Chef Sara Boan’s Un-Chicken and Biscuits

Recipe courtesy of :

Chef Sara Boan, Catskill Animal Sanctuary's Compassionate Cuisine program

Included In Cookbook:

Ingredients

For the Herbed Biscuits

2 cups

White Whole Wheat Flour

1 tablespoon

Baking Powder

1 teaspoon

Baking Soda

1⁄4 teaspoon

Salt

1 teaspoon

Sugar

6 tablespoons

Vegan Butter (cold, diced)

3⁄4 cups

Non-dairy Milk (mixed with 1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar)

1⁄2 cup

Fresh Parsley (chopped)

Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk (for brushing tops of biscuits)

For the Vegetable and Seitan Stew

1 tablespoon

Olive Oil

1 tablespoon

Vegan Butter

Onions (medium, chopped)

Carrots (medium, sliced)

4 stalks

Celery (chopped)

1 pound

Seitan (cut into ½-inch cubes or the equivalent amount of Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Strips)

1⁄3 cup

Flour

2 1⁄2 cups

Vegetable Stock

1 1⁄2 cup

Non-dairy Milk

1 tablespoon

Fresh Thyme (chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

2 tablespoons

Nutritional Yeast

3⁄4 teaspoons

Sea Salt (use less to start if your broth contains salt)

Freshly Ground Pepper (to taste)

1 cup

Frozen Peas

Description

(Soy-free and nut-free options)

Serves 8-10

This rich, aromatic stew is loaded with seitan and vegetables, then served with flaky, tender biscuits for a satisfying and comforting entrée. If you wish to avoid wheat, just substitute the equivalent amount of Beyond Meat’s Chicken’Free Strips for the seitan, according to Chef Sara of Compassionate Cuisine [1]. And, by all means, feel free to substitute other vegetables if you prefer them: sliced mushrooms and/or zucchini would work beautifully here, she points out. For a soy-free option, choose soy-free non-dairy milk, and soy-free vegan butter. For a nut-free option, choose nut-free non-dairy milk.

Summary

Yield	Servings

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat olive oil and vegan butter in a large saucepan. Add onion, carrot, celery, and a pinch of salt, and cook over medium-high heat until just tender, about 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until flour is lightly browned and smells toasty. Add the vegetable stock, non-dairy milk, thyme, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Stir in the frozen peas. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer gently as you prepare the biscuits.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Add the vegan butter, and use a food processor or pastry cutter to work in the butter until it resembles small pebbles. Use a spatula to fold in the “buttermilk” and parsley, and knead briefly in the bowl, adding extra flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into a circle roughly half an inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter or a narrow drinking glass, cut out as many biscuits as you can. Re-roll the dough and continue making biscuits until you’re out of dough. You should have between 10 and 12 biscuits.
Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to brush each biscuit with a small amount of non-dairy milk. Bake the biscuits for 25-30 minutes, until baked through and starting to brown.
To serve, ladle the hot stew over a split biscuit or serve biscuit on the side of the dish.

Notes

The biscuits can also be baked on top of the stew for a one-dish meal. To do this, instead of simmering the stew, pour into an oiled 9×13-inch baking dish, top with the uncooked biscuits, and bake for 25-35 minutes, until biscuits are browned and stew is bubbling. Yum!