The Easter meal should be lively and colourful, it should enclose a multitude of sensations and contrasts because this is how spring is. It should also contribute to safeguard health, without which one would not be able to fully enjoy the pleasures of the approaching sunny season. There’s a dish which encloses all these characteristics, namely the Sweet and sour seitan with Monk’s Beard and sauces made with beetroot, curcuma, red cabbage, pumpkin, peas and aromatic herbs.
The range of cooking procedures used (from roasted to lightly browned to raw) and the contrast of flavours (from sweet to sour, from bitter to spicy), of the textures and the colours, all contribute to creating a dish with a dynamic and stimulating effect.
Recipe for 4 people
INGREDIENTS
for the marinated seitan
400 g seitan cut into 2 cm dices
50 ml Modena balsamic vinegar
15 ml agave syrup
10 ml Shoyu (soya sauce)
2 g chopped coriander seeds
30 ml extra virgin olive oil
15 ml ginger juice
2 g sweet paprika
for the Monk’s Beard
400 g clean Monk’s Beard
salt
15 ml extra virgin olive oil
for the lemon and curcuma sauce (yellow)
50 g cashew nuts (left to soak for 8 hours and then rinsed)
15 ml lemon juice and the zest of half a lemon
1 g powdered curcuma
½ scallion
salt
30 ml water
for the beetroot and ginger sauce (red)
50 g cashew nuts (left to soak for 8 hours and then rinsed)
30 g raw beetroot
15 ml lemon juice
½ scallion
5 ml apple vinegar
salt
40 ml water
for the red cabbage sauce (purple)
50 g cashew nuts (left to soak for 8 hours and then rinsed)
50 g red cabbage
15 caraway seeds
5 g ancienne mustard
salt
40 ml water
for the peas and fresh aromatic herbs sauce (green)
100 g fresh peas
10 g chives
10 g of mixed oregano, marjoram and parsley
15 ml extra virgin olive oil
salt
40 ml water
for the carrot sauce (orange)
10 g cashew nuts (left to soak for 8 hours and then rinsed)
100 g pumpkin
100 g carrot
15 ml extra virgin olive oil
½ scallion
2 g coriander
salt
40 ml water
METHOD
for the seitan
Put all the ingredients into a casserole dish and leave them to marinate for at least two hours. Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes.
for the Monk’s Beard
Using a large pot, bring a large quantity of salted water to the boil, add the monk’s beard and then drain them after 10 seconds. Cool them in very cold water and season them with oil.
for the sauces
Blend the ingredients with a powerful blender, gradually adding the water until the texture becomes smooth and thick. Put each sauce into a piping bag or a sauce bottle with a small nozzle and leave them in the fridge until you need to use them.
FINAL COMPOSITION
Place the Monk’s Beard in the centre of the dish and put the (warm) seitan on top. All around, draw some dots of colour alternating the different sauces. Finish with some edible flowers such as primroses, violets, daisies (on top of being visually pleasant they also have remarkable nutritional proprieties), some sprigs of fresh aromatic herbs and some black sesame seeds.
See also
Vegan Easter
