Sep 21, 2011

seitan roast with sausage and pear stuffing and onion-cider gravy

The holidays are fast approaching - it seems faster and faster each year and I seem to get slower and slower with preparing for it! As I was making the Food Network Friday dish last week, I started thinking of different ways to stuff seitan, different methods to cook said stuffed seitan and the different occasions that would be great to have it at.

Last year I did the Holiday Roast, which most resembles a turkey in texture and stature. This year, I wanted to have another option, equally elegant and yet different enough from the Holiday Roast to be appropriate for the holiday table. In addition, I wanted to get it out on the blog to give folks enough time to plan for it. Hence our family's Holiday Dinner in September. Even the kids asked what we were celebrating.

The gluten contains only 8 ingredients, which I am loving a bunch. It is working out really well and is excellent without any weird seitan-y aftertaste.

The gluten is a modified version of last week's FNF, being pliable enough to stretch well and yet strong enough to not rip. I made a sausage (Tofurkey, but homemade, Field Roast or any other sausage would work equally well) and dried pear stuffing - dried apples, raisins, figs, cranberries would be great as well. The roast is braised in the oven for 3 hours and allowed to cool. On the day of the event, sear it in a pan and reheat it in the oven for about an hour. If you stuff the gluten so that it is thinner on the top than the bottom, it will bake into a thin, crispy sheet on the top, which you can see on the second pic.

I served this with an Onion-Cider Gravy, easy to make and complemented the dried fruit in the stuffing, and a Cauliflower Puree. After watching Hell's Kitchen for the umpteenth time,  Cauliflower Puree is a must have for any sophisticated 5-star meal. That and it tastes really good! Steam the cauliflower, drain well, puree in a food processor until it is very creamy, adding a few tablespoons of vegan butter. This will take a few minutes so don't stop short. After pureeing, season with salt, pepper and chives and a little bit of sugar if it is too bitter and let it cool until dinner. Reheat in a pot, stirring often for a few minutes, until hot. After making this, you too will feel a kinship with Ramsey. He can't be that bad - he went on Ellen to cut his finger. The irony.








11 comments:

  1. That's what I want for the holidays!

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  2. Just in time for a lovely vegan Rosh Hashana!! (Starts next Wednesday night; so please don't delay posting the recipe so I have time to shop for ingredients and cook! :)
    Ruchama

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  3. Thanks, Tami!

    Imadden, I will post tonight!

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  4. I totally love this. This is one of the most exciting and delicious foods I have ever eaten. So love it!

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  5. Hi Irene! Thanks so much. You must be a visionary since I just posted the recipe... It is delicious and I hope you try it. Great blog and videos, btw. I love them and watch them :)

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  6. Thanks for the post. Looks great. I really appreciate the specific instructions about stuffing.

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  7. This looks amazing. I will be saving this for a holiday meal.

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  8. I want to make this for all of my family! Despite the fact that they may be freaked out by it a little bit, I'll force-feed them! :D

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  9. i just made this for our thanksgiving meal yesterday. it turned out fabulously. the texture and flavor is fantastic. this is easily one of the best seitan roasts i've ever made.

    also, i used a food processor to blend the gluten, and i put it in a slow cooker overnight instead of the oven for 3 hours.

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  10. Corrina, I am so thrilled to hear it! Great idea on using the food processor! I've been using it as well and it is nice and fast. Thanks for letting me know!

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