Polenta Casserole with Seitan

Adventures in Chopping, Recipes, Vegan & Vegetarian

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22 Mar 2010

It was an adventurous day today! First, I braved the mud at Messenger Woods to get a nice walk in. Then, I took a few bold new steps at Whole Foods, buying bulk dried beans for the first time, along with some exotic-to-me ingredients like sea vegetables for my upcoming kitchen adventures. I’m on spring break this week, so I plan to do a lot of cooking! I’m not sure where I’ll store all of the leftovers, but I’ll figure it out.

Tonight, I made my first vegan recipe out of Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet: Polenta Casserole with Seitan. It contained a few of those adventurous ingredients, so for those new to them, I’ll explain:

• Seitan – “wheat meat” – a protein-rich food made from wheat gluten that resembles the texture and taste of meat
• Tamari – a soy sauce made from soybeans, water, and sea salt, usually wheat-free
• Umeboshi vinegar (or ume vinegar) – technically not a vinegar, but a fruity, salty, sour product made from Japanese umeboshi plums
• Tahini – nut butter made from sesame seeds

OK, that covers all of the ingredients that I hadn’t heard of prior to reading this book! I was able to find them all at Whole Foods Market.

Step 1: seitan, asparagus, and corn.

Next, I employed my new kitchen laptop to look up how to chop parsley. I’ve never used fresh herbs before, and wow – fresh parsley smells amazing! I also felt like a freakin’ chef chop-chop-chopping by the time I was done with the parsley. Such a pro I am. (LOL!)

Before:

After:

I over-estimated how many parsley stems I’d need to end up with 1/4 cup of fresh chopped leaves, so hopefully I can think of something to do with my leftover chopped parsley soon. For those new to chopping parsley, you pretty much hold the knife as usual in one hand, then place your other hand on top to guide the knife as sort of a rocker back and forth over the parsley leaves.

Next up – the cornmeal mixture got spread on top of the seitan mixture, with some tamari sprinkled on top:

After baking, I did not read the instructions closely enough. They said to let the casserole sit for 15 minutes before cutting it into squares. I did not wait, and my casserole was mushy (though I also didn’t use as much cauliflower as the recipe called for, so that might have contributed to my mush-factor).

Done:

I got 9 servings out of this recipe, though I used a 9×13″ pan instead of the recommended 8×8″ pan (couldn’t find my 8×8!) The original recipe notes 6 servings.

And here’s what dinner looked like! I served the casserole with a side of spring greens with organic caesar dressing:

The meal turned out delicious. I like seitan – if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was meat (minus the cholesterol and saturated fat and other bad-ness that comes along with animal based meat). I have happily survived my first vegan meal!

Polenta Casserole with Seitan

Posted March 23, 2010 by Shelly in Posted In: Dinner

This vegan dish covers all of the bases - grain, veggies, and protein. Mine turned out a little more mushy than the picture in Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet - but it was delicious all the same! I used tamari in place of the recommended shoyu. This recipe states that it serves 6, but (since I couldn't find my 8x8" pan) I used a 9x13" pan, and it easily made 9 servings.

Details

• Prep Time:
  30 min
• Cook Time:
  30 min
• Ready In:
  60 min

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups cornmeal
• 1 head cauliflower cut into pieces
• 1 cup peas
• 2 pinches sea salt
• 1 package seitan (8 oz), sliced
• 1 cup corn
• 6 asparagus spears cut into 1
• 1.5 teaspoons sesame tahini
• 1/3 cup soy milk
• 1.5 tablespoons tamari plus some extra to sprinkle on top
• 2 teaspoons umeboshi vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
• 5 cups water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large pot, combine cornmeal, cauliflower, peas, salt, and 5 cups of filtered water.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce head, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking.
4. While the cauliflower mixture cooks, arrange sliced seitan in a lightly oiled 8x8" casserole dish.
5. Layer corn on top of the seitan, then asparagus.
6. Chop up your parsley, if you haven't already.
7. Remove the cauliflower mixture from the heat and add the tahini, milk, tamari, and vinegar.
8. Mash with a fork until the consistency resembles mashed potatoes.
9. Add the parsley and mix well.
10. Spoon mixture into the casserole dish over the veggies and seitan and smooth the top.
11. Sprinkle with tamari.
12. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

Nutrition Info: Approximately 150 calories, 1g fat, 26g carbs (5g fiber, 3g sugars), 10g protein per serving (based on 9 servings). Vitamin A 10%, Vitamin C 57%, Calcium 4%, Iron 13%.

EpicOrganic.net

Posted: March 22, 2010 at 10:13 pm
{Tags: cauliflower, chopping, corn, peas, seitan, vegan}
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