Having slogged my way through those first two funky batches of soymilk, it was time to try again, this time using the proper measurements. It turns out that one SoyQuick cup = 1/2 actual cup. Of course! Does anyone else see this as a disaster waiting to happen? That being said, the first batch wasn’t a total disaster–many recipes actually call for “2 cups” of soybeans (i.e. 1 actual cup, which is what I used). For this most recent batch, I followed Julie Hasson’s recipe pretty closely, but used Zoa’s filtration method, to compare against the previous batch. Though still a tad beany, it was much smoother and tastier than the first round. I would actually dunk a cookie in this batch, did in fact enjoy it on a bowl of cereal. Observe:

To get a sense of the taste, and where I might want to go with it, I didn’t add anything to the soymilk initially. Though not as beany as the first batches, it was still just outside the drinkable-on-its-own range. As per Julie’s recipe, I added in 4 tbsp malt extract powder (make sure it’s extract powder, not just powder; and don’t use syrup; you can find it at shops that sell home-brewing supplies). This gives the soymilk a richer taste, and sweetens it just a hair–not enough for it to be “sweet”, but enough to cut any bitter edge and cut down on the beany flavor. If I were going to use this as my unsweetened batch, I would have stopped there. But I wanted a drinkable version that I could put on my cereal, so I added 1 tbsp of sugar. It’s still not sweet, per se, but was awesome on my cereal.

Aside from using too many beans and not filtering enough the first time, I think I also made a few mistakes with sweeteners. I used agave in one and brown rice syrup in the other–and then re-filtered the soymilk after adding the syrups. This caused the second jug of the first batch to separate horribly.  I should have been much more scientific in my approach, but I can’t recall which jug had which sweetener. Using the powers of inductive reasoning, I’ve concluded that it was the brown rice syrup batch that separated, as that was supposed to be the “unsweetened” batch, and it was the unsweetened batch that separated. So. Agave would appear to be safe. Additionally, I don’t know if it was the brown rice syrup, the second filtration, or the combination of the two that was truly at fault. I think as a general rule of thumb, stick with powders over syrups. Syrups separate. The best bet for sweetening is probably to follow Zoa’s lead and just add raw dates to the soymilk maker up front.

With a new batch of soymilk on the way, I also had a new batch of okara on the way–meaning I needed to use up my previous store. I didn’t do anything to dry my okara out, beyond mashing it with a spoon into the filters during the filtration process. So, my okara is “wet”. Before I explore the intricacies of wringing out the okara a little, I thought I’d explore the limits of laziness and establish some uses for a wetter okara.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I made Zoa’s Okara Seitan Chik’n. Aside from the salad and bowties, I made a veggie & chik’n couscous–using not only the okara seitan, but also cooking the couscous in the broth from the seitan. Everything in its place.

The next night, Joe treated me to his famous Spicy Ramen (recipe forthcoming!), a true delicacy. Made, not surprisingly, with seitan chik’n.

As you may have noticed, asparagus is no longer in season, and broccoli now is. Farewell asparagus! Welcome broccoli!

Even after making the okara seitan, I still had 2 full cups (actual cups, not SoyQuick cups!) of okara leftover. What to do with it? Then it hit me–broccoli & rice bake-em-up! I replaced the tofu with the 2 cups of wet okara and the 2 cups of faux milk with 1.5 cups of water. Also, since the farmer’s market was the next morning and I’d run out of broccoli, I used kale from our garden, subbing 2 cups of chopped kale for the broccoli. It turned out perfectly!

As is true of the standard version of this recipe, you will end up with too much sauce. Save out 1 – 1.5 cups, and you should be left with just the right amount. You can use the leftover sauce for Okara Chik’n Al-faux-do–for a double dose of okara action!

And what better time? Summer squash is popping up everywhere at the farmer’s market. But maybe this is too much? I’ve gone off the okara/soymilk deep end?

Perhaps, perhaps. Of course, this is just the sort of challenge I appreciate–and just the sort of challenge you’ve come to know and love during my occasional bachelorhoods: how can we use everything up without wasting anything? In general, we should train ourselves to see reducing waste and getting the most out of the resources that we use as a fun challenge, rather than an oppressive burden. In centuries past, this is how people had to cook–something that we’ve moved away from with advent of better preservation and, ultimately, processed, packaged, single-serving meals.

Consider it: making one batch of soymilk has shaped, in many ways, two weeks of cooking. Not quite the same as buying a carton of soymilk. And what happens to all of the waste produced during the commercial soymilk-making process?

[A]s a significant byproduct of soy milk and tofu manufacturing, okara is commonly used as animal feed since its production usually exceeds demands for human consumption. For this reason, it is not uncommon for tofu and soymilk factories to be located close to animal farms in many Asian countries. In Western countries, okara is used almost exclusively for the production of pig and cattle feed, although it does appear as an ingredient for vegetarian burger patties. – Wikipedia entry on Okara (food)

So, chances are that if you’re consuming commercial soymilk, you’re contributing (very) indirectly to factory farming. I say this uncritically, as we’re all enmeshed in the tangled system and can only extricate ourselves one bit at a time. The focus here is not on why you want to avoid commercial soymilks, but why you might want to make your own–as a way to be closer to your food and its production; to reduce physical waste; to eat more locally; and to understand your diet holistically, to see your food choices not in the context of a single meal, but rather as a week of meals, a month, a season.

Okay. I’m getting off my soapbox now and heating up some leftovers!

By far one of the best things about artist residencies is the community–getting a chance to hang out with really interesting and talented people from all over the world. Some artist residencies are fairly small, and interaction is, accordingly, limited. The SIM residency in Reykjavik, however, is quite large; there’s space for 10 artists here (and we’re currently exceeding that, with a couple couples and a straggler or two). We’re brushing elbows with folks from Austria, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the US, and Canada. Our first full day here, we ended up running into our fellow flatmates in downtown Reykjavik on several occasions. Somewhere along the way, Klaus (Taschler) offered to cook dinner for everyone, starting what looks to be a residency-long tradition of meal-sharing. So, just about every night, someone cooks a meal for everyone–buying all of the ingredients (and usually a bottle of wine) and then preparing a “cultural” meal. This is what I wish real life were like.

Klaus set the bar pretty high on night one with Schlutzkrapfen (roughly translated as ‘slippery pockets’)–spinach, garlic, and onion in a delicious noodle dumpling–made from scratch.

Schlutzkrapfen, or Schlutzer, originate in northern Italy (which borders Austria), where Klaus’s family came from. The noodles are pretty much just wheat flour and water; they’re deceptively simple. The filling is also pretty straightforward–saute onion, garlic, and spinach until it’s soft.

Here’s the vital info:

Schlutzkapfren

Dough

• 2.5 cups flour
• 1.5 cups water

All measurements are estimates (and all instructions are gleaned from watching Klaus)–mix enough flour and water to make a dough that isn’t sticky, then knead for about 5 minutes. Let sit–just leave it while you’re preparing the filling. Roll flat on a floured surface then cut into circles using a large glass.

Filling

• 1 package/bag of spinach, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 head of garlic, minced
• salt & pepper, to taste

Saute it all until soft. That’s it.

And then…

Place about a teaspoon of spinach mix into each dough circle and fold in half. Mash the edges together, forming a pocket.

In a large pot, bring water to boil. Toss in as many pockets as will fit, and boil for about 5 minutes, until the noodle is cooked well.

These are delicious with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper, but would be great with a homemade sauce as well. You should be able to freeze unused pockets for later use, if you can keep yourself from devouring them all. We had them with a big ol’ salad and some wine.

Cheers to Klaus for this awesome meal!

We had a pasta craving, but since tomatoes aren’t in season and we’re a little cream-sauced out, we thought this absorption pasta (made similarly to risotto but with less stirring) was just the thing. I don’t know how I feel about the name of this newfangled method of tasty pasta making (so akin to infusions and turduckens and other food with schmancy lingo)… but I wanted to give it a go after being inspired by THIS yummy-looking (albeit non-vegan) recipe on Design Sponge. So, the only thing we borrowed from the original recipe is the method of cooking the pasta and the use of lemon zest, but this came out really great in the end.  Without further ado, we give you

Zesty Absorption Pasta!

You’ll need:

• about two cups of some kind of smallish, firm pasta (pasta rigate) such as serpentini (what we used), penne, radiatore, etc.  I think this dish merits a squiggly pasta, but that’s just me. (Seliacs…you know what to do).
• four cups of vegetable broth (we used an extra cube of Rapunzel ™ brand, salt-free bouillon to make a 3 cube/4 cup water ratio)
• one large yellow or white onion, diced
• about half a head of garlic, diced (more or less depending on your preferences and whether you’re inviting any vampires to dinner)
• the zest of one lemon (in retrospect, I would use less- maybe the zest of half a lemon)
• a big drizzle of olive oil
• a splash of dry-ish red wine (I think we used Paul Dolan ™ Red Zin)
• two small heads of broccoli, cut into florets and the stalks peeled and cut into chunks
• a big handful of baby spinach
• about ten crimini mushrooms (or whatever mush you have on hand) vertically cut into quarters
• a small handful (about 1/4 cup) of slivered almonds- you could also try pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, hemp or flax seed, but wait until the very end to add the last two
• salt to taste (I’d start with a teaspoon and go from there)
• freshly ground pepper to taste
• a dash of red pepper flakes
• any or all of the following in moderate amounts: fresh or dried thyme, oregano, rosemary or herbs de provence
• we also used a little bit of rosemary salt (allowing some fresh rosemary to heat up with the oil in the bottom of your pan before throwing anything in would  have a similar effect)

Dice and slice your veggies ahead of time and put them into individual pretty bowls, cooking-show style. You’ll be glad you did. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a large wok-type skillet or soup pot. Throw in onions, garlic, and some salt.  Let those cook down for a minute, then add your DRY pasta and stir to coat with oil and heat the pasta through. Now add the splash of wine and stir in.  Once the onions are translucent, add most of your stock- I’d say about 3 cups-worth. It should completely cover the noodles. Allow the broth to cook into the noodles for a bit- maybe about eight minutes or so.

Add broccoli pieces and mushrooms. You’ll notice that the liquid is being absorbed into the pasta and also evaporating, so you may need to cover your pan for about two minutes to steam the broccoli. Stir baby, stir. Test the broccoli and remove the lid when it’s al dente. Test the pasta too, as it’s best served al dente. You may wish to reserve out the rest of the broth for pouring into the finished dish if you want it soupier, or you may want to add the rest now to infuse it (that’s right) with flavor.

At this point, add the spinach, almonds, ground pepper, red pepper flakes, herbs and lemon zest. Stir thoroughly and allow the spinach to wilt. Keep an eye on the broccoli and pasta lest they get limp. Add more salt to taste if necessary.

Dole out into bowl-plates and spoon a little of the soupy mix over the top of the pasta. Serve with a small salad or bread.

Delicioso!

Does the coop have tons of locally grown spinach because we love it, or do we love spinach because the coop has it?

I don’t know if it’s because tomatoes aren’t in season yet, or if the coop’s surplus of spinach has inspired us, but we’ve been off the tomato lately and on the spinach and/or cream sauces. This is a variation on one of our standbys–VeganYumYum’s Tomato Basil Cream Pasta. Instead of the usual tomatoes/tomato paste, we used our own frozen pesto and fresh spinach. While this, in and of itself, would have been awesome, it was kicked to the next level by the addition of sauteed mushrooms and homemade seitan chik’n–which also gave it that additional protein it was wanting.

Spinach Basil Cream Pasta

• 1/2 lb tomato semolina linguine (or fettuccine/linguine of choice)
• 1/2 HEAD of garlic, diced
• 3 pesto cubes (or ~1/3 cup pesto)
• 1/2 cup ground cashews
• 3/4 – 1 cup of water
• 2 large handfuls of spinach
• ~8 medium-sized crimini mushrooms
• 1 seitan chik’n cutlet (optional)
• 1 or 2 stalks of broccoli florets (optional)
• olive oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

In a large pan or pot, saute the garlic in olive oil over medium heat until it just begins to brown. Meanwhile, either prepare your pesto or defrost your pesto cubes. Put some water on for the noodles. Once the garlic is done, toss that in the blender along with the pesto. Grind the cashews in a coffee grinder, if handy, and add to the blender mix–otherwise, just add the cashews directly. Add 3/4 cup water to the blender mix and start blending. Slowly feed in the spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste, and puree.

Meanwhile, once the water comes to a boil, toss in the noodles. If you’re using the broccoli, steam it.

In the garlic pan, saute the mushrooms and chik’n (if using) in olive oil, until the mushrooms are tender and the chik’n has begun to brown. Remove from heat.

Once the noodles are done, add them to the mushrooms and chik’n, then mix in the spinach/pesto blend–slowly. Add just enough to thoroughly coat the noodles and fixins. You may need a little extra later if you let it sit for a bit.

Serve with garlic bread. Or else.

Since we’ve used up all of our canned sauce from last year–and for a change of pace–we’ve been making a lot of white sauces lately. This is a variation of our standard lasagna, taking a page from the al-faux-do book.

White Lasagna

The Essentials

• white sauce
• 12 large lasagna noodles
• faux-ricotta
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, sliced thinly
• 1 zucchini, sliced thinly
• 6 – 8 crimini mushrooms, sliced thinly (optional)
• vegan parmesan (optional)

White Sauce

• 1 medium-sized yellow or white onion, chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, diced
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance ™
• ~1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp ground mustard seed
• 1 cup soy milk
• salt & pepper, to taste

Faux Ricotta

• 2 cups spinach OR lightly steamed kale
• 1 lb/package extra firm tofu
• 2 tbsp nu yeast
• 1.5 tsp oregano (2 large sprigs fresh)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder OR 2 – 4 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
• fresh basil, to taste
• 1/2 tsp rosemary (chopped if fresh, crushed if dry)
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• salt, to taste

White Sauce

Sautee the onion and garlic in olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until they are soft and just starting to brown, then remove from heat. In a small pot, melt the Earth Balance ™ over medium heat. Once it’s melted, whisk in the flour a little at a time, until you have a thick roux. Add the onions and garlic to the blender, then pour in the soymilk. Add in the roux and ground mustard seed and blend until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

Faux Ricotta

Blend the tofu and spinach/kale in a food processor, until well-mixed and somewhat smooth. Add in the remaining filling ingredients and blend until smooth, salting to taste. You can use this filling in any Italian-ish recipe that calls for ricotta.

Mushrooms (optional)

Sautee the mushrooms in olive oil–in the pan you used for the onions and garlic–over medium heat until the mushrooms are tender. That’s it.

Lasagna

Since the white sauce is much creamier than standard tomato sauce, I’m afraid you’re going to have to suck it up and boil some noodles. But just until they’re al dente.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375. In a 9 x 12 pan, spread enough white sauce to thoroughly cover the bottom of the pan. Add in a layer of noodles. Then add a layer of zucchini, then one of tomatoes.

Add another layer of noodles. Spread a layer of half the faux ricotta on top of the noodles. If you’re using them, spread a layer of mushrooms over the filling.

Cover with another layer of noodles. Now spread the rest of the faux ricotta on top of them. Now put one more layer of noodles down.

Add one final layer of tomatoes then cover thoroughly with the remaining sauce.

Cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with vegan parmesan cheese (if using) and bake for another 30 minutes. Let it cool for about 15 minutes before cutting and/or serving. Use your will power. I know you can do it. Eat!

Welcome to installment #3 of our Olive Garden Reproduction series: Pasta e Fagioli! By now you are probably–should probably–be asking yourself, “What’s Irreverent Vegan’s deal with the Olive Garden? It’s not even that good!  And haven’t they freaking been to Italy?! Don’t they know better?!”

Man. You ask a lot of questions. But we have answers. Because that’s how we roll.

Sadly, a lot of vegan cuisine is a matter of nostalgia; we attempt to capture some pleasant moment or time from our omnivorous past. For us, most of these moments revolve more around friends or family than the actual foods themselves. And the Olive Garden was one of those universal places that everyone in the family–no matter how mundane or adventurous their tastes–could get behind. Multiple families could come together there.

So these meals invoke a sense of love and belonging, if you’ll forgive my brief foray into hippie territory. It’s scarcely different when you crave mac and cheese. Think about it. It’s not even that good. The idea is plain bad: cheese on noodles. It’s no delicacy. But something draws you to it, over and over. Like pizza, it’s one of the last vestiges to emigrate from your palate.

That being said, we took a slightly different approach this time. Instead of going for a straight reproduction of the Olive Garden’s Pasta e Fagioli, we sought out some authentic recipes, cherry-picking and veganizing at will. We started with out friend Abigail’s recipe. She should know what’s awesome, since (a) she’s an amazing cook, and (b) her hubbie’s fambly is from (or lives/lived in Italy).

Her recipe centers heavily on the flavor of the white beans and the water they were cooked in (sorry! canned beans won’t do for this recipe!). I’m guessing the parmesan cheese and tortellini made this sufficiently awesome for them. Ours seemed a little bland with just beans, bean juice, sage, S & P, and a few tablespoons of tomato paste. So. We added a large can of tomatoes (~4 cups), as well as some thyme and rosemary. After cooking down, this soup was pretty awesome. I’ve never had the OG version, nor an authentic Italian one. With some OG-style bread sticks, though, this soup is worth checking.

In case you were wondering, here’s how:

Pasta e Fagioli

• 1.5 cups uncooked white beans (ideally canellini, but any white bean will work)
• 7 cups water
• 4 cups (1 large can) tomatoes, with juice
• 3 tsp ground sage
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary, diced
• 1 – 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 cup uncooked medium-sized shells
• salt & pepper, to taste

Obviously, the first order of business is to cook the beans. We use a pressure cooker, but it’s totally legit to soak the beans overnight, then cook them for about an hour. Unlike with our usual Choose-You-Own-Adventure-style recipes, you cannot opt for canned beans. You need to cook them. The bean water is your stock. This is how folks kicked it old-school, and how you’ll need to kick it now.

In a large pot, saute the garlic in the olive oil over medium heat until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Add in half of the beans and all of the liquid. Blend with an immersion blender, or in a standard blender if you haven’t gotten with the immersion blender program yet. Add the spices and tomatoes and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, start your noodles. Once the soup has come to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer. Once the noodles are done, drain, rinse briefly with cold water, and add to the soup. Salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it!

Amy decreed yesterday that today would be Raw Food Tuesday (stolen shamelessly from What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyway), which probably means that we shouldn’t have had that Chik’n Club Sammich for lunch…we did, however blaze a new trail in raw food dinners. Well, a new trail for us: rawsage & pesto-laden zucchini-based pasta with mushrooms.

Eating raw is something you hear about or read about and know that it has to be awesome, that you’d feel like a new person if could get over your need for hot things; if you didn’t love cooking; if bread weren’t so tasty. You even know that you don’t have to always eat raw, just that now and again it’d probably be really good for you. But when it comes time to dig in, you give in to the temptation of cooking. Well, if you’re anything like us you do.

Not that we’ve never eaten raw–just had a big ol’ salad for dinner or gone to a raw restaurant–we just don’t tend to “cook” raw.

This recipe is from The Complete Book of Raw Food, a book we’ve owned for years and scarcely cracked open. The results from our first foray were largely good, with a few minor caveats. The rawsage, while delicious, was pretty much just a zesty pesto. It wasn’t at all solid and tasted closer to pesto than to sausage. The zucchini turned out pretty tasty, and worked fairly well just using a grater. It probably would have been fluffier–and thus more enjoyable–if we had one of those spiral-y duders. I halved both recipes (since they were supposed to serve 4) and was surprised at how little there was. I thought we’d be scavenging for more food within minutes of completing the meal, but it was astonishingly filling. One small plateful and we were both very satisfied. In general, I hear that raw food is more filling (since none of the nutrients have been cooked out), so you typically don’t need to eat as much of it.

We made a few modifications, so check it:

Pesto Pasta & Rawsage

Rawsage (aka Zesty Pesto…errr…Zesto!)

• 3/4 cup raw, shelled pumpkin seeds
• small handful of fresh basil
• 1/4 head of lettuce
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup onion powder
• 1/4 cup olive oil (less if you’re going for something more solid)
• 1.5 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp fennel or caraway seed
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)

Grind everything together in a food processor. Try it without the olive oil if you want to get these into proper patties. Just add it little by little to get the desired consistency. For this recipe, you’ll use half of it in the pasta; so if you’re going for patties, start with no olive oil and use half of ground mix to make patties. Then add 1/8 cup of olive oil and grind some more for the pesto part.

Raw Pesto Pasta

• 1 medium-sized zucchini, spiraled or grated
• ~ 6 small-medium-sized mushrooms, sliced very thinly (optional)
• sun-dried tomatoes, soaked until soft and sliced (optional; we didn’t use these this time)
• 2 large handfuls of spinach
• Zesto! from above, or perhaps a few frozen pesto cubes
• olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and/or pepper to dress

In a medium-large-ish bowl, mix the zucchini, mushrooms, and Zesto!/pesto. When the zucchini-noodles are nicely coated, toss a handful of spinach into a plate, bowl, or, ideally, bowlplate. Spread the pesto pasta over the spinach. Garnish with sun-dried tomato strips, rawsage patties, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and/or pepper. Be forewarned: this is really filling!

Amy had a craving for a simple pasta last night, and we found this awesome recipe on vegweb. We subbed tempeh for the seitan/sausage (because that’s what we happened to have on hand) and uses spinach and kale for the greens. It feels really light, but with tempeh, spinach, and kale, it’s actually pretty substantial. It actually reminds me of–dare I say it–a healthier/tastier version of hamburger helper.

File under: Itch, Scratched

Our friends Ryan and Val pointed us to this recipe on VeganYumYum, which we make at least once a month. It’s amazingly easy and really tasty.

This batch was particularly exciting because we made it with our first ever batch of canned tomatoes! We also used our frozen pesto cubes in place of the fresh basil. Who says you can’t have garden fresh food post-season?

This isn’t the kind of meal I’d want to eat every day, but when I do get that occasional hankerin’, I can’t get it out of my head and I have to make it. This isn’t terribly hard–if you have seitan and cashew cream on hand. Otherwise, it’s a little labor-intensive, but still worth it–very rich and filling.

I adapted this incarnation (the perfect stroganoff is a work-in-progress) from this VegWeb recipe–”The Czar’s Own Stroganoff”. On the whole, the recipe seemed pretty good, but I’m positive the czar would be into pepper. And in a perfect world, he wouldn’t want tomatoes in his stroganoff. Well, he would, but all he would have available is meat and cream, scorched earth, and a hardened soul. But no tomatoes. I subbed cashew cream for the tofu stuff–but go easy on the lemon.  I didn’t, but would, reduce the amount of paprika. The cream already adds some sweetness, so too much paprika just pushes this over the top. Also, since this calls for a “beefy” kinda seitan, I recommend the PPK’s version, not Jennifer’s/Joanna’s (which I used because I had it on hand–just marinade for a few hours in veggie stock and soy sauce). Finally, because I need to get this off my chest: I’m not into cubed seitan. I say that with some reservation, as I’m sure there’s some recipe in which it would perform magnificently. But in general, cubed food seems kind of unnatural to me. I like strips or pieces, and getting different types of bites. Sometimes I even cut my tofu or tempeh irregularly, even though their natural shape is a block. I’m just sayin’ is all.

Seitan Stroganoff

• ~ 3 cups chopped seitan (1 “ball” if you made the PPK recipe)
• 1 medium-large white onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 2 – 3 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced thick
• 1 cup veggie stock (I like to use the stock from the seitan)
• 3/4 cup cashew cream (but go easy on the lemon! you can add more later)
  
• 1 tbsp tarragon
• 1 tsp paprika (add 1/4 tsp at a time and taste!)
• salt and papper, to taste
• unsweetened milk-like beverage (you may want to thin, esp. if you have leftovers)
• a splash of soy sauce
• noodles of your choice

As you’d expect, sautee the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in oil and a splash of soy sauce in a large skillet over medium heat. Once they’ve started to become tender, add in the seitan and cook until the seitan starts to brown (or get browner, as the case may be). Add in the stock, tarragon, lots of pepper, and cashew cream, stirring well. Salt to taste. Add in 1/4 tsp paprika and taste. If you want your stroganoff a little sweeter with a hint of spice, add another 1/4 tsp. This is truly a matter of personal preference. I don’t like a lot of paprika in my stroganoff. Some people might. Depending on how easy you went with the lemon in the cashew cream, you may find you want to add a squeeze or two now. As with the paprika, do this little by little. You can’t take it back. Reduce heat and let simmer while you’re finishing/starting your noodles.

At some point, you will have wanted to start your noodles. If your sauce gets too thick, add in a but of unsweetened milk-like-product (we like almond milk for this).

As anticipated, serve stroganoff over noodles. Invite the czar. We had this with brussels sprouts, which the czar also loves.