Sage & Rum Marinated Vegan Filet Mignon with Green Peppercorn Gravy

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
• In a big bowl, combine the dry ingredients (vital wheat gluten + black pepper crushed manually) and set aside. Don’t add store-bought ground black pepper, crush the whole peppercorns yourself.
  
• In a non-stick skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the onion, adding a pinch of salt to help with the browning process. Cook for 3 minutes and then add the garlic. Stir in the dark rum and continue cooking until the liquid has been absorbed and looks golden brown, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.
  
• Press the tofu manually, squeezing out the water wrapping the tofu with a kitchen towel, twisting and squeezing hard until all water is out.
  
• In a high-speed blender, combine the crumbled pressed tofu, rum infused red onion and garlic, mushroom broth, Japanese soy sauce, miso paste, canola oil, red wine vinegar, beetroot powder, and dried sage, and blend until smooth.
  
• Scoop the blended ingredients into the dry ingredients and combine with a sturdy silicone spatula until a dough begins to form.
  
• Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead vigorously for around 5 minutes. Make sure it's elastic enough to not tear when you stretch it apart. Make a few tests and if it breaks too easily, keep kneading and try again. This is a very important step as the texture of the filet mignons will absolutely depend on it.
• Shape the dough into two filet mignons.
  
• Place them on a parchment paper-lined baking tray on the middle rack of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 45 minutes.
  
• In a large pot, combine the vegetable broth, sprigs of fresh sage, slightly crushed black peppercorns and garlic, quartered onion, bay leaves, and chili pepper. Bring to a boil.
  
• Place the filet mignons into the boiling broth and immediately reduce to a simmer. Leave the pot uncovered and simmer for 45 minutes. Monitor the pot to make sure it's not boiling and turn occasionally.
  
• Remove the pot from heat, cover and let them cool in the broth for a few hours until lukewarm.
• Transfer them to a food storage bag and add 2/3 cup of the broth, 2 tbsp of dark rum, and the sage sprigs inside it. Refrigerate overnight or up to 1 week. Chilling is very important so do not omit this step
  
• The next day, once they have cooled, bring them to room temperature for around 1 hour before glazing.
• In a small bowl, combine extra-virgin olive oil, Japanese soy sauce, pure date syrup, freshly ground black pepper and ginger powder. Using a silicone basting brush, spread the glazing all over the seitan filet mignons.
• Using a deep non-stick skillet, add the glazed filet mignons and turn them to coat. Lightly brown them, turning frequently until a gorgeous deep brown colour is reached.
  

GREEN PEPPERCORN GRAVY

• In a high-speed blender, combine the water and cashews, and blend until smooth. This will make a cashew cream.
• In a small saucepan, over medium heat, add the vegan butter and let melt.Stir in all-purpose flour, and whisk to dissolve. Add the green peppercorns,cashew cream from the blender, 1/2 cup of the broth in which the tenderloin was simmered, ginger powder, and Japanese soy sauce, stirring until itthickens.
  
• Slice the tenderloins and serve warm along with the gravy and our Pumpkin Risotto (linked above). Enjoy!