Okay, back to food. Alex always requests something meat-and-potatoes-y. He requested it last night and I went to the store thinking, "Okay, how about a cacciatore-style seitan, with capers, peppers..." And he says, "No peppers." And so I am like WTF, why not?! and "What is the seitan supposed to be like?" and he says, "Make it American." And so I had been thrown into loop, where I couldn't visualize my dish, the palate I wanted it to accommodate, and thought, "there's no theme?? What kind of seitan dish follows no path? WHO IS IT VERSUS??"


Under the spell of someone's brief stroke of genius, I decided to press the seitan into breadcrumbs and pan-fry the cutlets, then slice them before plating.

Alex moved to Philly for the summer for work, and came home to visit this weekend. He isn't exactly the seasoned chef I consider myself, and had been basically living on beer and Hip City Veg, and was looking forward to a home-cooked meal upon his return. I decided to make a throwback, waaaay back, to when we were sixteen, when I would cook something a lot like this.


It worked out pretty great. We had a nice dinner with red wine and bread. I think you are supposed to use white wine to drink with this, but I like red wine better. So that's what I did. Incidentally, I was recently yelled at by a sommelier for drinking red wine with vegetables. After finding out I was vegan, he told me I just "couldn't understand the finer things in life."

Roman-Style Seitan with Garlicky Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes

4 Seitan Cutlets, use your favorite recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 white onion, sliced into half moons
3 bell peppers, I like to get one of each color, sliced into strips
1 cup white wine
3 large tomatoes, diced
 4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Big pinch of salt, pepper

5 yukon gold potatoes, washed, quartered
3/4 cup cashews
1 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil
ten cloves garlic, unpeeled
salt, pepper

1 lb green beans, washed
5 cloves garlic, sliced thin
2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Take the ten unpeeled garlic cloves and spread them out on a baking sheet and put in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
Place the potatoes in a pot and fill with enough water to cover them.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook until very tender, about 25 minutes.
In a large cast iron skillet, heat the tablespoon of olive oil over pretty high heat.
Add the seitan cutlets and let them brown nicely on each side, then remove from the pan.
Add the onions and peppers to the pan, and cook until they have softened and reduced in size, about 10 minutes. Leave the heat up high, so that it happens quicker.
Meanwhile, add the cashews and water to a blender, and blend like the dickens. Now you have cashew milk!
Add the garlic to the pan with the peppers, and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring often, until the garlic is fragrant.
Add the tomatoes and wine, salt and pepper.  Now nestle the seitan cutlets back into the pot, distributing the veggies over the cutlets. Cover and reduce heat to medium low.
At this point you can steam and shock your green beans if you have room on your stove. You can also boil them for about 5 minutes, then plunge into some ice water to keep them bright green and crisp, thus shocking them. We are going to cook them with garlic last.
Check the potatoes, which should be pretty tender by now, and drain. Pour them back into the pot they were boiled in with the roasted garlic, which you can now peel. Pour in the cashew milk, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mash until very smooth, and the garlic cloves have been mashed into unification with the potatoes. Taste for salt. Cover and keep on the back of the stove until the rest is ready.
Add the 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a frying pan and heat up. Add the sliced garlic and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Now add your green beans and toss pretty continually until warm and coated with the garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle a little salt and turn off the heat. Turn the heat off the peppers and seitan and add the capers and parsley. I like to take the cutlets out and slice them before plating, but it's not really that necessary. Serve with a lot of peppers and wine sauce from the pan. Obviously serve with more wine!

So I know I said I'm going to eat healthier and stuff, but I still have 6 hours left to enjoy and relish my failed resolutions, so I made pizzas! I did, however, make the crust from whole wheat flour. So there's that... This is Polish Pizza, for all the Polskas out there who love sauerkraut and musrooms. Some caramelized red onions add sweetness to the tangy party.

 Return of the cucumber sauce! I feel like it adds the freshness that you crave when you have a facefull of sauerkraut.




 After Mashed Potato and Kapusta Pizza, we made peanut butter criss-cross cookies from Chloe's Vegan Desserts. 









Then we dipped the cookies in chocolate and sprinkled them with powdered sugar, muddy buddy-style, a la Petite Panettiere.


I'll drink to those!
Happy New Year to all the vegans out there! May your 2014 be filled with prosperity, good health, punk music, and peanut butter.
XO,
KZ