Simple meals

Variation: For a crisp, golden brown bread crumb top- ping, toss some fresh bread crumbs with some melted vegan butter, then sprinkle them over the pasta before baking. Do-Ahead Tip: The dish can be assembled a few hours before baking and kept covered at room temperature. When ready to serve, bake as directed.

Seitan (pronounced say-tan) is a versatile ingredient used in vegetarian and vegan cooking. It’s high in protein and has a chewy, meaty texture. Seitan is often referred to as “wheat meat” because it’s made from wheat gluten.

What Is Seitan?

What I like about the Field Roast sausages I use in the bangers and mash recipe (page 178) is that they incorporate vegetables and herbs into their seitan base, with results that are softer in texture and more sausage-like than wheat-meatlike. I don’t use much seitan in my home-cooking, but I still think it is an important product that folks should know about and consider using in their vegan home-cooking. Seitan can be found in the refrigerated section of your natural foods store, usually near the tofu.

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