Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Third Time's a Charm

Remember my twice-failed Dijon-Pecan Seitan recipe? I had a vision of creating a pecan-encrusted, dijon-flavored faux meat for my cookbook a few months ago, but I kept getting it all wrong. First, it started as a fried Dijon-Pecan Tofu, but the tofu texture was too light for the heavy pecan topping. Then, I used the pecan and mustard breading on seitan, but the wheat meat soaked up too much grease in the frying process.

So I decided to change the breading up a bit and bake the stuff. Now I give you Dijon-Pecan Seitan with a Maple-Butter Glaze:

By golly, I've finally done it. This variation is definiately a keeper. The seitan is breaded in a dijon-pecan batter, baked, and then rolled in a maple-soy margarine glaze. It has the sweetness of a honey mustard with the delightful crunch of toasted pecans.

I served the seitan with Orange-Ginger Beets from The Complete Vegan Kitchen:

I can't believe I used to hate beets! I mean, as recently as a few months ago. Beets have been the final frontier for me. After I went vegan, I learned to like every vegetable I used to hate in my lacto-ovo days ... except beets. They always tasted like dirt. Ick! But apparently, you just gotta know how to cook 'em. Now I love them roasted, in borscht, or boiled and seasoned using the above recipe which accents beets' earthy flavors with fresh ginger and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

Here's the whole plate. I also opened a jar of my Granny's home-canned green beans:


22 comments:

T said...

Wow does that ever look fantastic! What great flavors together... sounds like a great thing to cook the in-laws.

Jen said...

so is this seitan gonna be in the cookbook? i'm right there with you on beets. i just can't get myself to like them. i do like oranges, though--so perhaps the orange glaze would get me to eat them.

thedalyn said...

This is why you will have a kickass cookbook and I will never even try. i don't have the diligence to come up with such wonderful sounding concoctions. If I don't get lucky, I move on. *ahem*

Gina said...

Oooh, that sounds like such an awesome combination!!

Sara said...

Oh, that looks so good! I'm going to make it for dinner at the first opportunity.

Anonymous said...

That sounds so good. Just out of curiosity, what seitan recipe do you use? Everything looks delicious. My final frontier for veggies was brussel sprouts. I'm almost over the issues I have with them. Hope your book is out soon.

Laura said...

i can't wait to test that seitan!!! i used to hate beets, too. now i can't get enough of them! i have been loving your food posts lately, fyi! great work!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely divine. Glad you found a way to resolve the recipe! :)

Anonymous said...

I can't take all this deliciousness in one post!!!!

The Vegan SlaughterHouse said...

these look beautiful! I love reading your blog, it is one of my favorites! If you get a chance please check out mine, it would be an honor!

Leslie Richman said...

Oh I am in the scared-of-beets boat. They still taste like dirt to me. I'm glad there's hope!

Anonymous said...

So glad you kept at it! The pay off looks like it's more than worth it. And pass me some beets, please!

jessy said...

sweet jeebus, Bianca - that's one plate of pure deliciousness! hot damn!

your dijon-pecan seitan with the maple-butter glaze sounds heavenly - and looks ever-so scrumptious! i'm a beet girl & yours look deeeelish! i can't believe i used to not like them either! glad i finally came to my senses! ;)

home-canned green beans?! your Granny ROCKS! man, i wish i were having this all for dinner tonight! mmmmmmmm!

Avery Yale Kamila said...

Yum beets! Everything looks so super delicious!

Anonymous said...

Oh man, that looks completely delicious. I want that seitan in my mouth right now.

I'm learning to love beets too. So far my favorite ways to eat them are borsht and pickled beets.

Kelly said...

I'm quite full at the moment, but this post still makes me want to stuff my face! Mmm...

nora said...

yummmm! is this dijon-pecan seitan going to be a tester recipe perchance? ;)
also, i just came from a meal at my dining hall, and they have an all vegan bar, which is awesome! and i just had a beat/green pea vegenaise salad there, and of course the veganaise saucy part turned baby pink and everyone at my table was like ewwwwww what is that haha but it was delicious!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

Beets! I just had beets for the first time in probably 20 years. It was the crimson cabbage borscht and it was really good! Not scary at all. YAY for making up with veggies!

MeloMeals said...

looks great!

Meg Wolff said...

I came over from Avery's blog. You are so right about certain vegetables being delicious when you learn to cook them in a way you like. This meal looks fantastic, and wow, topped off with your Granny's beans, what more could you want?

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Oooh, yum!

Erin said...

I would very much like to eat this seitan you have made. Can't wait for the final cookbook!