In my kitchen, autumn means roasting! This vegan centerpiece takes some time to prepare — just like Mom’s nonvegan roasts, of days past — but the hearty deliciousness makes it time well spent. Reach for this recipe to impress company at special events, holidays, or dinner parties; or use it as a make-ahead staple for sandwiches, wraps, and stews throughout the week. You’ll also get to enjoy a warm, cozy, delicious-smelling kitchen at no extra charge!
Ingredients
Hearty dark broth:
- 6 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon vegan unbeef soup base (such as Better Than Bullion)
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 4 tablespoons Bragg’s liquid aminos (or organic soy sauce)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Roast:
- 3 cups vital wheat gluten
- 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- few shakes coarsely ground black pepper
Vegetables:
- 2-4 potatoes chunked or thickly sliced, peeled if desired
- 4-6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
- 1-2 onions, cut in eights
- 2-4 carrots, chunked or thickly sliced
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
- fresh or dried parsley, to garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Oil a 10″ x 14″ casserole dish well, or line just the bottom (not the sides) of the pan with parchment paper.
Mix up the broth: combine water, bouillon, red wine, Bragg’s (or soy sauce), olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a large bowl or pitcher.
Prepare gluten mixture: in a large mixing bowl, combine gluten flour, all purpose flour, nutritional yeast, and black pepper, stirring well.
Add broth 1/2 cup at a time to the flour mixture, kneading gently until all ingredients are wet and it forms a soft dough. It’s not like bread dough: just knead it enough to get everything combined, and then stop; don’t overdo it. If you end up adding more broth than the dough can absorb, just pour it back into the broth mixture.
Let the dough rest after initial mixing/light kneading, for about 5 minutes. Lightly re-knead dough, forming it into a long French bread loaf shape. Pour about 1/2 of the remaining broth into the pan, place roast dough into pan, then pour the rest of the broth over it.
Bake 30 minutes, loosen the bottom of the roast from the pan with a spatula, and bake for 30 more minutes. Using 2 spatulas, carefully turn roast over; bake 30 minutes, turn it again, and bake 30-45 more minutes.
While the roast is baking, toss potatoes, garlic, onions, and carrots with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
After 2 to 2-1/4 hours cooking time, remove roast pan from oven. Turn roast once more. Pour veggies all over and around roast, return to oven, and cook for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, for a total cooking time of 3 hours. Uncover veggies from roast, and sprinkle with fresh or dried parsley. Serve with vegan steak sauce or gravy, if desired, and good warm bread.
Production Notes
This recipe is very versatile, as long as you keep the gluten mixture and broth proportions consistent — you can use any broth you like, and any combination of root veggies. If you don’t have vegan unbeef bouillon, double the Worcestershire and us a bit more Bragg’s (or soy sauce) than called for in the broth recipe given; or use any home-made or commercially available dark, hearty soup base or broth (such as mushroom broth) that tastes good to you.
Try an unchicken bouillon (or 6 cups veggie broth, 1-1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning, 2 tablespoons real maple syrup, 2 tablespoons dry white wine or vermouth, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, and salt to taste) for a more traditional Thanksgiving style roast; if you like, surround the roast with stuffing instead of root veggies during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.
Parchment paper works well for preventing sticking, but it must lie flat on the bottom of the pan or it interferes with broth absorption and ease of turning roast. Trim it to be just a bit smaller than the bottom of the pan, if you’re using parchment paper versus oil to prevent sticking.
Leftovers make great sandwiches, hearty stews, and excellent vegan hot ‘wings’ or barbecue riblets.
Store in refrigerator for up to a week; for longer storage, cover roast slices in broth and freeze in an air-tight container.
Makes: enough to feed 6-8 hungry people, with leftovers. Preparation time: 20 minutes. Cooking time: 3 hours.
Enjoy!
Image by the author.
Tonya: On the subject of organic foods, should I vote for or against California’s Prop. 37?
I would absolutely vote FOR prop 37, if I were a California voter. I think the histrionics with which the biotech and food manufacturing industry has approached the issue speaks to what a good idea it is — any increased transparency that freaks ’em out so much is most likely an excellent idea! ;-)
Seriously, though, I think people have a right to know what they’re eating — and then to buy or avoid whatever suits them, for whatever reasons make sense to them. It should be consumer choice, not industry choice, what people put in their own bodies. That’s my opinion.
Yes on 37!
Thanks for reading, and for the question.
Tanya: Good advice. What is troubling about this measure is that it contains language that is so much more than the GE in your food issue. I know you don’t live in California so you might not be completely aware of the other aspects of Prop. 37, but it is coauthored by Jim Wheaton, an attorney who was successful in getting Prop. 65 passed several years ago in California. This measure made it mandatory for signs to be placed in buildings saying “This facility contains materials that have been known to cause cancer.” Included in the toxic elements was Vitamin A — go figure. These signs are everywhere in the state and people have stopped paying attention to them. Anyway, Wheaton’s law firm has sued and won more than $500,000 against building owners, shop owners and manufacturers over the tiniest “infractions” found in Prop. 65. And he is now pushing Prop. 37 that allows anyone to sue manufacturers, growers, grocers and others for not having the correct GE labeling on their products, and, get this, they don’t have to prove that any damage has been done to consumers. This is really an area that is bothering me. Any advice?
Jerry, while I appreciate reader comments — always! — I can’t help thinking you seem to have a point to make that has nothing to do with vegan roasts and/ or roots.
Are you perhaps campaigning against Prop 37, in an organized capacity, and looking for a free platform from which to espouse your organization’s viewpoint? I ask b/c I noticed that you asked the very same question on other EDB posts that had nothing to do with Prop 37 or GMO issues. So: what affiliations would you like to disclose, at this time?
I have to tell you, your remarks on this vegan cooking post surely give me an ‘anti-labeling industry PR spam’ kind of feeling.
Labeling GMOs on food is no different than labeling MSG or dairy or vitamin A or any other thing in food, which we already do. It’s not a litigation issue, and attempts to sell it as such are lame. I imagine MSG manufacturers would have tried the same argument, if they’d had as unlimited a PR budget as Monsanto.
At any rate, I’m not sure this is the very best space for hashing it all out. Many posts here ARE about GMO issues, and this discussion should probably be moved to a more relevant stage.
As always, thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Tanya
Jerry: Don’t believe the lawsuit dribble the No on Prop. 37 gang is feeding us. This is yet another example of their obfuscation in order for us to be poisoned by the Frankenfoods produced by Monsanto. So what if a few lawyers get wealthy along the way. They are fighting to save our lives! We all know biotechnology in our food is deadly. Just point to the recent French study that showed rats with giant tumors after eating this poison. Biotechnology should be outlawed! Vote yes on Prop. 37!!
Tanya:
You disappoint me. I assumed you would be objective in your responses and therefore offer some help. It’s obvious that you are a spokesperson for the organic sphere and any opposing viewpoints you render mute as being a part of the Evil Empire of Ag Chem companies. And, also equally obvious, is that you know very little about the components of Prop. 37. You tell me that the subject here is about roasts and roots, yet you allow Jenny to rag on about the dangers of biotech and she wants it completely outlawed. You allowed it to go unchallenged despite the fact that you know biotechnology has saved countless lives through breakthroughs in medicines and is allowing us to feed the world with higher yields therefore reducing starvation.
This leaves me to believe that you are extremely dense, or that you have your own private agenda as a shill for the organic industry. You are right. I am exiting this stage because you are a person who I now view as completely reckless and irresponsible and should not be appearing on a blog site which deals with biotech or scientific reasoning. Good riddance! (Like you are brave enough to post this. Not being the coward that you are.)
Aaaaannd I rest my case. Jerry, I believe the odds of you being a random reader who happens to enjoy vegan seitan roast recipes are something on the order of five hundred billion googoojillion to one, against. Good luck with your endeavors — maybe you’ll get better at it over time… because my friend, this is some transparent foolishness.
Carry on! …and do enjoy that roast.