Tread Kindly, Eat Well

Recipe: Seitan with 40 Cloves of Garlic

by Kevin - Jul 30, 2010

Timing is one of those elusive important things. You can’t always predict when the right time is to do a certain thing. Sometimes it just works out. 

The recent report of the USDA’s closure of Murray’s Chicken, a Sullivan County poultry processing plant, came as I was finishing up a recipe for Saugerties, NY’s famed Garlic Festival. It’s based on a French classic, “Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic.”

Let’s modify that name immediately, shall we? It’s now “Seitan with 40 Cloves of Garlic.” It is ridiculously easy and unbelievably good. You will want to have a nice artisan roll handy to soak up all the juice that is left in the bottom of your bowl.

The seasonings are deceptively simple: garlic, sea salt, pepper, herbs d’Provence, and good extra virgin olive oil. A little white wine and vegetable stock. Not a complicated step in the whole thing. If you try it, I believe you will absolutely love it. And you’ll avoid not only the death of sentient creatures, but the risk of contracting salmonella.

Here’s the recipe. Let me know how you like it!

Seitan with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Yields: 4 Servings
 

Ingredients

1 heads Garlic
1/6 cup Olive oil
1 3/4 pound Prepared seitan
1 teaspoon Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Black pepper
2 teaspoons Herbs d'Provence
1/2 Bay leaf
1 cup Vegetable stock unsalted
1/2 cup White wine                                                                                                                        
 

Instructions

• Separate garlic cloves but do not peel. Blanch for 10 minutes in boiling water.
• Over medium heat, in a large, deep heavy-bottomed skillet, warm the olive oil. Add the seitan, salt, and pepper. Brown the seitan on all sides.
• Distribute the garlic cloves all around the seitan. Add Herbs d'Provence, bay leaf, and 1 cup of the stock. Cover the skillet, turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
• Transfer the seitan and garlic to a platter and keep warm. Discard the bay leaf.
• Add the white wine and reduce by half over high heat.
• Add the remaining stock and reduce to ¾ cup. Remove pan from the heat and swirl in 2 tablespoons of additional olive oil. Pour the sauce over the seitan and serve.

The recipe works well with tempeh, also. Some packaged meat alternatives might work, depending upon what is available in your area.