Seitan Marsala Recipe (or something like it)

Given that my meat eating days ended just past my teens, there were many carnivorous dishes I never indulged in- I found limiting myself to hot wings, burgers, etc. did the trick just right. Fast forward a decade.... I'm sitting in the Blind Faith Cafe (just north of the Chicago border in the suburb of Evanston,) and Seitan Marsala is an option. Having heard of this dish from friends who savored it in Italian restaurants, I decided to give it a try, and I loved it. The mushrooms, the thickened and heavily flavored sauce coupled with the tender seitan, was a dish I would be craving long after clearing my plate.

Over the last several years I had tried and tried, to no avail, to replicate that meal. However, once I began cooking my own seitan, I sought out recipes once again and came across one which I could eat on a weekly basis. Certainly it requires some effort and a bit of time, but now you have those seitan loaves, here is a recipe worth giving a go. While I have changed some of the process and ingredients to my tastes, this is a recipe inspired by Emeril. His seasoning recipe (listed separately below) is used.

Time: 1 hour, first ½ hour unattended

Difficulty: not so bad, once you have the ingredients

Ingredients:

½ cup All Purpose Flour 

1 cup vegetable broth

1 T Essence seasoning 

salt and pepper to taste

1 loaf of seitan, split 

1 T olive oil

4 T butter 

1 diced red bell pepper

1 8 oz package sliced mushrooms (I prefer Baby Bellas)

¾ red wine (no, I don't use Marsala and it's still tasty)

Process:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice boiled seitan loaves in half. Place on cookie sheet and bake for half an hour. This will dehydrate the setian making it more absorbent.
2. Combine flour and Essence seasoning with a whisk. Dredge seitan loaves in the powder.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium until hot, but not smoking.
4. Cook seitan for about 3 minutes per side. Place on a plate.
5. Add 1 T of the butter and add mushrooms and bell pepper. Cook until mushrooms are golden brown and giving off their own juices. Add the wine and turn up heat to medium high. When the liquid has reduced to about half, add 1 T of the butter and the broth. Cook until sauce begins to thicken – several minutes.
6. Lower heat a tad and add seitan. Cook about 5 minutes per side. Sauce should reduce and thicken.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.

1. Oven baked seitan

2. The pan-fry

3. Mushrooms and pepper

4. Ready to eat

“Essence” Seasoning

2 ½ T paprika 

2 T salt

2 T garlic powder 

1 T black pepper

1 T onion powder 

1 T cayenne pepper

1 T dried oregano 

1 T dried thyme

combine all ingredients; yields 2/3 cup