Seitan Divan

If my memory serves me right, I practically grew up on chicken divan. My take on the classic American dish of the 50's doesn't involve all the processed fatty staples the dish usually consists of like condensed mushroom soup and mayonnaise, but rather a look back at the original replication using homemade bechemel sauce, fresh mushrooms and some additions of my own.


Sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and leeks in a creamy almond-based white sauce, simmered with broccolini, toasted almonds and seitan in a zucchini shell.

Seitan Divan
5 tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 large zucchinis, halved lengthwise and mostly hollowed out
1 cup small diced chanterelle mushrooms
8 oz seitan, medium dice
1 small leek, thinly sliced, greens and white parts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 tbl ap flour
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp dijon mustard
pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vegan sour cream
1 small head broccolini, cut into small florets
1/3 cup toasted, sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 425.
Lay the zucchini boats on a baking sheet, cut side up and drizzle with 1 tbl olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside until filling is done. Reduce the oven temperature to 350.
Bring a saute pan to high heat and add the oil. Once is starts to slightly steam, add the mushrooms and seitan and sear until golden brown and crispy, 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the leek, salt, pepper, thyme and lemon juice, cook 4 minutes. Once the leeks are tender, transfer this mixture to a plate.
Add 2 tbl of oil into the saute pan followed by the flour. Stir to cook the flour for 2-3 minutes.
While whisking the flour, slowly stream in the vegetable broth so the sauce stays smooth and free of flour clumps. Add the almond milk, dijon and a pinch of nutmeg and bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce thickens, 2 minutes.
Stir in the sour cream.  Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Add the broccolini and remove from the heat. Mix the seitan and almonds into the sauce.
Fill each hollowed zucchini boat with as much filling as possible and bake for 20 minutes.