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Salad for two, with fried eggs

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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

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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!

Mango Pineapple Salsa

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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

Beets with Maple Syrup and Ghee

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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

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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

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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

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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!

Sandwich Rollups

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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

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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.

 

Fish in Rice Wrapper

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This easy frying technique is very versatile and worth trying for almost any product that you might once have “floured” before frying. The result is gluten-free, but it is superior to much of what the glutenated world consumes!

You will need to find some gluten free rice wrappers (banh trang wrappers) in an Asian grocery store. These wrappers are round, and they have a cross-hatch pattern on them from the basket weave of the manufacturing process. You can use the 6 inch or the 8 inch variety – no matter. To use the wrappers, you soak them in warm water for 20 seconds, one or two at a time. Be careful to read the label – there are a few versions of this product that contain wheat (they have a different cross-hatch pattern on them.)
Set out a pie plate of warm-hot water right next to where you are working, and open the package of rice wrappers.

Prepare a zesty seasoning mixture of chopped scallions, garlic, ginger, hot peppers, salt, pepper or whatever you like – use some type of onion-like vegetable, and some fresh herbs that go with fish. You will need a tablespoon of seasoning mixture per piece of fish.
Cut the fish into 4″ pieces (skinless, boneless). Use salmon, cod, hake or other firm-fleshed fish.

Place a single wrapper in the water, then lay it out on a piece of waxed paper until it is soft enough to roll – about 20 seconds total.

Place the soaked wrapper on a plate, put a tablespoon of the seasoning mixture in the center of the wrapper, spreading it to the same size as one piece of fish.

Put a piece of fish on top of the seasoning on the soaked wrapper.

Complete the package: Fold the bottom piece of wrapper over the fish, then fold in the two side bits, then roll the package up towards the top of the wrapper so the package becomes a sort of egg roll.

Set the wrapped fish aside and continue with the rest of the pieces of fish, using one wrapper per piece.

Heat oil on medium-high until hot enough for frying in a non-stick pan or heavy pan and fry the wrapped fish packages for 4 minutes per side until crispy and browned. The oil should be hot enough so the packages sizzle immediately when they go in the pan.

Serve the fish packages as is or with a gluten-free asian dipping sauce – the kind that is served with pot stickers.

Muffin Madness – the GF muffin Round-up

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Here you will find gluten free muffin recipes that will make your breakfast choices so much more interesting! A gluten-free thank you goes out to everyone who contributed a muffin recipe.

A sampling of recipes from friendly muffin enthusiasts follows. To contribute others, please send an email to gfzing@gmail.com.

Donut Muffins Bev Lieven of Milwaukee Celiac-Sprue Crew sends in the following recipe for the ever elusive gluten-free replacement for America’s favorite deep-fried temptation – the donut. She notes: “Cake donuts were my favorite prior to my diagnosis in 1981…This recreates the taste and texture without the mess of frying.”

Combine:

2/3 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 in blender: 1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. melted margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Add to dry ingredients. Mix to moisten. Fill lightly “Pam-ed” muffin tins half full. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon sugar (Mix 1 c. sugar, 1 tsp.or more ground cinnamon.) Bake at 375º for 15-20 min. Makes about 1 dozen.

(Bev notes: I use non-stick muffing pans without paper liners so the edges of the muffins get crisp.)


BANANA MAPLE-PECAN MUFFIN

Theresa Brandon of Eastern Iowa Celiac’s Connect contributed the following recipe with this note: “This is the tastiest muffin recipe I have found or made. It is super moist and filling. Great with a cup of fruit for breakfast. Freezes well and is portable. And it is BIG! “

FILLING:
3 ripe Bananas, mashed
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Mix and set aside

TOPPING:
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup maple syrup
Mix to get crumbly texture

MUFFINS:
2 cups GF flour mix(I use GF pantry French bread and pizza mix for mine)
1 tsp. zanthan gum
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbls. buttermilk powder
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water

Combine all dry ingredients. Make a well in the center, pour in wet ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Gently fold in filling mixture. Cut in with knife. Spoon into muffin cups.

Add topping mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Makes 15 large muffins.

Creamy Tarragon Salad Dressing

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This dressing is excellent on Boston Lettuce, especially in the spring when the tarragon is just starting to sprout new shoots. The recipe was developed for the Gf-Zing! website, which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

Mix in a bowl:

1/3 cup gluten free mayonnaise
1 1/2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon snipped fresh chives
1 teaspoon snipped fresh tarragon (or more)
sugar to taste

For the sugar, only add this by 1/4 teaspoon amounts until the flavor of the dressing is balanced. If the lemon is not very sour, there will be no need for the sugar.

Set the dressing aside for 20 minutes or a half hour before serving – this will allow the chives and tarragon to flavor it up!

You can add coarsely grated carrots, steamed or roasted asparagus, chopped walnuts, raisins or diced hard-boiled eggs to this salad.

Gluten Free Empanadas

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Empanadas are delicious! And, for Gf-zing! they are one of the holy grails of gluten free cooking – we seek to make a dough that will encase the meat filling and be dry but intriguing, and not quite like pie crust. We have found a way to do this by using the Breads from Anna mix (without the yeast), and the traditional white wine and olive oil that make the interesting and tasty-flavored crust. The recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

The many ingredients and spicy flavors of empanadas are delightful, and the empanadas can be carried like a sandwich, for lunch, backpacking or picnics. We find that our friends always want the recipe but are sometimes appalled by the list of ingredients – raisins, cheese, allspice, cayenne pepper, meat – it is a medieval list of ingredients, but SOOOOO good!

Dough:

3 1/2 cups Breads From Anna mix (Soy and Rice free kind), but don’t include the yeast packet
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. You will have a little bread mix left in the bag, which you should save for the filling and rolling. In a second bowl, mix the milk, white wine, oil and egg, then add to the dry ingredients. Knead (yes, knead) the dough until it is like pie crust in texture. Cover the bowl until you are ready to fill the empanadas, as this dough dries out quickly. As you work with the dough, you may need to add extra white wine, a teaspoon at a time, if the dough starts to dry out.

Filling:

Fry the following ingredients in a non-stick skillet, just until the meat is cooked:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef, chicken or gluten free turkey
1/2 of a green bell pepper, minced
2 Tablespoons garlic, minced

Then add and stir-fry briefly:

1/3 cup golden or brown raisins
1/4 cup chopped olives (green ones stuffed with pimientos, or black ones in brine but not oil-cured)
1 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Breads from Anna mix (see dough, above)
1 3/4 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Take the pan off the heat, and add:

1 cup packed grated Jack or cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (we wash it and snip with scissors)

The mixture will be damp but not soupy. Set aside.

To make the empanadas:

Preheat the oven to 350-375 degrees

Take a walnut sized piece of dough and squish it in your hands to compact it. Put a piece of waxed paper on the table, sprinkle with leftover Breads from Anna mix, and put the walnut-sized ball of dough there. Top with another sheet of waxed paper, then use a rolling pin to roll the ball of dough into a circle of 4″ diameter. Take off the top sheet of paper. (This method of rolling the dough yields very little mess to clean up!)

Place 1 Tablespoon of filling on the bottom half of the circle of dough, then fold the top half down to cover the filling, and squish the edges together to form a half-moon shaped turnover, completely encasing the filling. Place the filled empanada on a Silpat lined baking sheet. Repeat this process 23 more times or so – the recipe will make approximately 24 empanadas. Leave an inch between the empanadas, as they expand some while baking.

Once you have a sheet full of empanadas, bake them for 12-20 minutes. Take a look at them after 12 minutes, and let bake for additional time if needed. We prefer them slightly browned.

Serve warm, or put them in the refrigerator and use them for packing a lunch box or going backpacking.

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

Batter Fried Fish – gluten free!

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One of the most popular postings on the Gf-Zing! website is this method of making batter for frying fish.  It originally comes from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Cooking book. She uses cornstarch and chickpea flour, which yields a much nicer fried fish than any wheat flour will do. The batter is excellent for hake, cod, scallops etc. Cut larger firm-fleshed fish filets (skinless) in to 2 x 1 inch pieces. The recipe for the batter can be halved.

You marinate the fish in seasoning to flavor it, then dip it in batter, then fry and serve.

Seasoning for 2 pounds fish or scallops (marinate in this mixture for 2 hours):

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1-2 jalapenos, minced (omit if you don’t like spicy food)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
pepper
juice of 1/4 lemon

Alternative seasoning:

Sprinkle the fish liberally with a few teaspoons of a spice mixture of your choice, for example (the following makes a lot of extra spice mixture):

1 teaspoon of gluten free cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon gluten free paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried EACH thyme and oregano
1 Tablespoons gluten free garlic powder
2 Tablespoons kosher or sea salt

The batter:

3/4 cup corn starch
3 Tablespoons chick pea flour (store this in the freezer)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or other seasoning
1 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1 Tablespoon gluten free baking powder
3 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons cold water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Dip pieces of seasoned hake, cod or whole scallops in the batter and fry in very hot oil (2″ deep) until golden brown. If you use a deep fryer, the result will be superior.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Sushi, Musubi

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Mix up a batch of gluten free sushi rice, and you are ready to make a Hawai’ian specialty called “musubi.” In Hawai’i Musubi is often topped with Spam, but no matter, it is a great method of making a sandwich-like concoction that is perfectly sized for lunch. This recipe is presented here by Gf-Zing!, celebrating flavor and excitement in the gluten free world.

You will need a plastic musubi mold or a Spam can to make this recipe. You are going to make a sort of brick of seasoned rice wrapped in seaweed, with fillings in the middle. Spam musubi would have the Spam on the top, rather than in the middle, but that is no matter.

You can cook sushi rice on top of the stove or in your rice cooker. Use about 2 to 1 ratio of water to dry, medium grain Japanese or sushi rice (Kokuho Rose or Nishiki are two common brands.)

Rinse 2 units of rice well. Cook it in 4 units of water, or use the sushi rice line on your rice cooker insert to measure the water. Turn on the cooker and wait until it is done.

When it is just finished cooking, place the rice in a large bowl. Have ready some gluten free seasoned rice vinegar, a rice paddle, and a piece of paper or a small hand-held fan.

While fanning the rice with one hand, stir the rice (using the rice paddle) with the other hand. Sprinkle a bit of seasoned rice vinegar on the rice and continue stirring and fanning. Continue to do this, adding more seasoned rice vinegar, until the rice has a pleasant sweet-sour-salty taste and has gotten cool. The rice is ready. For two cups of dry rice (5-6 cups cooked), you would use about 7 tablespoons or so of the vinegar.

Cut a piece of sushi nori (that is a dark sheet of edible seaweed that looks like shiny green-black paper) to fit the bottom and up the sides of the musubi mold. It should extend out the top of the mold on both long edges by an inch and a half. Typically, this requires half a sheet of sushi nori. Keeping the edges of sushi nori going up the sides of the mold, put some of the prepared rice in the bottom, on top of the nori. On top of this, you can add small amounts of any of the following fillings, as you like:

Cooked fish or shellfish
avocado slices coated in lemon juice (so they don’t get brown)
slivered cooked carrots
gluten free smoked fish
cucumber slivers
Japanese seasoning peppers (gluten free)
gluten free ham, sliced very thin

Fill the rest of the mold up to the top with seasoned rice. Press down on the rice with your rice paddle firmly. Fold the ends of the nori down over the top, then use the presser that comes with the mold to tightly compress the entire thing by pressing down on the top of the folded nori. You will have a dense brick of rice and pretty colored foods all contained in a portable form. Wrap this brick in tin foil (aluminum foil) and you have a nice complete lunch. Depending on the ingredients you used for filling, you may not need to refrigerate this musubi, making it very convenient for camping or work places without refrigeration.

Important Notes: Unfortunately, currently the gluten free community must avoid wasabi paste, which often contains wheat. Soy sauce also often contains wheat, so read labels before trying to dip your musubi in soy sauce. Be careful also to make sure that the seasoned rice vinegar is gluten free. Some are not. Also, imitation seafood products are often made with wheat and should be avoided.

A picture of spam musubi (with the spam on top) is available at the following page:
Wikipedia article

Always use gluten free ingredients.

Gluten Free or GF Pie Crust

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We tried mixes, and recipes, and had almost given up on ever having a decent pie again, when we discovered this method for making gluten free pie crust. Let’s just mention that pie was one of the most important foods in our repertoire, and we used to be very proud of our pie crust, and then we entered the parallel universe of gluten free cooking, for medical reasons. We went in to pie withdrawal – depression, cold shakes, somber mood…..after all, what were we going to have for breakfast, if we couldn’t eat left-over pie?

Well, the news is good – you can have your pie and eat it too!

Use the Dream Pastry Recipe from Bette Hagman’s More From the Gluten-Free Gourmet. A very similar recipe is also called “Donna Jo’s pie crust” and is available on the internet. (Be careful about the recipes on the internet, which are sometimes missing key ingredients in the list of flours, such as the sweet rice flour, for example!) Of course, we don’t exactly follow the recipe anyway, so we have printed here the method we are using at the moment…..

We prefer the flavor of lemon juice to the flavor of vinegar, so we use fresh lemon juice in the recipe. Also, we use one stick of gluten free margarine and one of butter (we don’t like Crisco so much). Lastly, we sprinkle the top of a two crust fruit pie liberally with sugar.

To save time and aggravation when hand-mixing the pie dough, we use a large cheese grater to grate the butter into the dry ingredients. This makes it much easier to get the “lima bean” sized pieces of butter called for in the recipe. We have also used a Braun food processor to make this crust, and it was acceptable, you just have to be careful not to overmix the butter.

Here are the ingredients for one two-crust pie shell:

Dry ingredients:

1/2 cup tapioca flour (tapioca starch) – make sure this is the flavorless kind, not the fermented find
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup potato starch (katakuriko in Japanese stores – this is NOT the same as potato flour)
1 cup sweet rice flour (mochiko flour – not the same as white rice flour)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Shortening:
1/2 cup gluten free margarine or butter
1/2 cup butter

(we use all butter)

Liquid ingredients:

1 egg
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon ice water

wax paper
sweet rice flour to sprinkle on the wax paper
lots of sugar for sprinkling on the top of the pie

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them thoroughly with a fork. If you own a sifter, you could sift them together, but it is not necessary. Grate in the butter and margarine using a large cheese grater. Mix the dry ingredients and the shortenings up with a fork until the pieces of butter are distributed evenly – you don’t need to get the pieces of butter as small as they would be in a wheat crust. The size of “lima beans” may be a little large, but don’t go smaller than kidney beans! Anyway, mix up the liquid ingredients until well combined, then pour them in to the dry ingredients and mix together. Squish the dough into a ball and wrap it up to store in the refrigerator for one hour. (For the record, we have made this crust in the winter and gone straight to rolling it out, without refrigerating it. You wouldn’t do this when the air is warm in the summer, but it is ok to do this in the winter when it is cold.)

Divide the dough in half.

To roll out this crust, spread out a piece of wax paper, dust it with sweet rice flour or GF flour mix, or whatever comes handy, put one piece of the dough on top, sprinkle with more flour, spread another piece of wax paper on top of the dough, and roll out with a rolling pin. * The dough is now contained between two sheets of wax paper. Peel off the top piece of wax paper, flip the crust on top of the pie plate, adjust it to fit the dish and remove the other piece of wax paper. Your counter is clean, and your pie crust did not fall to pieces when you tried to put it in the pie dish! You rock!

Fill your pie, then repeat the pie crust rolling maneuver for the top crust. Cut pretty holes in the top crust before transferring it to the pie, if you wish. After putting the top crust on the pie, sprinkle the top crust liberally with sugar – maybe 2 – 4 Tablespoons! Cut steam vent holes in the crust, if you forgot to do it before, and then bake the pie. This crust gets nice and brown and crispy, and it has a delicious buttery flavor! You bake it as you would any other pie crust (about 50 minutes at 400 degrees, for a filled two-crust fruit pie.)

*Note about the rolling pin: We use a piece of dowel from the hardware store – makes a perfect rolling pin, and costs very little. The piece we purchased was being sold as “closet pole” and is 1″ in diameter and 18 inches long.

Some Pies to Try:

See this post for yet more thoughts on gluten free pie crust: Click here.

Make sure to use all gluten free ingredients!

Pineapple Fried Rice

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You can use almost any proportion of these ingredients, and throw in other things besides…..

3 cups cooked, cold jasmine or other long-grain rice, massaged to separate the grains of rice
1 large pineapple (peeled, cored and cut in chunks), or a can of gluten free pineapple chunks, drained
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup peeled, sliced shallots
10 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and cleaned (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons gluten free curry powder
1 red or green bell pepper, chopped
3 scallions, sliced
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons gluten free Thai Fish Sauce

Note: Read the label on the fish sauce. Some fish sauce companies include wheat, for unknown reasons, in fish sauce. Purchase a fish sauce that does not include wheat.

Prepare all your ingredients ahead of time, and get out the wok.

Heat the wok, and add the oil by drizzling it down the sides. When the oil is hot, add the shallots. Stir-fry the shallots until they are golden, a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and stir-fry briefly until it smells good. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until the shrimp are just turning pink – they don’t have to be finished cooking. Add the curry powder and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the pineapple, bell pepper and scallions and stir-fry until the pineapple is heated through, about 2-3 minutes. Add the cold rice and stir-fry until the rice is hot. Add the sugar and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Lastly, add the fish sauce by drizzling it down the sides of the wok into the rice. That’s it!

For gluten free curry powder, we make our own, using the recipe in Rebecca Reilly’s Gluten Free Baking.

You can add grated ginger, and chopped jalapeno peppers, or gluten free chili paste to this dish if you like things a bit spicier.

Make sure that all your ingredients are gluten free!

Chicken Salad, with Lemon Mayonnaise

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1 cooked chicken, removed from the bones and cut or torn into large chunks
1/2 cup gluten free mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup minced parsley
1/4 cup minced scallions or red onion
1 stalk of celery, chopped

Fold all the ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Adjust the seasonings, and add a very small pinch of sugar if you like.

If you prefer less onion, or don’t like bits of onion in your chicken salad, grate a little onion and let a few teaspoons of the juice go into the mixture.

Be sure to use gluten free mayonnaise – check the gluten free food lists on the internet or at your grocery store.

Honeydew Melon Chutney

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1 large honeydew melon, seeded, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks.
1/4 cup pickling salt, plus an extra 1/2 teaspoon
2 cups gluten free cider vinegar
2 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon whole allspice, crushed in a mortar and pestle
2 inches of cinnamon stick
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup EACH diced red and green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced or grated

1/2 cup dry currants
1/3 gluten free brandy

Soak the melon cubes in cold water to cover, with the 1/4 cup pickling salt, overnight in the regrigerator. The pickling salt is not iodized, so your pickle will not turn brown. Drain and rinse the melon in several changes of cold water.

Put the remaining ingredients (except for the currants and brandy,) in a large heavy pot and bring to a boil. Add the melon chunks and the currants and brandy, and simmer the chutney for nearly 2 hours, until it has reduced in volume by a half and thickened up. Do not cover while cooking. Store the chutney in the refrigerator. This chutney will keep for a long time.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Baby Potatoes – are they really worth the $$?

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When we visit the produce section those baby potatoes are sitting there in their little plastic potato prisons, enticing us to remember the stories people used to tell, of creamed potatoes and peas on the 4th of July; of new potatoes just out of the ground. However, at upwards of $4 a box these little tubers are pretty pricey! So, the question is, should we spend our hard earned money on them? Are they worth it? A resounding Yes! Baby, or “new” potatoes are a superior braising or boiling potato.

Definitely buy the baby potatoes – – try the Yukon Golds – try them braised, or boiled plain and served whole with butter. You will not be sorry! Buy two boxes because you will want seconds.

Now, here’s a little useful information about potatoes in general:

If you go to spend the big bucks on tiny potatoes, make sure that they are not green – look at them closely and you may see that some potatoes have a green tinge to the skin. The green is due to the presence of solanine, which is a toxin. Potatoes form more solanine when they are exposed to light, which is why potatoes were stored in root cellars in the old days, and why they are often sold in opaque bags today. If you smell a very green potato, you will notice a bitter, grassy smell like that of weeds broken while gardening. This smell, and the green color, should alert you not to consume that potato. Solanine, in large enough quantities, can make you ill. So, avoid green potatoes.

Here’ the dictionary definition of solanine:
http://www.bartleby.com/61/32/S0543200.html

and here’s the chemical composition:
C45H73NO15

Now, you know more about potatoes than you used to!

Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing

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1 cup sliced almonds
6 Tablespoons sugar
lettuce
2 whole scallions, chopped, or 1 Tablespoon fresh minced chives
Canned GF mandarin oranges, drained or fresh strawberries, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon minced Italian parsley
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons GF cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon GF prepared ballpark style mustard
a dash of GF hot sauce

Prepare the nuts: Cook the almonds and the sugar in a non-stick pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has melted and the nuts are browned. Take care that the nuts do not burn. Transfer the nuts to a ceramic plate to cool. These can be stored in an airtight container so you don’t eat them all before you serve the salad.

Mix the dressing ingredients up. The mustard will act as an emulsifier, causing the dressing to become one with itself and look very nice. Put the lettuce and green onions in a salad bowl, toss with the dressing and the oranges just before serving. Pass the nuts to sprinkle on top. Most recipes of this kind have half as many nuts, but here the nuts are doubled to allow for snacking.

Your GF guests will appreciate your asking which brand of mustard they are able to eat!

Marinade for Steak Tips Or Chicken for Grilling

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Why is it that whenever you see the words “steak tips” it always says “teriyaki” right next door? Teriyaki is made with soy sauce, which is avoided in the gluten free world because soy sauce usually has wheat on the ingredients list.

Here is a nice marinade for steak that does NOT include soy sauce!

1 Tablespoon finely grated fresh garlic
1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons tequila
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2-3 pounds steak or skinless, boneless chicken

Mix the first 6 ingredients together and massage it into the meat. Let sit for a half hour, or as long as overnight.

Barbecue the meat on the grill until cooked to your liking. Steak tips take about 3-4 minutes on one side, then turn and cook another 3 minutes for medium rare. Chicken takes 15 minutes to cook through, turning once after 8 minutes are up.

Make sure that all of your ingredients are gluten free, including the spices and liquors.

Succotash – modern version of American Corn and Beans

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Succotash is a Narraganset Indian word for a mixture of corn and legumes. The Depression era version of this dish included lima beans. If you prefer other vegies to limas, you may want to try branching out with asparagus, green beans or peas. If you like limas, then use them.

1/2 a spanish onion, chopped (spanish onions brown well)
3 Tablespoons butter, GF margarine of olive oil
corn off the cob from 7 ears of sweet corn, or 1 bag of frozen corn
1 bunch asparagus cut in 1 1/2-2 inch lengths, or string beans, or peas
salt
pepper

Stir-fry onion in butter in a non-stick pan until golden.

Add corn and asparagus or beans or peas, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the asparagus or beans are done – 10-15 minutes.

Make sure all of your ingredients are gluten free.

Spicy Tuna, blackened, and served with a sweet and sour sauce

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Serve this tuna with Mashed Potatoes and Brie if you are able to use dairy products.

First, make a Sweet and Sour Hot Sauce:

2 cups gluten free rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
1/4 cup minced onion
1 1/2-2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 Tablespoon minced cilantro
1/2 teaspoon of gluten free sriracha or Vietnamese chili sauce with garlic

Cook the vinegar and sugar until it makes a syrup – a half hour or so. Add the next 5 ingredients and set aside.

Make a spice mixture:

1 teaspoon of gluten free cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon gluten free paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried EACH thyme and oregano
1 Tablespoons gluten free garlic powder
2 Tablespoons kosher or sea salt

2 pounds fresh tuna steaks
safflower oil

Coat 2 pounds of tuna steaks (about 1-1 1/4 inches thick) with safflower oil. Sprinkle one side liberally with spice mixture. Heat a very sturdy pan to extra hot, and turn on the exhaust fans on high! When the pan is hot, add the tuna steaks, sprinkle more spice mixture on them, and seer for 5 minutes (cover the pan after one minute), then turn the tuna steaks, and finish cooking the other side for another 4 minutes or so. Some people like their tuna rare and in that case you only want to cook the tuna for a couple of minutes per side. We prefer it cooked through. It is up to you, and what you are comfortable with according to your understanding of safety in cooking fish.

Serve the blackened fish with the Sweet and Sour Hot Sauce, and hot mashed potatoes on the side. A salad of mixed baby greens with a citrus dressing compliments the meal.

This recipe is adapted from one in the Hali’imaile General Store Cookbook by Beverly Gannon, adjusted for gluten free cooking and leaving out some ingredients and spices.

Be sure that your spices are indeed gluten free – some of the spice purveyors promise to include all ingredients on their labels but not all! Check to find out it the manufacturer will ensure that your spices are safe to use.