Pumpkin Spiced Seitan Stew (and a rant about imperial measurements)

As social media explodes with complaints about the very sudden drop in temperatures, I have been huddled in piles of blankets, stubbornly refusing to turn on the heat and receiving frequent glares from the dog. It was a perfect opportunity to spend the day in the kitchen with the oven on. Because baking doesn't count as turning on the heat.

This is a time consuming recipe. It's great for days off with fuzzy pajamas when you don't want to go anywhere. But the result will leave you with over a gallon of stew and will be quite delicious. It is based loosely on a recipe I have in a pumpkin-everything cookbook, but the recipe I have uses beef. If you are on a gluten free diet, this recipe is certainly not for you, but you may certainly substitute your choice of meat, tofu or beans for the seitan if you prefer.

There are two parts to this process: In part one, we make the seitan and roast  the pumpkin; in part two, we make the stew.

The seitan recipe is inspired by the PPK, a vegan's favorite resource, but it has been adjusted to better match the needs of this stew. Wheat gluten and nutritional yeast can be found in health food stores fairly easily, but may also sometimes be found in regular grocery stores. If you cannot find nutritional yeast, you can order it online or you can substitute almond flour or other non-wheat flour.

Seitan can be tricky to work with. You have to get your gluten to liquids ratio just right or it doesn't work, and sometimes the cooking process can also ruin it. The first time I tried making seitan, it came out tasting like sponge and I vowed never to try it again. Obviously I have gotten over that. Part of the problem is that we 'Muricans use a pretty stupid system of measuring solids by volume. This can lead to inconsistency in recipes because a cup of fresh, sifted flour is not the same amount of flour as a cup of flour scooped from a bin that has been sitting for months and had time to settle. The density of the flour (or other dry ingredient) changes, and since density equals mass divided by volume, we do not control for the actual amount we want, which is the mass. This leaves us with two options: either we use recipes written for the metric system, or we experiment enough times that we get a good feel for the type of item we are making so that we can adjust any dough or batter before it is cooked. And we do this for each type of item whether it's seitan, crepes or cupcakes.

Stupid imperial measuring system.

Anyway.

For the Seitan
Ingredients:
3 cups wheat gluten
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup broth
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, mix your gluten, nutritional yeast, spices and garlic. In another bowl, mix everything else. It is, in fact, important that you do this separately as gluten tends to immediately suck up anything wet. So if you put your broth in first, it may take all the broth but not absorb the olive oil.

Pour about 3/4 of your liquid mixture into your gluten and mix it as best you can, kneading a bit as you do so. This is a precaution as it's easier to adjust the liquid than the gluten. If you've still got some dry gluten, add a bit more at a time, incorporating until the mixture is saturated but not soggy. It should still hold its shape pretty easily. If it's falling apart, you've added too much liquid and will need to add more gluten. Knead 5 minutes or until seitan toughens up a bit. Roll into a log and wrap in foil. Twist the ends so it's a sealed package. This is important to prevent it from expanding too much while it bakes, which will make it too bread-like. Bake for about an hour or until it's quite firm.

 The seitan log!

For the pumpkin:
While the seitan bakes, you can throw a pumpkin in to roast at the same time. Just stick a large pie pumpkin with a fork a few times, place on a baking sheet, and stick it in the oven for about the same amount of time as the seitan. It's done when you can easily pierce through the flesh with the fork. I used about 3/4 of a medium-large pie pumpkin and half of a small one. The former had begun to rot on the top and bottom, so these were cut off and the rest was salvaged.


For the stew:
Ingridents:
The seitan and pumpkin you just prepared
2 lbs boiling onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups broth
3/4 cup red wine
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
8-10 whole cloves
Salt and pepper

Once the pumpkin and seitan have been out of the oven long enough to cool so you can cut them without swearing at the top of your lungs and dropping hot pumpkin on the floor, slice up your seitan and throw them in a large dutch oven with a blob of olive oil and/or a blob of butter over medium heat. Let the butter melt and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Peel your onions (it's much easier if you boil them for one minute first), and toss them over the seitan. Add the garlic, broth, wine, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and cloves, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer while you deal with the pumpkin.

Halve your pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and slime, halve them again, and grab whatever tool you think might best help get the flesh out of the skin. I was tempted to use the jigsaw, but instead used a knife I inherited years ago - it is curved, serrated on both sides, and has a pointy tip. I believe it's technically a grapefruit knife, but it worked relatively well.

Chop the skinned pumpkin into small chunks and throw it directly into the stew. Simmer another 20-30 minutes. Remove bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and cloves (if you feel like fishing) before serving.

This was quite delicious. Next time I make it, however, I'd like to have a thicker broth and will make a roux to do so.