Saturday, September 16, 2006

Cleaning House

More Seitan Nuggets and Mashed White Lentils topped with Braised Leeks and Carrots:
I like to only have to make one trip a week to the grocery store if I can help it, so tonight it was all about using up anything that might go bad if not made soon. I had bought a bunch of leeks thinking I was going to make a recipe from Vive, but opted for this quick preparation instead. No cookbook required. It's actually my favorite way to eat leeks:


Wash about four leeks thoroughly and slice thinly thru to light green part. Peel and slice paper thin six cloves of garlic and thin two large carrots. Saute garlic in olive oil over medium heat for a couple minutes to allow oil to be flavored. Add leeks and carrots and toss to coat. Add a couple Tbs of water, reduce heat, cover, and cook for 20 min. Remove cover, raise heat and cook, stirring often until most liquid is gone. Season to taste with sea salt and fresh black pepper. YUM!

I guess you could eat the above by itself as a side or serve over pasta, but I had mine over some lentils. Yup, those are lentils! I know I've mentioned before that I adore these little legumes. I've had this bag of an organic white variety in my pantry forever and never knew what to do with them. Tonight I thought to boil them until just done, mash 'em up, and add a little Earth Balance, soy milk, dried rosemary, a few red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper. The texture was awesome. Creamy, but with still some firmness in some of the lentils. Flavor was good but I thought the lentils were a little antiseptic tasting? I don't know why. I have more to play with in the future so we'll see if I can't fix that next time.

I was going to just use some BBQ sauce for dipping the seitan, but when I tested it I felt it just overpowered the nuggets and all I tasted was BBQ sauce (not my favorite condiment to begin with). So, I got the idea (from my long lost love for a good honey mustard) to mix my beloved Nutritional Yeast Better Than Mustard Spread with a little Agave nectar. MMMMMmmmmm!
That BBQ sauce didn't stand a chance!

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