Tangy, savory, and just-spicy-enough, stroganoff is a great rainy-day comfort food. Every time I make seitan (there’s a good recipe here if you need it) I end up making stroganoff with the leftovers, and I think tonight’s iteration is the best yet.

Using good, hot paprika makes all the difference.

Ingredients

• ½ lb seitan, sliced into ¼-inch strips
• 1 T hot paprika
• 3 T vegetable oil
• ¼ lb mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 C broth
• 2 T sherry vinegar
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1-3 T heavy cream
• salt, to taste
• ½ lb pasta, cooked

1. Toss the seitan in the paprika, so that each piece is coated.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add seitan and sauté for a few minutes, until the first side is cooked. Flip and cook the other side.
3. Remove seitan from pan and add mushrooms. Cook until tender.
4. Remove mushrooms from pan. Add broth and vinegar, and bring to a simmer.
5. Turn off heat and add cream cheese. Stir to dissolve — it’s going to look weird and curdled for a few minutes, but it will eventually melt into the sauce.
6. Add cooked seitan and mushrooms, and heavy cream to pan. Add salt as needed, and serve over noodles. Top with more heavy cream if desired.

I have been watching *a lot* of Alton Brown recently, so you’ll have to excuse any culinary big-headedness. Just excited about being able to make up my own recipes is all. =D

I’m making this right now, and I needed to get myself out of the kitchen because I’m waiting for the pasta to cook and the sauce is done and *delicious* and it’s all I can do to keep from gulping it down like a little piggy.

Ingredients

• 12-16 oz whole wheat medium-sized pasta (like rotini), cooked al dente
• 1/3 cup margarine or oil
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups rice milk
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• kosher salt, to taste (three pinches or so)
• ½ cup nutritional yeast, plus some for topping
• good quality extra-virgin olive oil

If you have a dutch oven or any other oven-safe pot that will hold the dish, it’s nice to use that to build the sauce, then pour in the pasta and bake it all without dirtying an extra dish. If you don’t though, a casserole dish does just fine.

Preheat oven to 325°. Over medium-high heat, melt margarine (or oil) and add flour when hot. Stir to get rid of any lumps, and cook until the mixture has slightly deepened in flavor and smells nutty, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, dissolve miso paste in hot water and set aside.

Add rice milk in installments, whisking constantly. Stir in water/miso mixture, garlic powder, cayenne, and salt. Lower heat to medium-low and cover until thickened and boiling, stirring occasionally. Stir in nutritional yeast and add pasta. Pour into casserole dish if you need to.

Top with a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast and a good drizzle of olive oil. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes before eating or you’ll burn your tongue off.