Vegan & Demanding

Cold and rainy night… We’re having a very traditional winter meal. A homemade seitan roast stuffed with a carrot, leeks & mushroom brunoise, with oven roasted maple glazed root vegetables, potato purée and a simple pan juice & amontillado sauce. We’ll pair this with a simple musclum salad with dill & lemon zest and a lemon & olive oil dressing. And we’ll end things with an apple crisp, my favourite ordinary desert!

space

space

Ingredients

For the seitan

• 225 ml (1 cup) wheat gluten flour
• 175 ml (3/4 cup) white mushrooms
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) porcini mushrooms
• 1 small onion
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) powdered onion soup
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) rosemary
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) thyme
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) smoked spanish paprika
• 1.25 ml (1/4 tsp) nutmeg
• 1 glove garlic
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) strong vegetable stock
• 2 litres (8 cups) strong vegetable stock for poaching

For the stuffing

• 1 carrot
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) white mushrooms
• 1 leeks (white part only)
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil

For the veges

• 4 carrots, quartered lengthwise
• 1 small rutabaga, cut in 1 cm wide sticks
• 4 parsnips, quartered lengthwise
• 2 small onions, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) maple syrup
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• salt to taste

For the purée

• 1 kg (2¼lbs) potatoes
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) salt
• 200 g (7 oz) cold vegan butter, in small chunks
• warm vegan milk, to taste

For the sauce

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) amontillado wine
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) vegan butter

space

roast stuffed & tied

roast & veges ready to bake

roast & veges ready to bake

To make

First make the seitan. In a large food processor finely chop the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Add flour and seasoning and pulse a few times. Add just enough stock to get a very firm dough. Process until smooth. Reserve.

Make the stuffing. Brunoise all the veges. Heat the oil in a sautéing pan, sauter the carrots for a minute, add leeks and mushrooms and sauter a minute more until vegetables are tender and golden. Reserve.

Roll out the seitan into a large rectangle about 1 cm thick. Stuff, roll and seal the edges with water. Tie the roast well.

Poach the roast in a large pot of strong vege stock for 10 mins. Remove and drain.

Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F)

Place roast in large roasting pan, brush with oil and seasoning.

In a bowl toss the vegetables with oil, maple syrup, crushed garlic and salt & pepper to taste. Arrange the veges around the roast. Bake for 45 mins or until veges are done and roast is golden brown.

While roast is baking, make the purée. Peel, slice and rinse the potatoes. In a large pot of water simmer potatoes until soft. Drain and rice the potatoes over a bowl containing the cold butter. When you are ready to serve reheat the purée very gently while gradually whisking in a little warm milk.

When the roast is ready, remove it and the veges to a serving plate. Put the roasting pan on the stove, medium high heat, and deglaze with amontillado, scraping the pan with a spoon to dissolve all the fond. Reduce by 1/3. Remove from heat. Adjust salt and pepper. Add butter a little at the time, stirring well after each addition to incorporate it. Keep warm.

Plate and serve.

Serves 4