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Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, November 23, 2009
Gluten Free Rocky Road with Brazil nuts
Prep 10 mins, cooks in 5 mins and needs 2hrs to set in the fridge
These are everything a gluten free gal in need of chocolate could ask for - soft but has crunch, chewy but melts in your mouth, and of course sweetness in small-ish doses.
Ingredients:
100gm unsalted butter (leave at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften)
225g or 3 slabs Thortons milk chocolate broken into pieces
Method:
Serving suggestion:
Best served chilled, straight from the fridge, and also great with a scope of vanilla ice cream.
Nutritional Nugget:
Brazil nuts are extremely nutritious. Its combination of vitamin E and Selenium give the nut its special immune-enhancing properties. In addition to that, I would recommend Brazil nuts as a great snack for celiacs (who naturally lack B vitamins in the diets), as Brazil nuts are great source of Thiamine (vitamin B1). Selenium is also a powerful antioxidant linked to lower rates of cancer and heart disease. Brazil nuts are also a very good source of zinc (essential to digestion and metabolism).
Good to know:
Brazil nuts grow on enormous trees in the South American rainforest. They require the presence of a specific orchid that attracts a particular bee that pollinates the trees' flowers. Brazil nuts are harvested from wild trees, and can be gathered without harming the rainforest.
Makes 12 thick squares
These are everything a gluten free gal in need of chocolate could ask for - soft but has crunch, chewy but melts in your mouth, and of course sweetness in small-ish doses.
Ingredients:
100gm unsalted butter (leave at room temperature for 5 minutes to soften)
225g or 3 slabs Thortons milk chocolate broken into pieces
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup
1 cup Orgran Gluten Free Chocolate animal biscuits
1 cup unsalted Brazil nuts
1 cup mini marshmallows (Campfire are gluten free)
- Place the biscuits into a ziplock bag and bash them (with loving intent) using a rolling pin to break them into smaller pieces. Do the same with the brazil nuts in a separate bag.
- In a small pot, melt the butter on a medium heat, and then add the golden syrup and chocolate pieces. Stir to combine.
- Remove about ½ cup of the chocolate mixture and keep aside.
- Remove your pot from the heat and add the broken bits of biscuit, brazil nuts and lastly, the marshmallows. Spoon it all through to ensure everything is nicely coated. Pour the mixture into a foil tray, or a small glass pyrex dish lined with foil.
- Finish it off by pouring the ½ cup of chocolate from earlier on top. Smooth over with a spoon before placing in the fridge for 2 hours (or overnight) to set.
Best served chilled, straight from the fridge, and also great with a scope of vanilla ice cream.
Brazil nuts are extremely nutritious. Its combination of vitamin E and Selenium give the nut its special immune-enhancing properties. In addition to that, I would recommend Brazil nuts as a great snack for celiacs (who naturally lack B vitamins in the diets), as Brazil nuts are great source of Thiamine (vitamin B1). Selenium is also a powerful antioxidant linked to lower rates of cancer and heart disease. Brazil nuts are also a very good source of zinc (essential to digestion and metabolism).
Brazil nuts grow on enormous trees in the South American rainforest. They require the presence of a specific orchid that attracts a particular bee that pollinates the trees' flowers. Brazil nuts are harvested from wild trees, and can be gathered without harming the rainforest.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sun-Dried Tomatoes (homemade in the oven)
Bravo to the Italians for this one!
Although tomatoes are said to
have originated from Peru and
Ecuador, it was the Italians who
placed tomatoes on their roofs to
dry out in the summer sun. This ensured that in the winter months, when fresh tomatoes were not available, they had these beautiful sun-dried tomatoes at hand.
I'm taking a short cut for this recipe by oven drying just 6 plum tomatoes. Oven drying will cause the natural sugars to caramelize, which will give more sweetness. Also note that the edges will brown and crisp (I love that crunch!), but the center remains soft.
6 Plum tomatoes quartered
1/3 cup Olive oil
Pinch of salt.
(be sure to have an airtight container for storage)
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180°C
2. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and generously coat each quarter, followed by a pinch of salt.
3. Cook for 2 hours. They will shrivel to about a third of their original size.
4. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate in an airtight container with olive oil.
Suggestions:
Besides being simply delicious in their own right, these sun-dried tomatoes add a great burst of flavour to so many dishes, and ....can also create the illusion of gourmet greatness.
Try them in:
Any green salad or in sauces for salad dressings
Gluten free pasta sauces or straight into pasta dishes with fresh basil
In gluten free pizza's - either as a topping or to make a paste
Sun-dried tomato dip - love this!
I also love them just on a piece of gluten free toast, with a sprinkling of cheese and some torn up basil.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Gluten free vegetable lasagna with roasted butternut
Serves 6
Prep & cooking time: 1hr 40mins
This is a great recipe for weekends, when you have time to prepare the ingredients and make the cheese sauce. Having said that, you can take short cuts, like buying ready cut butternut, or buying ready made cheese sauce - if you can find a good gluten free version. I'm all for shortcuts in cooking - sometimes the only choice is the express route. But when I have time, that old fashioned gal comes out and I treasure the opportunity to take my time chopping and preparing fresh organic ingredients myself, giving them the love they need to become wholesome, delicious meals. I believe the ingredients absorb my "good vibes", making my gluten free lasagna taste like it was made with litres of love.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp organic olive oil
½ organic onion chopped (clearly I’m not an onion fan, but I would not add more than 1 medium sized onion)
1 glove of organic garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 stalk of organic celery chopped
2 organic carrots peeled, cut into rounds and then half those rounds.
1 punnet organic mushrooms, sliced (any kind will do – I use organic brown chestnut mushrooms)
½ a medium sized organic butternut remove skin, seeds and chop into smallish cubes to speed up the cooking time
1 can of organic lentils, rinsed
Organic spinach, as much as you like, just wash first (I would remove the stem and stalk down the center by cutting the leaves in two, and only using the leafy part)
6 gluten free lasagna sheets (I use Organo, or Casalare just try to buy the ones that don’t require prior cooking)
1 packet buffalo mozzarella cheese (organic if possible)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
Gluten free cheese sauce
1½ Tbsp butter
1½ Tbsp gluten free flour (I use Doves Farms gluten free white bread flour)
500ml to 750ml milk (quantity depends on the dish size but I would probably go with 750ml as you can refrigerate this sauce and use it the next day on steak, with home fries, on a baked potato for lunch etc, etc.
1½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (organic if possible but not essential)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place the butternut (or pumpkin) squares into a dish with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and light sprinkling of cinnamon. Let the butternut roast for about 15 - 20 minutes in the oven while you continue with the other ingredients.
3. Place the oil in large pan with the chopped onion, and gently fry for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic, celery and carrot. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
4. Add the sliced mushrooms, and cook for a further 5 minutes. You don’t want to over cook anything at this point because everything will go back in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes to cook the lasagna sheets later.
5. By this time, your butternut should be slightly firm. Take it out the oven and add it to the other vegetables, spoon it through and add your rinsed lentils and turn the heat off. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside while you make the cheese sauce.
Gluten Free cheese sauce:
Roux – in a small pot melt the butter on a medium heat, then add the flour and using a whisk (or fork as my mother did) combine the two and allow the gluten free roux to cook for about 2 minutes but keep stirring with your whisk so it doesn't burn. Then slowly (and while stirring) pour in the milk and then turn up the heat a notch. Keep stirring. The sauce will take about 10 – 15mins to cook and thicken, at which point you can add the grated cheese and stir until it’s all melted in. Your gluten free cheese sauce is now ready. I like to add lots of freshly ground black pepper and then salt to taste at this point – that’s up to you of course. If the sauce has not thickened up, I would mix 1 tsp of gluten free flour with half a cup of milk in a jug and add it to the cheese sauce while stirring. That should thicken within 5mins on a medium to high heat.
Putting it all together:
You are now ready for the grand assembly of your gluten free lasagna.
1. Pour a small amount of cheese sauce on the bottom of the dish to prevent the lasagna sheets from sticking.
2. Place 3 lasagna sheets side by side on top of that sauce.
3. Follow with a layer of half the spinach, then a layer of half the vegetables, and then half the cheese sauce on top.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. The last thing to do is break off irregular size pieces of your buffalo mozzarella and dot it over the final layer of cheese sauce. It will melt evenly in the oven
6. Follow the directions on your lasagna box for cooking time – can be anything from 25 minutes to 45 minutes.
7. When the time is up, take it out the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes before cutting up and serving. I say this because it needs time to settle so that it’s not a plate runny of mess. If you’re impatient like me, and have to eat it scolding hot - the runny mess still tastes amazing so don’t worry about that.
Notes:
I think it’s important to have some form of protein in this gluten free vegetable lasagna. Although I prefer lentils, there was a time when all I had in the kitchen cupboards was a can of cannellini beans which worked just fine. Ditto with substituting pumpkin for butternut. The quantities will fit a normal rectangular glass pyrex dish which will serve 6 main portions. If your dish is smaller you’ll need to reduce the ingredients accordingly, especially for the cheese sauce.
For the time starved out there, this dish can be refrigerated for a day and heated 30 minutes before the guests arrive for your dinner party.
Serving suggestions:
Last week I served this with warm, homemade, gluten free corn & chilli bread which was a big hit with the non-gluten people at my table. (See pic - GF corn bread baking in the oven next to the GF lasagna) I would suggest that, or a lovely green salad with avo and a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. By green salad I mean, lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, avocado slices, all tossed in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. Simple.
Prep & cooking time: 1hr 40mins
This is a great recipe for weekends, when you have time to prepare the ingredients and make the cheese sauce. Having said that, you can take short cuts, like buying ready cut butternut, or buying ready made cheese sauce - if you can find a good gluten free version. I'm all for shortcuts in cooking - sometimes the only choice is the express route. But when I have time, that old fashioned gal comes out and I treasure the opportunity to take my time chopping and preparing fresh organic ingredients myself, giving them the love they need to become wholesome, delicious meals. I believe the ingredients absorb my "good vibes", making my gluten free lasagna taste like it was made with litres of love.
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp organic olive oil
½ organic onion chopped (clearly I’m not an onion fan, but I would not add more than 1 medium sized onion)
1 glove of organic garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 stalk of organic celery chopped
2 organic carrots peeled, cut into rounds and then half those rounds.
1 punnet organic mushrooms, sliced (any kind will do – I use organic brown chestnut mushrooms)
½ a medium sized organic butternut remove skin, seeds and chop into smallish cubes to speed up the cooking time
1 can of organic lentils, rinsed
Organic spinach, as much as you like, just wash first (I would remove the stem and stalk down the center by cutting the leaves in two, and only using the leafy part)
6 gluten free lasagna sheets (I use Organo, or Casalare just try to buy the ones that don’t require prior cooking)
1 packet buffalo mozzarella cheese (organic if possible)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
Gluten free cheese sauce
1½ Tbsp butter
1½ Tbsp gluten free flour (I use Doves Farms gluten free white bread flour)
500ml to 750ml milk (quantity depends on the dish size but I would probably go with 750ml as you can refrigerate this sauce and use it the next day on steak, with home fries, on a baked potato for lunch etc, etc.
1½ cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (organic if possible but not essential)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Place the butternut (or pumpkin) squares into a dish with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and light sprinkling of cinnamon. Let the butternut roast for about 15 - 20 minutes in the oven while you continue with the other ingredients.
3. Place the oil in large pan with the chopped onion, and gently fry for about 5 minutes before adding the garlic, celery and carrot. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
4. Add the sliced mushrooms, and cook for a further 5 minutes. You don’t want to over cook anything at this point because everything will go back in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes to cook the lasagna sheets later.
5. By this time, your butternut should be slightly firm. Take it out the oven and add it to the other vegetables, spoon it through and add your rinsed lentils and turn the heat off. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside while you make the cheese sauce.
Gluten Free cheese sauce:
Roux – in a small pot melt the butter on a medium heat, then add the flour and using a whisk (or fork as my mother did) combine the two and allow the gluten free roux to cook for about 2 minutes but keep stirring with your whisk so it doesn't burn. Then slowly (and while stirring) pour in the milk and then turn up the heat a notch. Keep stirring. The sauce will take about 10 – 15mins to cook and thicken, at which point you can add the grated cheese and stir until it’s all melted in. Your gluten free cheese sauce is now ready. I like to add lots of freshly ground black pepper and then salt to taste at this point – that’s up to you of course. If the sauce has not thickened up, I would mix 1 tsp of gluten free flour with half a cup of milk in a jug and add it to the cheese sauce while stirring. That should thicken within 5mins on a medium to high heat.
Putting it all together:
You are now ready for the grand assembly of your gluten free lasagna.
1. Pour a small amount of cheese sauce on the bottom of the dish to prevent the lasagna sheets from sticking.
2. Place 3 lasagna sheets side by side on top of that sauce.
3. Follow with a layer of half the spinach, then a layer of half the vegetables, and then half the cheese sauce on top.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3.
5. The last thing to do is break off irregular size pieces of your buffalo mozzarella and dot it over the final layer of cheese sauce. It will melt evenly in the oven
6. Follow the directions on your lasagna box for cooking time – can be anything from 25 minutes to 45 minutes.
7. When the time is up, take it out the oven and allow it to cool for 15 minutes before cutting up and serving. I say this because it needs time to settle so that it’s not a plate runny of mess. If you’re impatient like me, and have to eat it scolding hot - the runny mess still tastes amazing so don’t worry about that.
Notes:
I think it’s important to have some form of protein in this gluten free vegetable lasagna. Although I prefer lentils, there was a time when all I had in the kitchen cupboards was a can of cannellini beans which worked just fine. Ditto with substituting pumpkin for butternut. The quantities will fit a normal rectangular glass pyrex dish which will serve 6 main portions. If your dish is smaller you’ll need to reduce the ingredients accordingly, especially for the cheese sauce.
For the time starved out there, this dish can be refrigerated for a day and heated 30 minutes before the guests arrive for your dinner party.
Serving suggestions:
Last week I served this with warm, homemade, gluten free corn & chilli bread which was a big hit with the non-gluten people at my table. (See pic - GF corn bread baking in the oven next to the GF lasagna) I would suggest that, or a lovely green salad with avo and a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. By green salad I mean, lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, avocado slices, all tossed in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. Simple.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Gluten free Butternut soup with a dash of curry powder
Serves 2 (with left overs) or 4
Prep & cooking time: 45mins
Ingredients:
1 medium size organic butternut (remove seeds and skin and cut into large cubes)
1 large organic potato (peel and cut into large cubes)
½ small onion chopped
750ml Vegetable stock (I use Kallo Organic veg stock which is gluten free)
½ tsp curry power or 1½ tsp for a spicy soup (I use Cartwrights curry powder which is gluten free)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf (optional)
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Some cream to finish (optional)
1. Place the oil in large pot with the chopped onion, and gently fry until the onion becomes see through.
2. Add the cubed potato & butternut along with the curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste. Mix the ingredients to coat and allow to sweat on a medium heat with the lid on for about 5 – 10 mins.
3. Add the vegetable stock & bay leaf. With the lid on, turn up the heat so the soup boils for a further 20 mins or until the potato is soft.
4. Use a hand held mixer to smooth the soup in the pot, or place in a glass blender until smooth. If the soup is too think add water until you have the consistency you like.
Serving suggestions:
Excellant served with gluten free grilled cheese toasties (cut into triangles for dipping) to add some crunch to your soup. Toast your gluten free bread, add some grated extra sharp cheddar and place under the grill until cheese bubbles.
Or serve with a swirl of cream. Simply pour the cream onto a tablespoon, and run the spoon through the soup in a circle from the centre outwards. Finish with a sprinkle of paprika in the centre, or parsley for colour, or both.
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