Field Roast Grain Meat is actually a meat substitute made out of wheat gluten (sorry celiacs but this is definitely not for you). I had read about how great it was and really wanted to try it. I found it at Whole Foods near the dairy section by the tofu. I decided to use it to turn this recipe, Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Sage, into a vegan dish.
Field Roast offers several flavors of its grain meats. I decided to go with the Smoked Apple Sage Sausages for the recipe:
At first I was a little wary. I mean it looks like meat but its not really meat. What exactly is it going to taste like? And more importantly what will the texture be like? I am very big on the texture of my food. There are certain foods I don't like because of the way it feels in my mouth. Shrimp, lobster, scallops, and ham to name a few (hmm...all meat).
Anyway I already bought the things so we had to go for it. Now on with the recipe!
Roasted Butternut Squash and Sausage Pasta
Serves 3-4ish
1 butternut squash
2 apple-sage Field Roast sausages,
Olive oil
White onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped or pressed
Penne pasta, about 8 oz
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel and chop butternut squash into 1 inch pieces (make sure to scoop out the seeds in the middle), and place in large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat. Spread in glass pan or baking sheet and roast in oven for about 30 minutes or until fork tender.
Meanwhile cook pasta according to directions, drain and set aside. Slice sausages into 1/2 inch rounds. Heat oil in skillet and add onion. Cook for a few minutes then add garlic. Cook a couple more minutes. Add sausages and cook until browned. Add pasta and roasted squash. Stir to coat everything, adding a bit more olive oil if necessary.
Voila!
The result: I made my husband try the Field Roast first because he will eat anything. He loved it! And so did I! It is seriously the best non-meat "meat" that I have tried. The texture is really good and it had great flavor. My husband said he could seriously eat it all the time. He has already been asking when we can buy it again because he wants to try all the flavors. I thought the apple sage sausages worked really well in this recipe.
Next time I might make a few changes though. This pasta dish didn't really have a sauce, just some oil coated all over everything. The roasted squash and the sausages were really flavorful so it didn't necessarily need it though. However next time I might try some veggie broth mixed in at the last step. Or I might try a bit of soy cream or thick coconut milk as a substitute for the cream in the original recipe. I might also drizzle with balsalmic vinegar as the original recipe calls for that as well.
The Field Roast sausages cost about $5 for a 4 pack if I remember correctly. We only used two of them in this recipe so we had two left over for another dinner. That means the "meat" portion of our dinner cost $2.50, which is not really any more than you would spend on real meat (maybe even less!). Even if you aren't interested in a vegan lifestyle, consider trying this stuff. It's way healthier for you than meat and you might find that you like it better.
Can I also just throw in that another great thing about vegan cooking is that you never have to worry about contamination from raw meat? That is something my husband and I have thought of several times while cooking these past few weeks. You can cut everything on the same cutting board, you don't have to be meticulous about washing your hands and your knives and getting nasty meat juice on the counter. Nope! It's great!
All in all the recipe was a success and I'm looking forward to trying more of Field Roast's products.
More pasta recipes:
Chickpea Pasta
6 comments:
I love this stuff. I have been experimenting with a lot of recipes using all different flavors of the sausage. I sauteed the Italian style sausage with green, red and yellow peppers and some onion and served over linguine. Awesome! I use the apple sage in mini cheddar/sausage biscuits. Last night I used it to make a shepherds pie. I sauteed it with garlic, onion, peas and carrots and then mixed in a mushroom/red wine gravy, topped with mashed potatoes and baked at 400 for 20 mins then a little time under the broiler. I used the chipotle sausage in a red and white bean jambalaya (The Seitanic Jambalaya from "The Veganomicon"). Just wanted to share a few faves. Your recipe sounds great- I will give it a shot sometime. Maybe adding some Kale or Collard would be a nice touch?
I love tyhe Field Roast brand and I have heard they have a "real" roast like shape but have yet to find it. I usually buy this brand at Whole Foods when I make my monthly rounds to the Detroit area. I have also made my own "faux" sausages, which my husband actually prefers and he is a meat eater (I am not). I am so glad I found your blog. I am adding it to my Reader.
Hi ChrisAnn - thanks for the ideas! The shepherd's pie sounds great.
Hi Jan - I've seen the Field Roast that is shaped like a roast. At my WF it's right next to the sausage ones. If you go to the Field Roast website you can see a picture of what it looks like.
I tried the celebration roast the other night when we had company. I served it with the same mushroom red wine gravy and cranberry sauce with a side of mashed delicata squash and spaghetti squash and a salad. It was really freaking good...
Just a quick follow up- I made this last night- roasted the squash and onion, used whole wheat penne and for an addition to the "sauce", I heated milk (can use soy, oat, dairy, whatev)and thawed chopped spinach and blended them with an immersion blender, adding sage, pepper and salt. It was really good.
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