Seitan Roast with Mushroom Gravy
This recipe is an adaptation of the “Succulent Roast Turk’y” recipe in the faux meat bible, “Seitan and Beyond.” It’s my go-to main for Thanksgiving dinner and is well worth the admittedly time-intensive process.
Instructions
There are a few main steps to this recipe:
Make the seitan and bake it
Make the simmering broth and simmer the seitan
Chill the seitan (at least overnight)
Transform the simmering broth into gravy
Finish the roast either in the oven or in a skillet
You have to do steps 1 through 3 at least the day before serving. I prefer to do steps 1 through 4 a couple of days ahead of time to spread out all of my prep work for a big event. I’m writing the instructions in the order I do them, for maximum time efficiency!
To bake the seitan:
Set your tofu up to press. I like to cut my block in half so that I have two pieces about 1” thick each. I fold a dish towel in half cross-wise and lay it on a cutting board or plate, then place the tofu halves on top and fold the towel over them. I put another plate or cutting board on top and weight it down with a tea kettle or other heavy kitchen object I have nearby.
While the tofu is pressing, I slice my onion for the simmering broth and peel and smash the garlic. The thinner the onions, the more readily they’ll caramelize. If you already have your food processor out for other vegetable prep (like shredding Brussels sprouts for this Christmas Salad), it’s a huge time saver to use the peeler-style attachment to super thinly slice the onions. A mandolin would also work great if you have one!
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F.
Next, combine all the roast ingredients through the white pepper in a large mixing bowl (if kneading by hand) or the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the tofu and remaining roast ingredients to a blender or food processor and process until totally smooth. Pour the wet mixture into the dry. If kneading by hand, I recommend mixing the ingredients together with a stiff rubber/silicone spatula until combined, then switching to your hands for the kneading. If using a stand mixer, use your dough hook attachment on a low setting until the mixture comes together. Knead (by hand, or on medium speed of the mixer) until the dough is very stiff and resists tearing — two ten minute sessions by hand, or five continuous minutes in the mixer.
Shape the roast into a log about 4” in diameter on a large sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. (If you don’t have any pots that are wide enough to fit the log lengthwise for simmering, cut the roast in half and wrap and bake as two individual pieces.) I prefer to lay the roast on a diagonal for this first wrap. Wrap the roast in the foil like a tootsie roll as tightly as possible, making sure you have solid contact between the foil and the seitan in all locations. Any air pockets risk expanding and bursting the foil during baking! Tightly twist the ends of the foil up against the ends of the roast and tuck underneath to secure. Repeat this process with another large piece of heavy-duty foil, but start by folding the ends over the twisted and tucked ends of the wrapped roast; then roll it up!
Place the wrapped roast directly on your oven rack or on a baking sheet, making sure it’s sitting with the free end of foil down. Bake for 90 minutes.
To make the simmering broth & simmer the seitan:
Melt the butter in a wide pot (wide enough to fit your roast(s)!) over medium-low heat. Add the onions and let them caramelize; this is a low and slow process that can take a looong time. Resist the urge to stir them too often — once every few minutes after they’ve started softening is plenty. If they start sticking anywhere, add a splash of the stock to de-glaze. Once they’ve started to take on some nice browning and are really soft (at least 15 minutes, maybe 20), sprinkle the baking soda and salt and watch the magic happen! As you stir, they’ll turn bright yellow and break down into a paste really quickly. Let them cook for a couple more minutes, stirring near-constantly to prevent any burning. Increase the heat to medium and add in the smashed garlic, mushrooms, herbs, and spices and continue sauteeing. Again, if you get stickage, deglaze with a splash of stock.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir everything up, making sure to scrape the whole bottom of the pan to get up any yummy brown bits. Cover the pot and increase the heat to medium-high until it reaches a simmer, then turn the heat down as needed to keep it simmering.
When the roast comes out of the oven, let it cool (fully wrapped!) for at least 30 minutes. Stir up your simmering broth, scraping the bottom of the pot again, and assess whether the liquid level is high enough to cover the roast when it goes into the pot. If not, add some extra stock. Carefully unwrap the seitan (it’s going to be hot, and there will be steam released from the foil) and lower it into the simmering broth. Once the broth comes back to a simmer, cook for 60 minutes. Then, turn off the heat, and let the seitan poach in the warm liquid until it’s cool enough to touch the sides of the pot — at least 60 minutes.
Carefully remove the seitan from the broth and place it in an extra large ziploc bag. I prefer reusable silicone ones, but you can use plastic if desired. Use a ladle to transfer about 2 cups of the simmering broth into the bag as well, then press out all the air and seal the bag. Let it sit on your counter until it’s mostly cooled, then place in the fridge (or in your garage, if it’s wintertime and refrigerator-level temperature like mine is during the holidays). I find a bag to be a better option than a tupperware here since it keeps the whole roast moist with a smaller quantity of simmering broth, but you could use a tupperware and extra stock to fully cover the roast. Chill the seitan like this at least overnight, and up to three days!
To make the gravy:
Add the gravy ingredients into the pot of broth and return it to a simmer. Let it simmer uncovered until super thick and reduced, which will take several hours. Stir occasionally. Pull out any herb stems you can find and the bay leaves. Depending on your desired texture, you can leave it super chunky or use an immersion blender or regular blender to smooth out part or all of it. If you’re using a normal pitcher blender, be careful!! Hot liquids like to explode out of the lid when you turn it on, so I recommend removing the center part of your lid for steam venting and starting on a super low speed.
To finish the roast:
If finishing in the oven/toaster oven: Pre-heat to 375°F. Line a high-sided baking dish with foil. Carefully remove the roast from its chilling container (reserving the liquid) and place into dish. If including root veggies, surround the roast with them. Melt the butter and combine with remaining chilling liquid, tamari, and optional additional stock if you’re making root veggies. Pour half of this liquid over the roast (and vegetables), then sprinkle everything with a generous amount of fresh black pepper and lay the fresh rosemary into the pan, tucking against other items to slow its crisping time. Tent with loose foil.
Place dish into the pre-heated oven and cook for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and flip roast over (and stir vegetables), then pour on remaining finishing liquid. Re-tent with loose foil and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake for a final 15 minutes, or until center of roast is hot, outside of roast has formed a dark “skin,” and vegetables are tender.
Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Ingredients
Roast
2 C (300 g) vital wheat gluten
¼ cup (37 g) all-purpose flour
2 t garlic powder
4 t onion powder
1 t white pepper
⅘ block extra-firm tofu, pressed
1.5 C vegetarian chicken stock (I use the Imagine brand’s low sodium version.)
2 T yellow or white miso paste
2 T canola or olive oil
1.5 T nutritional yeast
Simmering Broth
2 T butter
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
2 t dried rosemary
2 t dried thyme
Low sodium vegetable broth, or more vegetarian chicken stock
8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 bay leaves (dried or fresh)
¼ C dried porcini mushrooms, crushed
¼ C dried shiitake mushrooms, crushed
6 sprigs fresh oregano
1.5 t dried sage
1 t onion powder
7 C vegetarian chicken stock
1 T tamari (or soy sauce)
2 t Worcestershire sauce
1.5 t coconut sugar
Gravy
1 t balsamic vinegar
1 t Worcestershire sauce
2 t black pepper
Finishing
2 T butter
Fresh rosemary
Black pepper
1 T tamari (or soy sauce)
Splash vegetarian chicken stock or low-sodium vegetable stock
Optional: Root vegetables cut to ~1.5” pieces
