a traditional Irish Farmhouse Soup, but since it’s so popular in many other countries it’s true origin is anyone’s guess. Though Barley is a pretty ancient crop, and people have been making this soup a long, long time, so it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out it is Irish, or at least originating in the UK.

I tried to keep this recipe as traditional as possible, and did a fare job of that. The only out of place ingredients are Tamari and Marmite, which I used to enhance the beefy flavor of the soup. Due to the tough cuts of meat this soup is suppose to be cooked with original meat based recipes have a very long cooking time. This vegan version could probably be cooked in less time, but I like the hour long simmer as it provides ample opportunity for the flavors of the soup to marry. However because of the long time, the potatoes do begin to break down, and so this soup ended up thicker and more stew like then a ‘traditional’ beef and barley soup. If that isn’t to your fancy then feel free to add a bit more broth or water to thin the soup out, or decrease the cooking time by 15-20 minutes, to the point where the potatoes are soft but not breaking down.

Irish Beef and Barley Soup 

1 lb Homemade or Store-bought Beef Style Seitan cubed
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 Large Onion Sliced into quarter moons
4 Garlic Cloves Minced
3 Large Carrots Sliced into Rounds
2 Russet Potatoes Cubed
3 Celery Stalks Chopped
1 Large Leek Sliced (White and Light Green Part Only)
8 Cups Vegan Beef Broth or 8 Cups Water + 2 Vegan Beef Bouillon Cubes
1/4 C Pearled Barley
1/4 C Split Green Peas (pre soaked)
1 tsp Thyme Leaves
½ tsp Dried Rosemary
½ tsp Black Pepper (or more to taste)
3 Tbsp Tamari
1 Heaping Tbsp Marmite
½ Bunch Minced Parsley
Sea Salt to taste if needed

- Pour Vegan Beef Stock into a pot and bring to a boil. Once Boiling add Green Split Peas and Barley. Reduce to simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes or until barley and peas are tender.

- Heat 1 tsp Oil in skillet over medium heat. When hot add cubed beef and cook for 8-10 minutes stirring to brown on all sides. When browned to your liking remove from skillet and set aside on a plate.

- Heat remaining tsp of Oil in the same pan, add the onions and saute over medium heat for 8 minutes until soft and golden. Add in the carrots, celery, garlic and leek. Saute another 10 minutes until vegetables are soft.

- Add the sauteed vegetables to the pot with the Barley and Split Peas. Add the cubed potatoes, thyme,.rosemary, black pepper, tamari, and marmite. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce to simmer and let simmer gently on the stove for 45 minutes to an hour. Until all vegetables are tender and the soup has thickened.

- Add in the Browned Beef, and Minced Parsley. Stir to combine and simmer an additional 5 minutes until beef is warmed through. Taste for flavor and add more salt or pepper if needed.

- Serve hot and enjoy!

9 Days of Valentine's: Part 7, The Big Day...

So, this is it, what we finally ended up having on the big day. We started off with a bang - did you expect anything less? - I got home form work Saturday morning to find my husband had decked-out my desk in all sorts of Valentine’s Day love. A bouquet of flowers, a Valentine’s Day balloon, a stuffed skunk holding a heart, some heart-shaped decorations strung up across the desk and the bookshelf and a card. I really did marry the most amazing, thoughtful man in the world. After I marveled at his little surprise I set about making breakfast.

Crepes were on the menu, Chocolate Hazelnut crepes to be exact.  The recipe comes from the French chapter of Mark Reinfeld’s book “The 30 Minute Vegan’s Taste of Europe.” I am not a skilled crepe maker. I love to eat them, but they always fall apart on me. I like to say it’s because I don’t have a proper crepe pan, but that’s just an excuse. In the end though some of my crepes fell apart I at least got enough good ones out of the deal for a halfway decent picture, and broken or not they were all freaking-delicious! Also, much easier then one might expect crepes to be. The batter comes together quickly and because they’re so thin they cook up fast too. The chocolate hazelnut filling is simply made with hazelnut butter, cocoa powder, soy milk, and sweetener. I thought these might be too nutty for my picky husband but he loved them. They were just perfect. Really the recipe should have been served with strawberries, but I was fresh out and so I used blueberries instead and I think it worked just as well.

So that was it until dinner. We went French for breakfast and decided on Italian for dinner. For our feast I used Alicia C. Simpson’s book “Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations” which I’ve come to realize I don’t use often enough! And I made the Seitan Parmesan as well as the Garlic Green Beans from her chapter on Valentine’s Day. I chose the seitan Parmesan because it sounded sexy, and Valentine’s Dayish, also because there was a time when my husband loved Chicken Parm. Personally I have never really liked Chicken Parm, I’d never eaten it until I moved to Chicago and I wasn’t particularly impressed. I made the non-vegan version a couple of times on my husband’s behalf but I was never crazy about it. Holidays though - at least for me - are about making things you don’t normally make, and about finding something special to cook for your loved one. This seemed to fit the bill on both counts and so I was curious to try the recipe out.

First you need to make a seitan ‘chicken’ which Alicia provides a very quick and simple recipe for making. Actually this is probably one of the simplest ‘boil’ version seitan’s I’ve made, and probably one of the most delicious too. Seriously, the broth SMELLED like chicken. I also loved that her recipe only called for water and seasonings unlike so many other boil recipes that call for 6 cups of broth. Honestly, I don’t have the money to waste on using 6 cups of broth to make a few chunks of seitan. This is probably one of the most economical recipes I’ve made.

So, once that’s done you bread your seitan, bake it, then cover it in sauce and vegan mozzarella, bake some more and voila! Amazing! Seriously, dish wins second place in my favorite for the week, and actually, might even tie for first place. It was incredible! Trust me when I say the price of the book is worth this recipe alone!

Of course the green beans were damn good too, but then I have a soft spot for sauntered green beans. She uses garlic, oil, shallots and almonds in the recipe as well, only I left out the almonds since my husband is not a fan. I have to say these were super flavorful and a good accompaniment to the seitan.

I also decided to make the Roasted Potatoes with Germolata from Chloe Coscarelli’s book “Chloe’s Vegan Italian Kitchen” these were super simple and yet super delicious. It’s just potatoes roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper, then once cooked they’re tossed with a mixture of minced garlic, parsley, oil, grated lemon peel, and more salt and pepper. It sounds simple, but these were some of the best potatoes I’ve ever had.

For dessert we had the Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting also from Alicia’s book “Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations” I can’t tell you how good these were, the cakes were super moist and so full of flavor I loved every bite. However I had a bit of a problem, actually I had several problems all day. 1) I didn’t have enough gluten to make a full recipe of Chicken Seitan, so it’s a good thing I always keep seitan on hand in the freezer. I used a chub of Mediterranean Seitan from Terry Hope Romero’s “Vegan Eats World” for the Parm. In the picture the Big cutlet is Alicia’s and the two small cutlets are the chub from the freezer cut in half. 2) I didn’t have any lemon so my husband had to go to the store on the way home. 3) I ran out of powdered sugar. I thought I had enough but I was wrong. So instead of cream cheese frosting I had a cream cheese glaze - still delicious though. 4) I also ran out of cream cheese! I thought I had enough and I might have only when I opened the container it had got moldy! So instead of cream cheese I used vegan sour cream, it may not be exactly the same but similar enough that an unsuspecting pallet may not notice. In any case it turned out and none of these problems are any fault of the authors.

To wash everything down I made the Ginger Champagne Cocktails form Alicia’s New Years Eve chapter. These were super good. Loved the ginger bite!

And that was our Valentine’s Day. Of course Valentine’s should have been the last hurrah but I started cooking my 9 days a little late, so I have 2 post Valentine’s meals to talk about. Check back tomorrow to see Day 8.