Successful Seitan

Arron and Amy had told me about boiling their seitan in a turkey bag and I wanted to try it. I combined a few recipes including ones from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Veganomicon. Neither of theirs used the turkey bag and actually I couldn’t find any recipe that did but mine was a success! Thus…

Successful Seitan

Ingredients:

1 Cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 Cup cashews processed into a fine meal
1/4 Cup nutritional yeast
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 Cup vegetable stock
1/4 Cup soy sauce
——————-
1 cheese cloth turkey bag (usually on sale after the holidays for cheap)
food safe twine
——————-
6 cups of vegetable stock

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir the first three dry ingredients together. Combine the garlic, 1/2 cup of vegetable broth and soy sauce then stir it into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. You will soon need to abandon the spoon and get into the bowl with your clean hands to knead the mixture for 3 – 5 minutes. Cover the bowl and allow the mass to rest for 20 minutes while you bring the 6 cups of vegetable stock to a boil in a 4 quart pan.

Form the rested mass of gluten into an 8″ long log and slide it into the cloth turkey bag. Tie it off close to the end of the log and cut off the extra bag. Mine only took about 1/2 the bag so I can probably make another bag out of the scrap.

Place the bagged gluten into the boiling broth, don’t worry if it doesn’t cover it, and reduce to a simmer. Cover the pan all but a crack to allow steam to escape and leave it on a low simmer for 10 minutes. Return and turn it over for another 10 minutes and then again for a total of 30 minutes of simmering. Remove the pan from the heat, turn it over one last time, replace the lid and allow it to sit undisturbed for another 10 minutes.

Remover the bagged seitan with a large slotted spoon and reserve the broth for other uses (like my Plantain, Broccoli & Seitan Stir Fry with Quinoa recipe). Remove the bag from the seitan log. Allow seitan to rest another 10 minutes before cutting to serve or use in any recipe. Allow both seitan and/ or broth to cool before storing.

Charred Onion Soup

Poor Jim got all excited when he heard I was making this soup. He had misunderstood me and thought I had gotten some delectable greens and was making Chard Onion Soup. Oh well, this variation on French Onion Soup is touted to be a bit more classic in the French style according to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

I have mentioned before that I hesitate to share recipes in cookbooks that are still in print because the good cooks who have worked hard to put them together need to make money by our buying them, or giving them as gifts (thank you Amy!). What I can share is that the onions I charred (see photos above) were halved and brushed with olive oil. The ones on the left are before broiling and the ones on the right are after 10 minutes under the broiler.

They were getting soft as was the suggested indicator to remove them but I wish they had gotten just a bit more charred. I don’t know that it made all that much difference to the soup.

I followed the recipe to make the Charred Onion Soup vegan and it was pleasing. The one thing I missed in the recipe that I have used in the past is some caraway seed. I just love that flavor in a soup like this and really yearned for it. I was glad our garden has a nice batch of parsley, it was my favorite kind of topper and gave the dense onion flavor of the soup a nice freshness. Maybe next time I will add some chard just for Jim.

Pickled Red Onyums

I am a big fan of pretty much anything pickled. Over the past couple of years I have had my taste buds tickled a few times when a serving of pickled onions has been slipped onto my veggie sandwich. Locally I can remember a hummus or Greek wrap that Otto’s served years ago and one of the current veggie sandwiches at Olde New York also uses them well.

I decided to try to make some myself and combined a few ideas including inspiration from good chef/ writer/ marathon runner Mark Bittman. He has a great section on Quick-Pickled Vegetables in his “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.” Thanks to our dear Amy for giving us this versatile vegetarian cooking bible!!

A nice big red onion will give you four healthy servings. You can use them as a side dish to a carb heavy Mexican meal or top a nice falafel, tzatziki, and veggie sandwich.

My Pickled Red Onyums turned out so well that they won’t last long Stored in a closed glass container in the fridge you can keep them for about a month but I dare you to try to not eat them all within a week. The juice itself can brighten up a bland potato salad so don’t pitch it when the Onyums are all*.

I put my seasoning in a spice bag because I like the naked strands of onion to be unlittered by spice bits. When I say “spice bag” I actually mean a 6″ section of laundered old cotton t-shirt (too many race shirts have ugly logos). I securely tied the spices inside so they would not escape during the boil.

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 bay leaf
5 whole allspice
5 whole cloves
1 large red onion, peeled, and sliced thinly into rings

1. In a small, non-reactive saucepan, heat the vinegar, sugar, salt, and bagged spiced until boiling.

2. Let the liquid simmer about 3 minutes to let the bagged spices work their magic with the juice. This is what will change the onions into Onyums!

3. Add the onion slices, lower heat, and simmer gently for 30 seconds while giving them a stir or two. Yup, just 30 seconds.

4. Remove the pot from the heat and let cool them completely.

5. Remove the spice bag an spoon the Onyums and their liquid into a glass jar to refrigerate until ready to use.

* In this case, something being “all” means “all gone.” Having grown up in Central PA, I have the joy of being surrounded by phrases that my best friend Missy refers to as “Dutchified.” I think it only proper that I slip a little Dutchified English into BiNaH now and then.

Falafel and tzatziki with Pickled Red Onyums on naan. I ate half for lunch and I am stuffed!