Gluten Free Blueberry and Ricotta Hotcakes

At this time of the year, there is nothing more luxurious than having a relaxing morning sleep-in followed by delicious, fruity hotcakes.

This recipe is a Bill Granger recipe that has been adapted for gluten free flour and works really well.  Whilst this was a pleasant surprise, I am so relieved that they worked as sometimes substituting regular gluten containing flours for gluten free flours is not always successful - well, actually more often than not, so having a recipe work is such pleasure.  Which is made even better when you eat it!

Gluten Free Blueberry and Ricotta Hotcakes

adapted from Bill Granger's blueberry hotcakes recipe

165g fresh blueberries

3 tbs caster sugar

180g GF multipurpose plain flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

3 eggs, separated 

250ml of milk

125g fresh ricotta

a small amount of butter for the fry pan

maple syrup and a few fresh blueberries for serving

Stir 1 tablespoon of caster sugar with the fresh blueberries, mashing them a little.

Sift the GF plain flour, baking powder and salt together.  Mix in the sugar.

Beat the egg yolks and milk together and stir into the dry ingredients.  Gently mix in the ricotta.

Beat the egg whites until stiff.  Fold this into the batter carefully - you don't want to know the air out of the egg whites!

Fold in the blueberries to allow for the juice to give the mixture a marble effect - two or three stirs is enough.

Heat a frying pan and melt a little butter.  Drop a small soup ladle of batter in the pan and cook for two to three minutes or until lots of little bubbles appear in the top and pop.  Flip carefully cook for a further one minute.

Repeat until all the batter is cooked, wrapping the cooked hotcakes in a tea towel to keep them warm until ready to be served.  

Serve drizzled with maple syrup and a few fresh blueberries.  

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Rhubarb and Cherry Pudding

The fresh fruits available at this time of the year is truly wonderful.  Whilst all of the summer fruits are delightful eaten fresh from the fruit bowl, I do like to mix things up a little and try baking with them.

I had a beautiful bunch of rhubarb and the remnants of a punnet of cherries that needed to be eaten.  Rather than have them go to waste, I thought that these two ingredients would compliment each other in a pudding.  I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe using honey to sweeten the rhubarb which is so delicious.  You simply must try this recipe for yourself.

Gluten Free Rhubarb and Cherry Pudding 

based on a Margret Fulton recipe for Rhubarb and Orange Pudding

1 1/2 cups of chopped rhubarb
1 cup of de-seeded cherries cut in half
3 tbsp of honey
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup of caster sugar
60g of unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 cup of gluten free self-raising flour
1/4 cup of milk

Grease a small baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees fan forced.

Place the rhubarb and cherries in the greased baking dish and sprinkle on half of the lemon zest.  Drizzle the honey over them and stir through so that everything is coated in the honey.

Cream the butter and the sugar together with the lemon zest.  Add the egg and combine.

Stir in the gluten free SR flour alternating with the milk until both are combined.  It is easier if you add the milk last rather than the flour, as it is easier to mix in.

Pour over the fruit and smooth out.  It is a fairly thick mixture so it will not cover all of the fruit evenly. I let some of the rhubarb or cherries stick through the pudding batter and some areas are not covered at all.

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes until golden on top and rhubarb/cherry mixture is bubbling around the edges.

Cool slightly before serving with cream, gluten free ice-cream or homemade gluten free custard.

Serves 4 generously.


monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Spaghetti: Royal Quinoa and Rice

I am always on the lookout for new gluten free products to try, particularly pastas.

I was at Thomas Dux Grocer in Surry Hills in Sydney and was delighted to see the number of gluten free products is growing.  They now have over 200 gluten free products in-store.  This is fantastic!

 Whilst browsing through the grocers I found this new pasta:  Organic Royal Quinoa and Rice Spaghetti.  Naturally I bought it along with a few other treats.

This pasta is lovely.  It held its shape well and did not turn to mush when cooked.  I am assuming that this is due to the royal quinoa in the pasta.  The flavour is nondescript, similar to non-gluten free pastas.

When trying this as home, I prepared a quick pasta sauce to my husband's request:  something with tomatoes, olives and pine nuts.  This I what I cooked on the fly:

Tomato, Black Olive and Pine Nut Spaghetti

3 handfuls of grape tomatoes, cut into halves - would equate to roughly two cups of whole tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 1/2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of pitted black kalamata olives
3 tbs of pine nuts, toasted
salt to taste

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add the tomatoes.  Stir them so they are coated in the oil.

Once the tomatoes have cooked for a minute or so, add the minced garlic and drop the heat down to low to prevent the garlic from burning.  Mix this through so it is well combined with the tomatoes.  Add a good pinch of salt and let the tomatoes cook down for five to ten minutes.

When the tomatoes have become soft, let the sauce reduce so that it thickens a little.

Once the sauce is of a slightly thick consistency taste and add salt as required.  The mix through the olives.

Stir the sauce through cooked spaghetti and serve topped with toasted pine nuts and shaved parmesan.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Cooking 101

One staple that I always have on hand in the fridge is a homemade tomato sauce.  I do find that many meals I make are based on a tomato sauce.  My mother always says that this is one of the simplest things to cook and can be used as a basis for many dishes.

By pre-making this sauce and keeping it in either the fridge or freezer, you can cut your dinner preparation time right down whether it be for a quick pasta or one pot wonder of chicken and veg in the oven.  This sauce is very versatile and I hope that you find many uses for it yourself.

My Basic Gluten Free Tomato Sauce

1 medium onion
a glug of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbs verjuice
3 x 400g tins of diced Italian tomatoes
half a 400g tin of water - used to rinse out the tomato tin
a large sprig of fresh basil, preferably sweet basil or a pinch of dried basil
a small sprig of fresh oregano or a large pinch of dried oregano 
a pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs white vinegar
2 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oil and sauté the diced onion until transparent.  It is at this point that I add the herbs and salt to quickly heat them.  Add the verjuice to the pan and let it evaporate a little.

Add the tomatoes and stir through the onions, verjuice and herbs.  At this point, add the half tin of water,  I rinse the tins out so that no bits of tomato are wasted.  

Let this cook at a low simmer for about 35-40 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated, so that the sauce is at a nice thick consistency.  

Add the extra virgin olive oil and the vinegar and taste checking for a balance between the oil and the vinegar - you don't want too much of one or the other.  Also add salt and pepper as needed as well. 

If you have used fresh herbs, fish the stems of the basil and the oregano out of the sauce before bottling in a clean jar, covering the sauce with a layer of extra virgin olive oil.  This can keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks or freeze and defrost and use as required.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Out and About: La Cocina Peruvian Restaurant

Our dinner out this week was to La Cocina Peruana Peruvian Restaurant.  earlier this year we had been to Peru and found the food there to be really delicious and fresh.  There were a few ingredients that were used we had not eaten before and it was a real culinary experience.  The most wonderful thing was that most of the places we went to for dinner had many gluten free options.  Most of the Peruvian diet is corn and potato based.
When I called to make the reservation, I was delighted to find out that everything on the menu was gluten free.  All bar one item.  This was fantastic news.  I was really looking forward to this meal.

Our starters were delicious.  I had Papa a la huacaina "My wife's a genius" which is backed potato served with yellow chilli sauce that was more spicy that originally anticipated, but good.  Husband enjoyed the Peruvian Tamales "Sundays at home" which is ground corn seasoned with spices and herbs stuffed with chicken.  Unfortunately this was the one entree that was not gluten free!!  Alas as I really wanted to try tamales.

These starters were accompanied by the national drink of Peru:  Pisco Sour.  This drink is delicious and the ones made at La Cocina Peruana are a must do when visiting this restaurant.

Main course for me was Cordero de los Andes which was char grilled lamb served with quinoa salad, yucas and rice.  This dish is rather carb heavy which is unusual for a coeliac out to dinner so I enjoyed this part.  Husband had the Aji de Gallina:  shredded chicken cooked in chills, cheese and almond sauce.  This was delicious and very enjoyable.  Both of these mains were gluten free so I was able to taste both meals.  Our side dish was a lovely fresh salad with quinoa.

The meals were very generous in portions that we were unable to squeeze in anything else!

La Cocina Peruana is a lovely meal out that is a little different to the usual thai restaurants that are everywhere and easy to visit when gluten free.  The meals are freshly made and are a lovely way for us to recall some of the meals that we enjoyed in Peru.  Whilst there is no guinea pig or alpaca on the menu it is still a lovely local restaurant to visit.

La Cocina Peruana
142 Avoca St Randwick
Phone:  02 9326 4344
Web:  http://www.lacocinaperu.com.au

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Quick Gluten Free Pasta Bake

The sudden drop in temperature a few weeks ago brought me back to some winter favourites.  The dish in question was gluten free pasta bake.  This dish is always well received at the dinner table.

Usually I spend a little more time in making a sauce and putting together.  However this time around I wanted to get dinner on the table as quickly as possible.

My solution to this dilemma was to cut the preparation time down by simplifying the sauce and putting the pasta on to cook before I began making the sauce.  Fortunately, first thinking a little about what I wanted to prepare helped save me some time.  Jamie Oliver eat your heart out!

This pasta has a really simple tomato and garlic sauce.  The added goodness comes from chopped up lost/forgotten vegetables from the bottom of the vegetable crisper - we all have them - you know you do!  My vegetables on this occasion were broccoli and beans which fortunately are a good combination with a tomato based sauce.

This dinner in all probably took about 30 minutes to prepare, maybe even quicker as I had not timed myself.  Prepare this yourself and let me know if you beat my personal best.

Tomato and Garlic Gluten Free Pasta Bake

500g of gluten free pasta

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 & 1/2 cups of passata (or use an equivalent amount of diced tinned tomatoes)

1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes

2 good pinches of salt

2 cups of grated cheese - I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar

1 handful of beans

4 florets and stem of broccoli

Grease a lasagne dish ready for the pasta bake and preheat the oven to 160 degrees fan forced.

Bring a pan of water to the boil, about 2 litres should be enough for 500g of pasta.  Add a pinch of salt to the boiling water and pour in the pasta.  Cook according to the direction on the packet.  This will be anywhere from 6-10 minutes depending on the brand.  Try and not let it over cook.  

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a small saucepan.  Whilst this is heating, mince the four cloves of garlic.  I use a microplane - so quick and easy.  Once the oil is warm add the garlic and let it sauté gently being careful to not let it burn.  The aim is to have the garlic become a little golden in colour and beautifully fragrant.  This will take several minutes.

Whilst the garlic is gently cooking, wash and chop up the vegetables.  When the pasta is almost done, add them to the pot.  This way they will cook a little, depending on the type of vegetable and the size of the pieces.  You need to keep this is in mind when making a dish like this.  In this recipe, the beans and broccoli were cut up in small pieces and they take virtually no time to cook.  

Once the vegetables are in cooking with the pasta, the garlic should be ready.  Add the passata, salt and dried chilli flakes.  Check for seasoning and add more salt if required. 

The pasta should now be ready.  Drain along with the vegetables.

Tip this into a greased baking dish and pour the tomato and garlic sauce over the top.  Mix through carefully ensuring that each piece of pasta is 'kissed' by the sauce.  Top with the grated cheese and put into the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Serve immediately.  Serves 4-6.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Homemade Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits

I decided that I would try my hand at making Anzac biscuits using the Margaret Fulton recipe that I used as a child making these.  Except this time I needed to change a few ingredients to make them gluten free.  I substituted the rolled oats with rolled quinoa and the plain flour with gluten free plain flour.

Fortunately they worked a treat and tasted delicious.  There was no need to alter the amounts of any of the ingredients or cook them at a different temperature - so easy.

Gluten Free Anzac Biscuits

Based on the recipe from Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery

125g of butter
1 tbs of golden syrup
2 tbs of boiling water
1 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1 cup of rolled quinoa
1 cup of gluten free plain flour - I used a general all purpose flour from the supermarket
1 cup of white sugar
1 tsp of xanthum gum

Melt the butter and the golden syrup together in a saucepan - do this on the stove not in the microwave as you will have a little science trick happen later.

Combine the rolled quinoa, flour, sugar and xanthum gum together in a bowl or stand mixer.
Once the butter and the syrup are melted mix the bicarbonate of soda with the boiling water and add to the butter/syrup mixture.  This is the magic part:  it will froth up.

Mix this into the dry ingredients until well combined.

Roll into small balls pressing them onto a lined baking tray.

Place in a preheated oven at 150 degrees fan forced for 15-20 minutes until golden.  

Let the biscuits cool completely before removing from the tray as they will hard significantly when cool.

Enjoy with a cup of tea or milk.

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

GF Anzac Biscuits

This afternoon I tried for the first time Rowie’s Anzac biscuits.  They are fantastic!  So crunchy and nicely sweet but not too sweet.  They remind me so much of the Anzac biscuits that my siblings and I used to make as kids.

I have wondered recently how I would re-create Anzac biscuits gluten free seeing as though oats are a main ingredient.  In some countries, oats are classed as gluten free, such as the USA - this I discovered when buying muffins at Whole Foods in San Francisco.  These delicious looking gluten free muffins all had oats in them and were labelled gluten free - I was not really wanting to take the risk so by-passed them.

The Australian Coeliac Society does not endorse the thought that oats are gluten free.  The recommendation is that whilst some people may not have a reaction to oats, you need to trial eating a small amount over a three month period then have an endoscopy.  

I must admit that when I read this my heart jumped as I really do miss creamy, warm oats for breakfast on a wintery morning, but the thought of having another endoscopy to see if I had any small intestine damage was going a little too far for me.  So oats are off the menu.

Going back to the question of how to replace oats in Anzac biscuits, I had though rice flakes that had been soaked before use, as they are already very hard and I imagine that they would be harder after baking.  But the use of quinoa flakes in Rowie’s biscuits is fabulous!  

I cannot speak highly enough of the biscuits and cakes that Rowie’s Cakes produce - you must go to their factory in Marrickville in Sydney and buy one of each type of cake to try, you will not be disappointed!  But the Anzac biscuits are perfect for an afternoon treat with a cut of tea in the miserable weather that we have had lately.

Rowie’s Cakes

http://www.rowiescakes.com.au/

Australian Coeliac Society

http://www.coeliac.org.au/content/downloads/Oats%20Position%20Statement.pdf

Gluten Free Moroccan Tagine with Saffron Rice

I recently went to Herbies in Rozelle here in Sydney for a Herb Appreciation Course.  This course was fantastic.  It introduces you to the best fresh herbs available and their history, origins and the ideal ways to buy them.

A spice blend we were shown in class was Super Ras el Hanout.

This is a spice blend that contains over thirty herbs and spices and it is delicious.  Each spice merchant in souks across Morocco has their own spice blend that they sell.  Herbies has two, the one I am using is an anniversary blend.

I prepared it in a beef tagine with a few vegetables and tinned tomatoes letting it cook for several hours in a slow cooker.  I find that cooking meals the day or evening before in a slow cooker is a great way to  get ahead.  Whilst it is not recommended to leave the slow cooker unattended whilst on, I do, overnight letting the meal cook and then cool.  Pop it in the fridge when you get up in the morning - easy.

This tagine I put on to cook early evening before starting dinner preparation for that night.

Beef and Tomato Tagine with Super Ras el Hanout 

600g gravy beef, diced
half an onion diced
half a leek sliced
1 stick of celery, diced
1 carrot diced
a glug of olive oil
1/4 pumpkin, peeled and diced
4 small potatoes diced
400g diced tomatoes
4 teaspoons of spice blend Super Ras el Hanout
1 cup of vegetable stock

Heat a glug of olive oil in a pan and saute the vegetables for a few minutes until soft.  Tip the vegetables out of the pan into the slow cooker.  Brown the meat, sprinkling half of the spice blend through the meat.  Once browned add the meat to the slow cooker.

Place the peeled and diced pumpkin potatoes and the remaining spice in the slow cooker.  Add the tomatoes and stock and let this simmer for up to four hours to allow the meat to become tender and melt in the mouth.

Serve re-heated with rice or the Saffron Pilau as suggested, recipe below.

Saffron Pilau from Margret Fulton's Encyclopaedia of Cookery

This rice dish is one that my mother would make and I have very fond memories of the smell of the spices, inparticular the saffron cooking and infusing the most delicious flavour into the rice.  The second I smelt the delicious saffron in the spice class I was transported back twenty plus years to the memory of this rice dish.

3 tbs olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
1/2 tsp crumbled saffron threads
2 cups of long grain rice
3 1/2 cups boiling stock - I use a gluten free vegetable stock powder
8 black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
4 cardamon pods, bruised
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 tbs salt
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup almond slivers toasted

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan and gently fry onions until a pale golden colour.  Make sure the onions are soft but do not allow to burn - this will take a while.

Add the saffron and cook for one minute, stirring.  Add the rice and fry gently stirring for five minutes until all rice is coated and golden.  Add 1 3/4 cups of boiling stock with peppercorns, cloves, cardamon, cinnamon and salt.  Bring to the boil then cover and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender, adding more stock as required.

Add the sultanas, cover and let them plump.  Turn off the heat and keep covered until ready to be served.  Add the almonds at the last minute before serving.


monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

A Fresh Tasting Risotto

Dinner for us the other night was risotto, which is a regular visitor to our table.  Sometimes it is a solo feature or paired with another main.  Our dinner no this particular night was Sundried Tomato and Lemon Risotto and Grilled Chicken.

I find that risotto is a great gluten free dish.  It is easy to prepare and once you have the knack of making it you are on your way to exploring the different combinations of flavours that you can add to your basic risotto recipe.

This risotto was made using the basic risotto recipe that I have mentioned earlier but will include below.   The grilled chicken was done very simply:  chicken breast sprinkled with olive oil and a little salt then cooked, or rather fried in a non-stick fry pan.  A very simple and delicious meal.

Sundried Tomato and Lemon Risotto

1 batch of basic risotto recipe (see below)
replace the parmesan cheese with pecorino cheese
1 cup of loosely packed sundried tomatoes, sliced
zest of half a lemon
juice of half a lemon
a small handful of chopped parsley to finish

1 chicken breast cut into half, making it thinner
olive oil
salt

Once the risotto is almost ready and you have just added the butter and pecorino cheese, add the chopped up sundried tomatoes as well and the lemon zest.  Mix these through carefully as you don't want the tomatoes mashed up in the risotto too much.  Squeeze the lemon juice over and mix through a little more.

Taste and check the seasoning.

Cook the thin halves of the chicken breast in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt as it cooks.  By cutting the chicken breast in half, so that it is thinner it will cook much faster and retain moisture as it will cook quickly .

Serve the risotto and the chicken together.  Enjoy!

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia



My Basic Risotto Recipe

a glug of olive oil
1 onion
1/2 leek
1/2 stick of celery
2 cups of arborio rice
2 splashes of verjuice
approx a litre of vegetable stock
3-4 cloves of garlic depending on the size
several pinches of salt
a pinch of nutmeg
20g of unsalted butter
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese - loosely packed
10 small sprigs of fresh thyme

Finely dice all vegetables except the garlic, but peel the garlic at this stage.  Aim to dice all the vegetables a similar size to ensure that they cook evenly.  
Heat the oil in the fry pan, once the oil is heated add all of the vegetables and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onion is transparent  and the other veg have softened a little.
Add the arborio rice to the pan and cook until the rice becomes transparent.
Mince the garlic and the freshly grated nutmeg and stir through the vegetable/rice mix in the pan.  

Splash the verjuice into the pan, it will sizzle a bit but stir it though as it will evaporate slightly and go a little cloudy.  This is the starch being released a little from the rice.  
Once the verjuice has evaporated, gradually add the stock, a ladle full at a time.  Or my version:  a little boiling water from the kettle and a couple of teaspoons of stock powder will suffice.  You don't need to use a homemade or store bought stock the powdered version is perfectly fine, it is entirely up to you.  

Ensure that the stock or water is added gradually, allowing the previous ladle full to be absorbed before more is added.   Keep stirring the risotto regularly, keeping the heat low - you don't want to boil the rice.  The constant stirring is essential to help massage the starch out of the rice which gives risotto its lovely creaminess.  I also tend to add a small pinch of salt each time I add the stock, if you are not sure how salty your stock is, don't add the salt at these regular intervals.

After about twenty minutes or so, check the rice is cooked by tasting it.  If is it not ready, keep adding the stock until the rice is cooked.  Once cooked, add the butter and the grated parmesan cheese, stir both through until melted.  These two ingredients will add a little more creaminess but also flavour to the dish.

Check the seasoning and correct as needed - I find that I tend to need more salt, and add the thyme, stripping the leaves off the stalks. Keep one or two tips for a garnish.  Stir this through for even distribution.

My final note about risotto is to ensure that the texture is like runny porridge.  I prefer my risotto this way.  To ensure that this is the case, I will add a little more stock to maintain this texture. 

A disaster...of the GF pastry kind

Tonight I made a quiche for dinner.  I was feeling like a yummy piece of piping hot roasted onion quiche this afternoon.  In hindsight, it was not such a great idea.  Tasted good, but not quite what I wanted.

I tend to use leftover roasted veg a few different ways but with onion or garlic I prefer to use them in a quiche.  I had some leftover from earlier in the week and they needed to be eaten.

I sometimes make quiche 'crust-less' i.e. no pastry for a quick and easy dinner however I had the time for pastry making and thought that I would make the real deal.

I have made GF pastry in the past to varying degrees of success.  As you would have gathered by my earlier remarks, it was not such a success this time round.  I use a food processor to make the pastry, much easier in my opinion to blitz the butter, flour, salt and sprinkle of cold water together.  The recipe I use is one from the book that came with my magi-mix:  250g flour, 125g of cold butter, a pinch of salt and 3 tablespoons of cold water.

In the past I have used a general all-purpose GF flour or a mix of brown rice flour, potato flour and arrowroot.  As many mixes I have used recently have had a lot of tapioca (arrowroot) starch in them I thought that it would be a good idea to use arrowroot as a good portion of the flour mixture.

The ingredients were as follows:

Gluten Free Pastry

200g all-purpose GF flour
50g arrowroot
125g cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of cold water

Blitz the flour, salt and butter together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Yes this did happen.

Add the cold water and keep mixing until it comes together in a ball.  Yes this happened as well but there was one large ball of pastry, but mostly a single ball - not very descriptive but it was mostly together in one lump.  I did not think that this would combine much more than this hence me stopping where I did.

I tipped the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface and kneaded it lighting to bring all of the bits together then wrapped it in cling film (plastic wrap) and put it into the fridge for about 20 minutes to let it cool a little.

When I pulled it out of the fridge to roll it out, I found that the pastry was very crumbly.  I soon abandoned the idea that the pastry would be beautifully rolled out and placed into the tin.  Instead I continued to roll the pastry out the carefully picked up bits of pastry, as it fell apart when trying to roll it up onto the rolling pin, and placed each piece into the tin pressing it together, like a jigsaw puzzle.

This cobbled together pastry case was baked blind and cooled a little before the quiche filling was added.

Roast Onion Quiche (filling)

1 cup of pouring cream
3 large eggs
1/2 cup of grated pecorino cheese
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 onion cut into slivers (or eighths) roasted and cooled

Combine the cream, eggs, nutmeg, salt and pepper into a bowl and mix together, breaking the egg yolks up as you go.  Mix through the cheese until all is well combined.

Pour the egg and cream mixture into the pastry case.  Sit the roasted onion in the quiche filling arranging them as you please.  They will sink down into the mixture a little or not depending on their size.

Place into a moderate over (170 degrees fan-forced) for approximately 30 minutes and cook until the quiche is set and golden.  I do the wobble test, when I think it is cooked: the filling must be of a firm wobble not a liquid or jelly-like wobble - no jelly on a plate here!

Serve warm with salad or steamed veg for a quick, no fuss, nutritious meal.

The problem that I had with the pastry I think was down to the amount of arrowroot that I used and also not using any protein, which normally helps bind everything together.  The flavour was lovely and buttery but the texture was rather fine but incredibly crumbly, especially when warm.  It was a little more solid when cool but still not so good.

As with all experiments, I have learnt a lesson:  watch the amount of arrowroot used!  Practice makes perfect, so I will try and try again and let you know how I go.

A lazy Saturday night

Last night after a long day at work I was tired and hungry.

I was keen for takeaway, but could not be bothered with the wait along with every man and his dog to park, order, pay and wait for the food.  I had the remainder of a 2010 Hunter Valley Semillon in the fridge and was keen to saviour it, but what to eat that required minimum preparation?

The answer:  gluten free fish and oven roasted chips.


There is a brand of gluten free frozen goodies that are available at Wooloworths.
They are Bayview Crumbed Gluten Free Flounder Fillets.  Straight from the freezer, into a hot oven for 18 minutes and they are done.  Yes not the healthiest item to eat but I am only human and this is an infrequent indulgence.

I serve them with roasted potato chips which are cooked at the same time as the fish and voila, dinner is served in all of its baked, delicious glory.

Last night I prepared potatoes cut into wedges and sweet potato cut into thick fingers as my version of hot chips.  I par boil them to speed up the cooking process.
Once they are par-boiled, I drain them and throw them onto a baking tray with olive oil and salt and into the oven until golden and crunchy, which is usually around 20 minutes.  Conveniently this is the same amount of time that it takes for the fish to cook.

Once the fish and potatoes are golden and sizzling, take them out of the oven and serve whilst still hot with tartare sauce as is my preference.  Not forgetting that cheeky glass of semillon!

Bayview Seafoods website click here

The Queen of Sheba

Happy 2nd Birthday Alice! 

My youngest niece turned two a short while ago and we all celebrated her birthday.  Alice had a wonderful time and was a little overwhelmed at all of the attention, particularly when it came to cutting the cake.  

My sister, Catherine, had made a fantastic spider cake, pictured here.  All Alice wanted to do was pat it which she did very carefully and fortunately after we had all taken photos of it.  Disaster was swiftly avoided. 

The cake itself was delicious. It is from a recipe for a Queen of Sheba cake.  Pretty much equal parts egg, sugar and almond meal.  Such a quick and easy cake to make.  This cake has been a regular visitor to our family's table for a number of years and it is always a winner.

Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba, as it is a French cake)

120g of unsalted melted butter

120g of caster sugar

120g of ground almonds

120g of melted dark chocolate

4 extra large eggs, separated

a pinch of salt

Melt the butter and chocolate together and cool together.

Mix in sugar, egg yolks and almonds.   My brother, Tim, recommends that you can add vanilla, orange rind or almond essence to flavour the cake but this is not necessary, it is entirely delicious on its own.

Beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until stiff.  You can can reserve some of the sugar and beat it in here once they are stiff.

Mix in a quarter of the whites to lighten the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest.

Pour into a greased mould (20-23cm) lined on the bottom with baking paper.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes until the edges come away from the sides and a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake sit in the tin for a few minutes before turning it out to cool on a wire rack.

Serve the cake dusted with sugar, accompanied with whipped cream or coated with ganache or chocolate icing.  It is entirely up to you.  

Bon appetit! 

Risotto with a Twist

I have recently discovered quinoa and it seems as thought the rest of Sydney is as well.  I visited Peru earlier this year and found that this grain is delicious and versatile - from breakfast through to dinner.

There was one dish that I tried that was a quinoa risotto and I thought that this was something that I would like to try cooking at home.  I have with some success, however I will need to experiment with seasoning to get the right combination of flavours to replicate the dish I had in Peru.  Try this unusual version of a risotto for yourself, it is a really lovely change.  And very good for you too!

One thing that I did find when cooking this dish was that the quinoa behaves very differently to rice, it does not absorb liquid in the same way that rice does.  Any liquids that you add, do so gradually.

Red Quinoa Risotto

For the risotto:
1/2 onion
1/4 leek
1/4 stick of celery
1 cup of red quinoa, rinsed

2 pinches of salt

2 cloves of garlic

1/3 cup verjuice or white wine

2 cups of vegetable stock
a small knob of butter
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese plus some more for garnish
1/3 cup of pouring cream
1 handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley plus a little more for garnish

For the accompanying vegetables:
1 sweet potato, cooked and mashed
1/2 zucchini, sliced and steamed

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, leek and celery until soft.  Add the rinsed quinoa and stir through.

Add the verjiuce and let it simmer away a little.  Add the garlic and stir through one cup of the stock.  Add more of the stock as the previous amount has cooked away.  The quinoa will cook in about 15 minutes.

When it is cooked, stir through a knob of butter, the grated parmesan and the cream.  Keep on the heat and stirring until these have melted into the quinoa and add the parsley. 

Serve topped with the sweet potato mash and zucchini, sprinkle with grated parmesan and the parsley.

Serves 2 

When was the last time you....?

This question is one that I ask myself when trying a new gluten free food. Today was no exception.  For the first time in I don't know how long, I ate a doughnut. And not only one, several in fact and it was good!

I recently discovered that my local Woolies had a few new items in their Macro Gluten Free range of baking mixes.  The new addition that I tried today was a cinnamon doughnut mix.

Whilst the doughnuts themselves were very easy to make, by mixing all of the ingredients together, deep fry in small batches, dredge in the cinnamon sugar whilst still warm then devour.
I did find that ensuring they were properly cooked through was a bit more of a challenge.  The total time of cooking according to the directions was two and a half minutes.
When I tried one of the doughnuts from the first batch, they were a little on the doughy side and needed more cooking.  So I cooked the second batch a little longer.  Still did not seem quite right.
Then the third batch a little smaller in size, despite the instruction telling me to use a dessert spoon to drop the little amounts of dough mixture into the hot oil and cooked for a bit longer again.  These were great  however I was certain that they could be better if really small.  So I halved the amount of the mixture that I was dropping into the oil. These small doughnuts were just as cooked as the third batch but still appeared to be too moist.  Maybe it was just me?  The oil was not the right temperature, who knows?  My husband and I still enjoyed eating them.

Now they have cooled and when breaking each doughnut open to see what they are like on the inside, they a prefectly cooked through and have a really light, fluffy texture, unlike the traditional type of doughnut I remember from Donut King as a child.  This is why I did not think they were right!  They just needed to cool down a little.

So all in all, these doughnuts are delicious and encredibly more-ish as I have nearly eaten the whole lot.  They will make a perfect breakfast tomorrow morning for the public holiday Monday that all Sydney-siders are enjoying this spring.  Now off for a run......

Hello NYC!

I love going to New York City - this I cannot deny.  It is the city the never sleeps and there is always something happening somewhere, whether it be a bar in the Village at 11:30pm or buying an iPad at 1am the choice is yours.  And these we indulged in whilst we were there.

Another thing that I really love about the city is that the leaps and bounds in the knowledge and awareness around coeliac disease (or celiac disease in American).  The waitstaff at restaurants are always very friendly and are more than happy to find out what options are GF on a menu.  And yes they probably are working that little bit harder to get a good tip but the willingness to go the extra mile really does make eating out an absolute pleasure.


We visited restaurants, friend's houses, supermarkets and delis and everything was really easy.  There is always great GF options on hand.  A breakfast favourite on this trip was to go the local Wholefoods for GF muffins, yoghurt and coffee each morning.


Wholefoods have a great range of GF bakery products, GF crackers, GF yoghurt, GF ready made soups/salads/curries and the list goes on.  The number of gluten free items does vary from store to store mainly due to the size of the shop but there is always a number of options.  This place is a go-to for me.  I always love to go to Wholefoods when I am in the States.

The restaurants we visited were varied from pubs to gluten free restaurants.  The highlight would be and always will be where we have our first meal each time we visit NYC:  a very delicious restaurant, Risottoria in the Village.
This is a must for all coeliac visitors to the City.  This restaurant is one of the few that you will find that is has a gluten free menu.  The plus is that it is so delicious and the freshly prepared  GF pizzas and GF risottos are fantastic - gotta love the GF carbs!  They even have GF beers and on the table when you sit down are GF breadsticks - they are to die for!
I must get the recipe - can anyone help??  I know that most of the flour mixes that they sell through the restaurant have tapioca and corn flour as the main GF flours but what else do they do that makes them so delicious to eat, especially with a GF beer?  If anyone knows, please tell me!

This is only the start of our NYC adventure - stay tuned for more.....to be continued.....

Salad Anyone?

Spring brings with it so many special fruits and vegetables that are unique to this time of the year.  One that I do enjoy staining my hands with is blood orange.

Underneath the dark orange mottled skin hides a rich, deep red flesh that whilst not too sweet, makes the most delicious desserts, beverages and salads.  

I find that salads can become incredibly boring when you get into the habit of making a salad to accompany your main meal.  I remember that when I was a child we always had salad with dinner:  lettuce, tomato, carrot, cucumber, celery, onion and the option extras of pineapple, beetroot and cottage cheese - yes this was the combination.  

The salad dressing that my mother used then was a dressing that her own mother made.  

It was a heaped teaspoon of sugar, we used raw sugar, a good grind of pepper and a pinch of salt all put into a glass.  Add to this enough Cornwalls white vinegar to get the sugar wet, but be careful to not be too heavy handed.  Add to this a little splash of water and mix it all together, enabling the sugar to dissolve.  Taste to ensure that it is not too sweet or too tart.  Even though I never met my grandmother the taste of this dressing brings her alive to me - it always has.

A salad that I experimented with the other day was a blood orange, roast veg, feta and pine nut salad.  To be honest, I would have been rather content to have this on its own as it is a rather substantial dish.

The measurements are very rough - total honesty here!  But find the right balance of ingredients for yourself.

Blood Orange, Roast Veg, Feta and Pine Nut Salad

two good handfuls of baby spinach washed

one blood orange, peeled and sliced

1/3 of a block of feta, crumbled

one small piece each of sweet potato and pumpkin, peeled and diced

a glug of olive oil

1/4 lebanese cucumber - enough for a handful of slices

one and a half handfuls of pine nuts

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Place the sweet potato and the pumpkin into a baking dish with the olive oil.  Toss the veg through to ensure that they are all covered in the oil.
Once the oven has reached its desired temperature put the vegetables into the oven for about 20-30 minutes or until they are golden brown. 

When the veg are almost done, place the pine nuts on a separate tray and put in the oven, keeping a close eye on them to ensure they do not burn!  Toss them frequently to ensure even toasting.

Whilst the roast veg and pine nuts are cooling, scatter the baby spinach on a plate, top with the sliced cucumber, then some of the pine nuts and some of the feta.  Scatter the cooled roast veg over the salad finishing off with the slices of blood orange, pine nuts and feta.  Add a sprinkle of salt and cracked black pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

Bon appetit! 

Zucchini Pie

This 'pie' is not a typical style of pie that has pastry.  Instead it is more along the lines of a quiche, well the egg part only.  It is a subtly cheesy, bacony slice that make a lovely light dinner or lunch, just add a salad and you are away.  
An easy dish to make just grating, cracking, mixing and pouring into a pie dish and throw it in the oven.  

Zucchini Pie

375g zucchini grated
1 large onion diced
4 rashers of shortcut bacon diced
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese or similar cheese
1 cup of gluten free self-raising flour
a scant 1/4 cup of sunflower oil
5 eggs
a pinch each of salt and pepper

Combine the grated zucchini, grated cheese, diced oinion and bacon in a bowl.  In a jug measure out the scant 1/4 cup of sunflower oil (I find that more than this is a little too oily) adding to it the salt, pepper and eggs.  whisk the eggsand oil together slightly to break up the yolks.

Mix the SR flour through the zucchini mixture.  Then gradually add the egg mixture to the zucchini a little at a time - this is the easier way to combine both without making a huge mess!

Once all are combined pour into a lightly greased baking dish and bake for 30-45 minutes in a 170 degree oven.  It is ready when the top is golden and the zucchini pie is firm, no longer runny.

Refreshing Spring Risotto

The Basic Risotto recipe that I posted a little while ago is the basis of many different types of risotto the I prepare for dinner.  One in particular is very simple and uses two additional ingredients most of which everyone has and if you don't they are very simple to get your hands on.

Make your basic risotto recipe.  When the risotto is almost done, defrost a cup of baby peas from fresh the freezer.  I usually cover them with water from a freshly boiled kettle and let them sit for a few minutes before draining and stirring through the risotto.

Don't put the peas into the risotto too soon or else they will become mushy.  I like to ensure that they are perfectly warmed through not mushy at all.

Prior to serving finely chop up your mint and stir through, saving a little for garnish.

A lovely Monday night meal to mark the start of spring!

Out and About - Bistro Avoca

Tonight was dinner with the extended family and we visited a local restaurant that we have been meaning to go to:  Bistro Avoca.

Having literally just returned from the restaurant I am feeling inspired to share the beautiful meal that we had.

The restaurant is run by a husband and wife team and hospitality is there from the moment you walk in.  I had made a reservation mentioning that one member of the party was gluten free and that I had taken a look at their menu online, I was delighted to see that they mark all GF items with a 'g' and there were many options for starters, entree, mains and dessert.  Yay - this was going to be a dinner to enjoy.

And enjoy we all did.  Tonight was not a night for eating everything in sight so I settled on a mains and dessert with a side that we shared:  roasted spatchcock with garlic and sage, wilted spinach, golden raisins and pine nuts and a warm soft centred chocolate pudding with kahula creme anglaise and vanilla ice-cream.

The spatchcock was flavoursome and moist.  The addition of the wilted spinach, garlic, sage, raisins and pine nuts was lovely.  The flavours were beautifully matched and nothing was too over-powering.   The Billi Billi Shiraz was a nice addition to the meal.  The side salad of pear, rocket and parmesan was delicious, although I must admit that I was the last person to the salad and did not get much, but this was fine.

Dessert was sublime.  The soft centred chocolate pudding was so gooey, but in a really good way.  The flavours again were delightful and the kahula creme anglaise was an enhancement to the pudding.

I did try the creme brulée with strawberries and this was a beautiful thick and creamy consistency and again in all the right ways.  The burnt sugar on the top was perfection.

Overall this is a lovely local restaurant for either a dinner with a group or an intimate meal for two with a great amount of gluten free dishes on offer.

Bistro Avoca
133 Avoca St Randwick
Phone:  9399 9667
http://www.bistroavoca.com.au