eclaire (what’s in a) name?

my favorite meals to make are hearty, fairly simple dishes that leave lots of yummy leftovers for lunches and dinners later in the week. thus, i rarely gravitate towards entrees with humongous lists or complicated preparations for my usual weeknight fare. but every so often, there’s a fancier, more complicated recipe that grabs me and i convince myself that it will be worth the extra time to create a spectacular meal.

this recipe, adapted from you won’t believe it’s vegan, by lacey sher and gail doherty, has an impressive ingredient list and flowery prose from the authors touting the tropical ingredients of coconut and brazil nuts covering the seitan, and a pineapple-mango compote.  so i figured it would be a fancier meal than normal and set to work slicing and mixing, excited to be working on a more gourmet meal. (let me take a moment here to make sure we all know what seitan is…it’s a wheat protein that tastes – at least to my vegetarian tongue – quite meaty.  it’s sold in most health food stores in packaged chunk-sized pieces, and can also be made at home if you’re feeling adventurous.)

half way through the recipe, however, i realized that the seitan part of the dish was created upon the same basic concept that we used when i was a kid to bread fish.  i remember helping my parents in the kitchen (before i became a vegetarian, of course) by dipping fillets into an egg wash and then into a flour mixture before they were sauteed for dinner.  this meal is basically breaded fish, but with seitan instead of fish, soy milk and vegenaise instead of egg wash, and pulverized brazil nuts and coconut instead of flour.  ok, i realize that sounds pretty fancy.  but it’s just jazzed up comfort food.  and it’s amazing.  the book suggested serving the seitan over brown rice and with yams, so we followed the suggestion and thoroughly enjoyed the entire meal.

brazil nut encrusted seitan with pineapple-mango compote

adapted from you won’t believe it’s vegan, by lacey sher and gail doherty
yields 4 servings

• pineapple-mango compote
• 1c chopped fresh pineapple (we cheated and used canned
• 1 small ripe mango, pitted, peeled, and diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1T olive oil
• 1/4t dried sage
• 1 medium red pepper, chopped
• 4t agave nectar
• 1T rice vinegar
• 1½t fresh lemon juice
• dash salt
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1. combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan
2. cook over medium heat until bubbling
3. turn down the heat and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally
4. once thickened, remove from heat and set aside to cool

• dredging mixture
• 1/2c brazil nuts
• 3/4c unsweetened grated coconut
• 3/4c all purpose flour
• 1/2t salt
• dash of paprika and pepper

• wash mixture
• 1c coconut milk or soy milk
• 2T vegannaise

• seitan
• 1lb seitan, broken into smallish chunks
• 1c canola oil for frying
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1. grind brazil nuts in food processor until crumbly
2. add coconut, flour, salt, paprika, and pepper and pulse for one more minute, then transfer to shallow pan
3. in another shallow pan, whisk soy milk and vegenaise
4. dip the seitan slices into the wash, completely coating each side, then moving seitan to dredging mixture thoroughly (you want a thickly coated piece of seitan)
5. in a large skillet, heat oil until hot, then add seitan (carefully!) into the hot oil and fry until golden on both sides, about 5 minutes per side
6. serve with compote, rice, and a yam and enjoy!