Faux- Filet au Berre Rouge (Just OK)

This is probably crazy, but I'm going to post a recipe that didn't make me do backflips. Jim loved it. The whole idea of butter on seitan sounded good to me, but the more I tried it, the weirder I thought it was. I liked the butter part and I liked the seitan, but together, not so much. That said, I'd love the butter on some vegetables or a baked potato, or used to enrich a sauce. So while this isn't a total loss, it's a veganized Bourdain that I'm not even sending to Hezbollah Tofu. That should really tell you what I think of it.

Check out the side dish, now that's good stuff! It's Shiitake Risotto for Yellow Rose Recipes II.


The original recipe for the entree is on page 129 in Les Halles. It's basically a grilled seitan cutlet topped with wine butter. This makes a lot of wine butter, so feel free to half the recipe or just keep it knocking around for other (better) uses.

Faux-Filet au Berre Rouge, Vegan Style

The Butter
1/4 cup red wine
1 shallot, chopped finely
1 stick of earth balance, softened
1 sprig of parsely, chopped finely
salt and pepper

The Marinade
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/4 cup red wine
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp parsley (dried)
salt and pepper

4-6 oz seitan cutlets, one per person

Make the butter first. Combine the wine and shallots in a small frying pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the wine has almost all evaporated, but don't let the shallots burn. Let it cool, then mix with the softened butter and salt and pepper. The book suggests a food processor, but I didn't need it. Either it was really hot here that day (it was) or I'm a better mixer than he is or both. Dump all your butter on a big piece of saran wrap, and work it into a log (using the saran) about an inch thick. Wrap it tightly and pop it in the fridge until it is hard enough to cut.

Combine all the marinade ingredients and let the seitan cutlets marinade for an hour or as long as you can. Then just grill them. Top with a little pat of wine butter.

Apparently they do serve steaks with butter on them, or at least in Jim's memory of his youth they did in the Northeast. This really wasn't my thing. Both parts are better than the whole so try it at your own risk. Then again, you might really like it. Jim did... and believe me, he can be very honest about my cooking so I trust him.

I think I'm going to go have a cookie to boost my spirits. It takes a lot of courage to post a recipe that you're not crazy about. Then again, somebody (besides Jim) may love it!

Tonight's Dinner: Pasta and Beans