I’ve gotten into the habit lately of making a seitan pot roast in my slow cooker just about every Sunday (see March 7 post). The benefits are many:
1. it’s easy to put on to cook and walk away until serving time
2. the amazing fragrance fills the house all day
3. it makes a great “comfort-food” dinner, and
4. there are always enough leftovers for other terrific meals later in the week
Which brings me to the point: this week I used my “leftover” seitan to make a scrumptious sauté of seitan and mushrooms with a port wine sauce. The luscious sauce is absorbed by both the seitan and the mushrooms for an out-of-this-world flavor. I served it over brown rice and accompanied it with roasted broccoflower. So good. Here’s the recipe.
Pan-Seared Seitan with Mushrooms and Port
I adapted this from the recipe in Vegan Planet that uses cremini mushrooms, shallots, and red wine.
1 pound seitan, cut into 1/4-inch thick strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 scallions, finely minced
6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1/2 to 3/4 cup port wine
3/4 to 1 cup vegetable stock
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Brown the seitan in the oil in large skillet over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. Remove the seitan from skillet and set aside on a plate.
2. In the same skillet, add the scallions and cook for 2 minutes to soften. Add the mushrooms and wine. Simmer, stirring, to cook off the alcohol and reduce the liquid slightly, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms from the skillet and set aside with the seitan.
3. Add the stock to the skillet, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. For a thicker sauce, stir in a cornstarch slurry (about 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water).
4. Transfer the seitan and the mushrooms back to the skillet, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer over medium heat until hot. For a more pronounced port flavor, add an extra splash of port while heating the seitan.
Serves 4
{ 10 comments… add one }
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Robin, this looks and sounds delicious. Did you use seitan that was already cooked in your slow cooker or seitan that had not been cooked yet? I’d like to give it a try but wasn’t sure what you meant by “left over”.
Kelleen, yes, I used the seitan that was already cooked in my slow cooker for the seitan in the saute. I always make enough seitan “pot roast” in my slow cooker for two meals — and for the second meal I usually slice the seitan very thinly and saute or pan-sear it with a sauce — this time with port, but other times red or white wine, or a brown sauce. Sometines I cut into strips for a stir fry. So easy and versatile — not to mention yummy!
Perfect comfort food, I’m going to look at your seitan pot roast right now!
Thank you so much for commenting on my blog and referring me here. My jaw literally dropped. (I’m still so excited! <>squeee!<>) I’m excited to try this one out!P.S. I ordered 4 of your cookbooks; you rock!
Erin, I agree that seitan pot roast (and the other dishes that can be made with the leftovers) is perfect comfort food.Dana, thanks for stopping by my blog — and also for buying my cookbooks! Good luck with the seitan. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions.
OMG that sounds good! There’s a recipe in your Meat & Potatoes book (I can’t remember the name and I’m @ work so I can’t look it up – it’s the one with the seitan slices marinated in red wine & fresh thyme, then rolled up with carrots, spinach & red peppers inside)anyway, that red wine reduction sauce it THE BEST!! If this is anything like that, I’ll be all over this recipe.
Carrie, if you like that recipe from Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes, then you’ll love this one (especially if you like the flavor of port — if you don’t, red wine works great in this too). This recipe is even easier than that one from VMandP because there’s no marinating involved.
So you should cook the seitan in the thyme right, or garnish? A questioin from less than a novice chef.
Christopher, you can add the thyme when you add the the stock or you can add it when you add the wine. Either is fine. If you have fresh thyme, you can also include a sprig of it as garnish, as well.