Improvising: Seitan tortilla casserole

With this blog, ragazzi, we are going to explore two themes that are important in cooking.  One is improvisation, and knowing HOW to improvise.  The other, is the importance of making basic materials that can be used, for various things.

This past weekend, Annalena made a  casserole:

This is a variation on a recipe that she's posted before, viz:

http://annalenacantacena.blogspot.com/2009/08/annalena-cooks-mexican-sort-of-fill-as.html

At the time she printed this, back in 2009(!!!!), she mentioned filling it as you like, and that it was sort of Mexican.  It is and it isn't.  And the techniques laid out in that recipe are going to come into play here, especially the portion dedicated to green sauce, so she suggests you review this, because she is not going to make green sauce again, in this post.  BUT.... because she made QUARTS of green sauce at the peak of the season, and froze it, and because she has a REALLY good source for a commercial green sauce:

https://www.spoon.com/roasted-tomatillo-salsa.html

She was able to make this, using what was in her fridge, and needed to be used:  she had a pint of seitan, a bag of about half a pound of mushrooms, tons of baby spinach from her CSA, and some cherry tomatoes that were beginning to give her the stinkeye. Also, from her favorite ladies at hot bread kitchen, she had a whole bunch of frozen, organic corn tortillas.  

Necessity and improvisation are, ultimately, at the heart of all cooking.   "Necessity" was not and is not a big thing with much of what we cook and eat:  if we don't like what's around, we buy something else.   On one level, that's fine.  On another level, if you want to cut down your food bill, learn to use what you have, and you'll be happy:  IF you know what you're doing. 

Annalena thinks of green sauce like tomato sauce, chicken stock, flour, butter, olive oil, oatmeal, etc:  it's an ESSENTIAL.  She can use it when company comes over as a quick chip dip, she can stew chicken in it, or pork, and she can use it for a dish like this.   So, while tomatillos are not in season at this time of year (at least not locally), when they come back in, make the sauce.  OR, go to American Spoon (one of Annalena's FAVORITE on line companies), and buy some.  The 11.00 they charge is not extravagant.  

The original casserole recipe Annalena had, called for thick slices of summer squash.  Ultimately, a cut like this, when seared, replaces the meat in what would be a meat dish.   There is substance to the thicker slices,  the squash takes on a sear just like meat, and it takes up volume.  These are all things that are important when making a composed meat dish.  Seitan fits that role very well.  Annalena has talked about seitan before, and you can find those discussions within the blog.  Go to it.  

Mushrooms are also a very standard, meat substitute.  Meaty, solid,  and something which takes up a good deal of volume, you've all seen  portabello burgers, mushroom cutlets, and dishes of that sort.  So, with seitan and mushrooms in her refrigerator, Annalena had the makings of a dish which would not have any meat in it,  and hence, no cholesterol.  

The original recipe for  the casserole also used a greens element.  In the past, Annalena has done this dish with swiss chard, and with kale, so baby spinach seemed very appropriate.  Finally,  one can find entire categories of dishes called "Mexican lasagna."  These dishes do not hail from Mexico, nor can one call them lasagna correctly,  but they do involve layering tortillas (almost always corn), with a tomato sauce.  Hence, precedent exists for putting them in a dish of  this type. 

Ok, ragazzi, enough with the talking!  Let's cook.  To start, get your seitan, and cut it into slices.  Put it aside, and cut up about 3/4 pound of mushrooms, into slices, quarters, halves, whatever suits you.  Any type of mushroom will do.   Annalena had simple, button mushrooms around.  She cut the larger ones into four pieces, the smaller ones into halves. 

Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a non stick pan (an important consideration for seitan).  When the pan has heated up (five minutes or so), add the seitan.  It will sizzle.  After a couple of minutes, move it around.  You'll see sear marks on some sides.  You want that.  Get the coloring on the seitan as best you can, then move it to a big bowl.  Now, repeat, with the mushrooms.  You may need to add a bit more oil, and if you do, do so.  Move those to the bowl as well.  

You can substitute the seitan with another meat substitute , like tempeh, but try to avoid the flavored varieties.  You can also use chicken, or diced pork, if you are a die hard "I WANT MEAT " eater.   And of course, you might very well substitute eggplant, or squash, or another heavy weight vegetable, depending on what you have.    If you do not care for mushrooms, then leave them out.  Just up the volume of the other product. 

Ok, using our seitan and mushrooms, which we've dumped into a bowl, now, we do one more level of cooking:  slice two onions thinly, add more olive oil, and saute' them in the pan with half a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and anywhere from half to two teaspoons of chili powder, depending on your heat tolerance.  When the onions have softened, and begun to brown, dump them in the bowl too.  Cut up your cherry tomatoes (you could substitute the larger varieties, if you wish),  and add those.  Finally, add about six cups of raw baby spinach.  Spinach loses volume rapidly, so this is not all that much.    If you use another green,  you may wish to cook it , if it's something like kale or collards, or use it raw, for chard, or softer greens.  If you cook the greens, you will want to start with six cups uncooked, and cook them very quickly.  (they will shrink markedly).

Now, let's construct the dish!  We need a 9x13 inch non metal pan.  The sauces we use have a great degree of acidity, so we want to avoid metal.  Put down a cup and a half of the stuff, be it homemade or out of a jar:

Cover this with overlapping corn tortillas. The size of your tortillas will dictate how many you need.  If you use 8 inch (the standard size), Annalena suggests you use 4-6.  Also, she suggests that you warm the tortillas very quickly in a small, dry pan (30 seconds per side), to permit them to open up and absorb some of the sauce. 

When  you've done that, it's time to layer the filling, which looks so:

Note that we still have raw spinach.  That's fine.  There's a long cook ahead.  Just dump this mix over the tortillas.  Cover the filling with tortillas, and then add another 1.5 -2 cups of the green sauce:

You then sprinkle cheese over this.  Again, necessity dictates things.  When Annalena made this the first time, she used smoked cheddar cheese.  She has made it over and over again with lots of cheeses.  Stay away from hard ones, like parmesan and pecorino, as well as the goat cheese family.  These simply do not melt properly, and you want a good melt.  Four ounces of cheese will be plenty.  Annalena used fontina.  Put the casserole into the oven, at 375, for only about 30 minutes (remember that anything that needs cooking has already cooked, so you will not need much time).    After  the 30 minutes, you have:

This will feed AT LEAST four very healthy appetites, and ultimately, you need serve nothing with it:  you have a vegetable in it (spinach, tomatoes), you have protein (seitan, cheese), and you have starch (tortillas).  Annalena suggests a VERY crisp salad with it, preferably one with an avocado and some oranges in it, and maybe some olives (which would go well in filling as well). 

Play with the recipe, improvise, and let Annalena know what you come up with.  She bets you'll do a fine, delicious job.