"Bobbie’s Seitan" modified from the Silver Palate Basics

Anyone in my age range remembers “The Silver Palate Basics Cookbook”. It was the “Joy of Cooking” of its day. It was one of the first cookbooks I actually used on a regular basis when I was learning how to cook. One of the wonderful things about the book was that the recipes worked exactly as written. How often have all of us followed a recipe that didn’t work? There are still many wonderful recipes in this book that still work today since it was a book ahead of its time.

Today’s dinner recipe was originally called Bobbie’s chicken and called for a whole chicken. My husband and I loved the original recipe but I haven’t made it in years. I decided the seasonings were really what we liked about the original recipe. My version keeps the flavor but loses most of the fat and calories.

"Bobbie's Seitan" modified from the Silver Palate Basics
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Steam/Baked Seitan Cutlets with Ginger, Mustard and Lemon
2 cups of water
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
½ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 pinch saffron
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
½ tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water
1 lemon, juiced

Directions:

Cut the seitan cutlets into bite-sized pieces. Combine the water, mustard, ginger, salt and saffron in a heavy bottomed pan and whisk to combine. Add the onion and seitan pieces and cook over medium low heat until the onions are soft. This should take about 30 minutes.

When the onions are soft add the cornstarch and cook for a minute to form the gravy. Add the lemon juice to the sauce and whisk to combine and turn off the heat. Cooking the lemon juice can result in a bitter taste so I like to add it at the last minute and heat it the least amount possible.

This is good over pasta or rice. However, tonight I think I am going to serve it over millet and broccoli. I think I will serve the leftovers over baked potato tomorrow.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 137.6
Calories From Fat (8%) - 10.7

Total Fat - 1.2g
Saturated Fat - 0.19g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 393.75mg
Potassium - 334.8mg
Total Carbohydrates - 14.68g
Fiber - 1.98g
Sugar - 2.55g
Protein - 17.81g

Comments:

This turned out really well, and was a little flash from the past for my husband and I. The dish is tart from the lemon and flavorful from the ginger and mustard.

In the past I liked to serve this over egg noodles or white rice. Tonight we are having it with millet and broccoli and a nice fresh salad.

My husband loved this tonight but thought he would like a little more sauce next time. Since my husband is not a sauce fan that comment really tells me know much he enjoyed the sauce. On a related note he thought the seitan texture was better than usual. Apparently I need to work on more variations using the steam and bake technique I developed this afternoon.