Gluten Free Beef Stroganoff

There are so many dishes that can be called a favourite in our household and Beef Stroganoff served with rice is one of them.

Even though it is summer, the evenings are still mostly cool where eating a warm meal is not something that repulses you.  When I was a child we were still eating the Christmas ham all the way through January.  My mother is lucky that we all loved ham freshly cut off the bone and were able to find joy in yet another meal of cold ham and salad but the weather in Queensland was so hot and humid that the thought of anything that was not cold was unbearable.

So back to the stroganoff:  this meal is so easy to make and even easier as it this recipe is gluten free.  The only snag is to ensure that your mustard is gluten free.  I use the Maille brand of French Djion mustard.  Either the Wholegrain Mustard or the Djion Originale Mustard is prefectly fine.

The recipe that I have used over the years is a Nigella Lawson recipe from her first book:  How to Eat.  This book is a great resource in the kitchen and it is my favourite Nigella book, written well before she was famous as she is today.

In this recipe I have used topside steak, simply because this is what I had in the freezer.   You can use any cut of beef that copes well with a quick fry in the pan, such as:  rump, round, blade, topside.  If you are unsure ask your butcher.

Gluten Free Beef Stroganoff

10g unsalted butter
a glug of olive oil
300g mushrooms, cleaned and sliced - I prefer Swiss Brown but it is up to you
300g topside steak, sliced
1 medium brown onion, diced
2 dessert spoons of sour cream
1 tsp of djion mustard
a pinch of dried ground paprika

steamed basmati rice to serve

Heat the butter and the oil in a fry pan until the butter has melted.  Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until soft.  Add the beef cooking it until brown.

Once the meat is done, add the mushrooms, freshly ground nutmeg, salt and pepper.   Put the lid on the fry pan and leave it for a few minutes.  The mushrooms will heat through and loose their moisture.  Consequently, they will loose a good portion of their volume, so what initially appeared to be a lot of mushrooms cooks down to a more manageable amount.

Leave the lid off the pan and stir the mushrooms in with the onion and the beef allowing the moisture to evaporate.  Do this for about five minutes or more until almost off of the moisture has gone.

Add the mustard and the paprika stirring both through the ingredients in the pan.  Then stir through the sour cream until well combined.   Check the seasoning and adjust as required.

Serve immediately with steamed basmati rice.  I usually have lightly steamed beans as my vegetable accompaniment.

Bon appétit!

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia

Gluten Free Pavlova

Last weekend was the Australia Day long weekend here in Australia.  Here in Sydney, it is typically the day that everyone heads out whether it be to the beach, into the City for the Australia Day festivities or to a friend's place for a BBQ - we celebrated in the latter form with our friends visiting us for a BBQ.

And what better way to finish of a BBQ than with the very traditional pavlova.  When I was a child there was usually a pavlova for big family celebrations, homemade of course by an aunt who had the knack of making a brilliant pav that was topped with mountains of whipped cream, kiwi fruit, banana, strawberries and fresh passionfruit.  Absolute heaven.  

So with these food memories I set out to make my first pavlova - I think it went rather well.  

The recipe I used was a Margaret Fulton recipe, however I don't think that my oven is the most accurate when baking a dish a delicate as this.

I spooned the silky, sweetened egg whites into little individual servings on the baking tray rather than having one big pavlova.  To be honest, the egg whites had lost a little of their volume so I was not confident that a larger volume of the mixture would keep its shape whilst cooking.  I had visions of it either overflowing the tray and going everywhere in the oven or finding a hardened thick layer of crusty, crumbly pavlova that was worthy of being made into an Eton Mess instead of the one I had pictured in my mind.

Fortunately it did not come to this and my little shapes held better than originally anticipated and were quickly devoured by all.

There are many notes by various chefs and cooks about what they put into their pavlova to ensure that it works beautifully.  I think that it is like any recipe:  everyone has their own preferred version.  This recipe I do like and I think I will need further practise to ensure that I have better outcomes in the future.  After all, practice makes perfect!

Pavlova

recipe by Margaret Fulton from the "Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery" 

6 egg whites, at room temperature
pinch of salt
2 cups of caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
whipped cream for filling
fruit or other topping of your choice - I have used banana, cherries, blueberries and fresh passionfruit

Preheat your oven before starting to mix the pavlova to a slow 150 degrees celsius. 

Beat egg whites and salt at a high speed in a stand mixer or similar until soft peaks form.

Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition.  

Stop beating when all sugar has been incorporated and fold in the vinegar and vanilla.  

Pile the mixture onto a greased baking tray in one heap with a smoothed top or into smaller piles - it is up to you.

Bake for 45 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave with the door shut for one hour.

When pavlova is cooked remove from oven and cool completely.  

Fill the pavlova generously with whipped cream and fruit.

Enjoy!

monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia