Seitan Marsala, Anyone?

In case you were wondering, I opted to make the Cap'n Seitan Marsala over a curry upon his most recent return home. We went with the wine base option as he had to fly all day the following day, and I'm thinking that spicy and long hours in the cockpit? Not a good combination....ahem.
Anyway! While the pic surely looks entirely too much like the Burgundy Seitan dinner from the other night, rest assured that this version is EVEN BETTER! Granted, this Italian girl is all about the Marsala. I just love the tanginess of it. I've included a kinda recipe as it's something I don't ever measure out so much but easy enough to wing it, even if you've never made it before. This was served, not surprisingly, over a bed of whole wheat pasta and a side of garlic sauteed broccoli. What can I say? We're a couple of broccoli fiends!

Seitan Marsala (serves four)

Your favorite 'beefy' seitan, sliced thin (I used 1/4 Ellen's best unchuck roast in the crockpot)
10 oz. 'shrooms (white or baby bellas are perfect)
1/2 small onion, sliced thin
2c. Marsala cooking wine*
4 T vegan margarine
5-6 T flour
sea salt & pepper
couple pinches parsley (i had dried on hand)
pinch or two rosemary (again, dried)

1. Pour wine in bowl and immerse seitan (add some broth that you store it in as well, this will give you a deeper sauce, and more of it!). Then chop veggies.
2. In a skillet on med to med-hi heat, drop 2 T of the marg. and saute veggies until onions become a bit softer and 'shrooms begin to sweat.
3. While they're cooking, put flour, salt, and black pepper in large ziploc baggie, add seitan, seal, and shake to coat thoroughly.
4. Remove veggies from oven and place in wine/broth.
5. melt remaining 2 T marg in pan and brown coated seitan about 5 min per side and remove (you can keep it in if ya like, but I was low on room in this particular pan.
6. add wine and veggies (and seitan if you removed it) to pan and simmer until sauce thickens**.

Using a quarter of my roast, this made four good servings.

*I've used both the fancy, expensive Marsala wines and the cheapo bottles found in the oil/vinegar section of the grocery store. Honestly? (and I may very well be insulting my ancestors as I type this) I really prefer the cheap stuff. It just seems to give more flavor when reduced versus the more pricey varieties.

**If you just can't wait any longer for the sauce to thicken (read: your broccoli and pasta are done and the wine is reducing but just not working with the flour in there to thicken up fast enough) you can mix one T cornstarch with one T cold water and add that to simmering sauce once you've let it simmer already for about ten min. You want to reduce it a bit before serving to get the best flavor....but sometimes, we can only wait so long! ;)

You could also skip the coating seitan with flour step and just brown on it's own for a healthier version. In this case, I'd definitely rely on the cornstarch/water addition to thicken the sauce up nicely.

enjoy!