Chxn and Potatoes in Red Wine Sauce

I love a solid one-pot meal like our Chxn and Potatoes in Red Wine Sauce.  It is simple to make and quick to clean up--not to mention hearty and packed with flavor.  Our recipe was inspired by a red wine braised chicken dish from one of the America's Test Kitchen magazines.  As usual, their version was a bit fussy (and not vegan) so we used it as a springboard to create something just right for us. 

Chxn and Potatoes in a Red Wine Sauce
1 onion, sliced
3-5 cloves garlic, smashed or sliced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 lb potatoes, cut into large chunks
2-3 bell peppers, slices
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
1 Tablespoon flour
1 Cup red wine
1 Cup chxn broth
4 servings seitan, cut into large chunks
1/4 Cup cashew cream 
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Fresh herbs, optional

• Saute the onion in the olive oil until just starting to get translucent, about five minutes. 
• Add the garlic and peppers and cook another couple of minutes, until fragrant.
• Add the paprika, salt, flour, seitan, and potato.  Pour the wine and broth over top and stir well to combine.  
• Bring to a boil then reduce heat.  Add fresh herbs, if using.  Cover the pot and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
• Add the cashew cream and stir well.

We have some beautiful peppers from the garden these days.

A few notes.  

I make a micro-batch of cashew cream in the culinary wondertool that is the Vitamix for this recipe.  It is just equal parts cashews and water blitzed together to a rich, frothy, creamy liquid.  Barring that, I think coconut milk would be a good substitute.  Or a little non-dairy milk thickened with lemon juice.  I'd bet money that the original ATK recipe called for heavy cream.

We use our potato flake seitan for this recipe, but I'm sure storebought chxn would also work well. 

This is a dish where I like to play around with the spices.  Last time I added some fennel seed along with the garlic.  Once we added some soyrizo to the mix.  Fresh basil gives the gravy an Italian comfort profile.  The options are really endless when the base recipe is this dank.