I decided one day a few weeks ago that I needed to make some variety of squash soup. My mum was visiting at the time so it was great to have a taste tester for this recipe! Immediately I knew I didn't want to do a curried squash soup. I love curried squash soup, it is a delicious combination that I surely will revisit at some point....but this time it felt ubiquitous, and anyway I had rosemary and vegan sour cream in the fridge - so something a bit classically inspired instead.

When it comes to pureed soup, texture and consistency is of paramount importance in my opinion.
Sometimes I will strain my soups through a chinois (fine mesh strainer) to get a super creamy texture, but I didn't do that here. It didn't really need it. If you have a decent hand blender, you can get the same result as I did. The texture is smooth, creamy and I think, perfect. Oh, it tastes really good too!!!

​Makes about 40 nuggets or 30 fingers

If you haven't made seitan before or perhaps haven't heard of it....stop right there!!! It really does mimic the texture and look of meat. I brought some to work for my omnivore chef coworkers and they approved. My crispy chick'n  is made from a dough that quickly comes together in a food processor. It gets kneaded by hand for about 10 - 15 minutes afterwards, and then is simmered in water for about 45 minutes. Once cooled it's ready to do with as you please. You don't have to bread these in the panko crumb mixture. Grill or sauté in a pan, or maybe even shave onto a sandwich (haven't tried that but I want to) For me though, coating them in this spiced panko mixture and frying them is undoubtedly the most delicious way to enjoy them.  I either rip them into random chunks for "nuggets" or I slice them into longer strips for "fingers". 

Seitan is a dough made from vital wheal gluten. It's usually mixed with other flour such as chickpea, and flavoured with herbs, spices, & seasonings.  It's high in protein, making it perfect for vegans & vegetarians or anyone looking to cut down on their consumption of animal products. Gluten is the protein found in wheat. (and other cereal grains) Vital wheat gluten flour has had the starch washed away so that it is the protein that remains. When making your own seitan at home, it is important to kneed the dough for the recommended amount of time because that's what will give it it's meat like texture once it's been cooked. If the dough doesn't get worked for a long enough period of time it will give the seitan a spongy texture - not what we are striving for here!

For portioning into Nuggets/Fingers:

• Rip your seitan into chunks. Mine were all random sizes and made about 40 pieces

OR

• Slice each seitan filet into about 5 long strips. There are 6 filets so you will get at least 30 fingers depending how thin/thick you slice them. 

Breading:

Panko Crumb
(Dry Mix)
In a bowl, mix together the following ingredients:

•  1 cup panko crumbs
•  1 cup AP flour
•  2 tbsp or smoked paprika
•  1 tbsp oregano
•  2 tsp kosher salt
•  1 tsp chili powder
•  1/2 tsp celery salt
•  1/2 tsp garlic powder
•  1/2 tsp mustard powder
•  1/2 tsp allspice
•  1 tbsp sugar

(Wet Mix)
whisk together until no lumps remain (it will be quite thick)

•  1 cup chickpea flour
•  1 cup unsweetened soy milk

** You want the wet mixture to be thick enough that it sticks to the seitan strips, if too thin it just runs off the strips and there is nothing for the breading to stick to. 
  

​Bread the Nuggets/Fingers

• To bread the nuggets use 2 forks and dip each piece into the wet mixture and then into the panko breading. Place on a sheet pan until you're ready to fry them.
• To freeze place nuggets on a flat surface first such as a small sheet pan or on a plate pop them in the freezer, once frozen transfer to a container or freezer bag. 
• To Fry the nuggets you'll want to heat your oil to 350F. Simply fry them until golden brown and crispy. Dip them in your favourite condiments, eat them on top of a salad or slice and tuck them in a wrap or a sandwich! 

OK so this green tomato chutney is gorgeous. 

I had one tomato plant in a pot sitting on my front deck all summer. Come mid September the plant was full of tomatoes but none had ripened. Hurricane Teddy was in the forecast so I decided to harvest the entire plant the day before we were supposed to get weather. I was happily surprised that the yield was 4 lbs. Fried green tomatoes were tempting but I decided to make something that would utilize the entire amount of tomatoes and then not worry about anything going to waste. 

I have no regrets making this chutney. If I plan life right, next year I hope to grow and harvest even more green tomatoes and then can jars of this. It is soooo tasty and ridiculously simple. Put everything into a pot and simmer away until tomatoes are slightly softened. Yummy sweet and sour curry flavour with raisins. I've been eating this with vegan chicken fingers just because I haven't had a lot of time to do something super creative with it. 

How I want to use this chutney:
- As a condiment to accompany any spicy curry meal with rice & naan. 
- Blized up a bit and as a dipping sauce for Vada (fried indian dumplings)
- On some kind of fancy sandwich or in a wrap. 
- On a vegan cheese board

Method

1. Put everything into a large pot except for the raisins
2. Bring to a simmer
3. Cook (stirring now and again) until reduced and tomatoes are softened but still have texture. If the chutney has reduced a lot (aka super thick) and you want to cook it longer, add a splash more water. The longer you cook it, the softer the tomatoes will be. So just taste now and again until the tomato chutney is as you like it.  
4. ​Add raisins towards the end, heat through, taste & add a sprinkle or two more salt if desired.
5. I didn't do the whole canning procedure for this. I just packed it into mason jars and am keeping in my fridge. I think it would be fun to do an even larger batch and can it in order to have green tomato chutney all year long, though. 

​