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

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

My Basic Risotto

In the cooler months of the year, I like to give in to my cravings particularly for a lovely creamy risotto.  I can still remember the first time that I had risotto:  it was a Milanese Mushroom risotto.  My mum had made it for the first time one Sunday for lunch and we devoured it.  It was so creamy and delicious!

I tend to make risotto depending mainly on what vegetables I have in the fridge.  The following recipe is for a basic risotto from there you can add any variety of veggies, herbs or meat that you prefer.  I have found that it is best to add the more fragile vegetables towards the end of cooking to prevent them from getting over-cooked.

Risotto is great either as a main dish or as an accompaniment.

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. 

Serve with a quick grating of parmesan cheese and a sprig of thyme for garnish.

Marvellous Minestrone

In my last post, I wrote about my annual ritual of preparing ham stock from scratch.  It is with this same stock that has had the excess fat skimmed off the top and the meat separated from the bone, skin and fat, that I turn into a truly marvellous minestrone.

My Minestrone Soup

a glug of olive oil
1 medium sized onion
1/4 stick of leek
1/3 stick of celery
1/2 carrot
1 small-medium sized potato
1/2 small-medium swede
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 zucchini
1/4 green capsicum
1/2 cup peeled fresh borlotti beans
a handful of green beans
5 kale leaves
1.5 litres of ham stock plus the ham from the hock
1-2 cups of hot water as required
1 rind of parmesan cheese which has been cleaned
a good pinch of salt or two
a grind a black pepper
1 bay leaf
handful of fresh basil leaves
1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley to finish it off

Dice the onion, leek, celery and carrot into small pieces all about the same size and set aside.  I take the time at this point to wash/peel and dice the potato and swede into small cubes.  The garlic I chop finely, however you can use a garlic crusher or mince it finely - whatever takes your fancy.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan that will accommodate the soup, the bigger the better so you don't have to worry about overfilling the pot.  Gently fry the onion, leek, celery and carrot with a pinch of salt until the onion becomes transparent.  Add the potato and swede and cook for a few minutes. Add the ham from the hock, which has been diced as well as the stock and stir through.  The stock would have become a solid jelly-like mass in the bowl when it cools, gently tip it out of the bowl and scrape out the leftover bits to ensure that nothing goes to waste.  

Let this heat through.  As the stock heats up it will become liquid again.  Add the chopped garlic.  
Let everything come to the boil and drop the heat to a gentle simmer.  Pop the rind of the parmesan and herbs into the soup.  Let it all cook for at least 45 minutes to allow the flavours to be enriched by the parmesan.  
At this point, I tend to dice the remaining vegetables in similar sizes, however I am conscious of how quickly some of the 'softer' vegetables will cook so I tend to chop these in slightly larger sizes so they do not cook away to nothing.  

Add the pasta, another pinch of salt and some water, if it is required once once the pasta is in the pot.  
The aim is to have enough liquid to allow the pasta to cook evenly.  I prefer to use spirals as this is what my mother always uses and why break with tradition?

Let the pasta cook for about five minutes.  When the it is almost done, add the remaining vegetables.  Cook the soup for a further two to three minutes until the pasta is cooked;  test the potatoes to ensure that they are cooked as well.  Taste the broth to check the seasoning and correct as required.

Serve this piping hot sprinkled with the freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley and a piece of fresh gluten-free bread.

Dinner in a Flash

There are some evenings that you arrive home from work later than anticipated and the grand plans that you had to prepare dinner using a newly found recipe fall quickly by the wayside.  This happened to me last night.  I arrived home late and starving.  I was soon cooking one of my many fall-back fast dinner 'recipes'.  

These meals that I prepare are not following any strict instructions or ingredient list.  I simply look in the fridge and the cupboard at what I have at hand and prepare dinner accordingly.  Invariably many of the fast meals are based around a pasta dish.

The particular dish that I prepared last night was spaghetti with a five minute tomato sauce.  In the time that the pasta took to cook, I had prepared a fresh tomato sauce using only tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, garlic and salt.  So simple and delicious.

Ten Minute Spaghetti with Tomato and Garlic Sauce

125g of gluten-free spaghetti
1 1/2 tomatoes diced
3 cloves of garlic finely sliced
1 decent glug of extra virgin olive oil
a generous pinch of salt
grated parmesan cheese
a grind of black pepper

Cook your gluten-free pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  Once this is cooking, heat up your frying pan.

Dice your tomatoes and finely chop the garlic.  Add a decent glug of extra virgin olive oil to the frying pan and heat.  Add the garlic, it should cook straight away with the kitchen being filled with the gorgeous garlic smell.  Turn the flame down to allow the garlic to cook and become golden, remove it from the oil and place to one side, leaving the garlic flavoured oil in the pan.

Add the tomato and let these cook down, adding a pinch of salt.  The tomatoes will quickly soften and become sauce like.  Add the garlic back into the pan with the tomatoes and continue to cook gently.  

The pasta should be cooked by now, strain and save some of the cooking water in the saucepan.  Put the pasta back into the pan it was cooked in.  Taste the sauce and season with salt as necessary.  It should have the sweet, savouriness of the garlic with the richness of the tomato and extra virgin olive oil.   Stir the sauce through the pasta ensuring the each strand of spaghetti is 'kissed' by the sauce.

Serve the pasta topped with grated parmesan and a grind of fresh pepper.  Serves one.

To create this meal for more than one, simply multiply the ingredients accordingly.  This dish can be served alongside a meat or veg dish as well.

The Last of the Summer Basil

As the weather cools here in Australia, I always mark the end of summer with the digging up of the remaining basil in the garden and making one of my all time favourite sauces:  pesto. 

I usually have enough for a freshly prepared jar in the fridge and a few more jars in the freezer which ends up being an enjoyable reminder of the warm weather to arrive when we are in the deepest, darkest depths of winter longing for the warm summer afternoons that November brings.

For me, pesto is a perennial favourite that can be enjoyed many ways, the most popular and widely known, being with pasta.  There are several other ways that I also enjoy pesto:  generously spread over toast as a mid-afternoon treat or as an antipasti;  smeared over a juicy steak;  or stirred through soup as a finishing touch.  Each of these transform an ordinary meal into a sublime one.

There are two ways that pesto can be made, one using a pestle and mortar or the quicker way with a food processor.  I tend to use the food processor for convenience, however the texture achieved with the pestle and mortar is very different and should be tried at least once.

I use a recipe that I have adapted from the original Marcella Hazan recipe where she instructs you on how to make pesto by either method and whether it is being made for immediate consumption or to be frozen.  To freeze pesto the dairy ingredients are not added, just the processed basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt and oil are frozen.  Once defrosted, the grated parmesan and pecorino cheeses are added along with butter.  The result is the closest to freshly make pesto that you can find.

Pesto - preparation in a food processor or blender

2 cups fresh basil

1/2 cup olive oil

2 1/2 tablespoons of pine nuts

3 cloves of garlic

1 decent pinch of salt

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons pecorino cheese

2 tablespoons butter

Wash and dry the basil leaves.  Pull the leaves off the stem of the basil, you only want to use the leaves.  Place the basil leaves, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt into the food processor or blender.  Blitz until you have a lovely green paste.  You will need to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl and add more olive oil if need be.  You want to create a lovely paste that is not too dry or too runny.

If you are going to freeze your pesto, stop now and put into a container and into the freezer.  If not, then put the pesto mixture into a bowl, add the grated parmesan and pecorino cheese.  If you only have parmesan, just use this - not to worry.  Mix the cheeses through the pesto mixture until combined.  Then add the butter that is softened at room temperature and mix through thoroughly. 

Taste the pesto at this point to see if you need more salt or olive oil.  If you are unsure, leave it on the bench and let the flavours meld together and balance themselves out.  I find that by doing this it gives everything a chance to settle down a little and enable the final combination of tastes to come into their own, you will be surprised as to how the basil changes in flavour.  After about 20 minutes, taste again and see what the flavour is now like, then add salt or oil as needed.

Stir through warm pasta, top with cheese and enjoy!

Vegetable soup

1 onion, diced

1/2 carrot

1/2 stick of celery

1/4 capsicum

1/2 tomato

1/2 zucchini

1 small piece of cauliflower

small piece of pumpkin 

one small potato

one small swede

a good glug of olive oil

pinch of salt

a few grinds of black pepper

2 cups of vegetable stock either fresh or powder base mixed with water - have enough to cover the vegetables

a small handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

a generous teaspoon of pesto

a small handful of grated parmesan cheese

Dice up all vegetables listed, if you don’t have this exact list of vegetables, improvise with what you have in the fridge, this combination is by no means a hard and fast rule of what to use.  Remember to dice the vegetables to a size that is easy to eat in a soup but don’t make some things too small as you want everything to cook evenly.

Heat up a good glug of olive oil in a generous sized saucepan, I have a stock pot that I make soup in.  Once the oil is heated, add the onion, carrot, celery, potato, pumpkin and swede and fry these gently until they become bright in colour.  Add the cauliflower and tomato leaving the zucchini and capsicum for later.  Stir all veges well until they become a little soft.  

Add the stock along with salt and pepper and let this come to a simmer and cook until the hard veges are almost cooked.  This can take about 30 minutes depending of the exact amount of soup in the saucepan and how big or small the veges have been cut up.  

Add the zucchini and capsicum and any other soft vegetables that you are using.  Let the soup simmer for a little longer until these are cooked.  Stir through some freshly chopped parsley.

Serve immediately with a teaspoonful of pesto topped with some grated parmesan - a lovely finishing touch.  Enjoy!

Gluten Free Pasta

Before my diagnosis with coeliac disease, my diet had always been quiet balanced for my mind however this pasta lover was at a loose end.  Pasta was a huge family favourite and featured regularly in my weekly dinner menu.  But now no pasta - my heart was broken!

I was not able to find gluten free pasta readily in the larger supermarkets, in fact I could not find any.  I had read about a health food store in my local area that sounded like it stocked a variety of products that were wheat and gluten free as well as organic and free from preservatives and other nasties.  When I first visited this store I felt a huge sigh of relief.  I had a couple of gluten free pastas to choose from and there were a couple of breads as well.  My main aim of that visit was to find pasta that was going to fill the void that I now had in my diet.

I remember that I found a rice pasta and on first cooking it I was not too pedantic about the cooking time.  Alas it turned a little gluggy, but I soldiered on and did my best to enjoy the pasta with bolognese sauce that I had made.  Whilst it was not the same as the wheat pasta that I had enjoyed all of my life I was a little disheartened but was not going to let this beat me.  I tried cooking that pasta again a few days later and this time was very particular about the time and all was fine.  The consistency whilst different was something that I knew I would get used to.

Gradually over time, I researched new varieties of pastas that quickly became available and found that the pastas that were a blend of rice and corn, for example were of a much better consistency and were not as sensitive to a second or two of extra cooking - this was fantastic.

I also had great luck with the vegetable based pastas which were a nice change.

All of these pastas were nice, however I really did miss eating spaghetti.

The Italians have so many different varieties of shapes of pasta that are used along side different types of sauces.  The more lumpy or chunky a sauce is, the better is goes with pasta shells or spirals as the sauce is able to be caught in the crevices of the pasta shape, hence you can eat and enjoy your pasta and sauce together.

The more creamy sauces go well with the spaghetti, fettucini and linguini pastas as they coat the long strands of pastas very well.

A few years after my diagnosis San Remo released a range of gluten free pastas, one of which was a spaghetti.  Naturally I bought a packet immediately and dinner that night was spaghetti bolognese.

I carefully cooked the pasta according to the directions on the packet - how was it going to turn out?  How would it taste?  Would it fall apart?

When straining the pasta all looked well the pasta was perfectly cooked.

I piled it into the bowl and topped it was the bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese:  now was the moment.  The first mouthful was utter bliss.  It was divine!  I felt as thought I had reached my pasta nirvana at last!

I must admit that whilst the Orgran brand is great, the pasta was still not the same in consistency and taste as wheat pasta and this is what I was really craving and missing terribly.  When the San Remo pasta was released I tried it all and have had great success with each type and have not looked back since.

My Bolognese Recipe

This bolognese recipe is one that originally is from the Classic Italian Cook Book by Marcella Hazan, but I have tweaked it slightly so it is a little more like the bolognese sauce my mother makes - always a popular request for birthday dinners!

1 medium size onion, diced

1/2 medium sized carrot, grated

1/2 stick of celery, finely chopped

a good pinch or two of salt

a good grind of pepper and nutmeg 

500g beef mince

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced

1 glass of red wine, preferably the wine that you will be enjoying with your meal

400g tin of diced Italian tomatoes - Italian tomatoes are best

1 tablespoon of tomato paste - this is optional, my mother always puts a generous spoonful in as she like the intense tomato flavour it adds but this is entirely up to you

1 fresh sprig of rosemary

1 fresh sprig of sweet basil

1 fresh sprig of oregano
1 fresh bay leaf

1 small bunch of parsley, finely chop the leaves and the fine stalks only to finish off the sauce before serving

Gently fry the onion in some olive oil, celery and carrot and add a small pinch of salt at this point.  Fry until soft, then add your mince and brown slowly, breaking up the mince so that it is of a fine consistency with no lumps.  

Add your herbs and some more salt and a grind of pepper and a really good grind of nutmeg.

Add your garlic and fry a little before adding your wine.  Cook the wine  to allow the alcohol to cook off - you only need to simmer it for a little is this is enough.

Add your tinned tomatoes and if you like, add the tomato paste at this point.

Simmer the sauce for at least half an hour to allow all of the flavours to mingle and mellow.  I try and let this simmer for as long as possible and adding a little water as required to prevent the sauce from drying out.  
I find that when the sauce simmers for one and a half hours to two hours the flavours of the vegetables, herbs and the beef all mellow together and make the most delicious and satisfying bolognese sauce.

Brands of Gluten-free Pasta:

San Remo

http://www.sanremo.com.au

Orgran

http://www.orgran.com/

Buon Tempo

http://www.buontempo.com.au/index.htm