Recipes

Flageolet Beans with Smoked Paprika

0 · Oct 5, 2009 · Leave a Comment

This is a tasty dish to serve in the fall using your locally grown peppers, cayenne peppers, leeks, and garlic, along with your fabulous imported flageolet beans. This is a bean stew which would go well with chicken, pork or just plain bread and a salad.

1 leek, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
3 small green or long italian peppers, deseeded and cut into strips
1 dried cayenne pepper, chopped finely
2 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 tsp smoked spanish paprika
4 small tomatoes, chopped coarsely
1 pound flageolet beans, soaked and pressure cooked until done (pressure cook about 12 minutes after the pressure is up – use plenty of water), then drain
3 cups homemade chicken stock
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt

Clean the leek and slice it thinly. In a 12″ non-stick pan, heat the oil for 30 seconds then add the sliced leek. Stir and fry for 2-3 minutes until beginning to soften then add the green peppers and the cayenne pepper. Stir and fry for 3 – 4 minutes, then add the garlic and the smoked paprika. Cook for another minute over medium heat. Add the tomatoes and the chicken broth, stirring all the while. Cook the this sauce for another 2 minutes then add the drained flageolet and cook for another 3-4 minutes until heated through. Season to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. Adjust the seasoning as needed.

The quality of this dish is entirely dependent on the quality of the chicken stock you use, so it is best to make your own.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

White Chocolate and Strawberry Dessert

1 · Jun 11, 2009 · Leave a Comment

For this dessert, you need fresh local strawberries, high quality white chocolate (gluten free) in a bar form, and gluten free orange liqueur.

Find a bowl that will hold 3 cups exactly when filled to the top with water. This will be serving dish. Set it aside.

Melt a 4-ounce bar of gluten free white chocolate over hot water. Take it off the heat, add 1 Tablespoon sugar, 1 Tablespoon gluten free orange liqueur, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 ounce of cream cheese. Beat well until mixed.

In a different bowl beat 1/2 cup of heavy cream until stiff. Fold in the white chocolate mixure.

Put enough strawberries (or other berries) in the serving bowl to cover the bottom of the bowl. Spoon the whipped cream/white chocolate mixture on top. Smooth the top and chill the dessert for 3 hourss or overnight. This will serve 3-4 people.

You can triple the mixture, make a crumb crust in a spring-form pan, and triple the amount of berries, put the berries on the crust, add the cream mixture, chill, then cut the dessert like a cake (since it has a crust.)

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Mujaddara – a Lebanese lentil dish

1 · Jun 10, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Inspired by a wonderful Mujaddara from a Lebanese restaurant in Troy, New York, we set out to find out how to make the dish at home. Luckily, we found a good recipe in the interesting Arab Cooking on a Saskatchewan Homestead, by Habeeb Salloum (published by the University of Regina, 2005). The secret to this terrific dish for lentil lovers is the enormous quantity of fried onions. We have found that adding a cup of turnip gratin to the finished dish makes it even better!

Here is the revised recipe:

Wash one cup of regular lentils (the inexpensive kind found in any grocery store), and put them in a pan with 5 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over medium heat of 15 minutes, then add 1/4 cup white rice , cover and cook another 20 minutes until both the lentils and the rice are cooked.

Melt 2 Tablespoons of ghee (or butter), but ghee is better, in a frying pan and fry 3 thinly sliced big spanish onions for 10 minutes, stirring, until they are golden brown. (The original recipe called for an alarming 6 Tablespoons of butter for this process.) Do not use vidalia or sweet onions for this – they do not break down or brown in the same way as spanish onions.

Stir the fried onions in to the cooked lentils, then add 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon hot New Mexico chili powder. If you have an extra cup of turnip gratin, add that as well.

Stir everything well, and serve hot with yogurt (add a clove of grated garlic to make a sauce) and salad.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

White Hakurei Turnip Gratin

0 · Jun 6, 2009 · 6 Comments

The first turnips of the spring have arrived, courtesy of a local CSA. We have learned to love the strong umami of white hakurei turnip prepared with cream and seasonings. In many recently issued cookbooks there is a complete dearth of recipes for turnip, but if you turn to the older books, notably the 1961 New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne, or the stellar 1979 From Market to Kitchen Cookbook by Perla Meyers, you will find many recipes for this neglected vegetable. The well-cooked turnip will take you on a time-travel journey back to the days when real vegetables, packed with flavor, made people grateful for every meal.

An excellent recipe for a gratin of white turnip appeared in Gourmet magazine 2007 but that recipe called for a whole cup of heavy cream and a matching cup of grated parmesan. It was hard on the arteries and on the wallet, and required both top of the stove and oven baking. So, Gf-Zing! has modified it slightly for recession and health reasons. Serve the turnips with a small steak, and a salad. You will want to obtain more fresh spring turnips, once you try them this way.

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet (make sure you have a top to fit the pan.)

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice them in 1/4 inch slices. Save the turnip greens for another recipe. You don’t need to peel the turnips. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, and 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup gluten-free chicken stock over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. The turnips will be completely cooked through, but there will be considerable liquid left in the pan. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, grate finely 1/2 cup of fresh parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Watch closely as the cheese melts and make sure that the liquid does not entirely cook away. Recipe credit: www.gfzing.com

Serve the turnips hot. The recipe is supposed to serve 6, but maybe realistically it would only serve 4, once they discover that they love turnips!

If you should happen to have a cup or so of the finished dish left over, by all means add it to a lentil dish like Mujaddara.

Make sure all your ingredients, including the spices, are gluten-free.

Salad for two, with fried eggs

0 · Jun 3, 2009 · Leave a Comment

We are all excited that the first food share has arrived from a local CSA – a local community agriculture program. The first share of the year included beautiful red lettuce, spinach, radishes, white turnips, and bok choy.

For this salad, we chose to use what was in the cupboard to approximate a recipe from the Hamersley’s cookbook – Bistro Cooking at Home. This is a great spring meal after a hard day’s work. It makes you realize how a few simple things are all that are needed for a truly fine meal!

Make a whole red lettuce ready for a salad dressing (clean and tear the salad). Fry a couple of slices of gluten-free bacon until crispy, then drain the fat and reserve the bacon and a tablespoon of the melted fat. Toast up some regular wheat bread for the wheatavores, and a couple of slices of Glutino bread for the celiacs. Set out some butter, the bacon pieces, and a couple of glasses of Riserva Ducale Chianti, 2005.

Next, make the dressing:

Mix: 1 teaspoon gluten-free Dijon mustard

1/2 a medium shallot, chopped fine

1/2 a clove of garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

salt

fresh pepper

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 a Tablespoon sherry wine vinegar (that’s 1 1/2 teaspoons)

1 Tablespoon reserved bacon fat

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Dress the lettuce, then fry 4 eggs, over easy, in the remaining bacon fat. Season them with salt and pepper. Serve the dressed salad with fried eggs, bacon pieces, toast and butter on the side, and a glass of chianti!

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten-free!

Banana Coconut Ice Cream

0 · May 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment

It’s time for the Memorial Day barbecue, and with 6 extra-ripe bananas on the countertop, our minds wandered – what to do, should we make 4 loaves of gluten free banana bread? No, and although deep-fried banana fritters were sounding pretty good what ended up seeming much better was homemade ice cream.

This recipe is refreshing, and not high in fat. The bananas have a slight tartness, and the dulce de leche’s deep brown color covers up the color of the overripe bananas, making an attractive finished ice cream. There are no egg yolks or heavy cream in this ice cream, but the texture is creamy. The major ingredient is banana.

Make the following mixture (use a potato masher to mix), and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours:

3 cups 1% milk

1 cup coconut milk

2/3 cup sugar

6 very overripe bananas, too mushy for anything but banana bread

13.4 ounce can of gluten free Dulce de Leche (or you can make your own)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cardamom

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

The mixture will be brown, like caramel. After the mixture has chilled, freeze it in an ice cream maker according to the directions.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Gluten Free Trifle

0 · Mar 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment

It’s spring and the temptation to purchase strawberries is renewed again. Unfortunately, “strawberry disappointment” follows, when the first strawberries to arrive in the supermarket, while red, are not flavorful! Time to make trifle, but how to do this in an interesting and gluten-free way?

We searched the internet for gluten free trifle recipes, and found the most interesting recipe, not quite gluten-free and way too complicated, at this address: Teafactory. Even though this recipe is “simplified” it is still too complex for ordinary humans like us, and it includes puff pastry which is not gluten free, and 2 custards. So, we have modified it to a delicious, easy and gluten-free dessert.

At the request of a fan, we have added the measurements for volume, rather than weight, for the dry ingredients, but we strongly recommend using the weights. GF flours can be ground finely or coarse, and that changes the volume tremendously. When we measured the ingredients with tablespoons, we used Koda Farms mochiko, and finely ground cornmeal and garbanzo bean flour from the natural foods store nearby.

Included in the original recipe is a Cardamom Biscuit which is gluten free and a very close textural approximation of an English digestive biscuit, but with a whallopping cardamom punch. This is an excellent cookie in its own right.

You need to make 4 layers: The strawberries, the cookies, the custard, the whipped cream. Use a scale to measure the ingredients.

Berry Jelly:

Make a compote by mixing the following ingredients and simmering them for 20 minutes:

250 grams of strawberries, cut in quarters

40 grams of sugar (3 TB or slightly more)

1 teaspoon gluten free amontillado sherry or vanilla

1 teaspoon lemon juice

(the original recipe includes rose water which we omitted)

When it has cooked for 20 minutes, add 1 envelope of plain gelatin (no flavor) which has been softened in cold water. Do not add the gelatin directly to the strawberries without first softening the powder in water or the gelatin will form globs of glue in a strawberry soup – not what you want. Cool to room temperature then distribute amongst 8 dishes that hold about 1 cup each. Refrigerate these 8 dishes until the strawberry layer has firmed up. (If you do not add the gelatin, the strawberry liquid would soak through the biscuits which are the next layer.)

Cookie layer: (this has been altered to eliminate some refrigerating and freezing steps)

Use a scale to weigh out the ingredients – this really makes a difference!

70g unsalted butter (softened) – about 5 Tb

45g white sugar – about 3 Tb + 1 tsp

25g ground almonds – about 3 Tb + 1 tsp

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

35g glutinous rice flour (also called mochiko) – about 4 Tb + 1 tsp

25g cornmeal – about 3 Tb + 1 tsp if finely ground

20g chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour – about 2 Tb + 2 tsp

1 tsp freshly ground cardamom (skin the pods, and grind 1 teaspoon of seeds in a mortar and pestle)

1/2 tsp powdered vanilla from Authentic Foods

1 egg yolk

Cream the butter & sugar.
Add all the dry ingredients & mix well.
Add the egg yolk and mix until a dough forms. Make the dough in to a disk shape.
The original recipe calls for chilling the dough for one hour here, but we just proceeded since the air is cold in winter.
Get 2 pieces of waxed paper about the size of a cookie sheet. Put 1/8 cup of white rice flour on the bottom piece, put the disk of dough on the flour and turn it over to coat both sides with rice flour. Put the second sheet of waxed paper on top. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick and cut cookies in a size that will fit in the dishes that have the strawberry mixture in the bottom. Re-roll the dough as necessary to make 16 cookies (17 if you want to taste one.)
preheat the oven to 300F
Transfer the cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on the pan, then remove them gently and put one cookie on top of the strawberry mixture in each dish. You will have 8 cookies left for the next layer.

Custard layer:

Mix 1 cup 2% milk, 3/4 cup light cream, 1 teaspoon amontillado sherry and one small (3 oz.) package of gluten free instant vanilla pudding. Beat with a whisk until thick. Divide amongst the 8 dishes on top of the cookie layer. Add another cookie on top of this custard.

Whipped cream:

Whip one cup of heavy whipping cream with some sugar to sweeten. Add vanilla or sherry to flavor this whipped cream and distribute on top of the last cookie layer.

Candied nuts (can be omitted):

Taste some pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds to see if their flavor will be an asset to the dish.

In a pan that can be heated relatively hot, put 2 Tb of pumpkin seeds and 2 Tb of sunflower seeds with 2 Tb of sugar. Heat the nuts over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar melts and the nuts brown slightly. Transfer to a plate immediately and cool completely. Garnish the top of the whipped cream with these nuts if you want an extra crunch texture.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Gluten Free Baking without Tapioca

6 · Nov 16, 2008 ·

A reader has asked for advice on gluten free baking without tapioca flour. She says:
I’m just learning to bake GF for my daughter. She does not like the taste of tapioca flour. After baking a rejected bread, we lined up all the flours & tasted them to see which one was objectionable. What do you recommend to replace tapioca? Would potato starch, corn starch or arrowroot be closest, or a mixture of one of them and sweet rice flour?

Gf-Zing has the following advice:

We think the best option would be to obtain a book of recipes for
gluten free baking without tapioca. Our favorite is Great Gluten-Free
Baking by Louise Blair, published by Hamlyn in Great Britain in 2007.
This lovely book has some excellent recipes (don’t miss the Victoria
Sandwich Cake on page 124.) This book relies on a simple combination
of rice flour and cornstarch. The book is available in the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Gluten-Free-Baking-Louise-Blair/dp/0600615839

Likewise, Healthy Gluten-Free Cooking by Darina Allen and Rosemary
Kenney, published by Stewart, Habori and Chang has a few excellent
baking recipes that do not include tapioca. The book does not have as
many recipes that exclude tapioca, but it is a great cookbook.This
book is also available in the U.S.
http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Gluten-free-Cooking-Recipes-Lovers/dp/1584794240

Best wishes for gluten-free holidays!

Birthday Cake – gluten free

0 · Jul 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment

You can make this vanilla cake with a chocolate icing, or you can include some lemon ingredients in the batter and make a lemon icing. The recipe is for 2 9-inch round cake pans, or the equivalent volume in square cake pans. To figure out the size, remember that the area of a circle is pi (3.14) times the radius squared, and you have to account for the depth also, since this is about volume…

Don’t use bottled lemon juice – use fresh juice – it tastes better.

1 1/2 cups white rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour (make sure to use a flavorless tapioca flour!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups white sugar

2/3 cup gluten-free mayonnaise

2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract

1 cup milk (for the lemon cake use part buttermilk)

This is really easy to mix up – put the first six dry ingredients in a bowl, and stir well.

In another bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until light and lemony colored. Beat in the mayonnaise and vanilla. Next, mix in the dry ingredients alternating with the milk, until all is mixed up well.

Grease the 9-inch round pans with butter, line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper, and dust the insides of the greased pans with rice flour or mochiko flour. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until a skewer tests clean. Let the cake cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife and turn out the cakes on racks to cool.

To stack the cake for icing, put the first layer on the plate top side down, frost the flat bottom side, then put the next layer on with the flat side down. This will put the flat sides together and they will not slide around as much.

To make a lemon cake, add the following and make adjustments:

Add the grated rind of one lemon and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice from one fresh lemon, and substitute for the milk 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

To make a lemon cream cheese frosting, melt 11 ounces of fine gluten free white chocolate (don’t use chips – they don’t melt well) in the top of a double boiler, allow to cool to room temperature. Mix in 12 ounces of cream cheese, and 12 Tablespoons of unsalted butter. Beat well until really smooth. Mix in 2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Use one cup of the icing between the layers, and use the rest to coat the top and sides of the layer cake.

For a chocolate frosted birthday cake, use the vanilla cake as the base. Then use the following icing from the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa Show, adapted for gluten free cooking:

6 ounces gluten free semisweet chocolate

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 Tablespoon of gluten-free pasteurized egg product, such as Eggbeaters, but check on gluten free status

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon gluten free instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water

Melt chocolate in top of double-boiler and set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy, mix in the egg product and the vanilla. Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar and the coffee mixture by hand. Do not overbeat. This is a soft icing – spread it on the cake and then refrigerate the cake immediately.

Mango Pineapple Salsa

0 · Jul 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This one is for the Engineers who all converged on Boston for the Fourth!

This salsa requires grilled onions and pineapple, so it is suitable to make before you put your chicken on the grill for barbecue. Heat up your barbecue, and do the pineapple and onions first!

Obtain some gluten free soy sauce – this means reading the labels to make sure there are no wheat, barley or rye ingredients.

Make half inch thick slices from a large red onion and a peeled, cored pineapple. Put the onions and pineapple on a rack and grill them over hot coals for 3-5 minutes, or until they start to smell good and are lightly browned. Remove them from the grill and dice them.

Put the grilled, diced onion and pineapple in a bowl and add:

2 mangoes, peeled and diced

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

1 to 2 Tablespoons grated fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons each of rice vinegar and gluten free soy sauce
Juice of one fresh orange

1 Tablespoon olive oil (to taste – you may need more)

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

A few dashes of Tabasco sauce

A small amount of salt

Fresh ground pepper

Ghee

0 · Jul 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Ghee is a useful type of highly flavored clarified butter. You can use it in French and fusion recipes, substituting 1/4 the amount of ghee for the amount of butter in some sauces, achieving great flavor without all the fat.

To make ghee, put one pound of unsalted butter in a pot, and simmer it on low-medium heat without stirring for about 20 minutes. There will be foam that rises to the top, and then the butter will bubble and boil as the water content evaporate – when the solids at the bottom of the pot start to brown, remove the pot from the heat. The flavor of the browned bits in the bottom of the pan will permeate the butter, giving ghee its distinctive browned-butter taste! Make sure that the solids do not burn, but also make sure that they get browned. You have to walk a fine line, when making ghee.
Strain the ghee through a fine strainer in to a one-pint Mason jar (canning jar that can withstand high heat), being careful not to burn yourself, and let it cool. When this clarified butter is cool, you can store it in the refrigerator. Some recipes say that you can store it without refrigeration, but we always keep it in the refrigerator anyway.

Beets with Maple Syrup and Ghee

0 · Jul 5, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This recipe uses ghee to boost the flavor of beets. Ghee is an Indian version of clarified butter. It is worth making your own ghee, because the stuff that comes in bottles in the store just doesn’t taste that great, whereas homemade ghee allows you to add the dense flavor of butter to French and fusion cooking without using entire sticks of butter. A little ghee goes a long way!

2 lb medium beets, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks
2 Tb ghee (see recipe)
2 teaspoons bottled gluten free pure horseradish (the kind that is refrigerated, pickled)
2 1/2 tablespoons dark maple syrup
2 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Put the beet pieces and 1 cup of water in a non-stick skillet, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.

Remove the top, add the rest of the ingredients and stir fry until the sauce becomes syrupy and coats the beets.

Serve hot, with barbecued chicken or any roasted meat.

Dal

0 · Jun 28, 2008 · 1 Comment

We love dal – it is an Indian lentil dish which is very useful for gluten-free households containing vegetarians!

This is an easy and delicious dal with homemade spice mixtures, so you can use known gluten-free spices from companies that guarantee the gluten-free status of their products.

In a large casserole that can go in the oven (we don’t like the term “flame-proof” and refuse to use it), put all of these ingredients:

3 Tablespoons ghee (a clarified browned butter, or use unsalted butter)

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground turmeric (this spice stains clothes – be careful!)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg (optional)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or one dried cayenne pepper)

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (make your own, using a recipe by Madhur Jaffrey or Julie Sahni)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh grated orange zest (orange part of the orange peel)

Juice of one orange

1 onion, sliced

1 1/2 cups masoor dal (red lentils) washed (see note below)

1/2 cup moong dal (split, yellow in color and elongated in shape) washed (see note below)

4 cups hot water

2 teaspoons salt

Notes: Make sure to wash the dals carefully, removing any small stones. Put the dals in lots of water, stir around and remove the water. Repeat several times until the water runs clear. It does not really matter what proportions of red lentils and masoor dal are used. The original recipe this is based on called for 2 cups red lentils.
Ghee gives a better flavor than butter, and butter is better than other alternatives. If you use margarine or oil instead of the butter, the depth of flavor will be compromised. If you can use the ghee or butter, by all means do!

Stir everything together, cover and bake in a 300 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove the top and bake for 15 more minutes. Check to make sure it doesn’t get too dry.

Serve with basmati rice, chutney (homemade!), and yogurt.

This recipe includes the vegetarian aspects of a recipe for Capon from the cookbook called “Braise” by Daniel Boulud.

Homemade Lemonade

0 · Jun 24, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This is a very refreshing recipe for lemonade, including only sugar, water, fresh lemons and soda water! It is posted in honor of Russell, who likes to cook.

For each guest, fill a 12 ounce glass with ice.

Add 1/3 cup of simple syrup (made from equal parts of sugar and water, boiled until the sugar has dissolved, then cooled.)

Squeeze the juice of one lemon in to the glass.

Fill the glass to the top with soda water (sparkling water, seltzer water)

That’s it! This is a very refreshing gluten free and alcohol free drink to serve to guests.

You can add shredded lemon zest (just the yellow part of the rind) to the sugar and water for the simple syrup, to add more lemon flavor if you wish.

Barbecued Baby Back Pork Ribs – gluten free

0 · Jun 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment

We read an interesting recipe for “chilli marinated pork spare ribs with salted lemon” in Donna Hay magazine issue 35. Let’s just say that squeezing lemon on barbecued pork ribs is a totally excellent idea! But, we had planned to make baby back ribs on the grill so we altered the recipe a little. Here is what we made to serve 4 people.
Soak a dried ancho chili in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain the water off, remove the stem and seeds from the chili and set the chili aside.

In a blender or processor, grind

4 cloves garlic

the soaked ancho chili

a dried cayenne pepper (optional – use it if you like hot spicy food)

4 Tablespoons gluten free Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon kosher or coarsely ground salt

Spread the mixture on the meaty side of two racks of baby back pork ribs.

Using indirect heat on a barbecue grill, grill the ribs bone side down for 30 minutes, turn them over so the meaty side is down, grill for another 30 minutes, until tender and the meat is very easy to remove from the bone. If they need further cooking, keep then cooking until they are done! Turn them meat side up again and slather a mixture of 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup honey on the meat. Let cook briefly (close the cover). Remove the ribs and serve with quartered fresh lemons and sea salt. Squeezing the fresh lemon juice on these ribs is a great, great culinary idea!

Indirect heat cooking – this is when you put the fire under one side of the grill, and put the meat on the other side, so there is no fire directly under the meat. You close the cover of the grill while the meat is cooking.

In the original recipe, the chili, garlic, Worcestershire, sugar, honey and salt were mixed together, then half of the mixture was brushed on the ribs. The ribs were put on a wire rack over a baking pan lined with non-stick baking paper, and marinated in the refrigerator for an hour. Then they were baked in the oven at 355 degrees for 30 minutes, the temperature was raised to 390 and the remaining half of the marinade was brushed on, then they baked for another half hour until sauce was sticky and the ribs were tender. They were served with the lemon wedges and salt. Again, the lemon is the key!

Carrot Quick Bread

0 · Feb 17, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This is an excellent loaf cake, mostly made of fruits and nuts, with a little gluten free flour to bind it together. It is delicious and has a great texture. We used the white rice flour that you get in asian grocery stores, and the tapioca starch made by Yoki, a brazilian brand (Harina De Mandioca).

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon orange or lime juice

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (gluten free)
2/3 cup chopped walnuts (break up the walnuts by hand or chop them)
1 cup golden raisins (golden raisins are really better than brown for this bread)
2 1/2 cups coarsely grated carrots

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour mix – (mix 2 cups white rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch and 1 teaspoon xantham gum, stir together and use 1 1/4 cups of it, store the rest) – alternatively, use Authentic Foods GF Classical Blend plus 1 teaspoon Xantham Gum.
1 tsp baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a pyrex measuring cup, melt the butter in the microwave. Remove and let cool slightly, then stir in the eggs and orange juice.
In one bowl, mix the spices, gluten free flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, shredded coconut and chopped walnuts. Add the raisins and carrots. Stir to make sure everything is evenly mixed up.
Stir the wet ingredients from the pyrex measuring cup in to the dry mixture that contains the fruits. Stir everything until well mixed.
The finished batter will have the consistency of a muffin batter.
Spoon the batter immediately into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top, and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Cool in pan for ten minutes, then turn out to cool. Slice with a bread knife.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

1 · Jan 28, 2008 · Leave a Comment

This is going to seem surprising, but it is possible to make an excellent gluten-free lasagna by replacing the noodles with sliced butternut squash, following a method described in Donna Hay magazine. This lasagna has no tomato ingredients. The sweet squash combines perfectly with the cheeses and fresh basil to make a gourmet main course.
Butternut squash is an elongated winter storage squash. For this recipe, you need one large butternut squash, and you peel it and slice the neck into 1/4 inch thick slices – these will be circular slices.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, and sliced in to 1/4 inch thick slices

1/2 pound large curd cottage cheese

1 pound full-fat ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese (buy the hunk of cheese and grate it yourself, to be sure there is no gluten)

5 eggs

1/2 pound spinach (if fresh, steam it briefly in the microwave, if frozen, thaw and drain)

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (or a few tablespoons of frozen pesto sauce)

12 thin slices of pancetta (an Italian ham) chopped coarsely

salt, pepper

full-fat mozzarella – 1/2 pound, grated (grate it yourself)

Oven at 325. Grease a porcelain or ceramic 9 x 13″ pan. Mix the cottage cheese, ricotta, parmesan, eggs, prepared spinach, basil, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir well.

Cover the bottom of the prepared pan with half of the slices of squash, sprinkle the squash with half of the chopped pancetta , then distribute half the ricotta mixture. Repeat this layering once. On the very top, sprinkle the mozzarella.

Bake for 50 minutes, until the top is golden and the dish is cooked through.

Make sure all of the ingredients are gluten free!

Pumpkin Molasses Cake with Maple Frosting

0 · Nov 24, 2007 ·

This is a gluten-free version of a pleasant old-fashioned spice cake, with the exciting addition of a cream cheese maple icing.

In a food processor, mix until smooth:

¼ vegetable oil or melted butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1 ¼ cups cooked pumpkin, mashed and drained of excess water

In a bowl, mix:

1 ½ cups brown rice flour
½ cup potato starch (katakuriko)
¼ cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder (see recipe for homemade version)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg

Baking Powder – Make your own!

0 · Nov 24, 2007 · 1 Comment

Did you run out of baking powder like we did, on the holiday, when even the convenience stores were closed? You can make your own, and it will last about a month in a bottle on the shelf. Cream of tartar is a bi-product of making wine, for those who like to know the origin of everything they eat.
Mix together:

4 parts cream of tartar
3 parts cornstarch
2 parts baking soda

For a small batch, use a teaspoon as the measure – this will yield 3 tablespoons of baking powder (9 teaspoons), which is less than a quarter cup.

Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

0 · Oct 13, 2007 · Leave a Comment

We like crunchy bread crumb topping on baked casseroles and fish, and things like that. Even at the many restaurants that are serving gluten free foods now, we find that the crumb toppings are too sandy in texture, and everyone from the gluten free community knows how disappointing those mushy crumb toppings are – like wet sand on the beach on a rainy day, only worse. I mean, why bother putting “crummy” crumbs on the top of a piece of codfish? So you can say it has a ‘crumb’ topping? Not on my fish you don’t!

Well, Gf-Zing! recently tried using Glutino brand cinnamon raisin bread, grinding it in to crumbs ourselves in the food processor, and then following a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen for Baked Chicken Breasts with Parmesan-Garlic Crust.

The combination of the Glutino bread (don’t worry about the cinnamon/raisin flavor – it works well) made in to crumbs, parmesan cheese and oil seems to account for the crispiness of the topping. A mixture of 1 part crumbs, 1/2 part finely grated Parmesan cheese, 1/8 part olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and seasonings, applied to the top of chicken which has been spread with gluten free mayonnaise, and then baked at 425 for 20 minutes will give you a chicken with crumb topping that is quite satisfactory. If you don’t have fresh basil, do not use dried basil for this recipe.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Sandwich Rollups

0 · Oct 13, 2007 · Leave a Comment

The first time we had a rolled up sandwich was in the 1970s or 80s, at a take-out restaurant where they called the roll-ups “strollers” and used a mayonnaise, soy sauce and lemon juice spread to glue the delicious things together. They used a lavash type of bread. We came to love roll-ups, tortillas, flat-breads etc., and learned to call them “wraps.” Fast-forward to gluten free living, and yet another convenient food was off-limits. We felt like spoiled brats, whining about not having wraps. We tried the rice based wraps, but they are quite challenging to chew up.

Over the last two years, we have identified two successful wrap materials for gluten free eating. One was a vegetable wrap served at a restaurant called Cornucopia in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Made from carrots, zucchini, apple and linseed, these wraps were like a fruit leather but orange and savory. They were delicious, but we don’t know how to make them or to obtain them in the United States. The other wrap is the Southeast Asian rice wrap (banh trang or spring roll skins), and we have figured out a nifty way to make our sandwiches in the morning using these wraps. Our favorite brand has a red rose on the package, and has rice flour and tapioca flour in the ingredients. This brand seems to stand up well under pressure!
Since we have so many restrictions on what we eat, we spend our money freely on other things besides wheat – if you can’t have that other stuff, why not have the good stuff? So we purchased a hot water boiler – it keeps water ready for tea or cooking at all times, a popular item in Japan. The one we have is made by Tiger. This device makes many cooking tasks very simple.

To make “wraps” using the Vietnamese spring roll skins (8 1/2 inches is a good size), first check the label to make sure that the rice circles are wheat-free. Some of them contain wheat.

Next, get a glass pie plate in which the circles fit – they should sit in the bottom easily. Our glass pie plate is 11 inches in diameter at the top. Make sure you have some very hot water available nearby.
Prepare some sandwich filling ingredients, and think about texture and color – use some roasted chicken, romaine lettuce in bite sized pieces (for crunch and green), some herbs or parsley, grated carrots, salt, pepper, a small amount of gluten free mayonnaise or flavoring.

Notice that the rice circles have a smooth side and a rough side. Take two circles and put them together, with the smooth side facing each other and the rough sides out. Put the two circles in the pie dish and add a little hot water – slosh it around so that the circles get wet on all sides and in between, then pour off the water. The two circles will sort of be stuck to the bottom of the dish, and they will be somewhat fragile – many recipes call for moving the wet wrap to a plate at this step, but by pouring off the water you eliminate that step and are not faced with reconstructing a circle from a moist, disintegrating rice wrap. Next, place some sandwich ingredients in a line across the bottom third of the wet circles, and if you are adding mayonnaise you should only put it on the meat and only use a small amount. Season the filling, then roll up the sandwich tightly, covering the filling – when you have rolled up half way, tuck in the edges so they cover the ends of the filling row, then continue rolling. The wrap will stick together and contain your sandwich. Transfer the sandwich to a plate, and start over to make the next sandwich.
When you take these sandwiches to work, bring along a dipping sauce, and prepare to have your co-workers ask you how to make them!

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Watermelon Salad with Pine Nuts

0 · Aug 1, 2007 · Leave a Comment

We had a salad like this at a restaurant recently. It is quite refreshing!

We developed the recipe here for the Gf-Zing! website, celebrating flavor in the gluten free world.

6 cups fresh arugula (enough for four people to have a good-sized salad – about 1 1/2 cups for each person)
6 cups of cubed chilled watermelon (very important that it be chilled!)

1/2 cup crumbled gluten free feta cheese

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (toast them in the oven for 10-15 minutes until they start to brown)
2-3 Tablespoons minced fresh mint (you can use some fresh basil if you don’t have enough mint – the combination is good)

Mix all of the above and toss gently with a dressing made of 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1/4-1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 Tablespoon minced shallot, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper. Serve immediately with toasts made from a Betty Hagman’s gf fat-free french bread, and some marinated goat cheese to spread on the toasts. Gf-Zing! does not verify the gluten free status of any product.

More about Gluten free Donut Muffins

0 · May 31, 2007 ·

A while ago we did a gluten free muffin round up, and the hands down winner was the Donut Muffin recipe from Bev Lieven of Milwaukee Celiac-Sprue Crew. The combination of cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe, plus the sugary topping, yields something very close the fast-receding memory of donuts that we used to crave. The muffins are great, and they are asked for by people who don’t have to eat gf. Now that we stop to think about that statement, is it somehow a greater endorsement that the non-gf world thinks those muffins are great? Perhaps so, because they can choose to eat regular donuts as well and don’t have to “settle” for the gf variety.

In the months since we first put the Donut Muffin recipe on the web, it has been referenced by other blogs – or “glogs” as we like to call the gluten-free websites. Meanwhile, we have been playing with the recipe to see how much refined sugar we could eliminate. We have successfully substituted 1/4 honey and 1/3 cup sugar for the original 2/3 cup sugar in the dough, and for the topping we cut the sugar down to 1/2 cup and kept the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. We used buttermilk instead of regular milk. We used our favorite cookie flour mix for the flour. Lastly, we just mixed the dry ingredients, then dumped the wet ingredients on top and mix with a fork. These adjustments yield an equally good muffin.

Slightly Revised Donut Muffin:

Combine:

1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (opt.)

Mix with a fork:

1 egg

1/4 cup honey
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Add to dry ingredients. Mix to moisten. Fill lightly muffin pans lined with paper liners. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon sugar (Mix 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp.or more ground cinnamon.) Bake at 375º for 15-20 min. Makes about 11 muffins.

Cardamom Currant Pound Cake

0 · Apr 17, 2007 ·

Gf-Zing! has been experimenting with the 123 Gluten Free Pound Cake mix, and we have hit on an excellent set of additions. Make the mix as directed on the package but use grapefruit soda, and add 3/4 cup of dried currants, and 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom seeds. It is important to use freshly ground cardamom seeds. Use dried, green cardamom pods, crack them open and take out the seeds, discarding the shells. Crush the seeds in a mortar and pestle until you have a powder, and then measure 1 1/2 teaspoons.

We make the cake in an angel food cake pan, with a cookie sheet underneath on the oven shelf below to catch any drips. We dust the greased cake pan with mochiko (sweet rice) or tapioca flour. It takes 1 1/4 hours to bake.

The additions of currants, cardamom seed and grapefruit soda make an excellent cake. Try it with a cup of darjeeling tea!