All hail Seitan; or the story of the little gleuten that could

Homemade BBQ Seitan

The story:
This particular recipe is originally a creation of Kourtney's though I have made alterations to the flavor profile and texture. The original seitan recipe was a tad tough and chewy for our tastes until we discovered that lentils are a terrific filler and they also change the texture in a very pleasant way. This particular version of the recipe is a moist chewy seitan with a spicy and slightly tangy BBQ sauce. The cut of the seitan, combined with sauce is a bit reminiscent of boneless ribs, and as such corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and fresh sauteed green beans are recommended to go with this dish.
* please note that as the lighting did not want to cooperate when I tried to photograph this I had to use a stock photo.
Ingredients

Seitan:
3/4 of a small box of vital wheat gluten
1 cup of cooked lentils (a slightly overcooked lentils works even better)
1/8 TSP of onion powder
1/8 TSP of garlic powder
1/4 TSP of veggie stock powder
1/8 TSP of poultry seasoning
1/4 TSP of soy sauce
1 cup warm water

BBQ sauce
1/4 cup of Sweet baby ray's BBQ sauce
3 TBS of ketchup
1/2 TSP of Chinese hot mustard
1/4 TSP of chili paste
1/4 cup of sherry
3 finely minced cloves of garlic
1 TSP of sugar
1/4 cup of olive oil

If you are using dried lentils, you will need to boil them for at least 45 minutes to have the correct texture for this recipe. You can also buy precooked lentils which will also work well. As this will take the most time, make sure your lentils are ready before you start making the seitan. Take the wheat gluten and place in a large mixing bowl. Add all of the dry ingredients to the flour. Lightly stir the dry ingredients while mixing in the lentils. Add the water and the soy sauce to the bowl. Now comes the somewhat icky part. You need to hand mash all of it together. You need to squish up the lentils until they completely mix with the wheat gluten. The more you squish it up with your hands the better mixed it will be. After about 2-3 minutes of really working at it, it should be ready. It might be necessary to add a little extra wheat gluten to get rid of some excess moisture. Once done, roll out the dough on a nonstick cooking pan. DO NOT USE OIL!! Try to roll it out as thin as you can, it'll fight you to ball back up, but just keep working at it. Now is the best time to choose the shape of your finished product and score the dough for that shape. This will make it much easier to cut up before you fry or grill it. Bake in a 375 degree oven for roughly 15 minutes. You don't want to cook it to much or it gets very tough. When you take it out it should be a little crispy on the bottom and slightly pliant on the top. Cut the seitan into the desired shape.

To make the sauce simply mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, whisking it till it is finely blended. For a smokier flavor brush with the BBQ lightly and cook on a grill. For a moister and chewier texture take a large frying pan and heat to med high temperature. Lightly oil the pan and place the seitan in it. After a minute add the BBQ sauce to the pan. Stir frequently. The seitan will be done when it has absorbed all of the sauce.

Eat and enjoy!

Fresh garlic flat bread with basil butter and parmesan cheese

The Story:

The story on this particular recipe is not terribly complicated or even that thought out. It was more of an innovation of neccesity than of creativity. I really wanted Indian originally but we didn't have the proper ingredients so I thought that maybe Mexican would be an acceptable substitute, only we didn't have any tortillas. The result was the need to create a extremely simple flour tortilla recipe which then lead to this recipe. We were doing an Italian themed family dinner with Kourtney's veggie Italian sausage lasagna and what goes better with carbs than carbs!! Thus the illustrious birth of the garlic flat bread with basil butter and parmesan cheese recipe!!

*note: If you bake these, they essentially turn into super awesome pita chips that are great with hummus

The Ingredients:
Flat bread
4 cups of all purpose flour
2 TSP of baking powder
1 TSP of salt
4-5 cloves of finely minced garlic
3-4 TSP of olive oil
~1.5 cups of warm water

Basil butter
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
3 TBS of FINELY minced basil
1 TBS of olive oil
Flat bread:
This recipe, like pretty much all bread recipes, is alot easier to do if you have a stand mixer with a bread hook. As that's what I did this with, thats how I'm going to write the recipe. Toss all of the dry ingredients for the flat bread in the mixing bowl. Start on a low power and slowly add the water. As it's mixing add the minced garlic into the dough. Let the dough to continue to mix untill it becomes smooth and does not stick to your fingers when you touch it. If it does, and the dough is already well mixed, add small amounts of flour until it is no longer tacky. Once the dough is done it needs to be rolled out into indivigual flatbreads. Take a round piece of dough roughly the size of a plum. For this dough to work properly you need to roll it out extremely thing, to the point when when you hold it you can see your fingers through it. Once it rolled out, add a small amount of oil to a large pan heated to a medieum high heat. Place the rolled out dough into the pan only one at a time. The flat bread cooks best if the bottom is evenly coated with oil. Flip the bread after a minute or two, depending on how quickly it is browning. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan to coat the second side as well.

Basil butter:
This part is extremely simple. All you need to do is cut the butter into small cubes and then whip it with the oil and the basil. Once its all the same smooth consistancey all you need to do it brush it on the flat bread when it comes out of the pan. Slice the flat bread into eighth's and dust with paremsan cheese to taste.

Serve hot