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.

Tourtiere

Today I got the idea to make a tourtiere from the seitan I made on the weekend. Of course, I was at work when the epiphany hit, so I emailed a recipe to my wife and she made it happen. I adapted Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe found here. The crust is the same one used for the pot pie. The kids bolted down the whole thing.

FILLING:

- 1 large onion, minced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 lb. seitan, cut into chunks

- 1/2 cup hot water mixed with 1 veggie boullion cube

- 2 tbsp ketchup

- 1 1/2 tsp savoury

- 1/4 tsp each allspice, cloves, cinnamon, sage, thyme, pepper

- 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed with 2/3 cup boiling water

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350
1. In a large nonstick skillet over high heat, saute onions and garlic in oil. When onions are soft, pour into a large bowl.
2. Grind seitan in food processor or food grinder. Mix with onion mixture, hot water-boullion mixture, ketchup and seasonings. Add potatoes; mix well.
3. Press seitan mixture firmly into bottom crust. Top with crust and cut slits to allow steam to escape.
4. Brush pastry lightly with soymilk; bake 50 minutes, until crist is light brown.