The Green Rocket Cookbook, by Phillip Pearce is a new, completely vegan cookbook loaded with 80 simple and delicious recipes that will have you salivating.
Author Phillip Pearce, who is also owner of the Green Rocket café and restaurant in Bath, released this cookbook due to popular demand from the many regular and long-term customers who have been asking him to share his recipes for years.
Elite sports nutritionist and author of The Plant-Based Power Plan, TJ Waterfall, has described the cookbook as “a brilliant collection of plant-based meals that are sure-fire crowd-pleasers for vegans and meat-eaters alike. Be warned, from experience, that if you’re cooking these masterpieces for guests, they’ll be pestering you for the recipes afterwards!”
The cookbook is available to purchase at bookshops including Waterstones and online from www.mezepublishing.co.uk and Green Rocket online shops.
The recipe we will be focusing on is the flavoursome seitan steak alongside crisp Hasselback potatoes, a meal that will keep you warm during the cold, wintry evenings.
Total Time: 1 hours and 20 minutes (20-minute preparation, 1-hour cooking time)
Serves: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1.5 litres vegetable stock
- 100ml soy sauce
- 50ml sherry
- 20g dried mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 200g gluten flour
- 50g chickpea flour
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon paprika
- 300ml water
- 4 medium-size potatoes
- A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Method
For the cooking liquid:
- Put all the ingredients into a medium-size saucepan and bring to the boil. While this is heating up you can make the seitan dough.
For the dough:
- Combine all the dry ingredients before adding the water. Mix with your hands first for a minute or two, then turn out the dough on a clean surface or board and knead again for a couple of minutes until soft.
- Cut the dough into quarters and place the pieces in the hot cooking liquid. Make sure they are all fully submerged, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes. The dough will expand a lot as it absorbs some of the liquid.
- After 40 minutes, check the centre of each piece to make sure that the seitan is cooked right through.
- Remove all the dough pieces and leave them to cool. Carve into thick slices for this recipe.
- To fry the seitan steaks, use a good few tablespoons of olive oil in the pan and cook on a medium heat. If the heat is too high, the seitan will go crispy.
For the Hasselback potatoes:
- You can make these while the seitan is simmering. Preheat the oven to 200°c. Scrub the potatoes clean and pat them dry.
- Use a sharp knife to cut slits in the potatoes along their width, going most of the way
- through but not completely so they remain whole. Each cut should be about 2mm apart. A little tip here is to lay each potato in between the handles of 2 wooden spoons so you do not cut all the way through.
- Place the potatoes on a baking tray and rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Tear the rosemary into smaller sprigs and tuck these into the slits.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then check they are starting to crisp up, brush on another layer of oil and roast for a further 20 to 30 minutes.
To serve:
- Serve the Hasselback potatoes straight from the oven with the seitan steaks, peppercorn sauce and some lightly steamed tenderstem broccoli seasoned with salt and your best olive oil
SEE ALSO: Michele Rodriguez-Wise’s Potatoes with Spicy Chorizo, Red Pepper & Tomato
