My Morning Chocolate

Seitan Piccata with a side of pasta and vegetables

Last week, I decided I wanted to research a use for seitan – essentially wheat gluten, i.e. flour with the starch washed out of it – that is so tasty, it could compete with the meat, poultry, and fish dishes on Top Chef.

My inspiration was episode 1 of Top Chef Las Vegas when Jen, one of the few contestants to use a vegetarian protein in six seasons of the show, was sent home for her seitan dish.

The best seitan I have had is from Candle 79, an upscale vegan restaurant in New York that has pleased all of the meat eaters I know (an admission: this only includes those who were brave enough to try foods other than sautéed spinach and salads).  Looking for a recipe, I started here, googling ‘Candle 79 recipes’.

While looking through the results, this seitan piccata recipe came up.  A lot.  I flipped through a couple of pages, looking for a second Candle 79 recipe to choose from, but link after link connected me to seitan piccata.  With all this hype, I had to try it.

To make this dish, I used my homemade seitan from last week, which sadly was not as satisfying as the packaged version – it was heavy and tough and reminded me more of meat, a texture I don’t like much (note to self: next time, cook the seitan longer).

But unfortunate seitan texture aside, the piccata sauce – lemon, butter, capers, onions, shallots, white wine – was  all salty, buttery tartness.  I first had piccata sauce at the The Olive Tree when I was in middle school, and this is one of the foods that showed my very picky eater pre-teen self how delicious food can be.

Aside from being tasty, piccata sauce is also very easy to make.  Top Chef judges won’t swoon over its creativity – piccata sauce is also a popular topping for chicken, turkey, and fish – but, if the texture of the seitan is right, I would stand behind this dish.  I think it can compete.

Seitan Piccata

The full recipe for Seitan Piccata can be found on Chow’s website.  For the piccata sauce, I halved the amounts of oil and butter that the recipe recommends.  Use this sauce over your favorite poultry, fish, or seitan.

Adapted from Chow’s Recipe for Seitan Piccata

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup chopped shallots

¼ chopped yellow onion

½ teaspoon garlic

2 tablespoons drained capers

½ cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon butter or soy margarine

½ cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

½ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a sauté pan over high heat.  Add shallots, onion, garlic, and capers, and sauté, stirring frequently until softened, 1 to 2 minutes.  Whisk in wine and lemon juice and cook 3 to 5 minutes more.
2. Add broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 1 minute to combine the flavors.  Whisk in butter/soy spread, parsley, salt and pepper.  Pour over desired protein and serve at once.