Seitanic Panic in the Oven

So I was planning to make the Seitan's Pie.

You know, that paragon of goodness that transcends the boundaries of traditional casserole? The one that says, "oh it's cold out there, why don't you open this potato lid and get to the hot, steamy goodness?" AKA. Shephards Pie; minus the shephard, and minus the goat/sheep/etc. The problem is, without running out and picking up a bunch of those packets of crumbles and whatnot, it's hard to find a really good base. 

Right now I am going through that phase of trying out and refining techniques and recipes. In particular, I am trying to replicate meats. Although this recipe involves making seitan from scratch, and then making it super tasty, I guess this could just be a recipe for the amazingness that is shepard's pie.

I looked into a handful of recipes. I like the idea of minced meat for Shephard's pie, but I wasn't particularly confident of any of the options. So instead of starting with the recipe for the pie, I began with the recipe for the dough. Coincidentally, I found a recipe for smoked seitan that piqued my interest independently, then the idea for a smoked Seitan Shephard's Pie started to form.

So basically,as for steps I borrowed from the Cathy Eats recipe, I snagged measurements for the dough, the pre-boil (after you form the dough, simmer in water and a splash of soy for an hour), and the time for smoking.

Of note; reserve the remaining liquid ingredients from the dough making. Dry rub from Cathy will result in a sweeter "meat" (the point of hers was to add BBQ sauce). Taking from my experiments with pulled pork, I took a different approach with the rub and its application.

For the rub, I followed that standard paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper approach. To take it in a direction where the palate was basically flat but broad (full-bodied but not too spicy), I added cayenne, dry mustard, cumin, ground allspice, ancho, and chipotle powders (for extra points, toast the spices in your skillet first). You can also double the amount rub for spicing other parts later on. Or if you want to get realy good toast up some peppers and make a fresh chili paste.

To prep for smoking, once the hour of simmering is up, pull out the seitan balls (I cut my loaf into sixths instead of thirds), place in a colander to cool and drain, reserve liquid left in pot. Pour about a quarter cup mustard and a quarter cup agave (remember the "glue" from the pig butts? I subbed agave for honey, and voila its vegan) into the container that has the remaining liquid from loaf making (I used a nice big metal mixing bowl); mix well, and once you can handle them, toss the seitan in the glue. Apply rub to glue-y doughs; keep one hand dry for sprinkling rub and one wet for moving dough and applying rub.

Now you do have a few other options. (A) You can either let the seitan sit overnight after they are done simmering. I did not do this. (B) You can do the same after applying the glue, or the glue and rub. I did not do this. (C) You can let the glued, rubbed dough sit or cure for awhile before smoking. Again I did not do this. I got the fire started a half hour before the timer was up on the simmering, and as soon as the glue-rubbing was done the may have sat for about 5-10 minutes. I have a feeling that, any way you slice it, this is pretty idiot-proof.

So, easy enough, smoke the "meat" for about 90 minutes, or whatever time you can put into it wihout completely drying it out, but even that isn't a big deal. The next ingredients are why.

Other components for Shephard's Pie;

• Potatoes: Slice up a bunch of potatoes into 1/2" cubes. Toss on fire until they get a nice char and smokey flavor. It is more important that you get them all fired and flavored up because you will be mashing them up anyway. Roast at 375'f for about 25 minutes in oven after tossing in oil and spices complementing the dry rub. Mix in about a quarter cup earthbalance and a cup of soy milk. Mash the potatoes with masher/ricer/dough-blender (my preferred). 
• Gravy: Add lentils (G1) and kale (G2) to the gravy (G3). Yum.
  • Gravy 1: Start a pot of lentils. I made about two cups broth and two cups lentils. I messed up the lentils and ended up with just lentils, no broth.
  • Gravy 2: Sautee 1 bunch of green and purple kale in sesame oil and paprika, add four or five chopped cloves of garlic. (I am guessing you wil likely have some extra time, if so, chop up some celery and add after the greens have sauteed for about four minutes, sautee for another 4 minutes or until greens are just wilted.)
  • Gravy 3: Mix up a roux with earthbalance, you will needabout 1 1/3 cup (this is 2/3 butter, 2/3 flour) These measurements based on how much I needed to thicken the leftover simmering liquids. Okay. So actually, thats what I thought I'd need; I also needed an additional three tablespons corn starch (as slurry) to finish it off.

These steps will probably take between thirty and forty-five minutes worth of time. And can easily be managed in the space of time it takes to smoke the seitan.

So, we've got our gravy brought to a simmer and spiced how we like it (I went with a thicker, more mustard-y taste; you might even go after a spicier green than kale like mustard or earthier like beet), our potatoes are all mashed (and spiced, I mimiced the dry rub with extra garlic and ancho powder, do whatever you like) and at the ready, and we just pulled the seitan off the grill and it has rested a few minutes (not for the sake of juices/fat like a meat, but for the sake of the rub bark crispening).

Pre-heat oven to 400. Cut the seitan into 1/4" strips, then into smaller chunks using a chef's knife (I thought a serrated knife might work better but it played havoc on the rub); drop in pot and even out. Pour on the gravy nice and even. Dollop about the potatoes, then smooth down with a fork (hopefully you made them nice and creamy and this shouldn't pose any problem). Pop in oven for about thirty minutes or until the potatoes brown.

For bonus points, once you pop it in the oven, you can start carmelizing an onion or two (nice big strips), and for the first twenty five minutes while you're waiting on the pie, stir the onions every two or three minutes, then add them to the top for the last five minutes.

Now the pot you build this guy in will make all the difference to plating. You can put it together in a casserole dish; something like a 9x13" or a nice wide oval crock will work.  I used a 6 quart cast iron pot. It worked great and passed the heat through really well. It did a great job heating it all the way through.

So this is the kind of meal that will keep you warm as November comes to a close and the temperatures begin to drop off. Enjoy your Saturday, and once 2 or 3 pm rolls around, get ready to start pouring some love into some food.

Wrap up: This recipe yields about 4-6 quarts of yummy goodness, it takes about 15 minutes prep, 1 hour boiling, 1 1/2 hour smoking, 40 minutes baking (three hours in all). Be mindful of the salt level as you go on down the line, it stacks with all of the different spices and liquids, but there are a lot of layers it will need distributed through.

This Shephards Pie variant is along the line of a Southwestern kind of thing. The rub with sugar would steer towards a sweeter barbecue, which you cold totally riff on, but was not what I was going for. I would like to go somewhere with horseradish; Miss Kristin mentioned horseradish in potatoes and I have been dreaming ever since. Miss Freulein has been doing amazing things with root vegetables, so that's another option. I would list more, but I am tired from pre-baking seitan turkeys, and, seriously, you all get the picture, and I am not planning to patronize you.

As for me and mine, I went for a straight sear with low actual heat; the Seitanic Panic.

Update on 1:18PM by mfg

big thanks, per usual, to Ms. Freulein, Real Life Documentarian, VP. Not only did she provide many of these lovely pics in the gallery, but she also helped and lent me the beautiful pot