Seitan Piccata

Serves 4
Total time: 45 minutes || Active time: 45 minutes

Notes

~ I love to use Homemade Seitan (Recipe Below)  in this recipe. 

~ To get everything done in a decent amount of time, follow this schedule: 1) Make the seitan a day ahead, giving it plenty of time to cool. 2) Start the mashed potatoes before everything else. 3) Saute or steam greens in the last 10 minutes of your piccata reducing. By that point, your potatoes should be done and the stovetop should be at least a little less hectic.

~ For the broth in the piccata sauce, you can totally use a cup of leftover broth from the simmered seitan. Add one cup of water to get the two cups you need, since the seitan broth will be very strong.

Ingredients

1 lb seitan, sliced into 1/4 inch thick strips
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups vegetable broth
1 pinch dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup capers, with brine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

To garnish:
Chopped fresh chives or parsley

To serve:
Mashed potatoes
Sauteed greens (I used red chard)

Directions

Preheat a large skillet, preferably cast iron, over medium-high heat.

Dredge half the seitan slices in flour to coat. Add a thin layer of olive oil to the pan, and cook seitan until lightly browned, about two minutes on each side. Coat the other slices and repeat. Place the cooked seitan on a plate and cover with aluminum foil, to keep warm.

Do not rinse out the skillet, as you’re going to make the sauce in it. If there is enough oil left in the seitan the go ahead and saute the onions in it. if not, add a little oil and saute them for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned. Add garlic and saute for a minute or so.

Add the wine and raise the heat to bring to a rolling boil. Add the vegetable broth, salt, black pepper, and thyme. Let boil and reduce for about 7 minutes.

Lower heat, add capers and lemon juice, plus the nutritional yeast to thicken a bit. Cook for another minute or so, to heat the capers through.

Serve over mashed potatoes and greens, with plenty of sauce on top. Garnish with chopped chives.

HOMEMADE SEITAN

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten, aka instant gluten flour - do not substitute any other flour!
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes 
• 1/2 tsp garlic granules
• 1/2 tsp onion granules
• 1 cup water or vegetable stock 
• 3 tablespoons reconstituted soya-free vegetable bouillon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, optional
• Simmering broth
• 10 cups water or vegetable stock
• 1/2 cup soya-free vegetable bouillon

Method

1. Place the gluten flour, nutritional yeast flakes, garlic granules and onion granules in a medium mixing bowl. Stir them together.

2. Measure out the liquid ingredients and place them in a small mixing bowl. Stir them together and pour this liquid into the dry ingredients. Mix well. If there is still flour around the edges, add up to 1 to 2 tablespoons of additional water. You should now have a large, firm spongy mass in the bowl. This is called gluten.

3. Knead the gluten directly in the mixing bowl for about a minute, just to blend. Do not add any more flour. Slice the gluten into 3 relatively equal pieces and set aside.

4. Place the ingredients for the simmering broth in a 4 1/2 litre saucepan or Dutch oven, add the gluten pieces and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the gluten partially covered for 1 hour. Maintain the heat so that the liquid barely simmers and turn the gluten over several times during cooking.

5. Remove the saucepan from the heat, and let the seitan cool in the broth uncovered (after gluten is cooked it is called seitan).

6. Transfer the seitan to storage containers and add enough broth to the containers to keep the seitan immersed. Cover each container tightly with a lid and store the seitan in the fridge for up to ten days, or in the freezer for up to six months. To extend the life of fresh or defrosted seitan indefinitely, boil it in its broth for ten minutes two times a week. 

Tip: Measure the ingredients exactly and cook the gluten at the lowest possible temperature to keep seitan 'meaty'.