Seitan and Carrots in a Tarragon Cream Sauce

What is our vegetarian equivalent of a feast’s centerpiece?  What is our veggie Rib Roast?  Our equivalent of Duck a l’Orange?  Our trussed-up golden bird wearing those frilly mini chef-hat thingies on its legs?  For as much as being vegetarian has going for it, our feast tables are missing a coup de grace, a piece de resistance, a chef-d’oeuvre, and other long winded French phrases.

So this vanesscipe is here to fill that void in the middle of your Special Occasion table, to take center stage on your crocheted potholder, to replace the big hulking suckling pig with an apple under its schnoz.  When I was growing up, a Special Occasion often meant some Frenchy dish with a rich sauce to ladle in the crater of a mountain of creamy and cream-laden mash potatoes.  It meant the triumvirate of French food additives: butter, cream, and wine.  And heck, if one doesn’t do it, use ‘em all.

This vanesscipe is a vegetization of a recipe my mom used to make on medium-special occasions.  Not a Thanksgiving, not a birthday, but maybe for a softball match won or a closet well-cleaned.  It’s no Tofurky centerpiece, and that’s a good thing.  It’s a rich and elegant main course that yields a scrumptious sauce to ladle over the lightest, fluffiest mash potatoes.  It gets its luster partially from the butter and cream, but also from tarragon, a subtle but fragrant and elegant herb that really classes up this dish.  Hopefully it will so impress you and your carnivorous friends that they won’t even notice that your Special Occasion table is missing a huge suckling pig.

Serves: 6 as a main dish
Time: 35 minutes

1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
butter or olive oil
3 8oz boxes of chicken-style seitan with the liquid, cut into bite sized chunks
3-4 carrots, cut into ½ inch chunks
2 potatoes or parsnips, cut into ½ inch chunks
1 Tbsp flour
1 bunch fresh tarragon (or 2 Tbsp dried)
1 veggie bullion cube dissolved in 1 cup hot water
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt
pepper

Sauté the onion and garlic in a little butter or olive oil until wilted.

Add the seitan, carrots, potatoes or parsnips, and ½ of the fresh tarragon. Sprinkle the flour over and stir to coat.

Add the veggie broth and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes.  When the parsnips/potatoes and carrots are almost cooked, take out the seitan and veggies and reserve in a bowl.

Boil the remaining liquid down until very thick then stir in the cream and heat until almost boiling.
 
Return the seitan and veggies to the pan and heat through.   Stir in the remaining ½ of the tarragon, reserving a little bit to sprinkle on top of finished dish.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn out into a beautiful serving dish, dust with the reserved tarragon, and enjoy your veggie masterpiece.  Serve with mash potatoes to induce fainting.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Stovetop & Skillet, Autumn, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.