Seitan - Arugula/Baby Spinach with Blueberry Vinaigrette (No Added Fat)

My daughter and I were shopping at Whole Foods Market today and saw a prepared main course of arugula and corn, which inspired me to make something even heartier with seitan. As I was starting to make the dish, I decided to stick with just onion, seitan, and arugula (and baby spinach, as I only found arugula packaged with it) to let the dish focus on these flavors.

I wondered what a raspberry vinaigrette might be like with it; I didn't have raspberries, but did have some tasty organic blueberries. I found a nice recipe for a blueberry vinaigrette, and was delighted that it included yogurt as an ingredient; I've been wanting to cook with the yogurt that I am regularly making now. Here is the simple dinner that I crafted.


Ingredients

• 3/4 cup onion cut into 1/4" or 3/8" cubes
• 8 ounces of seitan, roughly cut into approximately 1/2" or smaller pieces
• 4 ounces of arugula (in fact, I only found packaged washed arugula with baby spinach, so used that, instead)
• Vinaigrette ingredients
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 2t balsamic (or red wine) vinegar
• 1T vegan yogurt
• 1t chopped onion
• 1t maple syrup
• 1/8 t salt
• 1/8 t black pepper

Process

1. I put the onion and then the seitan into my large Saladmaster stock pot and cooked waterlessly for about 15m (i.e., had the heat on medium high and covered the pot; when the vapor release valve started clicking, I reduced the heat to low till the clicking mostly stopped and continued to cook, covered for 15m).
2. I turned the heat off and stirred in the arugula-spinach mixture, then covered the pot again and turned the heat on to medium for a minute to let the waterless cooking go a bit more then turned the heat off and let the pan sit, covered, for 2m or so to let the greens wilt.
3. In the meantime, I blended the vinaigrette ingredients till homogenized, just 10-15 seconds or so.

Results

Dinner was great! We were all pleased with the combination in the main course.

Ideas for the future

I should have used the entire 5 ounces of my arugula/spinach as I think a bit more greens could have been good. Cooked arugula is a good idea and I should explore this more.

Oh, that vinaigrette was excellent! I should make vinaigrettes and sauces more often.