My father has reported not missing much of his old meat-eating life but said he’d miss his corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty’s Day. Eager to find a tasty replacement, I scoured the net and even thought about making this delicious recipe from Susan’s Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, but I found that the recipes either sounded not corned-beefy-enough for my dad, or were long elaborate “make your own seitan with vital wheat gluten” affairs like the famous Bryanna’s recipe, and so I set off to create my own somewhat lazier version and concocted the following experiment. It was a big hit, even for the former carnivores and corned-beef lovers. I’m not the biggest “faux meat” lover in the world, but even I thought this made a good dish. I didn’t think it tasted exactly like my memory of corned beef, but with the potatoes and horse-radish sauce it was very close (in a good way)! One guest raved about how tasty the corned “beef” was and how great the texture was. In the future I might experiment with making my own brining spices, cooking in beer, adjusting the spices but I was happy with the results. It took two days to create, but this dish was a big hit. Better late than never, Erin Go Bragh!
Part 1 THE BRINE (corning the Seitan the day before)
You need:
Big glass or plastic bowl (no metal)
Non-reactive sauce pan
2 packages of Seitan … ( I used WestSoy brand which is seasoned with spices, garlic and soy sauce) *lightlife “steak” style strips should work for this too
1 can of beets (non pickled)
1 tablespoon sea salt (or table salt)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons pickling spices *if you don’t have pickling spices you can make your own but note that for meatless corned beef the flavour of CLOVE is especially prominent. If you don’t like that taste, make your own or use less. To prevent spices from getting all over your corned seitan, you can make a sachet with cheese cloth or coffee filter tied with a string to boil the spices in.
1 teaspoon dry mustard (ground mustard)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or white vinegar
Pepper to taste.
3 cups water
Put the seitan in a large glass or plastic bowl, drain the beet juice into the bowl (reserve the beets for later use). The beet juice gives a nice pink corned-beef colour to the seitan but doesn’t adversely lend flavour. *I found it worked better when the seitan was chopped in somewhat smaller pieces for the beet juice to penetrate, it might help to use more beet juice or to brine for a longer period of time.
In the saucepan boil the water and spices for five minutes and then pour liquid over the seitan and beet juice in the bowl. Put your bowl in the fridge to brine, at least over night and through the next day until you make the rest of the feast.
Part TWO: COOKING DAY
Large stock pot or boiling pot
fry pan/sauté pan
large Pyrex roasting pan or large casserole pan
little salad bowl to mix “glaze” for the roasted corned seitan.
1 green cabbage chopped into large wedges
1lb New red potatoes cut in half (or small potatoes quartered) or as many as you like
Carrots quartered (as many as you like)
4 cups veggie broth ( Or 1 package Pacific Foods Low Sodium Vegetable Broth)
1/4 cup water
1 shallot minced
1 clove garlic minced
2 stalks of celery chopped into slices
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish *Be sure to read labels many jarred horseradish contains milk ingredients to make it “creamy”. I got mine ("Bubbies" prepared horseradish) in the vegan section of Whole Foods.
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoon white wine vinegar (or any wine vinegar)
Vegan Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper (to taste) *optional
tablespoon parsley flakes
The Glaze:
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar,
½ teaspoon Bragg’s liquid aminos or low sodium soy sauce
Directions: Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
In the stock pot, place chopped garlic, shallots, and celery slices and sauté until the shallots and garlic are fragrant and translucent. Add broth, water, 1 teaspoon vinegar, the horseradish, (1 tsp) dry mustard, carrots, potatoes and cabbage, bring liquids to a boil then cook covered, on medium heat for 15 minutes or until cabbage is getting tender.
While the veggies are cooking, drain the brining liquid from the seitan that has been in your fridge overnight and brush off any large pickling spices (you may also rinse the seitan but this will lighten the shade too) place in your frying pan or sauté pan and heat through (use a little of the broth to “sauté ”) sprinkle on a little of the Vegan Worcestershire Sauce, a dash more of white vinegar, and a little more of the mustard (if you like mustard) as you cook the seitan just until heated through and set it off to the side. (*You may also transfer seitan into the simmering veggies but this will cause your seitan to lose some of the pink colour)
In a little bowl, mix the 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard, 1/2 teaspoon Bragg’s Aminos or soy sauce and 2 tablespoons brown sugar until it forms a syrupy consistency (add a bit of broth or water if too thick) to make the glaze.
When the veggies are tender, transfer them (and the remaining broth/cooking liquid) into the roasting pan and place the seitan in the middle of the pan in a little “nest” created in the veggies. Spoon broth over all exposed veggies/”meat” and then brush the top of the seitan with the “glaze” mixture (which will create a nice crust on the tops of the corned setian ) top with parsley and cook, uncovered in the oven for about 10-15 minutes (check periodically for browned potatoes and baste the corned seitan with broth if it’s drying out).
Serve with a side of horseradish sauce (mix your desired amount of horseradish with vegan mayonnaise ) and vegan soda bread/rolls. I made a side of steamed baby asparagus :)
Blarney B
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