The Candle Cafe’s Seitan Skewers & Vegan Soul Kitchen’s Citrus Collards

Yesterday was my Sarah’s birthday. She chose the menu, so what we got was a couple of tried and true recipes from the bookshelf: The Candle Cafe Cookbook’s Seitan Skewers with Chimichurri Citrus-Herb Sauce made with homemade seitan from Veganomicon’s simple seitan recipe (which is, as the title suggests, totally simple to make and quite excellent), and a side of Vegan Soul Kitchen’s Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux.

The Candle Cafe's Seitan with Chimichurri Sauce, VSK's Citrus Collards, and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes.

The Seitan is really excellent, we make ours not with skewers and a grill but as succulent chunks of seitan cooked in a dry cast iron skillet. It gets nice and crispy and perfect. And, if you like seitan, the citrus marinade and sauce are simply to delicious and easy to make not to try this recipe.

Recipe :: Seitan with Chimichurri Citrus-Herb Sauce
serves: about 4

Ingredients::

for the Marinade:

• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 pounds seitan, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

for the Citrus-Herb Sauce:

• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup silken tofu
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• sea salt to taste

Directions:

Prepare the marinade: Place all marinade ingredients (sans the seitan) in a blender, blend well. Marinade chunks of seitan for at least an hour (really), or overnight.

Prepare the sauce: Place all sauce ingredients a blender, blend well. That’s it.

When all that marinating is done:Preheat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, saute seitan 3-4 minutes on each side, until nice and crispy (or however you like it).

And, the Citrus Collards from Vegan Soul Kitchen are amazing. Really most things from VSK are up there on the list of excellent recipes, but these are really great. It’s a pretty perfect go-to collards recipe for when you’re tired of simply sauteing them, etc. The touch of orange juice gives them great citrus flavor and the raisins are a sweet surprise in every bite.

Recipe :: Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux
serves: 4-6 as a side

Ingredients::

• coarse sea salt
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into a Chiffonade, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions:

In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoons salt. Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards./span>

Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander.

In a medium-size sauté pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the collards, raisins, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add orange juice and cook for an additional 15 seconds. Do not overcook (collards should be bright green). Season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately. (This also makes a tasty filling for quesadillas.)