Brandy-Sautéed Seitan and Morels

This mostly-impromptu recipe seemed to be a big hit at a recent party here, so I thought I'd post it. I served it with rosemary roasted potatoes and a cashew-crème sauce.

First, the ingredients:

Seitan

4 cups wheat gluten

1/2 cup white flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup paprika

3 1/2 cups water

For the Sautee

2 cups brandy

2 tbl sage

2 tbl minced basil

2 tbl hungarian paprika

2 tbl paprika

2 cloves garlic

a few splashes of apple cider vinegar

a splash balsamic

1/2 a medium white onion, diced

5 tbl oil (I used walnut oil, but anything neutral-flavoured would also work)

a few dashes each salt and ground pepper

about 4 handfuls of morel mushrooms (truffles could substitute)

Seitan - mix all and knead the fsck out of it until it's in 3 nice, soft loaves. Wrap each tight in cheesecloth, then submerge in salted water and rolling-boil for ~1hr.

Sautée -
Mix the oil, salt and pepper, garlic, onions and 3/5 the brandy, and heat until the onions get translucent. Add the spices, remaining brandy and 2 loaves of the seitan (chopped into small pieces), reduce the heat to a low sautée and cover. Let it go for about 30 minutes, maybe longer, until the seitan is VERY soft and chewy, then add the morels. Cook for another few minutes, so the morels stay firm and retain their flavor, but it's just barely not a health hazard.

I should note this seems to work better if you make the seitan just before following this recipe -- it eliminates the problem of it getting all rubbery like it does in bad restaurants.

I'll post the cashew-crème sauce later.

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