In my last post I mentioned that I was taking over a locally-focused vegan column for my local newspaper’s food blog. I am the new I Eat Plants columnist at Small Bites, the food blog on LoHud.com (that would be Lower Hudson Valley, the region where I live).

It’s been exciting, and it forces me to blog every week. Some of my content you’ve seen before if you’re a regular reader- like my Vegan Kimchi Recipe, but you didn’t see my Rosemary-Hazelnut Encrusted Seitan recipe if you were only looking here, no you didn’t!

I’ve posted about this before, but I wasn’t happy with my recipe. It’s now worked out, and makes a delicious meal- and would be perfect for the holidays.

Bonus- I used mustard that I made myself- but that’s a subject for another post. See, I’ll have to blog more in the future. 🙂

Rosemary-Hazelnut Encrusted Seitan- I finally made one I was happy with!

Rosemary-Hazelnut Encrusted Seitan

Ingredients

10 oz seitan slices or chunks

3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, skinned

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbs minced rosemary

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 cup almond or soy milk

2 tbs stone ground mustard

1/2 tsp agave nectar (or sugar)

1/4 – 1/2 cup water (as needed)

oil for frying

For the Seitan:

3/4 cup vital wheat gluten (or “gluten flour”)

1 tbs nutritional yeast (optional)

1 tsp granulated garlic

3/4 cup vegetable broth

For the seitan broth:

2 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce, optional

water as needed

Make the seitan:

Add the gluten flour, nutritional yeast (if using) and garlic to a medium sized bowl and whisk together. Add the vegetable broth, and mix with your hands until it comes together in a ball. Kneed the ball for 3-5 minutes, let it rest for 10, and kneed again for another 3-5 minutes. Shape into a small loaf. Mix the seitan broth ingredients together either in a small slow cooker (2 quart), or a medium pan on the stove. If using a slow cooker, add the kneeded seitan loaf to the slow cooker, and cook on low for 6-8 hours (perfect to do over night!). If using the stovetop, bring the broth to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Add the loaf, and simmer for 1 hour, turning occasionally. The broth should completely cover the loaf; if it does not in your pan/slow cooker, add water or additional broth as needed. Allow to sit at least 15 minutes before slicing.

For the coating: