Seitan Part 2 and Stir Fry

Every day is a new experience here in New York City and tonight was no exception. For the first time since I lived in Boston in 1984 I had to go to the Laundromat to do my laundry. There was a young kid working there and I had to ask him how to run the washer. He looked at me in disbelief and said, “You don’t know how to do laundry?” I laughed and said no. He must have thought it was pretty funny. I did.


Lots of recipes today. If you remember yesterday’s blog I talked about making seitan (pronounced say-tan) – a protein product make from wheat gluten. In its final state seitan resembles a small brain and has a spongy consistency. It can be eaten at this stage but it is best cooked in stews or marinated and grilled. During this morning’s session we put seitan to work in three different recipes – seitan stew, seitan kabobs and seitan burgers. The stew was made along the same lines as beef stew and included onions, carrots, butternut squash (including the skin!), burdock (a root vegetable that doesn’t taste like much but is supposed to have “healing powers”) and zucchini. The seitan was browned separately in coconut oil and added towards the end of the cooking time. Very tasty stew although most of the students didn’t really like the idea of eating lumps of wheat in their stew!

Seitan

The second recipe was quite good - marinated seitan kabobs with zucchini, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and onions. The seitan really crisped up nice on the grill and the smoky flavor from the char gave the seitan more resemblance to meat. The third seitan recipe was burgers. These were seasoned to try to resemble sausage using sage and fennel. The seitan was ground in food processor to resemble ground beef and the consistency was pretty close. Not a bad recipe but again – not a favorite among the students.

Marinated Seitan and Vegetable for Kabobs

For me the recipe of the day was a side dish Chef Elliott made to go along with the seitan dishes – lacinto kale (also known as dinosaur kale) with sundried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts. What wonderful flavor!!! I could have eaten an entire platter of this kale and it is so good for you. The sundried tomatoes were cut into slivers and added a wonderful sweetness to the dish.

After lunch we made three more recipes. The first was a vegan version of Caesar salad. The dressing included miso and umeboshi paste to simulate parmagiano reggiano cheese and toasted nori to replace the flavor of anchovies. This was a very nice alternative to the traditional raw egg based Caesar dressings.

One of my favorite recipes of the two-week intensive was Baba Ghanoush. This recipe had a great smoky flavor as we “charred” the eggplant directly on top of the gas burners. Once this step was completed we put the eggplants into a bowl and covered it until it cooled. Then Chef Elliott slipped off the charred skin and blended the flesh with tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt. This dip has a wonderful smoky flavor and is fabulous served with warm pita crisps.

Stir Fry

I don’t know about you but I’ve been struggling with stir fries for a few years now. I’m never sure how to cut my vegetables, how much oil to use, how long to cook it, when to add the liquid or for that matter what liquid to add. The first thing we learned today is that stir fried vegetables should be sautéed and not steamed. To properly sauté a vegetable it needs high heat and lots of room. Most people use a wok for this but in American kitchens woks sit on top of burners with the heat only on the bottom. In an authentic Chinese kitchen woks sit in a well and are surrounded by heat on the bottom and up the sides – something we just can’t get on top of a stove. To make up for this Chef Elliott suggests that you cook each vegetable separately (he uses a “matchstick” cut on his vegetables by the way) in just a little bit of oil (1-2 teaspoons). After each vegetable is cooked you can add them all together to reheat along with some Shoyu or Tamari. Chef Elliott also adds a “slurry” of Kuzu (similar to arrowroot) to thicken the sauce but for my taste this made the dish a little “slimy.” I might add some miso at the very end for a little more flavor. We used red peppers, carrots, onions and zucchini today. I often add shitake mushrooms and boy choy. You can also add tofu, tempeh, chicken, beef or even shrimp. That’s the nice thing about stir fry – there are endless combinations. Serve with rice or noodles and you’ve got the perfect meal.

Vegetable Stir Fry

Tip of the Day

To clean a cast iron pan, wok or grill DO NOT wash it in water. I repeat – NO WATER! (Of course I’ve been doing this for years – Oops!) The way to clean cast iron is to pour kosher salt onto the pan and use a cloth to scour the pan. Wipe out the salt and finish off with a thin layer of canola oil. That’s it! If you store your cast iron with other pans you might want to line it with parchment paper or by one of those nifty cookware protectors from Pampered Chef.