Seitan scaloppine with lemon olive sauce

I’ve tried to make seitan steaks lots of times without success. They’ve always been a bit spongy or brainy and I’d almost given up trying. I can’t buy seitan easily so it’s been a real disappointment to me and I turn over the page with regret when I see recipes that need it. I’ve been quite happy to blame this not on my poor cooking skills but on the only brand of gluten I can buy here in the UK. I’ve only tried the gluten from the low carb store, but this time I decided to buy a different brand, from the flourbin. It’s more expensive but I wasn’t bothered as long as it worked. I swore that this would be my last attempt, and if the steaks didn’t work this time I’d give up.

I also decided to try a different recipe – this one from the wonderful FatFree Vegan blog. I don’t have a steamer big enough to fit a plate in so I went for the version with the extra step of braising in the broth. I had to prepare some broth for the sauce anyway, and as I used the same pan, it didn’t really give me much extra work.

I took the foil parcels out of the steamer filled with dread in case I opened them to find a spongy mess but to my amazement I found 4 delicious looking smooth, silky steaks nestled in the foil! I wish I’d taken a picture of them on their own just to prove that I did it! I then went on to make the sauce as directed in the recipe and, not quite in the spirit of FatFree Vegan, served it with a mound of mashed potatoes and some wilted spinach.

This was such a delicious meal for a cold snowy day and I was so thrilled that I finally managed to make seitan steaks! I can think of so many dishes where I can use them. The problem I’ve got now is that I don’t know whether it was the new recipe or the flour that made the difference – oh well; I’ll just have to make them again with the other flour and see if they work as well. See how much I suffer in the name of perfection?

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