Vegan Coq Au Vin (roast cauliflower steaks in a rich mushroom & onion stew)

Yes, with a few considerations its easy to prepare this meal for gluten-free diets. Use a gluten-free vegetable stock and a gluten-free soy sauce such as Tamari, or an alternative such as gluten-free coconut aminos, and check that the red wine vinegar is also free of gluten ingredients. Also, use a gluten-free plain flour blend and if using vegan bacon and vegan butter choose ones that are also gluten-free. Lastly, its best to check all pre-packaged food to make sure that it is safe for gluten-free diets.

Yes, although the wine or vin is a traditional addition to a classic coq au vin it can be replaced with similar flavours to recreate some of the wine flavours. We use fresh apple juice, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and vegetable stock and coupled with the tomato paste and sugar that is used for the cauliflower steak rub it all marries together nicely.

In traditional coq au vin the alcohol content in the wine is mostly cooked off, but we wanted to create an alcohol-free recipe, because we don't tend to buy alcohol and we wanted to keep the cost of the recipe down and have a recipe that it is more accessible for more people.

Of course, if preferred you can add some red wine such as a Burgundy red wine or Pinot Noir, and this addition is especially good if you have some red wine leftover that needs using up. Julia Child used 1 ¼ pints of red wine in her recipe back in the 1960s, but any amount can be used including a full bottle! If you do add some red wine then omit the red wine vinegar and reduce the vegetable stock by whatever amount of wine you add.

Julia Child also included ⅛th of a pint of Cognac, which is a type of Brandy, but for our vegan coq au vin we went with fresh apple juice as a non-alcoholic alternative.

The mushrooms provide a hearty chewy bite and savoury flavours for the vegan coq au vin but of course as with all home-cooked meals ingredients they can be substituted for another that will do just as good a job. A few ideas are eggplant, courgette, bell peppers, tofu or tempeh, cooked chickpeas, cooked green lentils, canned jackfruit, canned artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, roasted chestnuts, cooked carrots, cooked turnips or parsnips chunks, or green or black olives.

The cauliflower steaks could simply be replaced with medium-large cauliflower florets and cooked the same way as per the recipe. However, if you would like a different alternative try one of the following: Portobello mushrooms or flat mushrooms, tofu or tempeh sliced into thick steaks, seitan steaks, thick slices of eggplant or courgette, slices of butternut squash or acorn squash, large broccoli florets, purple sprouting broccoli, asparagus, or vegan chicken steaks or chunks. However, you may need to adjust the cooking times depending on your subsitition.

There are several options that can be used instead of shop-bought vegan bacon. A few ideas include tempeh or tofu bacon, coconut bacon, carrot bacon, eggplant or carrot bacon, sliced up pieces of vegan deli ham or meat-free slices such as Quorn vegan ham slices, or small pieces of cooked seitan.
Cooked vegan sausages, hotdogs, burgers, chunks, or pieces can also be chopped up into small pieces and used as a bacon replacement. Other ideas include red beans which can also be a nice vegan bacon bits replacement. Beans such as pinto or azuki and consider adding about 2 teaspoons of paprika or liquid smoke. Alternatively, prepare our Vegan Carrot Dog (meat-free hot-dogs) which results in delicious smoky, tangy, savoury, and sweet vegetable hot-dogs. Slice the carrot dog up into small butter soft pieces and it will make a great vegan bacon bits alternative.

If you would prefer to replace the vegan butter in this recipe, there are a few options. The main role of the vegan butter is to provide a fat for sautéing, which helps with flavour and browning of the onions, mushrooms, and vegan bacon. A few alternatives are olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil such as sunflower or rapeseed, or omit the oil or fat completely and go with a small amount of vegetable stock. Although, do keep in mind that different oils and fats, as well as the vegetable stock, have different flavours so the end dish will be affected by any ingredient changes.

The red wine vinegar adds some of the acidic and tangy red wine flavours that are missing from a wine-free coq au vin, but the red wine vinegar could be replaced with balsamic vinegar. Some versions of coq au vin use white wine instead of red, so, the red wine vinegar could also be replaced with a white wine vinegar or at a pinch use apple cider vinegar.

In traditional coq au vin recipes, little pearl onions are often used due to their size and sweet flavour. Also, they hold up well during the slow-cooking as they keep their shape whilst also absorbing the flavours. However, for our vegan version of coq au vin we used shallots as those were the only option available at our local supermarket, and they worked very well as they are small, and nice and sweet with a good texture. Shallots also hold their shape well during cooking. Other options include small sweet Cipollini onions, as well as ordinary yellow or brown, or white onions, or red onions, which can be sliced into thick slices or wedges so that they do not break down too much during cooking.

Any leftover uncooked cauliflower from slicing cauliflower steaks can be stored within the refrigerator for a few days and used for a different recipe.
Some ideas for using leftover uncooked cauliflower are cauliflower rice, cauliflower soup, roast cauliflower to go with a curry, cauliflower mash or add the cauliflower to mashed potatoes, or add the cauliflower to a stir-fry or to a salad.

Most often the cauliflower leaves that are removed from the cauliflower are discarded into the rubbish bin, but the leaves are very nutritious and we always use the leaves if they are unblemished. The leaves can be washed well and any very tough stalks and stems removed, and then sliced up to use in any soups, stews, curries, blended sauces, and stir-fry's.

Mashed potatoes and a green vegetable such as green beans, peas, cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts, or sugar snap peas, are perfect sides for a coq au vin. A few other ideas include this Wartime Champ [a mash of potatoes, swede, and cabbage], mashed swede [rutabaga], mashed sweet potato, baked white or sweet potato, roast potatoes, potato wedges, thick noodles, rice, wild rice, black rice, quinoa, couscous, corn-on-the-cob, crusty bread, French baguette, dinner rolls, or fresh salad.