Chef Patti Anastasia
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Serving Southern New Hampshire since 2003
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Chef Patti Anastasia Serving Southern New Hampshire since 2003 |
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Table Talk » Gluten-Free ArchivesJanuary 10, 2010Gluten-free Goodness: Sloppy Joes in a Hash Brown CrustMost kids like Sloppy Joes, and Jayne is no exception, except Jayne can't eat gluten or eggs, so the bun part of Sloppy Joes is a challenge for her. Most of the tasty gluten-free buns we've found have eggs. I was on a mission to come up with a way to make Sloppy Joes for Jayne. I had two inspirations for what I came up with: Sloppy Joe Spaghetti Cups from Joe at Culinary in the Country and Hash Brown Quiche from Amy Casey at Dinners for a Year and Beyond. I could have made Joe's spaghetti cup with gluten-free spaghetti, but Jayne loves potatoes and a solution that doesn't use dairy except for butter was more appropriate for her family.
Continue reading "Gluten-free Goodness: Sloppy Joes in a Hash Brown Crust" » November 1, 2009Asian Grandmothers' SecretsToday I used the last of my Thai basil to make this Thai Basil Pork. The recipe was featured in the Boston Globe on 10/28/2009 in a review of The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. Last spring, a delicious spicy basil pork dish that I had at The Chatta Box inspired me to grow Thai basil in my Aerogarden. I became obsessed with Thai basil. Early in the summer, a friend told me that she bought some Thai Basil plants at her local Walmart. I'm not a fan of Walmart, but I was willing to break my no Walmart rule when Thai Basil plants were involved. My local store had five plants, I bought all five. They didn't like the cold weather we had at the beginning of the summer, but after a few weeks, they started producing a bumper crop of Thai basil. We enjoyed lots of delicious meals featuring Thai basil because the more I harvested it, the more it grew. When frost started threatening in mid September, I put the huge pot of Thai basil in my little red wagon so I could easily put it in the garage at night and bring it out on warmer days. I've been nursing it along for the past month. Tonight's dinner was the Thai basil's final hurrah. I cheated on the Asian grandmothers, but just a little bit. First, the recipe uses ground pork and the ground pork that I can get is very high in fat. So I bought pork tenderloin, trimmed it, cut it into chunks, and ground it in the food processor. This works great when you want lean ground pork. The recipe also called for Thai chilies, which I didn't have. I used a heaping tablespoon of Thai chili paste. And I tossed in about five julienned kaffir lime leaves, just because I'm crazy about the flavor of kaffir lime limes. I served the Thai Basil Pork with jasmine rice and roasted carrots tossed with a dressing of fish sauce, sesame oil, powdered galangal, and brown sugar. The grandmothers' Thai Basil Pork was easy and delicious. Perfect for a busy night.
June 14, 2009Potato, cauliflower, and chickpea curry for EliseThis post is for my twitter friend Elise (@Studio99Nashua). She requested this recipe after I tweeted about it last week. This recipe was inspired by a recipe published in the Boston Globe Sunday magazine. My big change was that I added the chickpeas to add protein to the dish. This isn't the most beautiful dish, but it is tasty.
Potato, Cauliflower, and Chickpea Curry 1 14-ounce can coconut milk -- I've made this with either regular or light coconut milk In a food processor, puree the coconut milk and diced tomatoes and their juice. Set aside. (Note, I use my immersion blender for this step.) In a large Dutch oven or casserole, heat the olive oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the onion and ginger, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring often, until the onion becomes translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the curry powder and cumin and cook for 30 seconds. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring a few times, for 3-5 minutes. Add coconut milk mixture and and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Add cauliflower and chickpeas; simmer, covered, until the potatoes and cauliflower are tender, 10-15 minutes longer. Stir in the peas, 1/4 cup of cilantro, and half of the lime juice. Simmer 3 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and lime juice. Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro and serve with steamed basmati rice. April 12, 2009Menu Plan Monday/Gluten Free Menu SwapYikes, I never did get back to last week's menu post to add pictures. Just not enough hours in a day. Head on over to OrgJunkie.com to check out what's cooking this week and to learn more about Menu Plan Monday. The Gluten Free Menu Swap is an offshoot of Menu Plan Monday and is currently headquartered here. Each week there is a host for the swap and the host selects an ingredient or theme and the participants try to plan their menus keeping that ingredient in mind. Cheryl at Gluten Free Goodness is hosting this week and she has chosen flax seed as the ingredient. I'm not gluten free, but some of my clients are gluten free. At home, I often cook gluten free; sometimes on purpose and sometimes just because what I decided to cook happens to be gluten free. My menu this week doesn't include any flax seeds, but everything on it can be made gluten free. I spent some time today cooking ahead for this coming week, so I have some pictures to add to this post.
Honey Soy-Glazed Chicken Wings - These are from Robert M. Landolphi's just released Gluten Free Every Day Cookbook. I'm making these chicken wings to bring to a Southern NH Gluten Intolerance Association potluck dinner meeting. I met Chef Landolphi at the Gluten Free Culinary Summit last September. I can't wait to try Chef Landolphi's Country-Style Chicken Pot Pie; it has a cream cheese crust! Taco Stuffed Peppers - these are a meal in themselves, I might make a salad to go with them. Weeknight Turkey and Stuffing - turkey cutlets wrapped around a bread stuffing with a light gravy. These are inspired by Eating Well's Turkey and Stuffing for 2. Use your favorite gluten free cornbread or bread in the stuffing. I wish I had some cranberries in the freezer so I could make cranberry sauce to go with them. Tangy Barbecued Boneless Pork Ribs - I haven't decided if I'll cook these ribs in the crockpot or the pressure cooker. April 5, 2009Gluten Free Menu Swap/Menu Plan MondayI'm trying something new this week. My Twitter friend Wendy (@celiacsinhouse) is hosting the Gluten-Free Menu Swap on her blog and invited me to participate. The Gluten Free Menu Swap is an offshoot of Menu Plan Monday and is currently headquartered at here. Each week there is a host for the swap and the host selects an ingredient or theme and the participants plan their menus keeping that ingredient in mind. If haven't heard about Menu Plan Monday, you can read all about it on OrgJunkie.com. I'm thinking that Menu Plan Monday is a good thing for me because after planning menus for my clients, I don't always take the time to plan what we are going to eat. That doesn't mean that I don't cook dinner for us every night, but it is often an on the fly thing rather than a planned out thing.
Wendy at Celiacs In the House is hosting the Gluten Free Menu Swap this week and her ingredient is favorite sides and salads. When I plan our dinner menus, I tend to plan the number of dinners we need that week, but I don't really plan what day we are eating them. Here's our menu for the week. It's typical of the meals that I make for my gluten-free clients with one exception: the broccoli slaw. The dishes that I make for my clients are almost always freezable. Salmon Vera Cruz - inspired by a Rick Bayless recipe. I'll season the salmon with salt, pepper, and smoked Spanish paprika, sear it, then roast it. I'll also serve it hot rather than at room temperature. Braciole Stuffed Flank Steak - from the premiere issue of Delight Gluten Free magazine. I can't wait to try this. Chicken Marsala - I'm trying out a version from Cook's Illustrated, will use Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour. Cheesy Hash Brown Chili - I'm shirking on the veggie side this day. This one dish meal is reserved for an extra busy day. Oh, and I'll make this with ground turkey rather than ground beef. Chicken Florentine with Caramelized Garlic - lots of spinach and roasted garlic. Our veggies are in our main dish this night. Chipotle Sloppy Joes - substituting ground turkey here too. And instead of buns, I'll make my favorite gluten-free cornbread. Oh, and I'm also making a gluten-free chocolate cake as a gift to my Tuesday client who is having a birthday. It is the Basic Cake (chocolate variation) from Rebecca Reilly''s Gluten-Free Baking. This post is sorely lacking in pictures, so as the week progresses, I'll come back and update it with pictures of our dinners. April 1, 2009Playing with foodI wanted to do something fun with food as April Fools' Day treat for my April 1st client. My searches for April Fools' Day food came up with some pretty gross stuff, like kitty litter cake. Gack, just looking at a picture of kitty litter cakes makes me feel ill. Just when I was about to give up, Google led me to sweet sushi from the Brownie Points blog. Hey, I can do that. And more importantly, it uses real food and I can make it gluten-free and dairy-free, which my April 1 client requires.
The recipe starts with rice krispy treats. OK, that's butter, marshmallows, and crisped rice cereal. Or in my case Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, Kraft mini marshmallows, and Erewhon Rice Twice cereal. I'm sure I made rice krispy treats with my mom when I was a kid, but I've only made them once as an adult and I didn't have fun. The mixture was like boiling hot cement. So I really wasn't looking forward to the rice krispy treat part of this recipe. But, it surprised me. I don't know if the ingredient ratio was different from my last attempt, but these were easy to mix and handle. It probably helped that I used a huge pot (6 qt). The recipe on the Brownie Points blog calls for using a 1" round cookie cutter to cut the rice krispy treasts. I used to have a small round biscuit cutter, but I never used it so it went to Goodwill last summer. I thought I could simply use a 1" cardboard circle as a template to cut the cylinders, but that didn't work. The still warm mixture didn't hold its shape when cut this way. Ugh, what to do. Hey, can I roll the mixture into long cylinders and cut them into small segments? Yes! That worked. The still warm mixture was easy to roll into cylinders. I coated my hands with the Earth Balance to do this step. If I ever make this again, I'll buy a 1" round cutter because it would have been faster and my rice krispy rolls had smooth tops from being sliced. Ideally, you want the bumpy rice krispy top. More about that later. I really wish I had more pictures of the entire process. I had to work quickly and didn't have time to stop for many photos. Here are my rice krispy rolls.
Next up, dipping the rolls in chocolate. The Brownie Points recipe has you add green and black food coloring to the chocolate to mimic the color of the nori. But there was no way that I was going to add food coloring to my beautiful 72% dark chocolate. After dipping the rolls, I popped them in the fridge to set up. How do I dip them? Well, my method is not elegant, but it works. It involves toothpicks and a fork. The fork's job is to be a spatula. Stab what will be the top of the roll with a toothpick. Dip bottom and sides of roll in chocolate. Let excess drip off. Hold the dipped roll so it looks like a lollipop (toothpick held between thumb and index finger, dipped roll pointing straight up. Hold it with your nondominant hand. With the fork in your dominant hand, place the fork under the undipped part of the roll. Roll is now sitting on fork, toothpick is between tines of fork. Pull toothpick out off roll. Use fork as spatula and place on wax paper covered rack or baking sheet. This is where I should have pulled out the mini video camera. But I was elbow deep in chocolate before I thought of that. The next step is dipping the tops in white chocolate and topping each with a dried papaya square. The papaya needs to be cut up and ready to go when you start dipping because the melted chocolate is the glue that makes the papaya stay in place. So cut up your papaya squares as your white chocolate is melting. Since I sliced rolls of rice krispy treat mixture into cylinders rather than cutting them out with a cookie cutter, my pieces were totally flat. I think they would look better if they had some of the bumpy texture of the rice cereal. Next time! I didn't want to handle the chocolate covered rolls, so I stabbed the bottom of each roll with a toothpick and used the toothpick to dip the top of the roll in the white chocolate. I pulled the roll off the toothpick, set it on a wax paper covered rack, and plunked the papaya on top. Here are the dark chocolate dipped rolls waiting to get dipped in the white chocolate.
And the finished sushi!
This was a fun project. A little messy, but so what. And my client loved them. March 23, 2009Polenta, the lazy wayNo picture today, polenta isn't very photogenic. This post is for Wendy at Celiacs in the House. She recently tried a few different methods of making polenta and I wanted to share this method with her. I'm not sure of the origin of this recipe, I got it from my friend Jan. I've made stovetop polenta using instant polenta, and it's fast and easy, but the volcanos of hot polenta that I experienced when I made it are a bit too scary for me. Traditional stovetop polenta requires a lot of attention, not for me. I like this method, it requires just one stir halfway through the cooking. Perfect for when you want to focus on other dishes or you just want something easy. This version uses marjoram and Parmesan cheese, but try it with your favorite herbs and cheeses. If you have some half and half or cream, try it with that instead of the milk. 4 1/2 cups water Preheat oven to 425. In a baking dish, whisk together water, cornmeal, salt, and pepper. Cover, and bake 30 minutes, stirring halfway though. Remove from oven, and add milk, butter and marjoram. Also add Parmesan if using. Whisk briskly until smooth. Serve immediately. February 1, 2009Gluten Alert: Heinz says that their organic ketchup IS NOT gluten-freeGiven the recent news about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) containing mercury, if you are a Heinz ketchup user, you might have switched to Heinz Organic Ketchup to avoid HFCS. I just learned that unlike Heinz original ketchup, Heinz organic ketchup is not gluten-free. So if you need to be gluten-free, stay away from this HFCS-free ketchup. November 20, 2008Crockpot Barbecued Pulled PorkLots of people love their crockpots. That hasn't been the case for me, but I'm trying to make friends with my crockpot again because it sure is nice to come home to a warm, cooked meal. I started working on this new friendship by buying a new crockpot. A few weeks ago I bought a SmartPot. It turns itself to warm after the cooking time that you set. I think that a major reason why I wasn't happy with my crockpot meals is that they cooked too long. Yesterday's crockpot test was pulled pork. It's based on a recipe from Emeril Lagasse. First you rub the pork with a spice mixture, then cook it in the crockpot with a splash of cider vinegar. After the pork is cooked, you shred it and add a barbecue sauce. Simple. The original recipe called for boneless pork butt; I used a boneless 7-rib pork roast. I didn't want to mess with it in the morning, so I mixed together the spice rub, coated the pork roast, wrapped it in plastic wrap and refrigerated it overnight.
In the morning, I poured a splash of cider vinegar into the crockpot, added the pork, and set the crockpot to cook on low for 8 hours. When I got home about 9 hours later, the crockpot was on warm and the house smelled wonderful. I lifted the lid and I was a bit surprised by what I saw. The roast was sitting there all in one piece looking browned and sort of dry. It looked kind of like a little brick. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what I saw. My first thought was "oh crap, I need to find something else for dinner". Rather than grabbing the camera to take a picture of the cooked pork, I grabbed a fork to see if it would shred. Well, the second that the fork touched the pork, it fell apart. That was a huge relief. I tasted it and it tasted flavorful and moist. Yay, I don't have to rethink my dinner plans!
The next step is to stir in barbecue sauce. I mixed the sauce the night before when I prepped the pork, so all I had to do was pour it into the crockpot and stir it up.
Not the prettiest meal, but it was tasty. I wasn't in the mood for a sandwich, so I had mine with a Cheddar-Green Onion Muffin and lima beans. When Tom got home, he had a sandwich. I wish I had thought to make some coleslaw to go with it.
Continue reading "Crockpot Barbecued Pulled Pork " » November 4, 2008Living Without's BouleBeautiful loaves of gluten-free and dairy-free bread grace the cover of the current issue of Living Without magazine. Bread like this cries out to be made.
Most of my gluten-free clients miss bread and are looking for breads that they can eat and that are tasty. Yesterday was the day to test out one of breads from this issue of Living Without. I picked out the French baguette recipe because it is dairy-free and egg-free. Most of my gluten-free clients are also allergic to dairy and eggs. I don't have a baguette pan so I opted to make the boule version of the French baguette. This bread uses Living Without's high-protein flour blend. This blend was developed for baked goods that require elasticity. It starts with a bean flour, either chickpea flour or soy flour. Since most of my gluten-free clients are allergic to soy, I used chickpea (garbanzo) flour. The next decision to make about the flour blend is potato starch, arrowroot starch, or cornstarch. Some of my gluten-free clients are allergic to corn and I didn't have arrowroot starch on hand, so I went with potato starch. The final decision is brown rice flour or white rice flour. Brown rice flour wins because I have some and it is slightly more nutritious than white rice flour. Toss in some tapioca starch and I'm good to go with the flour blend. For the bread, first I sift the flour blend, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar into the bowl of the mixer. Then add the yeast and herbs. The recipe calls for dried herbs (rosemary or dill), but I decide to use fresh rosemary so I head out to the herb garden and snip a few sprigs. Here's the sifted flour, yeast, and rosemary in the mixer bowl. Don't skip the step of sifting the flour. These flours tend to clump, especially the chickpea flour. I always sift it to remove the clumps. I don't have a sifter; I use a fine mesh strainer to sift flours.
Next, blend the olive oil and warm water into the dry ingredients and mix on high speed for 4 minutes. Rather than plain olive oil, I decided to use some rosemary-infused olive oil. Here's the dough after mixing.
The dough is transferred to the prepared pan. I used an 8-inch spring form pan. The instructions in the original recipe don't say so, but it is much easier to move the dough from the mixing bowl to the pan if you wet the spatula. I used sweet rice flour to dust the top of the dough. I picked sweet rice flour because it is very fine.
The dough rises for 30 minutes, or until doubled. Then the oven is preheated to 400F. Here's the dough ready to go in the oven. I'm very impatient. I let it rise for just 30 minutes. I considered using the proofing setting on my oven, but decided not to. In retrospect, I think I should have let the bread rise a little longer. I don't think it was quite doubled.
The bread bakes until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom and it registers 200-220F on an instant-read thermometer. I've never used a thermometer to test bread for doneness. After 30 minutes, the bread didn't sound hollow, so I tested it with a thermometer. It was 185F. I put it back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Ten minutes later, it was 200F. I decided to cook it for 5 minutes longer (a total of 45 minutes) and it was 208F when it came out of the oven. After cooling for 10 minutes, I removed the collar from the springform pan.
As you can see, it's a pretty nice looking loaf of bread. So now the torturous part starts. Cutting bread when it is very hot is not a good idea. So I let it sit for about 30 minutes to cool. I was dying to cut the loaf and see what it was like. Finally, the bread is cool enough to cut. And to taste!
The bread smells great. The texture is springy. It's not as light and airy as the boule pictured on the magazine cover, but it tastes very good. I'm wondering if I should have mixed it longer or if I should have baked it longer. I'm 99% sure that I should have let it rise longer. I've experimented with a lot of gluten-free bread recipes, some good, some really bad. This one is probably one of the best that I've made. I snacked on a still-warm slice. Then I toasted a small slice to see what it was like toasted. Quite good. I cut off a chunk and put it in the freezer so I can see what it is like after freezing. Then I wrapped the remaining half loaf of bread up to take to today's client so they can try it. I didn't see my client today, but before I left I called her at work and told her about the bread experiment that I left for her. She was looking forward to trying it. I can't wait to hear her feedback. I'm looking forward to experimenting more with this recipe. I think I need to buy a baguette pan.
Continue reading "Living Without's Boule " » October 5, 2008Socca (farinata) gluten-free goodnessI've been promising my friend Marcy that I'd post this recipe. We made it together a few weeks ago when we had a cooking play date. Socca is a chickpea flour flatbread. The recipe that I used is from Mark Bittman. He originally published the Socca recipe in October 2005, which was before I was following him. But his blog revisited the recipe in May 2008, which is when it caught my attention. I'm always on the lookout for gluten-free breads to make for my gluten-free clients and friends, so I put this on my to try list. Also, my dad loves chickpeas, so I want to make this for him soon. It's a very simple peasant bread. Great for an appetizer. And very easy to make. All you need is some chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour, water, olive oil, salt, black pepper, an onion, and some fresh rosemary. Oh and a cast iron skillet. I use Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo Bean Flour. You can also find chickpea flour at Indian markets or natural food stores. You can even make your own garbanzo bean flour by lightly roast dried garbanzo beans, then grinding them in a blender until mixture has the consistency of flour. Chickpea flour tends to clump, so you need to make sure that you sift or whisk the flour to break up any clumps. Bittman says that the onions and rosemary are optional. Marcy and I made the socca with and without the onions. We preferred it with the onions. Bitman also recommends a healthy dose of black pepper, you want the sharpness of the black pepper when you bite into the bread. For the onion, we used a red onion because I just love red onions. This recipe can be adapted in many ways. Bittman's May 2008 blog entry discusses making it with other types of flour, including buckwheat flour. I also found this recipe on Epicurious for a version with sage, olives, and onions. That sounds like a great combination. Socca Continue reading "Socca (farinata) gluten-free goodness" » September 28, 2008Gluten-free culinary heaven (part 3)The last day of the Gluten-Free Culinary Summit was a Hands-On Holiday Baking session. We worked in groups of four or five. Each session started with a demonstration of the recipe, then we worked on it at our tables while the instructor walked through the room offering advice. We didn't bake any of the recipes we made, we were learning how to mix and form the doughs. Holiday baking isn't complete without sugar cookies. So, first up was Chef Wendy Vietro, Pastry Chef/Owner of Ursula's European Pastries (Cranston, RI). Chef Vietro demonstrated Traditional Holiday Sugar Cookies. After her demonstration, each table mixed a batch of the sugar cookie dough. Wendy gave us some great tips about working with the dough. Her tips included making sure that the butter was very soft before mixing the dough. This helps avoid a crumbly dough. She also showed us a "cheat" for rolling out the dough: rolling pin rings. I've seen pictures of these but I've never seen them in use. My favorite rolling pin is tapered so the rings won't work on it. I'll have to get a new rolling pin to try them. Chef Vietro also told us how to use this recipe to make Russian Tea Cookies and also a pistachio coated thumbprint. She shared how she grinds nuts in a Zyliss rotary grater. What a great tip. Chef Vietro's dough went together easily and was easy to roll out and cut. At the end of the session we all received a package of cookies made with the sugar cookie dough. Our second demonstration was presented by Chef Lee Tobin of Whole Foods Market Gluten-Free Bakehouse. Chef Tobin demonstrated a Gluten-Free Raspberry Linzertorte. This linzertorte has a hazelnut-based crust, but it can be made with walnuts or almonds. A tip that Chef Tobin gave us was to toss the cubes of cold butter with a bit of the flour to keep the butter from sticking to itself when you cut it in. We were also instructed to form the dough into a round before rolling it out. And to roll the dough out on parchment. The linzertorte has a bottom crust that is spread with raspberry jam, then topped with a lattice crust. For this session, the dough was already made; we rolled out the bottom crust and placed it in the tart pan, spread it with the raspberry filling, then rolled out the top crust and cut it into the strips for the lattice and placed the lattice on top of the filling. Rather than making a large tart, we can use this dough to make thumbprint cookies. At the end of the session, we all got a small piece of the tart to try. It was delicious! Next up was Judith Mann, owner of Good JuJu Bakery (S. Yarmouth, MA), to demonstrate a Holiday Braided Cinnamon Fruit Bread, which she said was like a fruit cake, only better. This dough had yeast to help it rise in the oven. It was scented with cinnamon and studded with dried fruit. She included instructions for mixing in a stand mixer or mixing by hand. Our group mixed it by hand. The dough was very thick and hard to mix (I did most of the hand mixing). When I make this, I'll mix it in the stand mixer. The bread is braided, but rather than braiding ropes of dough, the bread is made in a La Forme braided loaf pan. I'm not a fan of traditional fruit cake, but this bread was delicious. I was thinking about what a great peanut butter sandwich it would make. You can't have holidays with pies, so in our last session, Chef Renee Zonka from Kendall College demonstrated Traditional Pie Crust. Her crust is made with both butter and shortening. What I loved about this demo is that Chef Zonka went through the ingredients in a pie crust and described why she choose each of the ingredients in her gluten-free pie crust. Her pie crust uses both butter and shortening and she freezes the butter and shortening. Rather than white rice flour, she uses sweet rice flour, which is finer ground and less gritty than white rice flour. Her flour mixture also includes sorghum flour, which has properties similar to wheat flour. Xanthan gum pulls the dough together, vinegar softens the dough, and baking powder lightens the dough. I've made gluten-free pie crusts and I've never been 100% happy with them. I'm looking forward to working with this recipe. Another thing I learned is that when I cut the fat into the flour mixture, I've been working it too much. I need to leave larger bits of fat in the dough. At the end of this demonstration, we got pieces of a baked crust to try. It was light and flaky. Much better that the gluten-free crusts that I've made before. These baking demonstrations were great. It was fun to get our hands on the doughs to see what they should feel like and to get tips from the chefs to help us to improve our gluten-free baking. It's one thing to watch a demonstration, but when you get to participate, you learn so much more. Again, Suzanne Bowland of GF Culinary Productions, Inc. did an outstanding job organizing and running this conference. I left the conference with so much knowledge and inspiration. I plan to attend future summits. Thanks Suzanne, for the incredible opportunity to learn from the presenters and the attendees. September 27, 2008Gluten-free culinary heaven (part 2)One week ago I was enjoying a gluten-free feast as part of the Gluten-Free Culinary Summit. The theme of the Gala dinner was "For the Love of Gluten-Free Italian Cuisine". Seriously, it was the best meal that I've had in recent history. Here's the menu: Farinata Antipasti Roasted Artichoke Dip with Bread Crumb Topping Secondo Chianti Braised Short Ribs with Creamy Parmesan Polenta Seared Mushroom, Pea, and Carrot Risotto Cake with Spicy Tomato Relish and Goat Cheese We thought that we would each have to pick one of these dishes and everyone was struggling with that decision, but, when it was time for this course, they announced that these dishes would be served family-style so that we could try each one. What a relief! The chicken and short ribs were served family-style and everyone was served a dish with a small risotto cake. It's hard to say which dish was my favorite. Each was beautifully executed. I think I'll give a slight edge to the short ribs. But then again, I would be delighted to be served the chicken or the risotto cake over and over again. Dolci Tiramisu Trifle Fruit Sorbets The desserts were presented as bite-sized, which was perfect after this rich and delicious meal. The chocolate cake melted in my mouth. The tiramisu was redolent with espresso. The hotel provided adorable molded fruit sorbets for diners who could not have the dairy or eggs in the other desserts. I wish I had written this last week when the meal was fresh in my mind. I hope that we will get the recipes from dinner because these dishes are ones that I would love to make at home and for my clients. This dinner was outstanding and proof that gluten-free food does not have to be plain or boring. Dinner was a celebration of deliciously prepared gluten-free food. The diners loved every bite. Part 3 will cover Sunday's hands-on holiday baking session. September 22, 2008Gluten-free culinary heaven (part 1)I had the pleasure of attending two days of the Gluten-Free Culinary Summit this past weekend. I couldn't attend all three days because on Friday I was flying home from vacation. Suzanne Bowland of GF Culinary Productions did an outstanding job of organizing and running the summit. For her, it is truly a labor of love. The summit presentations focused on an abundance of delicious gluten-free food. The presenters and attendees offered delicious recipes and tips. The room was always abuzz with positive energy and excitement about good food. Saturday started with Jacqueline Mallorca, author of The Wheat-Free Cook, presenting an overview of the future of gluten-free gastromony, then headed right into cooking demos complete with tastings. In a session titled Paradise Found Celebrating the Art of Gluten-Free Desserts, Chef Dean Lavornia demonstrated a Honey Pecan Tart with a Gingerbread Crust. It would be a perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Like pecan pie, only better. It was very sweet, but delicious. The gingerbread crust was perfect. Chef Lavornia told us how to use the crust recipe to make graham crackers, gingerbread house parts, and gingerbread cookies. Pecan pie and similar desserts are too sweet for me to eat more than a bite or two. Our tasting pieces were 1 1/2 inch squares and that was perfect for me. I know that I'm going to be using the gingerbread crust recipe. Next, Chef Joel Schaefer, Manager of Product Development & Special Diets for Walt Disney World, presented a session called Much Ado About Dumplings! When I think of dumplings, I think of Chinese dumplings, dim sum, etc. But Chef Shaefer's demonstration was for Chicken and Dumpling Soup. It wasn't Chinese dumplings, but it was delicious. The dumplings were gluten-free, egg-free, and dairy-free. Perfect comfort food. I wanted a bowl of this for lunch. Chef Robert Landolphi, Director of Culinary Operations at UCONN, presented Brave New Bisques and Breadings. Chef Landolphi made Creamy Shrimp Bisque, which used rice rather than a roux to thicken the bisque. I was really happy when I saw this soup on the lunch buffet. While the soup was simmering, he demoed Tri-Spiced Onion Rings with Horseradish Dipping Sauce. The room was buzzing with excitement about the onion rings. Many of the attendees had not had onion rings in years and were delighted to have an onion ring recipe that they could eat. The batter used gluten-free beer. The breading was spiked with chili powder and cumin. The dipping sauce sour cream, ketchup, seasoned salt, horseradish, cayenne, and paprika. It could easily be made dairy-free by using soy sour cream. When the samples were passed out, there was silence in the room, then a collective sigh of contentment. I know a lot of people will be making onion rings at home this week. Chef Landolphi talked a lot about the special diet operations at UCONN. It was impressive. Every cafeteria provides gluten-free options so students are not limited to eating in just one cafeteria. Every item in the cafeteria is labeled with potential allergens so that students don't have to ask about every item. Gluten-free snacks and cereals are available in a special case at all times. UCONN works hard to make students with special diet needs feel normal. Lori Sobelson of Bob's Red Mill walked us through many recipes in a 30-page booklet of gluten-free recipes provided by her company. One recipe that she talked about, a hazelnut quinoa salad, was one of the dishes included in our lunch on Sunday. Quinoa, hazelnuts, red grapes, and green onions with a strawberry-balsamic dressing. It was light and refreshing. The last session on Sunday was presented by Chef Walter Potenza. Chef Potenza demoed three dishes: Castagnaccio (flat chestnut cake), farinata (similar to polenta, but made using chickpea flour), and Tortino di cioccolato et bieta rossa (chocolate and red beets molten tart). The tart was made with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake mix. The only "added" sugar in the cake was in the bittersweet chocolate and 2 tablespoons of strawberry spreadable fruit. The recipe makes 12 servings and includes 1/2 cup beet puree. I love beets, but you would never know that there are beets in this cake. This was the recipe we tasted in this session. It was the hit of the day. I'm making plans to make this cake for some of my clients. At the end of these sessions, there was a question and answer time with all of the presenters. Any questions that didn't get answered during the sessions were answered. Presenters and attendees offered lots of advice during this session. And that was just the beginning. Saturday ended with a four-course gluten-free dinner. More about that in Part 2. June 10, 2008Broiled Salmon Fillets with Curried Chutney SauceI selected this recipe for Salmon with Curried Chutney Sauce so I could use up the mango chutney that was leftover from last week's Black Rice Curried Meatloaf. Wow, this dish was so quick and easy to make and it was delicious. Tom raved about it and it will be a big hit with some of my clients. I didn't get a picture of the salmon because it was almost 9pm by the time we had dinner (but my kitchen sink no longer drips, thanks Tom!) and we were both starving. I didn't remember about taking a picture until after we started eating. So here's the picture from Cooking Light.
I made some very minor changes to the original recipe. Instead of sprinkling the salmon with just salt and pepper, I used salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of curry powder. I used Penzey's Sweet Curry Powder. I sprinkled the curry powder on the fish, then lightly rubbed it into the flesh. It gave the cooked salmon a little more flavor and a lovely yellow color from the turmeric in the curry powder. I also baked the salmon rather than broiling it. I wanted to serve this with garlicky roasted green beans and I wanted the oven on for as briefly as possible, so I roasted the green beans and salmon at the same time. Continue reading "Broiled Salmon Fillets with Curried Chutney Sauce" » March 25, 2008Baking for Jayne: Gluten-Free and Vegan Chocolate Chip CookiesJayne has Celiac disease, is allergic to soy and eggs and is sensitive to dairy. All of the food that I prepare for her and her family is gluten-free, soy-free, egg-free, and uses limited dairy. Lately, I've been making a dessert or other treat for Jayne. Today, thanks to Karina of Karina's Kitchen, I made gluten-free and vegan chocolate chip cookies for Jayne. I've tried a few gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes and Karina's recipe beats all of them. The first test was the cookie dough. Of course, I had to try the unbaked dough. One good thing about vegan cookie dough is that you don't have to concern yourself with the food safety issue of raw eggs in the dough. Yum, this dough is delicious. It wasn't grainy/gritty like many gluten-free recipes.
The dough is chilled for one hour before you make the cookies. You roll the dough into balls, then flatten them slightly before baking. I used a heaping tablespoon of dough to form the cookies.
After 12-15 minutes, you have beautiful and delicious cookies. The cookies came out of the oven right after my client came home for lunch. We all tried them and everyone loved them. At one point, Jayne's mother asked me to move the cookies away from her so she wouldn't eat them all.
Don't you just love how the third cookie from the left in the second row from the bottom has a face? Karina's recipe is delicious. If you know someone who is gluten-free and doesn't eat eggs, be sure to make these cookies for them.
March 23, 2008Crispy Potato Cakes RevisitedBack in September, I posted this recipe for Crispy Potato Cakes. This is an updated version of that recipe. The original recipe called for grating potatoes, soaking them in water, squeezing them dry, then mixing with cornstarch, green onions, and seasoning. I've done some Cooks Illustrated-style experimenting with the recipe because I wanted to see if could find a faster way to make these without affecting the quality. To me, the changes are an improvement. They take less time to make and I like the new potato cakes even better. Test 2: Frozen Hashed Browns -- Since shredding the potatoes in the food processor worked so well, I decided to try using frozen hashed brown potatoes. I used Alexia Foods Organic Hashed Browns. To defrost the potatoes, I simply opened the bags and spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet and let them sit at room temperature for 1/2 hour. The defrosted potatoes didn't have very much moisture in them, so I decided to skip the soaking and squeezing steps. I tossed the defrosted potatoes with the cornstarch, scallions, and spices. This time, I also experimenting with forming the potato cakes freehand. I filled the measuring cup with 1/2 cup of potatoes and tipped the cup over onto the foil-lined baking sheet. I found that I didn't really need the 3-inch ring to form the potato cakes. The potatoes are moist enough to hold together. I pressed them lightly to slightly flatten them. Eliminating the ring saves a little bit of time. These were baked at 425F for 20 minutes, then flipped and baked for 15 minutes longer. They weren't quite crispy enough after 15 minutes, so I baked them for five more minutes. Ultimately, the baking time depends on how crispy you like them. The potato cakes made using the frozen hashed browns were delicious and took significantly less time to make. This method is the winner in my book.
Continue reading "Crispy Potato Cakes Revisited" » February 14, 2008Karina-s Kitchen: A Gold Mine of Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, and Delicous RecipesIn December, I stumbled on Karina-s Kitchen. I was looking for some new recipes for my gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free clients. Two clients had requested some treats for the holidays. I was bored with my standard treats that fit the bill and wanted to find something new. Karina's blog was exactly what I was looking for. Since December, I've made a bunch of recipes from her blog and each one has been a big hit with my clients. Some of the recipes that I've made are Vegan Coconut Bars, Vegan Banana Bundt Cake, Jazzed Up Turkey Tetrazzini, and Uncheese Sauce Fit for A Goddess. I have a lot more of Karina's recipes on my To Do list. My banana cake wasn't nearly as pretty as Karina's, but my client loved it and wants it again. I'll try it in miniature bundt pans next time. My client who hasn't had cheese for a year has loved all of the dishes that I've made with the Uncheese Sauce. If you or anyone who you cook for is gluten-free, be sure to check out Karina's blog. January 6, 2008Grains of Paradise and Autumn Blend LentilsI'm on a mission to try some of the interesting new ingredients that I've bought, but haven't made time to use. This lentil soup uses two items that have been sitting on my new ingredient shelf for a while: Grains of Paradise and an Autumn lentil blend. I bought the Grains of Paradise at A Market Natural Foods, a local natural foods store. The Autumn lentil blend came from Sid Wainer & Sons, a purveyor of specialty produce and speciality foods located in New Bedford, MA. Grains of Paradise have a peppery taste, with a fruity flavor like coriander and an aroma that reminds me of cardamom. I'm going to add some to my pepper mill the next time I fill it. The Autumn lentil blend was a rainbow of autumn colors. It would have been wiser to use them in dish that wasn't blended, but they've been on my shelf for a while, so in the pot they went. My lentil soup recipe is a slight modification of a recipe from Alton Brown. Of course I had to make a few modifications. I didn't have any celery, so I added some extra onion and carrots, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground celery seed. Soup needs garlic, in goes three cloves of minced garlic. Tomatoes are dreadful at this time of year, so I knew that I'd be using canned diced tomatoes. When I opened the cabinet to get the tomatoes, a can of fire-roasted tomatoes said "pick me". Oh, and I didn't bother finely chopping the vegetables because the soup gets blended with an immersion blender before serving.
Continue reading "Grains of Paradise and Autumn Blend Lentils" » December 21, 2007Eat Your Veggies in a BurgerMy favorite veggie burger is an adaptation of Eating Well's Mediterranean Burgers. Their recipe uses millet, which is hard for me to find, so I adapted it to use quinoa, one of my favorite grains. I knew that these veggies burgers would appeal to some of my clients, so I streamlined the recipe to make it easier and faster to prepare. Except for using quinoa instead of millet, I didn't make many changes to the ingredients. Rather than pan-frying them, which is time-consuming, I bake them so that I can cook them all at the same time and not have to watch them carefully while they cook. The burgers are packed with the hearty, whole-grain goodness of quinoa, along with spinach, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and feta cheese. A great way to eat your veggies. These veggie burgers are served with Olive Ketchup. This yummy condiment is so easy and the perfect topping for these burgers.
In September, a client asked for these veggie burgers. They've requested them over and over again since they first tried them. These veggie burgers freeze very well. I vacuum seal the burgers and the olive ketchup separately and advise my clients to defrost, but not heat the olive ketchup. You can heat the burgers in the microwave, in a frying pan on the stovetop, or in the oven. Since the olive ketchup takes just a few minutes to make, you could make a small batch whenever you serve the burgers. Grr, there is no photo today because I just discovered that I didn't have a memory card in my camera when I took pictures of the veggie burger. You can get an idea of what the veggie burgers look like by looking at the picture on the Eating Well site. I puree the spinach in my version, so my burgers are green throughout, not brown flecked with spinach. Note to self, always check to see if there is a memory card in the camera before you start taking pictures. The next time I make these I'll come back here and update this post with a photo. Continue reading "Eat Your Veggies in a Burger" » September 29, 2007Crispy Potato CakesNOTE: See revised recipe I'm bored with making the same old potato side dishes and my search for new potato recipes led me to a Cooking Light recipe for Crispy Potato Hash Browns. The technique used in this recipe interested me. You combine grated potatoes with cornstarch, form them into "cakes" using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, then bake them in a 475º oven. The online reviews for the recipe were good, and they sounded like a good side dish for the meatloaf I was making for one of my clients this week, so I put them on the menu. Some side benefits of this recipe is that it is gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and it has just a trace of fat. I don't have a 3-inch biscuit cutter, but I am a whiz with aluminum foil, so I made a 3-inch ring form with foil. Take a 2 foot long strip of foil, fold it in half the long way, then continue to fold it in half the long way until you have a strip that is about an inch wide. Then twist the strip into a rope. Fold the twisted strip in half and form it into a 3-inch diameter loop. You'll get something that looks like this.
The potatoes are grated, then soaked in cold water for 5 minutes. The comments for the recipe indicated that the box grater gives much better results than grating in the food processor, so stick with the box grater. It doesn't take long to grate the potatoes. I didn't have a salad spinner to spin dry the potatoes. I set them in a colander and used a clean towel to press down on them until I couldn't squeeze out any more water. It worked perfectly for me. Even with the hand grating, the recipe was quick and easy to prep and the results were very tasty. I renamed these to Crispy Potato Cakes because that is what they are. I see myself adding different herbs and spices to them to pair them with different dishes. How about some chili powder or cayenne pepper for a spicy potato cake? Or fresh thyme. Or curry powder. The possibilities are endless. Continue reading "Crispy Potato Cakes " » July 13, 2007Spicy Basque-Style ChickenAnother weeknight winner from Cooking Light. The Spicy Basque-Style Chicken from the June 2007 issue was my test kitchen recipe this week. It's quick, easy, and full of flavor. In the time it takes to cook the rice to accompany it, you'll have dinner on the table.
Spicy Basque-Style Chicken, Saffron Rice, Roasted Asparagus I forgot to buy green olives, so I used capers. I really liked the dish with capers and will keep that change. The bottled minced garlic was replaced with fresh minced garlic. When I made this, I added the prosciutto, but I thought the prosciutto got lost in the dish so I omitted it from the final recipe. I get my smoked Spanish paprika from Penzeys. I've been buying herbs and spices from Penzeys for over 20 years. When I first started ordering from them, their catalog was a newsprint catalog; it was long before they had a web site and retail stores. Smoked Spanish paprika adds a smoky spicy flavor. Try it, you'll love it. Good paprika is nothing like grocery store paprika. When you buy Penzeys' Smoked Spanish Paprika, add some Hungarian sweet paprika and Hungarian half-sharp paprika to your order. You'll never buy grocery store paprika again. Continue reading "Spicy Basque-Style Chicken" » July 8, 2007Salmon for SupperThis super speedy recipe is perfect for a weeknight meal. It's based on Cooking Light's Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce. I don't care for the texture of tilapia, so I made it with salmon. Red curry paste can be quite hot, so I add 1/2 teaspoon at a time until the heat level of the dish is right for us. In this dish, 1 teaspoon of red curry paste gave us the perfect heat level. We love ginger and garlic, so I used more than the original recipe called for. Adding more brown sugar can temper the heat of this dish if you unwittingly add too much curry paste. I also made just two portions of salmon, but the full amount of sauce. I served this with Brown Basmati Rice with Edamame. I use the pasta method to cook brown rice, then toss in the edamame for a minute once the rice is cooked to the desired tenderness, about 25 minutes. The extra sauce was much hotter the next day when I had it for lunch served over the leftover brown rice with edamame.
Continue reading "Salmon for Supper" » June 9, 2007Herbed Cheese Eggplant RollsA few months ago, a client left me her well-loved copy of The Victory Garden Cookbook and asked me if I could make a recipe for eggplant rolls from this book. The eggplant rolls are stuffed with a seasoned ground beef recipe. My client wanted me to make these with the ground beef filling from the recipe and also with a cheese filling. They love my cheese-filled eggplant rolls and have requested them for the past few months. This week was no exception.
2 large eggplants Wash eggplant, but do not peel. Remove the cap and stem end. Cut into thin slices, no thicker than 1/4". For 6 servings, you need 12 slices. Arrange the eggplant slices in a colander, sprinkling salt between the layers. Let eggplant drain for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the farmers cheese, parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, oregano, and 2 eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Place about 1/2 cup flour on a plate. You'll use this to coat the eggplant slices. Add more flour as needed. Pat the eggplant slices dry. Beat the remaining eggs with 2 tablespoons water. Dip the eggplant sliced into the eggs, then into flour. In a large saute pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Shake the excess flour from the eggplant slices and cook 2-3 eggplants slices until browned on each side, about 2 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining eggplant slices, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Preheat oven to 350. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spread a thin layer of marinara sauce on the baking sheet. Lay an eggplant slice on a cutting board or plate. Place a large spoonful of the cheese mixture on the eggplant slice. Using a fork, spread the cheese mixture over the eggplant in a thin layer. Roll the eggplant over the filling like a jelly roll. Place the eggplant roll on the baking sheet, seam side down. . Repeat with remaining eggplant slices. Spread 2 tablespoons marinara sauce on each eggplant roll. Notes: To make these gluten-free I used Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Baking Flour and a gluten-free marinara sauce such as Muir Glen. Friendship Farmers Cheese is a low-lactose cheese and works wonderfully as a replacement for ricotta cheese.
May 12, 2007Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken-Cheese RollsThis recipe for Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken-Cheese Rolls was inspired by Jayne, who asked me to make her chicken with barbecue sauce, bacon, and cheese.
The chicken rolls are shown with Mini Cornbread Puddings from Everyday Food, March 2007. (Note, the Mini Cornbread Puddings are not gluten-free.) Jayne's mother and sister sampled the chicken rolls when they came home for lunch and they both loved them. I used a homemade barbecue sauce because I prefer it and also Jayne has many food allergies, but you could use your favorite bottled barbecue sauce. Continue reading "Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Chicken-Cheese Rolls" » April 20, 2007Smurf MuffinsSometimes recipes don't turn out how you want them to. This week I tested a blueberry muffin recipe from Grain-Free Gourmet. It's a simple recipe that uses blueberries, water, almond flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, honey, and eggs. The recipe has you simmer the blueberries and water until the blueberries release their water and the mixture thickens. I used frozen blueberries. They just seemed to keep releasing lots of water and never really thickened. And also turned very blue! I knew I should have started over with the blueberries, but I was pressed for time, so I said to myself "how bad could it be?" Hmm, the minute I mixed the blueberries with the rest of the ingredients, I knew that I was going to end up with the ugliest muffins that I've ever baked. See for yourself.
These muffins turned out to be the color of a sickly smurf. But they are quite tasty. I brought some to my friend Lisa Allen, the author of Eating Clean, and she enjoyed them. I sent her home with a container of smurf muffins. My husband Tom declared that they looked totally unappetizing. I have to agree with him on that. But they do taste quite good and I will make them again. I want to try them with both fresh and frozen blueberries. My plan is to skip the simmering step and just add the water (or maybe fresh squeezed orange juice) and the blueberries to the rest of the ingredients. Or maybe the simmering step will work better with fresh berries. But first I need to get more almond flour. I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour for the smurf muffins. Although Lisa loved the texture that the Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal produced, I’d like to try these muffins with a finer textured almond meal. One of my clients recommended the almond meal from Lucy's Kitchen Shop because it has a fine texture. Maybe a 50/50 mix of fine and coarse almond flour. At any rate, it’s a recipe that I will be revisiting. April 10, 2007Chocolate Gluten Freedom Cupcakes(About 30% of my clients have special diet requirements. The majority of those are gluten-free and have other food allergies.) Today I cooked for Jayne’s family. Jayne is gluten-free and has other food allergies. She turns 10 this week so I made birthday cupcakes. The plan was that she would take the cupcakes to school to share with her classmates. But, after seeing and tasting the cupcakes, Jayne has other ideas. Her first choice is to keep the cupcakes for herself! Her second choice is to have them at her birthday dinner. She thinks that they are too good to share with her class. I wonder which plan will win out.
These beautiful cupcakes are a slightly modified version of the Chocolate Gluten Freedom Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Rule the World. While Vegan Cupcakes is not a gluten-free cookbook, it has a few gluten-free recipes and since the recipes are vegan, they are perfect starting points for recipes for my clients who are allergic to dairy and eggs. I also made a modified version of the Vegan Fluffy Buttercream Frosting. I’m thrilled with the taste, look, and crumb of these cupcakes and I’m looking forward to trying more recipes from this book. (How do I know that they were delicious? Well, I got 14 cupcakes from the recipe, one of the extras was for me to sample. |
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