Crockpot Seitan Roast

We got a crockpot for a wedding gift and although I have been using it a lot more this winter, at first I didn't really understand it. I love to cook, so throwing everything in a pot and walking away not only made me nervous, but a little bored when it came to the usual dinner prep/cook time. I had used the crockpot already to cook seitan in a stew with veggies, but I wondered if there was a way to actually make seitan in a slow cooker. After a google search I came across the blog Vegan Planet and realized it had already been done. So I made the roast with the same cooking directions, using my own seitan recipe, and it came out great.


I surrounded the seitan roast with shallots, carrots & red potatoes. I cooked it on low for about 3 hours, then turned it to high for the last hour.


The texture was so perfect on the outside and not at all dried out on the inside. The roast itself didn't have a ton of flavor so I made a brown gravy, seasoning it with worcestershire, soy sauce, a hint of liquid smoke and fresh sage. It brought everything together beautifully. I also roasted asparagus to add a little bit of green to our plate. The seitan not taking on a ton of flavor turned out to be a great thing because I used it for a couple of other dishes that week and it took on completely different flavors magnificently. This may be my new way to make seitan because of it's texture, if I have 4 hours to spare instead of just one.

I know I have talked up Tal Ronnen's book The Conscious Cook before, but seriously every recipe has been out of this world. I made his pine-nut crusted "chicken" and "lobster" Beurre Blanc sauce.


I tend to not be able to follow exact ingredients and/or cooking techniques which is what I did here. Pine nuts are just too expensive so I opted for almonds and used almond milk for the sauce instead of cashew creme. I roasted brussel sprouts and braised kale for our sides.This is a dish I would easily make again and if you don't already have this book, go get it.

Vegan MoFo #20 Herbed Seuitan Roulade

Woo Hoo! I did what I said I would, and I still have one day left. I promised myself I would post 20 times in November, and I followed through. I'm not gonna say it didn't take some pushing from Matt on days where I just wanted to relax on the couch after work, and for that I thank him.
This recipe I made for the first time on Thanksgiving two years ago. I have tweaked it quite a bit, and tried different fillings, but I'm pretty positive this is the best version so far. The fresh herbs and kale and mushroom filling I feel were the two things that brought this dish to the level I was hoping for. So below is the recipe and first a step by step photo guide to get you motivated. I also have a step by step to making this without a filling, along with photos in vegan Mofo post #9. So if you are really new to seitan, look there first for pictures to guide you through every single step


Here it is, after mixing the dry and wet mix together and rolling it out flat.


After the filling cools, I lay it on top, leaving a little space around each side, so it sticks together when rolled up.


Wrapped in foil and ready for the oven


Here it is out of the oven. It's best to let it cool a bit before cutting, so the filling sets up.


Dinner time!

Roulade Filling
1/2 - 3/4 bunch of kale de-stemmed and chopped
10 0z baby bellas chopped
1 tbs shallots chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
1/3 cup veggie broth
1 tbs balsamic vinegar

-Saute garlic and shallots together until translucent
-Add mushrooms and cook until all the liquids are out, then add the balsamic vinegar
-Turn the heat to low, add kale. Stir for about a minute until kale has started to wilt. Then add veggie stock
-Place in a bowl in the fridge & use when it's cooled down

Herbed Seitan
Dry Mix
1 Box Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs. thyme
2 tbs. rosemary
3 tbs sage
3 tbs oregano
2 1/2 tbs basil
1 tsp Pepper

Wet Mix
1 1/2 cups Veggie Broth
1 1/2 tbs Granulated Garlic
2 tbs Tomato Paste
4 Drops Liquid Smoke
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tbs Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire

-Preheat oven to 350
-Put dry mix together in a bowl and set aside
-Stir wet mix together until tomato paste isn't clumpy
-Pour wet mix into dry mix
Knead the mix with your hands until its a tough dough
- Roll the seitan out until in between two pieces of wax paper until its flat
-Lay cooled filling on top of gluten
-Roll the gluten up and wrap in foil making sure there aren't any holes
- Cook for one hour and 15 minutes, flipping the loaf every 20 minutes. When you press on it and its no longer soggy but firm, its ready to go

As always thanks for reading. It's a time consuming recipe, but totally worth it in the end. Please don't hesitate if you have any questions/comments. See you mofo's tomorrow for post 21 and the end of vegan mofo.

Vegan MoFo # 12 Breaded Seitan Parmesan & Seitan Meatballs

My husband doesn't cook at all. He loves food movies, cooking shows, & will even flip through my cooking magazines. Besides the occasional grilling, he doesn't and has stated he has no desire to cook. That's completely ok with me since I love to cook and would maybe even get a little pissed if he figured out how to make something better than me. It also means I don't ever have to wash dishes, which is our deal: I cook, he does the dishes and seeing as I hate doing the dishes I feel like I won there anyway.
That being said Matt is awesome in one category of cooking, and that is meal planning. I will sometimes call him with absolutely no idea what to make and he will spew off a few ingredients or ideas for things that sound ok to him. Always asking me if I think that would be good or if it would work. I can't think of a time he has been wrong, and it's actually very exciting to have someone come up with stuff I wouldn't think of. This meal was entirely his idea. It's a take on one of his old favorites, chicken parmesan. He wanted me to try to make it with seitan instead of a chicken substitute.It's served exactly how he used to get it when he ordered it in a restaurant when he was a kid. The only difference is that he wanted spaghetti and seitan meatballs to accompany his parm instead of just spaghetti. So here is my cooking experiment for the night:


I used my usual method for cooking seitan (posted in a previous blog) but rolled the pieces of seitan into balls and wrapped them individually in foil. I added fresh basil & rosemary & some dried oregano & fennel to the dry mix.



This is the first ball, out of the oven & cut open



Meatballs



I breaded the seitan with homemade breading that I had in the cupboard, added fresh herbs to the mix and baked at 350 for about 30 minutes flipping halfway through



After it came out of the oven I topped it with sauce & Daiya cheese and let it melt in the broiler


Spaghetti & Meatballs



Everything plated and ready for dinner


Now I know I have mentioned that my dog's nicknamed Noodles. I call her noodles so often she responds to it. She seriously wont leave the kitchen when any kind of pasta is being made. Vegan & italian, just like her mom. So I couldn't post this blog without these two pictures.


Thanks Mom!
That's it for now. I have a movie to go watch with Mr. meal planner and Mrs. noodles.

Vegan Mofo #9 Seitan My Way

Being vegan for as long as I have, I have been forced to eat numerous plates of spongy, dry, or flavorless seitan. I have also tried numerous cooking methods, some of which worked out alright, and some that produced dishes that made me feel like I was eating a chewy, flavorless mess. Both boiling and cooking in broth never deemed the right consistency for me. After utilizing a sausage recipe on the ppk forum and loving it, I started thinking about what would happen if I did that method to a whole loaf of seitan. The results made for something that I could slice super thin for sandwiches, slice into chunks for skewers and stews, and crumbled pretty well in a food processor. I wasn't sure if I should blog this seeing as many of you probably make seitan pretty often, but then I thought about the people at work who ask me about the blobs of "seitan" we serve and are blown away that it could actually be good. I guess there are people out there who don't have a lot of guidance and this may help.So here is my play by play of me making seitan today and a recipe to follow.



I needed some seitan making music... I chose The Dirtys, who were from Port Huron, MI. My husband introduced them to me. Their only album, titled "You Should Be Sinnin'" was released on Germany's Crypt Records sometime in the late 90's and is one of my favorite CD's/records to listen to while I'm cooking as they played a great upbeat blend of fast aggressive freak-out rock & roll at an almost hardcore tempo. They are pretty much motivation for anything, not a band anymore but you should still check them out.http://www.myspace.com/thedirtysrock



dry mix


dry & wet mix


mix the two together


kneading


kneaded


on sprayed foil


ready for the oven


one hour later


please...I'm starving over here


Evidence of Matt picking at it when I wasn't looking. Between the dog and the husband at least half will get eaten before it gets into the fridge.


sliced

Seitan My Way
Dry Mix
1 Box Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Pepper

Wet Mix
1 1/2 cups Veggie Broth
1 tbs Granulated Garlic
1 tbs Tomato Paste
4 Drops Liquid Smoke
1 tbs Soy Sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire

-Preheat oven to 350
-Put dry mix together in a bowl and set aside
-Stir wet mix together until tomato paste isn't clumpy
-Pour wet mix into dry mix
Knead the mix with your hands until its a tough dough
- Form the loaf into a shape like the picture above (square shape?)
-Spray a piece of foil with a olive oil spray to prevent sticking and wrap the seitan really tight
- Cook for one hour and 15 minutes, flipping the loaf every 20 minutes. When you press on it and its no longer soggy but firm, its ready to go