Quorn Fillets in Vermouth with Tarragon & Creme Fraiche

Serves 2, takes about 30 minutes (plus thawing if frozen). Easy recipe. From calorie-counting sites, this comes out at about 320 cals per serving, mainly because of the oil and creme fraiche. The latter could be replaced by yogurt for a lower count.

Not everyone likes to eat vegetarian food that looks like meat, and interestingly, Quorn are now calling their fillets 'Chicken Fillets' - it's Vegetarian Society approved though, and I guess they get away with it by making this clear on the front of the pack.

I've been a fan of Quorn for some time, in fact since they changed to free-range eggs in order to get Veg Soc approval for the whole range, and more customers. It's not that they look like meat - and have similar texture - but that they are enjoyable in their own right and, especially, versatile.

When we go to have lunch with rellies where we all have different likes, each of us chooses a meal and brings it to the occasion. I devised this recipe for mine and everyone commented how luscious it looked; I'm sure I had the best deal! But for the reason why there's no pic of the finished dish, see below ...

The quantity serves two, but of course can easily be doubled or - as in my lunch - halved! With this method, the cook needs to be on hand all the time, but if there's a need to leave the kitchen for a while, the recipe could be made up from steps 1 to 5 inclusive, and the food placed in a shallow oven dish and left in a moderate oven (say 150C) to finish cooking  for 15 minutes, with the creme fraiche added just before serving.


Quorn Fillets in Vermouth with Tarragon & Creme Fraiche
Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
4 Quorn fillets
half a leek, trimmed & finely sliced
75g mushrooms (about 6 medium), wiped & stalks trimmed, coarsely sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (leaves only) or 1 good tsp dried
75 ml white vermouth (preferably dry)
150 ml hot vegetarian stock (e.g. scant tsp bouillon powder)
100ml creme fraiche

Method
1  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium pan, medium heat, then saute the fillets gently
        for 5 mins, turning once during cooking, so that they are lightly browned.
2  Remove the fillets from the pan, add the remaining oil and saute the leeks for
        4-5 minutes, stirring at times, until starting to brown.
3  Add the mushrooms and saute gently for 2 mins, stirring at least once.
4  Return the fillets to the pan with the tarragon & vermouth, and cook 5 more mins.
5  Stir in the stock.
6  Simmer for 5-7 mins more, then stir in the creme fraiche to thicken the sauce
        just before serving. Place two fillets on each plate and spoon the sauce over.

Adapting
A medium onion could be used instead of leek. Dry sherry would work instead of vermouth, or this could be omitted and the volume of stock increased a little. Tarragon is the business here, but otherwise thyme leaves, coriander or parsley could stand in.

Serving
Suggest new or 'baby' potatoes and whole French beans. Rice at a pinch. To accompany, dry white wine, cider or apple juice.

Fessing Up!
When I rustled this up for the rellie meal, I forgot to take its picture, although it looked very appetising. Then, for the same purpose, made it again a few days later; remembered to have the camera at the ready, took the picture - sauce dark and forbidding since I'd forgotten to stir in the creme fraiche (which makes it paler and a better background for the fillets). Could my word do for this?