St. Patrick's Day: Cock Of The North, Colcannon, Beer Gravy, Soda Bread

Dinner 3/17

Cock Of The North

Colcannon

Beer Gravy

Soda Bread

As we have done since 2002, if it's St. Patrick's Day, it must be "Cock of the North". Served, as always, with colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale), beer gravy (using Samuel Smith Nut Brown) and Soda Bread...

Cock Of The North

olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, cut on the bias
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 tbs. tamari
16 oz. seitan, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 tbs. all-purpose flour
salt, pepper and thyme
1/4 cup of Irish whiskey (or cognac)
1 1/2 cups (unfilted/unfined) red wine
1 1/2 cups veg stock

In a large dutch oven, on medium-high heat add 1 tbs. olive oil and saute the seitan cubes until browned on all sides. You will probably need to do this in batches. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add an additional 1 tbs. of olive oil and saute the onion and carrots with a pinch of salt about 4-5 minutes until softened, then add the garlic and cook for one additional minute. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

Add an additional 1 tbs. olive oil and saute the mushrooms with a pinch of salt until they've lost their water and browned, about 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add 1 tbs. tamari and cook for an one more minute.

(You can multitask here and saute the seitan in the wok while you're cooking the onions/carrots/mushrooms in the dutch oven. But if you want to cut down on the extra pans to clean later, you can cook everything in the dutch oven.)

Add the seitan, carrots, onions and garlic back to the dutch oven. Add pepper to taste, a pinch of thyme. Add the flour, stir to combine and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Turn of the heat off and slowly add the whiskey. Turn the heat back on and CAREFULLY ignite the whiskey. Some folks like to tip the edge of the pot towards the open flame -- for the less adventurous (including us), we stand (way) back and use a hand-held igniter. Let it flame for a good 30 seconds then place the lid on top to extinguish.

Add the wine (we used a 2005 Cotturi Estate Zinfandel) and water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, put the lid on and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Check to see how thick it is -- if it still seems too liquid-y, leave the lid off and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Check for seasoning and serve hot.

Tags: seitan, beer, bread, potatoes, gravy, st. patrick's day, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666