When Phil Cooks and Vegan Oytser Sauce

That is what happens when Phil cooks. (plus a huge bowl full of his guacamole and baked tortilla chips he made for me b/c I said I don't want deep fried crap anymore).

Yes, I know what you are thinking, because I am thinking it too: "Why don't you let him cook every night?" He certainly wants to. Actually lately he's been feeling left out in the kitchen, which is why I suggested he make some Mexican food (his favorite). But I started this blog to encourage myself to cook and become more creative in the kitchen. And I was feeling left out before. So I guess we need to find a balance.

Anyways, I don't know what he did and he's at work right now. But we used the seitan recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance which is also on the PPK forums here. He wanted to make 'skirt steak', whatever that is, so we combined forces and sweated stretching it out. It seriously looked like intestines or pig stomach, or something amazing that I will never touch or eat unless someone's life depended on it. He also added some herbs and spices that he had hand-ground in our new mortar and pestle that he loves. It ended up being more like chicken when we cooked it, he says, but I don't really know what he's talking about. We were thinking maybe baked seitan will yield a more steak-like texture-- next time we'll try that.

We used quinoa instead of rice, and a combination of black and pinto beans, and he made some awesome sauce for the seitan. Phil's guacamole is magical, and I think even if he were here he wouldn't tell me the secrets. Delicious! We stuffed ourselves that night!

Moving on-- last night I made a classic 'cleaning the fridge' dinner. And for some random reason, I just so happened to have dried mushrooms (go fig).


So I found a recipe for vegan oyster sauce (recipe at very bottom) on Bryanna Clark Grogan's blog and decided to use it! I'm still on an orange kick, so that had to be included, as well.

As for the stir-fry, it was strange, but I'll give a recipe anyway.

'Chicken' with Oyster Sauce
Serves 2
Ingredients:

• Enough seitan for two people, chopped into pieces
• 1 large leek, chopped
• 1/3 c. peanuts
• 1 large portobello mushroom, thinly sliced
• 1 c. broccoli or other green veg (i used green beans... eh)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, sliced
• 3/4 c. Bryanna's oyster sauceor alternative
• 1 orange
• 1 tsp. oil

1. Heat oil over medium heat in skillet. Add the leeks and garlic and cook until they start to wilt, then add seitan. If you need to, add 1/4 c. water to keep everything from sticking.
2. Throw in the mushrooms and cook about five minutes, or until they are soft. Add peanuts, ginger, and oyster sauce and continue cooking.
3. Roll the orange on your counter, applying pressure-- this makes it yield more juice (i've also heard you can microwave it, but i don't have a microwave). Cut it in half and squeeze the juice of one half into the stir-fry.
4. Once everything is cooked to your preference, spoon it over quinoa or rice and garnish with clices from the other half of the orange.

The leeks make a really interesting texture in a stir-fry. It was delicious!

Until next time.