meatless dip

if you've made seitan, or have an excess sitting around and are wondering where to start, this meatless dip sandwich inspired by french dips and italian beefs, is juicy, spicy, and oh so chicago. what makes it oh so chicago? the giardiniera peppers of course. i didn't realize until leaving chicago that true giardiniera (the delicious stuff packed in oil) was not readily available every where else. in eugene, the closest i've come to finding the stuff is large cut cauliflower and carrots packed in brine. what am i supposed to do with that? certainly not put it on a delicious sandwich...
anyway, this sandwich is super simple, and i have to say that no photo will accompany this "recipe" because it's not a pretty one. it's one you'd want to eat on a somewhat questionably clean bar stool, wearing a shirt you don't mind getting a bit stained.

ingredients:

1 baguette, cut sub style
about a cup of seitan, cut into strips
giardiniera peppers, packed in oil
sriracha chili sauce (the asian bright red hot sauce with a rooster logo), optional
1 cup veggie broth (if you made seitan from a previous recipe on this blog, you can use the broth you cooked the seitan in), warmed

in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, brown the seitan strips so that they develop crispy parts, about 5-7 minutes. open up the baguette, and lightly toast it. when it's warm, layer a generous amount of seared seitan. top the seitan with giardiniera peppers. if you are using mild peppers, or if you want to kick up the heat of your sandwich, add a few stripes of sriracha, but if you've never used it before, watch out, it's hot stuff.  at this point your sandwich is basically ready. you can either dip it into the broth like a french dip, or douse it in broth like an italian beef. just keep in mind that both the french and italians alike would probably scoff at you for either method. ah well, they don't know what they're missing. enjoy : )