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Curried Cream of Root Vegetable Soup – gluten free

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This tasty soup has plenty of flavor and lots of fiber.  It will fill you up on a cold, rainy day!

In a large soup pot, melt

1 Tablespoon Ghee or butter

Add these ingredients in order as you prepare them, stirring when you add a new item:

1 onion, peeled and sliced

1 leek, slit the long way, cleaned and sliced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chunked

1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 parsnip, peeled, cored and chunked

2 large carrots, peeled and chunked

1 sweet potato or yam, peeled and sliced

Stir fry until the onions are golden, then add:

2 Tablespoons of homemade curry powder (Rebecca Reilly’s recipe is good)

Stir fry until fragrant, then add:

1 quart of gluten free vegetable stock (for vegetarians) or gluten free chicken stock

1 Tablespoon guava or currant jelly

Simmer for 20 minutes until carrots and parsnip are cooked through.

Using an immersion blender, and taking great care to follow the instructions so you don’t get burned by hot soup, thoroughly blend the soup, adding up to one cup of hot water if needed.  You may add heavy cream to reduce the intensity of the flavors or make the soup in to a richer creation, but it is also ready to eat as it is.

To make this soup for a vegan, use vegetable oil instead of ghee/butter, use vegetable stock, and do not add any cream.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Plantain empanadas (empanadas de platano)

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Plantains are  large, very sturdy-looking banana-like fruits one sees in the grocery store produce section.  They can be cooked when yellowish (called green) or when totally black (sweet).  Gf-Zing! finds plantains to be a wonderful, wonderful gluten free starch.

Empanadas are similar to a turnover, either baked or fried.  The dough can be made from flours or from plantains, using one plantain to make two empanadas.

The easiest way to make plantain empanadas is to buy some yellow-green plantains and a piece of mozzarella cheese, then follow the simple directions on this excellent video: http://how2heroes.com/videos/international/plantain-empanadas from the great Mexican restaurant Tu y Yo.  If your plantains are too green, you will have to wait a few days for them to ripen somewhat.  Plantains sweeten and soften as they darken.

The video demonstration shows the plantains being boiled for one hour. If you are pressed for time, instead of boiling the plantains you can use the microwave.  Wash the plantains, then cut off the ends of the plantains. Make a slit in the skin all the way down one side, the long way.  Wrap each plantain in a paper towel and put them in the microwave on the rotating platter, in one layer.  Cook the plantains on the same setting your microwave suggests for “baked potato.”  When cooked, the plantains will be extremely hot. When they are done, use a potholder to place them on the counter and wait until they cool a bit, then unwrap, peel and proceed with mashing (using a potato masher if you don’t have a molcajete), stuffing and frying as demonstrated in the video by the chef from Tu y Yo.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

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This recipe from Gf-Zing! is perfect for a cold fall day when eggplants and tomatoes are still plentiful at the local farmers’ market.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On a large cookie sheet with a rim, place

1 eggplant, halved the long way, cut side up
3 medium to large tomatoes, stem end removed
1 onion, peeled and halved
6 cloves of garlic, peeled

Brush all the vegetables with olive oil. Roast for 45 minutes.

Scoop the eggplant flesh in to a large pot. Discard the eggplant skin. Add the rest of the roasted vegetables,  4 cups of gluten free chicken or vegetarian stock, and 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the vegetable and stock mixture for 45 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender or by transferring the soup to a food processor or blender.

Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and a small amount of sugar if needed.

Serve the soup with crumbled goat cheese or cheddar to sprinkle on top.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Baked Brisket – gluten free

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This is an easy way to cook a beef brisket – no fuss no muss, and no gluten.

For a 2 1/2-3 pound brisket of beef

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Quarter 2 peeled spanish onions and place them on the bottom of a dutch oven. Put the brisket on top of the onions, fat side up.

Sprinkle with 1 envelope of gluten-free onion soup mix *, then mix the following and pour on top:

1 cup gluten free tomato ketchup
1 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar

Cover the dutch oven and bake for 3+ hours, until done. The meat should be very tender. You can then cool and chill the dish, and then remove the fat. After removing the accumulated fat, you can slice the meat, return it to the dish, heat and serve.

* To make a substitute for a package of onion soup mix, follow the copycat instructions available on the internet. For example, Food.com has 2 such recipes: http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-liptons-onion-soup-mix-24952 and http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-lipton-onion-soup-mix-153788. Make sure to verify that the beef bouillon you use in making the copycat version is gluten free.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Baked Chicken with Pineapple

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This easy recipe for chicken thighs can be accomplished in a toaster oven, or any other oven. You can also cook the recipe on a grill, but that is not necessary. Any toaster oven will do.

For 4 chicken thighs, to serve 2 people:

Using a sharp knife, slash 4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on) through the skin – 2 slashes per thigh. This will allow the spice flavors to penetrate the meat.

Mix the following rub:
1 clove chopped garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry sage
1/2 teaspoon dry marjoram
1 Tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Smear the spice mixture on the 4 chicken thighs. Transfer to a foil lined baking pan (small one that will fit your oven), and bake at 350-375 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Add, 1/4 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced. Raise the heat in the oven to 450-475 degrees and bake an additional 10 minutes. Serve with gluten free buttermilk biscuits and chianti (Italian dry red wine.)

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake

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This excellent  flourless chocolate cake is a variation of a recipe that is most often attributed to Marcy Goldman’s  A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking.  The glaze suggested here is not from the original recipe.

The quality of the finished cake is entirely dependent on the quality of the chocolate that is chosen – take great care to choose an excellent chocolate.

Cake ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes, baked fresh and peeled – 2 or so
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 ounces good-quality gluten free semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Glaze ingredients


1/4 cup water, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1 Tablespoon corn syrup

4 ounces bittersweet gluten free chocolate, broken up

1 Tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch springform pan with baking parchment.  To line the pan, first trace the bottom of the pan on a sheet of parchment paper, making a circle, then cut out the circle.  Next, measure the height of the pan, and cut a strip of parchment paper that is that wide by 14 and a half inches long. Grease the pan, then line with the parchments paper, putting the circle on the bottom and the strip on the side.  If you like, you can line the bottom and then clamp on the sides, trapping the circle of paper with the sides.

Cake batter instructions:


In a food processor, cream the butter with the 1/3 cup sugar until light. Blend in the egg yolks until light, then the mashed sweet potatoes, vanilla, and cooled chocolate. Mix until smooth.

In a large bowl, use clean beaters to whip the egg whites gently until they are a bit foamy.  You can use a hand-crank-style manual rotary egg beater to do this – it is easy, and great exercise! Then add in the salt and whip harder to make meringue, sprinkling in the last two tablespoons of sugar to form stiff and shiny (but not dry) peaks. With this amount of sugar, you could also dump all the sugar in at once – it won’t make much difference.

Fold the cooled sweet potato/chocolate mixture into the egg whites gradually, keeping the mixture light and airy – don’t beat it now or you will lose all the air you have beaten in to the egg whites. The air trapped in the egg whites is what is going to make the cake rise in the oven.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, shake the pan briefly to settle it, and bake  at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes (that is what the first version of this recipe said, but that was not correct – it took over 70 minutes).  Depending on your oven, you will need to check the cake starting at 40 minutes, but leave yourself an extra half hour in case the baking takes longer.  When the cake rises high and looks dry, and slightly cracked on top, it is done cooking – if it doesn’t look like this, give it more time. The middle should be soft but firm – a toothpick tests almost dry.  The cake will have risen really high, but it will fall as it cools.  Don’t worry about it though.

Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then place the cake (in its pan) on a wire rack.  Refrigerate completely to cool – overnight seems reasonable. At this point, the cake can be removed from the pan and frozen for up to a month (haven’t tried that). Even if serving it the same day, chill the cake for two hours before finishing it with the glaze.   This is a dense cake which holds the heat.

Glaze instructions:

In a pot, mix water, sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar.  Off the heat add the chocolate (bittersweet is best).  Stir until completely melted, then stir in the butter which will make it shinier.

Remove the cake from the pan, leaving the top side up.  Do not try to flip it over. Put the cake on a serving plate. There will be a slight indentation where the cake has fallen in the middle. The final cake will have shrunk down from its lofty height that it was in the oven – maybe it will be 2 inches high. Pour the glaze into the indentation of the cake and, using a spatula, even out the glaze and urge it along to ooze attractively over the edges in places.

The cake is excellent served with whipped cream, and it seems like it would be pretty good if you used bittersweet instead of semisweet in the cake part too as well as the icing.

Make sure ALL your ingredients are gluten free.  If you are making this for a gluten free friend, take care that there is no stray wheat flour in your sugar canister, transferred there during previous baking adventures.

Susie’s Cheesecake

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Sue Carnase, of the Bronx, New York, made the best cheesecake ever.  It was tested many times in double-blind taste tests and it always came out at the top of the rankings. Here is her recipe, in her own words, with a slight modification that will make the recipe gluten free.

“In a large bowl cream together 1 pound each of cream cheese, softened, and ricotta and one cup sugar and beat in 4 large eggs at room temperatures, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add 1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter melted and cooled, 3 tablespoons each of gluten free flour mix* and cornstarch, and 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon rind, beat mixture well until well combined.  Fold in 2 cups sour cream, pour batter in ungreased 9 inch springform pan and bake the cake in the middle of a preheated moderately slow oven (325) for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The cake will be soft in the center.  TURN OFF THE HEAT (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.) Let the cake stand in the oven for 2 hours.  Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack and chill it loosely covered for at least 4 hours.  Remove the sides of pan and transfer cake to a plate.  You can freeze it at this point.  Remove from the freezer the day before use and refrigerate.

HINTS: Cheesecakes often crack while baking and some rise high and later fall, but these are not matters of concern.  Cheesecakes do not take kindly to sudden changes in temperature.  SO DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR DURING THE BAKING.

I find it much easier to cream the cheeses by putting them through the Cuisinart.”

*original recipe called for wheat flour

Further notes from GF-Zing!: The batter will fill most of the pan and during the baking the cake will rise to the very top of the pan or higher.  Do NOT use a smaller pan than called for in the recipe.  Full fat ricotta makes a nice cake.  We use Friendship brand sour cream because its only ingredients are milk, cream and enzymes. We line the bottom of the spring form pan with parchment paper to make transferring the cake to a plate a little easier.

Shopping List for Susie’s Cheesecake:

1 pound cream cheese

1 pound ricotta

Sugar

4 large eggs

Butter

GF Flour

Cornstarch

Vanilla

Sour Cream

1 lemon

Corn and Bacon Risotto

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This gluten free risotto is delicious, using fresh corn, New England apple-smoked bacon and New England Hard Cider.

4 strips of apple wood smoked bacon, chopped and cooked in a pan or the microwave
5 cups homemade chicken stock (gluten free)
1/4-1/2 cup New England hard apple cider (like a dry white wine)
4 TB olive oil
2 TB butter
2 large shallots, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
Kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn
2 inch slice of a log of fresh goat cheese (even better, from a log of marinated fresh goat cheese)
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Heat the chicken stock in a glass measure in the microwave until the temperature of hot coffee.

In a large non-stick skillet (12 inches is good), melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the shallots and onions and cook while stirring, until browned slightly.  Add the rice and stir to coat with oil.  Cook until it becomes slightly more opaque.  Deglaze the pan with the cider.  Add the stock about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring all the while over a low heat, for 10 minutes.  When 10 minutes is up, you will still have stock left.

Add the corn and bacon to the rice mixture and continue adding the stock a little bit at a time and stirring, until all the stock is used up (about 10 more minutes).  If the rice is cooked al dente, you are done; if not, add some more stock and cook further.

When the rice is al dente, add the goat cheese and the parmesan cheese and stir to completely mix.  You may add chooped parsley, salt and the pepper to taste at this point.  Serve immediately, with New England Hard Cider to drink.

Make sure that all your ingredients are gluten free!

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Microwave Chicken Wings

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We acquired a new microwave oven and have been playing around with it – a new way to save energy resources while cooking.

For 1.5-2 pounds of chicken wings, mix the following sauce in a large bowl:

1/4 cup gluten free orange marmalade

1 tablespoon honey

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1/2 of a lime)

black pepper

Remove the wing tips from the wings, and cut each wing in to two pieces at the joint. Mix the sauce with the chicken wings.  Place the wings and sauce in a glass pie plate (in a single layer) and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Microwave for 10 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and microwave for 5-10 more minutes, until cooked through.  Preheat a broiler and broil the wings for 4-5 minutes to crisp up the skin.

If your microwave has an automatic sensor, follow the instructions for cooking chicken parts, remove the plastic wrap half way through the cooking time.  When the wings are done, broil as above.

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

Curried Tofu meatballs

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These gluten free “meatballs” from Gf-Zing! have the texture of gnocchi.  The cream-based curry sauce is delicious with sweet potato fries.

Mix the following with your hands:

1 block (1 pound) firm tofu

1 egg

1 cup minced scallion (both the white and green)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons potato starch (katakuriko)

6-8 tablespoons sweet brown rice flour – this is like mochiko or sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour even though it does not contain gluten) – it is made from sweet brown rice

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon curry powder (make your own using Rebecca Reilly’s recipe from Gluten Free Baking)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all these ingredients and as you mix you will notice that the liquid is taken up by the flours.  Add sweet brown rice flour as needed to reach a consistency where “meatballs” can be formed.  Make walnut sized balls.

Fry the balls in 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until they are golden. Remove the balls to a plate.  To the oil remaining in the pan, add

2 tablespoons curry powder and fry briefly.  Add

1 1/2 cups of New England hard cider (this is like white wine – it is not sweet).

Reduce the wine to 1/3 cup.  Add the tofu balls back to the pan and add

1 cup heavy cream or coconut milk

2 cups gluten free chicken stock

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  The sauce will thicken as the balls absorb the stock.  Check from time to time and stir.

When cooked, serve with sweet potato fries.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!.

Sweet Potato Fries

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Serve these awesome baked fries with any dish that has a curry sauce.

For every 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, place the following in a large bowl:

2 teaspoons of Kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon of table salt)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

2-4 TB olive oil

Cut peeled sweet potato in to french fry size – make 1/2 inch slices crosswise, then cut each slice in to 1/2 inch slices.  Mix these fries with the oil and spices to distribute evenly.  Place the spiced fries on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer.  Do not use a silpat mat because the baking temperature exceeds the tolerance of silpat.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.  Bake the fries on the top shelf for 15 minutes, stir, then bake an additional 5 minutes.  Do not worry if some fries are slightly blackened.  The flavor will be awesome.

Serve with any dish that has a rich curry sauce, or as an accompaniment to meat dishes.

Rich Lamb and Cornish Game Hen Curry

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Try this excellent curry – you won’t be sorry!

Fry one onion, chopped, in 2 Tablespoons of oil until browned.  Add 2 lamb shanks and brown them as well. De-glaze the pan with 1 cup of New England Hard Cider.

In to a pressure cooker, put:

1 can of coconut milk

2 Tablespoons of gluten free thai red curry paste

1 stalk of lemon grass, the white part at the root end only, chopped

2 Tablespoons of fresh ginger, chopped

Add the lamb shank mixture to the coconut milk mixture. Close the pressure cooker and bring up the pressure.  Pressure cook for 10 minutes, then let the pressure drop on its own.  Lamb shanks take a long time to cook. This pressure-cooking step will give the lamb a head start, ensuring that eventually the lamb gets nice and tender.

Carefully transfer the hot lamb shanks in their curry sauce in to a casserole that has a lid.  To this mixture, add

1 Cornish Game Hen

1 mango, peeled seeded and cut in to chunks (an under-ripe mango is perfect for this purpose.)

Braise the dish, covered, in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours, until the lamb is tender.  Skim off any fat that has accumulated.  Season with salt if needed.

Serve with Jasmine rice topped with plenty of fresh chopped cilantro, and fresh ground sea salt.

Note: If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can cook everything except the game hen and mango for 1-1 1/2 hours and then add the game hen and mango and bake for an additional hour and a half.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

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Hot cocoa mix from GfZing! is easy to make at home.  Here’s how to make an instant cocoa mix that will spice up your breakfast. Make sure that each individual component of the mixture is gluten free – the cocoa, the spices etc.

In a jar that holds 750 ml, place:

  • 3/4 cup sugar (or the equivalent sweetening amount of a gluten free sugar substitute)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional to add spiciness – you can grind up one dried cayenne pepper and add that)
  • 1/4 cup finely ground skinned almonds (optional – this adds a gritty texture)
  • 3.2 ounces of nonfat powdered dry milk (the amount to make one quart)

Shake this mixture up until it is completely homogeneous.

Use 3-4 Tablespoons of the mixture with 1 mug of hot water to make your cocoa.

Flageolet Beans with Smoked Paprika

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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!

Mujaddara – a Lebanese lentil dish

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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.

Gluten Free Trifle

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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

  1. Cream the butter & sugar.
  2. Add all the dry ingredients & mix well.
  3. Add the egg yolk and mix until a dough forms.  Make the dough in to a disk shape.
  4. The original recipe calls for chilling the dough for one hour here, but we just proceeded since the air is cold in winter.
  5. 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.)
  6. preheat the oven to 300F
  7. 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!

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.

Carrot Quick Bread

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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

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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

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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

        • Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

          Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

        • Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan, line the bottom with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the batter comes out clean.

        For the frosting:

        Mix:

        8 ounces cream cheese
        2/3 cup dark maple syrup (grade B has more flavor than grade A)
        1 teaspoon vanilla

      • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix well.

      Add

      2/3 cup dry currants

    • 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

Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

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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

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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!

Lamb Steaks with Herbs and Lemon

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This simple recipe from the Gf-Zing! website is designed for the gluten-free community, but the glutenated world will enjoy it too! You can make a delicious meal with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Have ready a couple of plates, some mashed potatoes and a glass of pinot noir for the chef, and start cooking:

  • 1 to 1.5 pounds Lamb top round roast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint (optional)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated
  • freshly ground salt and pepper
  • 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large tomato cut into eight wedges
  • 1/2 a lemon

Slice the lamb roast into four 3/4 inch slices – each one should be the size of a playing card or a burger. Spread each slice on both sides with the minced or grated garlic, then sprinkle one side with thyme, mint, salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a robust pan until hot. Fry the lamb steaks on the non-herb side for 3 minutes, then flip them to the other side that has the herbs on it.

Fry for 2 minutes, then add the tomato wedges and fry for 2 minutes more. Move the lamb steaks and tomato wedges to your plates, sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and serve.