Many of the omnivores in my life regularly bow down and praise the almighty “Steak Bake” as sold by a certain, famous high street “bakery”. I’ve never really understood the love of this particular pasty. Back in my meat-munching days I was always disappointed by the lack of filling – too much gravy and not a lot of anything else.

So, I was surprised to find myself fancying one the other day. So I made a couple. Using seitan. Oh mighty seitan –  now there’s a food that deserves worshipping!

Meaty, savoury, filling and best of all, animal cruelty free. My Fake Steak Bake recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ x cups vital wheatgluten
• 1 x 400 g tin black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 x medium onion (roughly chopped)
• 2 x tsp vegan friendly Worcester sauce
• 1 x tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 x tbsp veg oil
• 2 x tsp beef seasoning
• 1 x tsp minced garlic
• ½ x tsp browning
• 1 x tsp black pepper
• 2 x tbsp water
• 250 g vegan friendly shortcrust pastry (I used Jus-Rol)
• 2 x tbsp gravy granules (I used Bisto original)

Method:

You will only need about ¼ of the seitan to make two large pasties. The left over seitan freezes well or is great in a sandwich.

1. Whiz up the wheat gluten, black beans, Worcester sauce, mustard, oil, beef seasoning, garlic, ½ of the onion, the browning, pepper and water in a food processor until a smoothish paste is formed.
2. Add the gluten and whiz until combined into a dough.
3. Knead for 5 – 10 minutes either by hand or mixer. The longer you knead the more bite the “beef” will have.
4. Roll into a thick sausage shape and loosely wrap in tin foil. Place into a steamer on a low – medium heat for 45 minutes.

1. Leave to cool in the fridge overnight.
2. Cut off ¼ of the seitan and chop up into meaty chunks.
3. Fry in a little oil along with the remaining onions, just until the edges of the seitan starts to crisp and the onions start to go translucent.
4. Add the gravy granules and stir in enough water to make a thick gravy. Once bubbling, turn off the heat.
5. Roll out the pastry into 2 rectangles of equal size. Spoon the filling over one half of each rectangle, leaving a 2 cm gap around the edges. Fold the clean halves over the top of the filling and use the back of a fork to press down the edges in order to seal the pasties.
6. Bake on a lightly greased baking tray for 15 – 20 minutes (until golden brown) at 180oC.

I’m a dirty-girl and snaffled mine up with lots of ketchup!

Flash-Gordonette…x