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These baked cutlets are great for things like seitan Parmesan, or just as a meaty main dish with mustard sauce (page 204), red wine roux (page 204) or the sweet Vidalia onion sauce (page 216). They are firmer and chewier than boiled seitan; when sliced thinly across, they can be used in any of the seitan recipes in this book.

They’re also wonderful left whole and grilled and then smothered in whatever sauce you choose. To grill, coat your grill pan with oil and place over high heat. Lightly press any extra water out of the seitan with your hands. Coat with a little olive oil and grill on each side for about 5 minutes, pressing down with tongs to get grill marks.

You can also dredge them in flour and fry them in a little oil on each side for about 4 minutes.

Broth: 6 cups vegetable broth

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Cutlets: 1¼ cups vital wheat gluten

½ cup cold vegetable broth

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated on a microplane

grater

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)

PREHEAT THE oven to 350°F.

Prepare the broth:

Bring to a boil in a pot and then turn off the heat and keep covered.

Prepare the cutlets:

Place the wheat gluten in a mixing bowl. Pour the cold vegetable broth (not the vegetable broth you boiled, but the broth in the gluten ingredients) into a measuring cup. Then pour in the soy sauce. Add the oil, garlic, and lemon zest, and mix. Pour the wet mixture into the flour and combine with a wooden spoon until most of the moisture has absorbed and it’s partially clumped up with the flour. Use your hands to knead for about 3 minutes, until the dough is elastic. Divide into six equal pieces; the best way to do this is to roll it out into somewhat of a log shape and then slice it with a knife.

Take each piece and stretch and knead it into an Oblong cutlet shape that is a little less than ½ inch thick. Use your body weight to press it and stretch it on a hard surface; there will be some resistance but just keep at it.

Pour the heated vegetable broth into a 9 × 13-inch glass baking pan or a ceramic casserole (If all you have is metal, that’s okay). Place the cutlets in the broth, then bake for about 30 minutes uncovered, turn the cutlets over (use tongs for this and it’s easy), and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place the cutlets in a colander to drain. The cutlets are now ready to use in whatever seitan recipe you choose. If you have extra seitan, store it in the cooking liquid in a tightly covered container.

CHICKPEA CUTLETS

MAKES 4 CUTLETS

TIME: 30 MINUTES

We try not play favorites, but this is one of our babies and a recipe that we are sure will take over food blogs worldwide. A combination of chickpeas and vital wheat gluten formed into savory cutlets, it’s perfect for when you want something “meaty” but don’t want to go through the trouble of making seitan. We serve these cutlets in myriad ways, packed into sandwiches or smothered in mustard sauce, with a side of mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus. It’s vegan food that you can eat with a steak knife and, best of all, it is fast and easy. You’ll probably want to double the recipe if you’re serving it to guests.

1 cup cooked chickpeas

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup vital wheat gluten

½ cup plain bread crumbs

¼ cup vegetable broth or water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated with a microplane

grater

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon Hungarian paprika

¼ teaspoon dried rubbed sage

Olive oil for panfrying

IN A mixing bowl, mash the chickpeas together with the oil until no whole chickpeas are left. Add the remaining ingredients and knead for about 3 minutes, until strings of gluten have formed.

Preheat a large heavy-bottomed nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, divide the cutlet dough into four equal pieces. To form the cutlets, knead each piece in your hand for a few moments and then flatten and stretch each one into a roughly 6 × 4-inch