Seitan over Maple Squash and Sweet Potato

Have you ever looked in the fridge and wondered what in the world you were going to make for dinner? Especially on the day before shopping day? Sometimes the results can be surprising. This dish was wonderful and was perfect for a cool Canadian autumn day.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

- 4 large pieces chicken-style seitan, or tofu

- 1/4 cup flour

- 2 tsp poultry spice

- 1/4 cup margarine

- 1 onion, halved and sliced

- 1 celery stalk, sliced

- 1/2 butternut squash, diced

- 2 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced

- 1 1/4 cups vegetable or chicken-style broth

- 1/3 cup maple syrup

- 1 tsp ground thyme, or to taste

- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Heat margarine in a frying pan over med-hi heat. Mix flour and poultry spice together and dredge seitan or tofu in the flour mixture. Fry for 3-4 mins per side, until golden. Remove from pan.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add onions and celery to the pan, and add a little more margarine if needed. Saute for 5-7 mins, until soft and translucent. Add squash and potatoes to pan and cook until both begin to colour deepens.

3. Add broth, maple syrup and thyme to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to bubbling. Place seitan on top of potatoes. Reduce heat and let simmer for 20 mins, basting seitan with the liquid, until potatoes and squash are cooked. Add more liquid if needed.

4. Serve seitan over a bed of potatoes.

Apple Walnut Sausage Brunch Bundles

Sunday brunch has now become an institution at our house. Today I thought I would try to add something new to the mix. I browsed through a few websites for ideas (non-vegan brunch is very heavy on the eggs) and put together this recipe. These are quite tasty and when I described them to the boys as "little apple pies" they got very excited. They balked a bit at the walnuts (I am not sure why since they gulp down Isa's chocolate chocolate chip cookies with walnuts with no problem) but ended up clearing their plates in the end.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 8 bundles

Dough

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 tbsp sugar

- pinch of salt

- 1/2 cup cold Earth Balance margarine, cut into chunks

- 6 to 8 tbsp cold water

Filling

- 2 large cooking apples

- 1/2 tsp lemon juice

- 3 tbsp brown sugar

- 2 tsp maple syrup

- 1 1/2 cups chopped breakfast sausage

- 1/2 cup walnuts

- water and soy milk for brushing

METHOD

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. Make the dough. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Add in margarine chunks and work into the flour with a pastry cutter until it looks like coarse bread crumbs. Add enough water in to make a soft dough, using a fork to work the liquid into the flour. Gently knead to thoroughly mix. Shape into an 8" log, wrap in a damp cloth and stick in the fridge while you make the filling.

2. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Mix apples with lemon juice, sugar and syrup in a bowl. Add sausage and walnuts and mix well.

3. Mark out 8 equal sections on the dough log (should be 1" each). Using a serrated knife, saw off a section. On a floured surface, roll out piece of dough into a 7 to 8" circle. Place 1/8 of the filling in the middle of the circle (about a generous 1/4 cup) and brush the edge of the dough with water. Bring up edges, working your way around the circle, and seal. Pinch the dough together in the centre to make a little peak (like you see in the pic). Place on prepared sheet and repeat with remaining dough and filling.

4. Brush bundles with plain soy milk and bake for about 25 mins, until golden. Cool for 10 mins and serve warm.

Maple Baked Seitan Cutlets

Tonight was a seitan experiment. The other day I made the much ballyhooed Seitan O'Greatness for my tortas. I changed the ingredients a bit to make more of a "chickeny" seitan, but kept the liquid:dry ratio and baking method. I found the end result to be rather tough and dry. So I thought that I would play around with baking seitan another way. The end result this time was a spongier seitan that could have used a little extra glaze to moisten it a bit. The boys absolutely loved it and said it was now their favorite dish (yeah, right), so score on that account. I was not as impressed, but think the recipe is a good start. Here is the recipe if you want to give it go.

INGREDIENTS

- 1/2 cup white kidney beans

- 1 cup plain soy milk

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 1 tsp paprika

- 1 tsp salt

- freshly ground white pepper

- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

- 1 1/3 cup vital wheat gluten

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1 large onion, sliced

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 cup amber (Grade B) maple syrup

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

METHOD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Blend beans, oil, and soy milk in a container with an immersion blender until smooth. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together spices, yeast flakes, and wheat gluten. Add liquid and mix together into a dough. Shape dough into a log and slice into 6 equal slices. Shape each slice into a cutlet.

2. Heat the 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Fry each cutlet for about 1 min per side, until lightly golden. Transfer to a 9 x 13 baking dish and top with onion slices.

3. Heat water, maple syrup, salt, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to boiling and pour over cutlets making sure tops are well coated.

4. Bake for 60 mins. Once sauce begins to bubble (after about 15 mins), baste cutlets every 10 mins. Sauce will disappear by 60 mins, and cutlets will get nice and golden. Serve.

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.

Maple Roasted Tofu and Veggies

Well, winter has come to the north in full force. Freezing cold, snow, parkas, touques, and big clumpy boots. It makes me want to roast things in the oven, if for no other reason than it heats the house up a few more degrees.

INGREDIENTS

- 2 yukon gold potatoes, diced

- 2 large red potatoes, diced

- 1 yellow onion, cut into eighths

- 1 red onion, cut into eighths

- 1 small rutabaga, peeled and diced

- 3 carrots, cut into chunks

- 4 cloves of garlic, cut into chunks

- 1 cup cooked chickpeas

- 1 pkg firm tofu, pressed and diced

- 2 tbsp oil

- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

- 1/2 cup maple syrup

- 2 tbsp water

- 1 tsp dried sage

- 1 tsp dried thyme

- salt and pepper

METHOD

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

1. Place all veggies in a large bowl. Mix oil, vinegar, syrup, water, and spices in a small bowl. Pour over veggies and toss well. Place on a stoneware baking sheet. Put tofu on veggies and gently toss to coat in sauce.

2. Roast veggies in oven for 60-70 mins, stirring veggies after 30, 45, and 60 mins to keep the sauce from burning. Toss in an extra bit of maple syrup before you serve if you want an extra bit of sweetness.

I served this dish up with pumpkin scones.