MOFO - Day 12 - Seitan Invades Your Soup

One thing worth mentioning about steaming seitan is that you don't have to buy a special steamer pot. You can use a pasta pot or regular stock pot with a steamer basket insert. Ikea carries the inserts for only $5.99, but I'm betting you could even find them in some dollar stores. Voila - a very inexpensive and effective steamer!

The steaming method of making seitan is not exclusive to sausage making. Steaming can also be used for roasts or logs. I have been testing for Celene Steen and Tami Noyes' upcoming sandwich book. They have come up with a few pretty ingenius recipes for vegan cold cuts. One such recipe is posted HERE for Gobbler Slices which are, you guesed it, vegan turkey slices! This is a seitan style log that also has beans in it for protein variety. The flavor is so good you might start gobbling yourself.

I screwed up the recipe test for these so mine came out too dry to use as lunch "meat". I didn't want it to go to waste, so I made this warm and wonderful soup. This is perfect for the chilly days that are sure to be around the corner. Serve it with crusty bread for a filling lunch or dinner.

Cream of Broccoli and Turkee Soup

Makes 10 cups

1/4 cup Earth Balance Vegan butter
1 medium onion, diced (approx 1 3/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, small dice
1 teaspoon rosemary, crushed
1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
dash of nutmeg
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 head broccoli, stems diced small, head chopped in florets (approx 5 cups)
6 cups vegetable broth (chicken flavor if you have it)
8 oz. small diced Gobbler Slices, Tofurkey or chicken style seitan (approx. 2 cups)
2 cups soy unsweetened soy creamer

In a large soup pan over medium heat, sauce onions and celery in butter until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes or so. Add rosemary, thyme, white pepper, salt and nutmeg. Saute for about 30 seconds to release the oils from the herbs. Turn heat to very low. Stir in flour. Cook for 5 minutes stirring frequently so that the flour doesn't burn. Add about 1/4 cup of the broth to deglaze, making sure to scrape all of the goodies from the pan. Add remaining broth and chopped broccoli. Turn heat back up to medium. Bring to a simmer and simmer until broccoli is tender, about 10 minutes. Using a stick blender or a regular blender in batches, blend/puree soup. I like to leave it slightly chunky, but this is entirely up to you. Return to pan (if using regular blender). Stir in seitan and soy creamer. Simmer until it is heated through and slightly thicker, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 10-15 minutes. This will intensify the flavors. Serve with a nice rustic bread.