Last Sunday night I was honored to have catered the premiere of Eleni (aka Eleni Binge) Valchos’ documentary, Seeing Through The Fence at the Manbites Dog Theater in downtown Durham.

The premise of the the film was how we all relate to the foods we choose to eat, with a focus on why being Vegan (not eating any animals or animal by-products) is a compassionate and conscientious way of eating.

As Eleni is vegan and most of the people seeing the film were either vegan, vegetarian or maybe looking closer at this lifestyle choice. I catered the event with all vegan treats….and every single morsel was gone by the time the movie began! While the crowd munched on the goodies they were entertained by one of the best bands in town The Wigg Report.

Here are some pics of the process of catering food for this event of 100+ people and some pics of the event itself.

Thanks Eleni for letting me supply the “kind eats.”

The Menu:

Spanikopita Bites

Quinoa & Black Eyed Pea Croquettes

Seitan Skewers (both spicy and thai peanut)

Ginger-Peanut Butter-Sesame Shortbread Cookies

Seitan Skewers plated up and ready to eat.

And Eleni’s Peanut Butter Balls, The Wigg Report & of course the film…were all a HUGE hit with the crowd!

The trailer for the film. Enjoy.

Oh, the joys of Seitan. That wonder “meat” that is so good for you (of course unless you are Gluten Intolerant) that is packed with huge amounts of cholesterol free proteins and loads of iron.

So, the other day my mother in law and I attempted to make homemade Seitan…it was my third time, her first. My first attempt was in college and what I ended up creating made me discouraged and I never tried it again…until a few weeks ago.

I had told my vegan friend, Eleni about my previous failed Seitan experience. She told me that she had a great recipe and that she could give me a lesson. We spent a couple hours in her kitchen to create the Seitan and what came out was moist and firm, but with a bit of sponginess, basically perfect! I actually ended up using it by making shish-kabob ’s as an appetizer for our Kristmas Party…they were a huge hit! (Thanks Eleni!!!)

Now, when I made it with mom in law, it was a disaster….HARD RUBBER would not be a good enough description of the texture of our 4 balls of Seitan…it was almost like when you microwave a piece of bread for 10 minutes and the next thing you know you’ve created a hockey puck of dough…but more rubbery.

So, being the uber-frugal-food-science-nerd-girl I am I thought, “ya know, I bet I could save this Seitan somehow.”

Originally I had seasoned 2 of the balls with traditional sausage spices that I had added to the dry Vital Wheat Gluten. I am a HUGE sausage freak…whether it is pork, chicken or faux (my fave mainstay) I love the flavors of sausage, the spices and the saltiness, and thought how good it would be to be able to make a Seitan Sausage. Well, the flavor was amazing, but like I said, the texture could have pulled out someone’s dental work.

The other 2 balls were plain, but in a blind attempt to salvage them for our dinner I had sliced them into cutlets and then coated them in a Thai Sesame Butter Sauce* and then coated them in Nutritional Yeast Flakes seasoned with garlic and onion powders, then baked them until golden…all in the hopes that the sauce would add some moistness back into them, but no luck. My hubby and his mom and I ate a few pieces but they were so hard to chew that it made that nights dinner experience not so good. I stored the uneaten cutlets in some tupperware and started thinking about their future.

It’s 2 days later and I have decided to make something out of the rubber Seitan that is now taking up space in the fridge. My first thought was, “this stuff needs to be ground”. It makes sense in my mind, because tough cuts of meat are ground down and then made into patties and meatloaves and such, so why not this tough Seitan?…

So, into the Black & Decker food processor for some spinning time they went, but separately. I made two batches, the sausage one and the Thai Sesame one and I have to proudly say, that I have created “Veggie Crumbles”…but BETTER!

The sausage one would be great in a lasagna, tacos or chili and the Thai one actually came out a bit creamy, so I am thinking of adding it to some ground chickpeas and making some Thai inspired patties that I might bake in the oven or lightly fry in some oil in my cast iron skillet. Also, I will def be making some wonton dumplings or raviolis with that batch.

I measured out about a cup and a half of each mixture and sealed it in some freezer bags so that I can quickly defrost to use. I wonder what the freezing process will do to them?…I’ll have to let you know how it works out.

So, when in doubt about when to throw out…think outside of the trashcan and try to save your Seitan.