*waves* Hey there! Remember me? After Vegan MoFo I just kind of disappeared. I really don’t know what to say about my disappearance. I guess I just sort of got turned off by food. That and I had a lot going on between my father visiting for almost half the year and then of course the joys of winter *eye roll*. I really just wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything. My father went back home and the weather is finally clearing up leaving me in a much perkier mood.
Anyway, I wanted my first post to be something meaningful. I remember eating the non-vegan version of this sandwich years ago. Way back when I was living in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Now if you’re Portuguese and you’re looking at this and thinking ‘You’ve got it wrong!’, I really don’t. I just sort of added my own touches. I meant to slice the sietan instead of shred it. I wanted slightly thicker pieces. Here’s what I did…
A friend of mine suggested I use this seitan recipe claiming that it was the best. I’ve been meaning to try it out, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. Until I came across this recipe for cacoila. I made a few changes to the seitan thanks to a friend’s suggestion. I used a can of white beans in place of the tofu and didn’t knead it to death. Instead of cooking the seitan in the ‘chicken’ broth I cooked it in the ‘cacoila broth’. The only changes I made there was 1 onion instead of 2, 4 cloves of garlic instead of 2 and no Crisco. Also, I didn’t form patties or cutlets out of the seitan. I shaped it into a log and placed it in a baking dish with the ‘cacoila broth’ and flipped it over half way through the cooking process. It wasn’t easy either. Somehow I managed to do it leaving it in one piece. After about 1 1/2 hours I removed it from the oven and sliced it up.
Now I couldn’t tell you if this was in fact authentic. Yes, I’m Portuguese, but the last time I had decent Portuguese food was when I was a kid. So I really don’t remember what cacoila tastes like. But this vegan version tastes pretty darn good. So good my husband literally inhaled the sandwich shown above. The texture of the seitan was unbelievable. It was so tender and juicy. And it had a nice little kick to it too. If sandwiches aren’t your thing you can serve this over some plain rice or alongside some boiled potatoes. That’s how I remember eating it back in the day.
Now that I’m back I’m really hoping to get my act together and start eating the way I should be eating. Here’s to hoping for a better and healthier new year.
