Mushroom and Barley Tourtière

Barley and mushrooms combine with warm spices and maple syrup to make a wonderfully delicious vegan version of a French Canadian classic.  Barley gives structure to the filling and complements the mushrooms' taste and texture.  You can make the filling the day before to let the flavours really blend together, and to save you some time on baking day.

INGREDIENTS
Makes a 10" pie
- pie crust
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp ground fennel
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp rubbed sage
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cloves
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- pinch nutmeg
- 8 cups chopped assorted mushrooms (I used oyster, cremini, and portabello)
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/3 cup vegetable stock
- 1/2 cup red wine (or more vegetable stock)
- 2 cups cooked pot barley (cooked in vegetable broth is best)
- 1.5 cups diced potato, boiled for 3-5 mins, until slightly tender
- salt and papper to taste
- plain soy milk for brushing

METHOD
1. Make your pastry, chill, etc.
2. Cook the barley according to the directions on the bag.  Generally, 1 cup of uncooked barley will yield almost 4 cups of cooked barley.  I like to have extra on hand to throw into soups and the like throughout the week.
3. Boil your potatoes while the barley is simmering.  Rinse with cold water and set aside.
4. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Sauté onions and celery for 5-7 mins, until softened.  Add garlic and spices and cook for 1 min more.
5. Add mushrooms, soy sauce, maple syrup and stock.  Mix well and cook for about 5 mins, stirring regularly, until mushrooms have released their water and have cooked down.
6. Add red wine and cook for 5 mins.  Add barley and potato and mix well.  Cook for another 5 mins or so, stirring very regularly.  The mixture should be moist but not soupy.  When you drag your stirring utensil along the bottom of the pot, liquid should not immediately fill the void.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Adjust spices as needed.
8. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge to cool down.
9. Make the pie as per usual.  Brush the top crust with plain soy milk and place in the fridge.
10. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the bottom third of the oven.  When oven is up to temperature, brush the top crust once more with soy milk.  Bake for about 50 minutes, or until top crust is golden brown.

Maple Baked Seitan

I have a large binder stuffed full of recipes printed from the Internet. This is where I keep most of my ethnic recipes--what better way to explore a new cuisine than with free recipes? Tonight's meal came from my exploration into French Canadian cuisine. These recipes are pretty hard to veganize since a lot of French Canadian dishes center around some large chunk of meat, or several large chunks of meat. But this recipe works very well with chicken seitan. In fact, seitan is an asset here because it soaks up the maple syrup. Mmmm . . . syrup . . . .

INGREDIENTS

- 6 chicken seitan cutlets

- 3/4 cup flour

- 1/2 tsp salt

- freshly ground pepper

- 1/4 cup margarine

- 1 onion, thinly sliced

- 3/4 cup maple syrup

- 1/4 cup water

- 1 tsp rubbed sage

- 1/2 tsp thyme

- 1/2 tsp savory

- 1/2 tsp salt

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Mix together flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Dredge seitan cutlets in flour and fry in margarine over medium heat, 3-4 mins per side, until crisp and golden brown.

2. While cutlets are frying, heat maple syrup, water, and spices to bubbling in a small saucepan.

3. Place cutlets in a 8 1/2 x 11 stoneware baking dish. Top with sliced onions. Pour maple syrup mixture over top.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes, basting with sauce every 15 mins.

Tourtiere

Today I got the idea to make a tourtiere from the seitan I made on the weekend. Of course, I was at work when the epiphany hit, so I emailed a recipe to my wife and she made it happen. I adapted Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe found here. The crust is the same one used for the pot pie. The kids bolted down the whole thing.

FILLING:

- 1 large onion, minced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 lb. seitan, cut into chunks

- 1/2 cup hot water mixed with 1 veggie boullion cube

- 2 tbsp ketchup

- 1 1/2 tsp savoury

- 1/4 tsp each allspice, cloves, cinnamon, sage, thyme, pepper

- 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed with 2/3 cup boiling water

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350
1. In a large nonstick skillet over high heat, saute onions and garlic in oil. When onions are soft, pour into a large bowl.
2. Grind seitan in food processor or food grinder. Mix with onion mixture, hot water-boullion mixture, ketchup and seasonings. Add potatoes; mix well.
3. Press seitan mixture firmly into bottom crust. Top with crust and cut slits to allow steam to escape.
4. Brush pastry lightly with soymilk; bake 50 minutes, until crist is light brown.