Date and carrot cake - no processed sugar, dairy and gluten free

An afternoon with my stitchy friends called for a cake that had no processed sugar. This super-quick cake is delicious, and gets all its sweetness from the dates and carrot.  You could cut the amount of oil if you planned to eat the whole thing the day you made it- if you want to keep it longer the oil will keep this moist for several days.


Recipe
Set oven to 175C
I used two small paper loaf cases - if using metal tins grease or line with baking paper

Ingredients

• 150g dates
• 1 egg
• 100 ml vegetable oil
• 175g grated carrot - 1 large (I used a food processor, ready-grated or hand grater would be fine)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 150g self raising flour (mine is 40% urid lentil, 40% tapioca, 20% rice, with 1.5tsp baking powder to 100g)
• water if needed to slacken batter

Method
Blitz the dates with the egg and oil in a blender to get a slurry.
Tip into a bowl and add the other ingredients, stirring well to ensure you don't have lumps of dry flour hiding in amongst the grated carrot.  You want the batter to be a bit sloppy, so add some water if it is hard to get off the spoon.

Put batter in two loaf cases and bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-35 minutes, checking to be sure that a knife comes out quite clean to show it is cooked.  I didn't get mine quite even, and the smaller one took 25 minutes, the larger 30.  If you put all the batter in one tin add extra time, but drop the temperature if the top begins to get too brown.

Blueberry crunch cookies

I hadn't planned to write any more posts, but lately I've been mildly exasperated when I make something delicious and have no idea how to replicate it- and I get asked by others for recipes, and my usual, "bung a few things together and see what happens" is not helpful for them.
So, I'm reopening this blog for occasional use as my recipe file.

I made some delicious crunchy cookies a few days ago, and really wanted to be able to make them again.  Fortunately I had put some of the dough in the freezer, so I had raw dough for comparison and also could cook a bit of this dough to do the baked comparison.  It took a bit of tweaking, but here is a recipe that is very delicious, crunchy without being crumbly, and dairy free as well as gluten free.  I tried a bit of the dough without egg but it just splidged and disintegrated when baked, so I can't say that if you need to skip the egg just add a bit less flour- I haven't done a successful egg-free test yet.

I included the hemp seed as we had some available, and I like the added omegas and also I think it gives a lightness to the texture and some visual interest.  If you haven't got any substitute your favourite seeds or just add a bit more flour if your dough is sloppy.

Recipe

Ingredients
160g coconut oil (solid at room temp)
160g demerera sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
300g self raising flour (I use a mixture that is 40% urid lentil, 40% tapioca, 20% rice, with 1.5tsp (7.5g) baking powder to 100g of flour)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice
40g hemp
80g dried blueberries

Method
Pre-heat oven to 175C
Warm the coconut oil to make it easier to get out of the jar.
Mix oil and sugar
Add in the egg (make sure your oil isn't hot before you do this or you will scramble the egg!)
Mix in vanilla
Add in flour, hemp and spice
Mix in blueberries

The dough should be quite stiff.
Roll into rounds between palm and press onto a lined baking sheet, or dollop with two teaspoons if you prefer.

Bake at 175C for 7-10 minutes until golden brown.  Keep an eye on them- they go from brown to burnt quite quickly.  It is better to get them out too soon then put them back for a bit longer than to go away having set the timer, coming back too late.

Slide the baking parchment with cookies onto your cooling rack and let them sit until they begin to stiffen.  Move them off the paper onto the rack and leave until cold before putting in a cookie jar.

If you want to keep some dough for later just form into a roll, wrap in freezer paper and over wrap with clingfilm.  Slice and bake when you need some more.

Triple ginger freezer biscuits - gluten and dairy free

This sticky dough is easy to handle if rolled in clingfilm and frozen.  Slice and bake a few biscuits at a time for a warm spicy aroma in the house on a cold winter day and a lovely crunchy treat.

Ingredients:

200g ground almonds
200g flour (40%urid, 40%tapioca, 20% brown rice)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground ginger (add more if wanted- this gives quite a mild ginger flavour)
100g sugar
120g dark brown muscovado sugar
75ml oil
2 eggs
20g grated fresh ginger
75g crystallised ginger, chopped
belgian waffle pearl sugar or sugar crystals for topping if wanted.  The pearl sugar keeps it shape, is crunchy but not too hard.

Oven 170C fan, ten minutes from frozen, seven or eight from room temperature mix.  Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving onto a baking rack.


Mix the dry ingredients together.  My muscovado sugar was a solid lump so I hacked off the right amount with a large knife and heated it in the microwave with the oil to get a slurry that was easy to mix into the flour.  If you do melt the brown sugar make sure the mixture is not too hot before you add it to the eggs - you don't want scrambled egg at this stage.

Mix liquid ingredients together and add to dry.  I used the food mixer for this as it was quite a lot of work to do by hand. Add in grated fresh ginger and chopped crystallised ginger and mix.

You can bake this in blobs on your lined baking sheet.  This amount of dough will make a lot of biscuits.  The dough holds its height when baked like this so flatten a bit with a damp spoon.

Alternatively lay on clingfilm in a log, wrap, put in freezer on a baking sheet until firm.  Once firm the baking sheet can be removed. There is a risk that the dough would sag around your freezer racks if you put it straight in unsupported and so get stuck in place.

When you want to bake some biscuits just slice off thin layers, sprinkle with sugar if you want to, and bake on a lined baking sheet.

Spiced sweet-potato cake; gluten and dairy free

This cake is soft and reminiscent of the filling in pumpkin pie.  Not surprising really, when it has mashed sweet potato as its main ingredient.

To do ahead of time

Cook sweet potatoes in the microwave (or oven if you have it running for something else) until they are soft.  Mine took about eight minutes - four small sweet potatoes. Leave to cool then remove the peel and mash.  I found it easiest to cut an end off and scoop the sweet potato out with a circular action with a fork.  Do this ahead of time so you don't be tempted to work with them while they are very hot and burn yourself.   Keep the peel and spritz with oil, put on a baking sheet, and cook for 20-30 minutes in the oven for a crisp scoop for spicy salsa.

My muscovado sugar is always a solid lump.  Hack enough sugar off and leave put in a bowl with the oil and eggs so it dissolves - this will make the rest of the cake making much easier.

Ingredients
400g mashed cooked sweet potato - mine was 460g whole (4 small)
125g muscovado sugar
125 ml oil
3 eggs
125 g self raising flour (mine is 40%urid, 40% tapioca, 20% rice, with 1 tsp bp for each 100g)
1 tsp mixed spice /pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the sugar, oil and egg and leave for the lumps of sugar to dissolve if needed.
Mix in the cooled mashed sweet potato, flour and spices.

Pour the sloppy cake mix into a greased/lined tin.  I used a 9inch square tin as I wanted a shallow cake.

Bake in a pre-heated oven, 175C fan, for 40-45 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Leave in tin for a few minutes on the cooling rack to allow it to firm slightly, then remove from tin and leave to cool, or eat hot as a pudding with icecream.  If you want a firmer cake add some more flour or cut down on the sweet potato.

Seedy bread - sharing the flours with others and the wonders of Solanic potato protein

I responded to a query about bread on http://glutenfreeguerrillas.healthunlocked.com.  I normally don't contribute recipes for bread on this site as I now always use the potato protein I got from a LinkedIn contact, and this is not available in the shops.  If you buy it from the company the minimum order is 15kg - and given you need a few grams/couple of spoonfuls for a loaf of bread this is an enormous amount.  However, I offered to send some samples out to people if they wanted, and a batch of the flour I use, as I want to get feedback on my usual loaf.  

I have been wondering whether to take the step of trying to bring this flour mix to market, which would be a lot of work, so feedback would be useful.  I have also been talking to the company about the possibility of the potato protein being made available in consumer sized portions.  This potato stuff doesn't upset my guts at all - I can't use zanthum/xanthum or other gums, and even have to stay away from flax/chia seed.  It helps gf loaves to keep their shape so they don't slump if you want a full size/high loaf, and give improved texture even to pizzas and other flat breads.


I sent out six batches of the flourmix- enough for a loaf made in a one pound loaf tin, and 30g of the potato protein. I do hope these packages survive the post- I went to bed fretting that I hadn't double bagged everything.  I sealed them in cellophane and built small posting boxes by chopping up a large box and wrapping with lots of parcel tape, so hope the transit is fine.  I thought I should include a photo and instructions, so took the usual plain loaf ingredients and added a little cocoa and pumpkin and sunflower seeds to give a warm seedy loaf.

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This mix is made from urid lentils, tapioca, rice and potato.  The potato protein that I have have included in the small bag should be used at about 2%of the flour for yeast breads.  Makes great pizza and other flatbreads as well as the loaf.   I am thinking about trying to package it or a variation on it so would be glad of your feedback.  I have a gf house and am very sensitive so these samples should be completely gluten free.

The bag has approx 300g of flours, enough for a small one pound loaf tin.  Mix it the yeast- either a teaspoon or two for a quick rise or half a teaspoon if you want to let it rise more slowly to develop a sourdough flavour.  Put salt and sugar in if you like.  Add 250ml cold water. You can also put a little cocoa and some pumpkin and sunflower seeds for a seedy loaf, or other flavours to suit your taste.

Mix the batter thoroughly with a wooden spoon or food mixer.  It will look like a thick  cake batter.  Pour the mixture into a greased non-stick loaf tin.  It should come about half way up the sides.  For a quick loaf put this in the oven with a tray of hot water in the bottom and leave it to rise.  You want to let it rise about one third - not quite to the top of the tin.  When it gets to that point turn the oven on to 175C (fan) and set timer for 45 minutes.  It will rise further in the heat but shouldn’t come over the top of the tin as the batter hasn’t the strength to go up on its own. It needs a slower bake than wheat bread.

If you want more flavour and a slightly more artisan-style texture leave the loaf to rise somewhere cool - if you want to retard it to fit in with your schedule just put it in the fridge.  Then bake as before.

Tip out the cooked loaf and cool on a baking rack. I cool them on their sides to encourage them not to sink.  Don’t try to slice before they are cold or the bread will stick to the knife.

This should be ok for several days, or slice and put in the freezer.

Rinse your dirty dishes in cold water promptly - the batter sets quite hard.

The photo is the loaf I made this morning when I bagged up the flour (at the moment I still grind my own lentils before mixing the flour, so quite an effort).  This has half a teaspoon cocoa and a small handful of seeds mixed into the dough, and a few more seeds sprinkled on the top.  A loaf I left out to see what happened a couple of weeks ago was still ok to slice after a whole week, but I normally slice the bread and put it in the freezer. 

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I'm hoping to get some feedback shortly.  One person suggested that we buy a big bag of the potato protein and share it out between us.  That is a great idea.  If anyone reading this would like to join in and try so of this stuff let me know.

Coconut cashew and citrus cookies - trying out coconut flour

I have tended not to use coconut products as my primary cookie eater isn't really a fan.  However, in an aberrant moment I bought several bags of coconut flour in with my order of brown rice flour, so I need to start using it.  I also had a jar of coconut fat, very useful for tempering an over-enthusiastic hand on the chilli when making curry.

These dairy-free cookies are like shortbread with chunks of cashew and a hint of citrus.  The flavour is mild; I think the coconut products have dampened the flavour of the citrus essence.  The flavour moves from sweet to citrus to coconut as it lingers in your mouth.  The cashew nuts are too similar in texture and flavour to add much to the cookie- if I made a coconut shortbread again I would leave these out, though I like the way they look.

Ingredients
100g coconut flour
100g self raising flour (mine is urid 40%,  tapioca 40%, rice 20%, with 1tsp baking powder per 100g flour)
60g coconut oil - this is solid so melt in the microwave before use, or you could grate it if you had a block and lots of energy.
2 eggs
50g toasted cashews
1 tsp Fiori di Sicilia - a citrus vanilla blend.  Use a little citrus zest and vanilla.

Melt the coconut oil by gently heating in the microwave.  If it gets too hot let it cool before adding the eggs- you want to be able to mix these easily without cooking the egg.
Mix in egg and flavourings.
Mix in flours.  You should have a stiff dough.  Mix in nuts if using.

I rolled this into a squarish log and sliced the cookies. You could also just roll a blob and put on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-14 minutes in a medium oven - about 170F. Cool on a rack.

Waffles for breakfast

I fancied waffles for breakfast rather than our usual american pancakes.  It is almost the same mixture, but I beat the egg white to a stiff froth before stirring it in to the wet mixture.  The hard part about making waffles now is clambering into the roof-space cupboard to get the waffle baker, as the kitchen is too small to store intermittently used kit.

These waffles are light without being insubstantial, crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.  They freeze well so you can make a batch and have a few whenever you want.  If you have a toaster they can just be popped in frozen and come out ready to eat.

Ingredients
100g flour (this is my new mix avoiding corn - 40%urid, 40%tapioca and 20% brown rice flours)
1 tsp baking powder (this ratio of 1 tsp bp to 100g flour is my standard self raising flour)
1 tsp sugar
1 egg, separated
1 tsp oil
120ml rice or other milk

Prepare your waffle baker.  Set to a middle temperature setting.

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the egg yolk, milk and oil together.

Beat the egg white until stiff.

Fold the egg whites into batter.

Scoop the batter onto the baker, filling from the middle.  I find it better to have waffles that don't quite reach the edge than barge their way messily down the outside of the baker.

I found this mixture made one complete set of four waffles with a little left over.  Cook until golden brown and crisp.  Cool on a baking rack or send straight to plates.

Quick microwave orange pudding, gluten and dairy free

Continuing my testing of puddings in the microwave (cheaper, quicker and easier) I made one with some fragrant zingy oranges.   Unfortunately not straight from a tree- yet another year where I haven't made it to Seville for the orange season.  I don't think this recipe is quite right yet - if anyone makes a variation on it that works well perhaps you could let me know.

I based the recipe on this recipe for self-saucing orange pudding.

Ingredients
zest one orange
juice 5 oranges (approx 250ml) - 40ml for batter, rest for sauce
100g self raising flour (40% urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal plus 1 rounded tsp baking powder)
80 g sugar - 40g for batter, 40g for sauce
40ml oil
1 egg

Mix the zest, oil, egg, 40g sugar and 40ml juice together.  Mix in flour.  Place batter in microwave safe bowl.

Mix remaining juice and sugar together.  Heat to dissolve sugar then bring to the boil.  Pour carefully over the pudding; it looks weird but that's what you do.

Cover in clingfilm, and cook on medium for 8 minutes.  Leave to sit for a few minutes, covered.

This pudding is quite fluffy but has a texture which reminds me slightly of dumplings.  The original recipe asked for melted butter, and a larger amount, which might have given a better texture.

Tastes good, worth doing again.

double ginger biscuits- gluten, nut and dairy free

I based these crisp chewy biscuits on this recipe.  I didn't have any bicarbonate of soda and didn't want to use butter, and of course I was using my gf flour mix rather than wheat.  I also added chopped crystallised ginger for an extra bit of texture and flavour.

Ingredients
100g flour ((40%urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
2 tsp baking powder (twice as much as my usual for self raising- perhaps a bit much)
2 tsp ground ginger
75g sugar
30g crystallised ginger, chopped
1 overflowing tsp of golden syrup
1 egg
40ml oil
sugar crystals to sprinkle on top

Mix the dry ingredients together except for crystallised ginger
Mix egg and oil together
Mix dry and wet ingredients together thoroughly then add the syrup and ginger pieces.  Stir to mix.

Place dollops on baking sheets, lined with parchment paper. Leave plenty of room as they spread.  Sprinkle with sugar crystals if you have them.  Bake for about ten minutes at 175C fan.  Keep an eye on them and remove from the oven when they are a lovely golden colour - similar to the colour of the syrup.

Cool on a wire rack on the paper for a few minutes to begin to harden. They are too soft to take off the sheets immediately.  If you haven't used paper they will take longer to harden as the tin will hold the heat.

These biscuits are crisp and chewy, spicy and sweet.  My patient taster says they are among the best ginger biscuits he has ever tasted.

Banana butternut and choc chip muffins

The grocers were selling bags of over-ripe bananas today, so I set out to make some muffins.  I had a large butternut squash in the fridge and no dried fruit so I used the squash as part of the sweetener for the mixture.  I did add a little sugar as the bananas were not as ripe as I had hoped and I had only cooked the squash in the microwave so the sweetness didn't develop the way it does when it is roasted.

These are quite dense muffins.  I use them as handbag food so I like a nutritious non-messy muffin that can be eaten discretely and will keep me from feeling hungry for several hours.  If you want this lighter add some water or fruit juice to make the batter thinner.

Makes 18 muffins
Oven at 175C

Ingredients
400g over-ripe bananas (4 medium)
350 cooked butternut squash ( peel, chop, ten minutes in microwave)
350g flour (40%urid, 40% tapioca, 20% cornmeal)
6 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsp cocoa
100g ground almonds
150ml oil
50g sugar or other sweetener
100g chocolate chips (I used dark to avoid the dairy)

30g sugar crystals plus 1/4 tsp mixed spice for topping

Smash the bananas and squash.
Mix the flour, baking powder and spices including cocoa together, whisk to ensure thoroughly mixed
Mix in almonds
Add oil, eggs and sugar to banana and squash mixture, stir well
Add dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir thoroughly
Spoon into muffin cases

Sprinkle top with spiced sugar crystals if using.  Do this just before putting in the oven so that they don't dissolve before being cooked.

Bake for approximately 25 minutes if large, 17 for cupcake size

Cool on a wire rack. If you leave them in the tin you will get soggy bottoms.

These freeze very well.  Slip one in your bag in the morning, wrapped in plastic, and it will be defrosted for your mid-morning break.  They will keep for a few days in an airtight container.

If you can't eat nuts swap the ground almonds for more flour or just leave out for a lighter muffin.

Dhosa - easy quick almost dhosas

I fancied some dhosa today  Dhosas are thin pancakes made from a fermented rice and urid lentil mixture, and are eaten in South India.  There the chefs make spectacular shapes when serving these, including giant rolls and fans.

Last time I made them I did the full process-soak urid lentils and long grain rice separately for a specified number of hours, grind utill smooth in the blender, mix and leave to ferment for several more hours.  Today I didn't feel like doing all of that and so simply mixed my usual flour (405urid, 40%tapioca and 20% cornmeal) with some brown rice flour- and I don't have any idea what type of rice this was.  The protein balance of different rice varies and it makes a difference in how the rice behaves in recipe. .

These dhosas weren't completely like proper dhosa, and the shorter maturing time meant that they hadn't fermented properly.  The acid flavour of the fully fermented dough is too strong for some so this milder version may be more palatable, although the nutritional value will be slightly less as the long fermenting increases bio-availability of some nutrients.

This amount serves two/three with some curry


Ingredients
125g rice flour
70g gf flour mix (40%urid, 40%tapioca, 20%cornmeal)
300g water

Mix until smooth and leave to sit for a couple of hours or more in a warm place.  The dough should be quite thin - like single cream.  If it is too thick add a bit more water.  You should be able to place a ladlefull on a cold crepe pan and swirl it around so that it is covered completely.

To cook
Start with a cold pan.  Place a ladlefull of batter on the pan and swirl so that you get an even thin pancake. Cook on a medium heat until the bottom begins to brown. You will be able to see this without lifting the pancake as it is so thin.

Lift off carefully and roll to whatever shape you want while it is warm.

Cool the pan under cold water until you can touch it without any discomfort.  If you don't let the pan cool between dhosa you will not be able to get the dhosa to be thin.  Instead they will be lumpy and thick.  I read up about making dhosa and this is how they are usually made.

Because the pan is cold at the start of each dhosa they take longer to cook than if you were making crepe in a hot pan.  Be patient.  You may find them difficult to make neat- but they taste just as good.  The one I photographed was about my sixth - I didn't quite believe the necesity for the cold pan to start with.

These dhosa are partially soft and flexible and partly crisp.  I ate mine served with spicy chickpeas.

Tesco FreeFrom gluten free Hot Cross Buns

I know it is only January, but an idle look at the the Free From section in Tesco and I spotted Hot Cross buns, a traditional food at Easter.  They are wheat, gluten and milk free.  They have eggs in and cannot be guaranteed nut free due to manufacturing conditions.  I note that the dried fruit doesn't have any sulphites, so this is good for those of you that can't handle these.

They come in four separate pouches with a shelf life of a couple of weeks from when I bought them.  I didn't stop to check and see if there were any others with a longer best by date.

As usual slice in half and grill for best effect.  The photo of the buns slathered in butter isn't my portion - I kept mine dairy free.  I showed these as I think they have a touch too much clove in the mixed spice if eaten plain.  I suspect the recipe developer assumed people would eat them with some sort of butter-type topping.

These are a good addition to the available food.  My taster with the sensitive palate and love of dairy said it would be hard to tell them from wheat hot cross buns and thought people wouldn't notice if they weren't told.  If I had made them I would have wanted them to be a touch less dense, but they were very reasonable and conveniently packaged for a mixed household or travel.

Spiced bread and butter pudding - dairy and gluten free

I bought a loaf of Marks and Spencer's 'Made without wheat' Fruit bread.  I wondered how well it would work in a bread and butter pudding, so I took four slices of this bread, added egg and rice milk, raisins, sugar and spice and baked in a medium oven for twenty minutes. I skipped the butter to make this dairy free. In this case I used too little milk, so the pudding was a touch drier than it should have been.  Apart from that it was soft and delicious inside  with a crisp sugary topping.  For anyone missing bread and butter pudding this would be a good choice.  It didn't go to crumb or claggy, and absorbed the liquid very well.

Ingredients
4 slices fruit bread
2 eggs
enough milk to cover the bread when lightly compressed - try 250ml -I used rice milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp oil

Mix the egg, milk, oil, spice and sugar together
Place four slices of bread in an oven proof dish.  You can make it fancy, neat or just cut roughly and pile in.  Sprinkle the raisins between the bits of bread.
Pour over flavoured milk mixture.
Sprinkle with a bit more sugar to give a crisp topping.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in a medium oven, about 170C.

quinoa and mushroom loaf (nut roast/turkey substitute)

So, you have someone visit who won't eat the turkey and can't eat dairy or nuts...and they need all their food to be gluten free.  You still want to give them a delicious protein portion to go with their roast potatoes and sprouts...here is a possible solution.

I wrote up a recipe for quinoa, butternut squash and cashew loaf.  Using some of the batch of quinoa I had cooked for this and the cranberries I made a second nut-free version with mushrooms and egg. This is a mild savoury loaf with the mushrooms and quinoa held together by the batter produced from the flour and egg.  The quinoa texture is still discernable.  Test the flavour when you have made the mixture by frying a small amount.  Add more seasonings if you want a punchier flavour.

The quinoa, mushrooms and egg as well as the lentils in the flour combine to make this a high protein dish.


It is always a good idea to have an alternative to turkey as people may be vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or just not like turkey.  I had a look at a few recipes on the internet, including the useful evaluative series at the Guardian. I wanted to use roasted butternut and cashew, so also looked at the River Cottage nut roast.  I also fancied including cranberries, and found this pretty-looking recipe from Jamie Oliver.  I wanted this dish to be a complete protein source - it seems to me that too often the vegetarian option in restaurants hasn't thought through either the flavour balance or the nutrient balance.

I cooked a whole 300g bag of qunioa, rinsing thoroughly first, to make both recipes.
I cooked 300g of fresh cranberries for a couple of minutes with the juice of a satsuma, 1tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp chilli jam.  This was used in both recipes.

Ingredients

325 cooked quinoa (all that was left)

250g chestnut mushrooms, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1 tbsp oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 eggs

1 tbsp soy sauce (check gf- I use Sanchi Tamari)

pinch mixed herbs

1 red onion, chopped

50g flour ( 40%urid, 40%tapioca, 20%cornmeal)

Cook onions over gentle heat until soft.  Lift out of oil and use the same oil to cook the mushrooms until softened.  You may need to do this in batches.  Add more oil if needed. Cook the garlic in with the last batch of mushrooms.

Mix all the ingredients together.  The flour and egg will give a cakey mix to hold the quinoa and mushrooms together.

Dollop mixture into the prepared mini-loaf tins with cranberries at the base or cook in a large loaf tin lined with baking parchment.

Cook at 180C for 25 minutes.

This is very good cold.  It holds together well so would make a good lunch box or picnic food.

Turkey alternatives- vegan quinoa, butternut squash and cashew nut roast

It is always a good idea to have an alternative to turkey as people may be vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian or just not like turkey.  I had a look at a few recipes on the internet, including the useful evaluative series at the Guardian. I wanted to use roasted butternut and cashew, so also looked at the River Cottage nut roast.  I also fancied including cranberries, and found this pretty-looking recipe from Jamie Oliver.  I wanted this dish to be a complete protein source - it seems to me that too often the vegetarian option in restaurants hasn't thought through either the flavour balance or the nutrient balance.

I made two versions, I'll post the second, including mushrooms, later.
I cooked a whole 300g bag of qunioa, rinsing thoroughly first, to make both recipes.
I cooked 300g of fresh cranberries for a couple of minutes with the juice of a satsuma, 1tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp chilli jam.  This was used in both recipes.

Ingredients
600g cooked quinoa
250 roasted butternut squash (peel, chop, rub with oil, roast in hot oven half hour)
250g cashew nuts, chopped (quick blast in blender, be careful not to powder)
1 red onion, chopped, cooked until soft in 1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mixed herbs
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder (make sure gf)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4tsp pepper

cranberry 'topping'

Mix all the ingredients and check seasoning. As you stir the mixture the butternut squash pieces will break up  If any are too large just cut them. You want a mixture with some contrast but no large lumps.

You can eat this as it is to test or fry a small blob to give a crisp outer to test what it will be like when baked. You may well want more salt as I eat very little (just enough to stop my tendency to low blood pressure). You may also want to reduce or remove the cumin if you don't like its distinctive earthy taste. Try some sage as an alternative.

Place a layer of the cranberries in the bottom of your dish and pack the quinoa mixture on top.  I used individual baking cases - the sort often used for lemon drizzle, as some of these are being given away.  I made eleven individual nut roasts from this mixture, filling the containers to just below the surface. Drizzle a little oil on top to help it go crisp and brown when baked.

before baking

Bake in the oven with other things you are cooking for about 20 minutes.  These can be frozen; just get out of the freezer a couple of hours before you want to cook them if they are the individual size. These tiny individual portions are easy to tuck in next to other items.  Leave them to rest ten minutes before serving.

This nut roast has a light flavour and slightly crumbly texture.  It would go well with the other traditional items on a Christmas dinner.  Just remember to have some gf vegan gravy to go wit it.

Nut roast - a handy food for gf vegetarians - guests or visits

I was strolling around Worcester (UK) this evening as it is their Victorian Christmas Fair - the centre of town is thronged with stalls, stallholders wearing Victorian- style clothing.  There were lots of food stalls selling burgers and sausages in buns (and yes, the burgers had cereal in, I checked), pizza, dutch pancakes, french crepes, Balinese spring rolls, Spanish churros....I could have had hot chestnuts but preferred to just watch others eating and kept myself safe.

Then I came across Nevins Speciality Foods selling gluten free nut roasts. They are a new business and their website is not up and running yet (Dec 2012) but will be www.nevinsspecialityfoods.co.uk.  I bought a Cranberry and Chestnut nut roast.  The individually packed in paper baking cases and plastic wrap, and look inviting.  They have breadcrumbs in, made with Doves Farm flour and no xanthum gum.   There are other flavours, but those had dairy in so I didn't try them.

These individual nut roasts (though they would serve two unless you had been tramping miles or had nothing else with them) can be frozen.

This one had a firm though not hard texture, a moist middle, and a sweet and savoury flavour that would make it very versatile.  The chestnut flavour did not dominate.

An excellent addition to the convenience foods available to the gluten avoider.

As these are currently being sold at venue direct from maker to consumer the labels do not list all the ingredients.  For example, this nut roast does have dairy in the breadcrumb, but it isn't listed.  Be a little cautious and quiz the seller if you are very sensitive.

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a few minutes after eating this I got an allergic reaction.  Very odd, as I don't normally have allergic reactions to any foods.  I am allergic to Erythromycin and zinc oxide...but those aren't going to be in a nut roast.  Will phone and get more details.  

After the phone call- no idea what caused the problem.  I should eat the remainder of the nut roast today to check that I get the same reaction, but don't feel inclined to to this.  Spoke to the maker, can't figure out what caused it as nothing in the food that would worry me.  Maybe there was an airborne allergen in the market area that produced a reaction after I got back - I do react powerfully to insect bites, stinging nettles etc so just possible some strange product floating off the Christmas wreath, strings of dried oranges, scented candles etc.

Tikka cod with lentil curry and mixed rice

This tasty meal is high in protein and easy to make.  Frozen cod fillets coated in tikka paste and lentil and vegetable curry made with Korma paste make this a simple meal to make and full of flavour. Start cooking the curry before you cook the fish as curry is very flexible on how long it can be cooked but the fish needs to be eaten as soon as it is ready.

For two people:

Coat two frozen or fresh cod fillets with  about 1 tbsp of tikka paste. I used Pataks.  Cook according to the fish instructions.  My frozen fish needed thirty minutes in a 180C oven.  Fresh fish could be grilled for a charred finish.  I have given up trying to grill food as the smoke alarm in my new flat goes off everytime I use the grill and the whole block of flats gets alerted!

Curry
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup orange lentils
1 tbsp Korma curry paste
2 cups water, more as needed
1 tbsp tomato paste

1 large carrot, sliced
2 tbsp peas
1 tomato, cut into large chunks


Cook chopped onion in oil until soft.  Keep the heat low so that the onions don't brown unless you prefer the flavour of the browned onion.
Add the lentils and stir over medium heat until the lentils are coated in the oil.  Add the Korma paste and stir. Add the water, tomato paste and carrots. Stir and cook until lentils and carrots are soft.
Add more water if needed.
Three minutes before serving add the frozen peas and cook.
One minute before serving add the tomatoes.  They should just heat through but not fall apart.

Rice
Use whatever rice you like.  I used a mixed rice with French Red Camargue, Italian long grain and Canadian Wild Rice because that was all I had.  Plain rice would have been more appropriate to go with the complex flavours of the curry and fish.  If I had served the fish with steamed vegetables rather than the curry the mixed rice would have been excellent as the different flavours and textures would have been more noticeable.

Serve the fish with curry and rice.

Cod with pine kernals

A really easy meal made special with some storecupboard staples.  This cod is topped with stir-in tomato and garlic pasta sauce (Sacla) and mayonaise and then topped with whole pine kernals, then baked until the fish is cooked.

I used two cod fillets (frozen, packaging says sustainable sourced).  On top of each fillet I put one teaspoon of pasta sauce and one of mayonnaise.  I find mayonnaise an easy way of adding creaminess without having to worry about my dairy intolerance.  I find the little jars of 'stir-in' pasta sauce very useful for all sorts of things as they keep for a fortnight once open, and are great for pizzas as they are not too sloppy.

I was going to pulverise the pine kernals but as I no longer have a food processor I just sprinkled the pine kernals on top of the fish.  I think this was fine and don't think I would bother chopping the pine kernals in future even if the kit was handy.

I baked the fish in the oven for thirty minutes as instructed on the packaging, and served with potato wedges, roasted carrots, and steamed broccoli.

Nakd nut and fruit bars

I had an unexpected pleasure the other day.  I was asked if I would review Nakd Gluten Free Foods cold pressed nut and fruit bars. There is supposed to be an accent over the 'a' but I havent figured out how to add one.

 I had never tried them before as I tend to make my own handbag foods, or if I need to buy something I have always bought the Eat Natural fruit, nut and seed bars.

A mixed box of bars arrived shortly after.  I didn't try them straight away as I was a bit glutened, then I had to go and look after a sick grandchild, caught her germ...anyways, today I tried the whole range.

I got sent an astonishing range of different flavoured bars:
cocoa orange
berry delight
cocoa delight
cashew cookie
rhubarb and custard
ginger bread
caffe mocha
cocoa mint
cafe mocha
pecan pie

They all say "Yummy raw fruit and nut bar" and are gluten, wheat and dairy free. Most of them are made with dates and cashews and a few other things like cocoa, spices, pecans and unspecified natural flavours.

The packs are a neat small size, and would be good to keep in a pocket or handbag for munching while out.  I found them quite difficult to open, but eventually figured that you have to open out the seam and grasp firmly at the middle and tug. I haven't tried it with chilly fingers at an outdoor event, or with gloves on - they would be good on skiing trips so maybe I'll test this aspect next season. They do have the advantage that the writing is clear and easy to read - the Eat Natural bars, in contrast, are not all gf and you have to open the seam flap and peer carefuly to check each flavour.

My first impression was 'how weird!'.  They are smashed nuts and fruit squished together.  I thought, 'why eat smushed fruit and nuts rather than a handful of whole nuts and fruit?' - I still have reasonable teeth.  Then it occurred to me that this is a tidy way of eating nuts and fruit and it can be done without having to touch the food.  This is always a useful aspect when trying to avoid gluten contamination. They are also quiet to eat, so if you are munching in a library or other spot where discretion is useful they would be very suitable though the packaging itself makes a bit of a noise.

The first two bars I tried didn't seem to have much flavour difference, but today I opened one of each and tried them one after the other.  Some of the flavours are totally weird, like the rhubarb and custard, but I reckon that this means that everyone could find at least one flavour they liked.

The bars are vegan, have no added sugars or syrups, and each one gives you one of your portions of fruit for the day.  Handy little things - if you try one and don't like the flavour try a different one.  They certainly have a wider flavour range than any other snack I have encountered that can be eaten by coeliacs and others with gluten intolerance. And if you lose all your teeth you won't have to find someone to chew your food for you!

...
throwing the box away I noticed the text on the bottom:

"Hello, Gorgeous.  Fancy meeting you here.  You are aware, of course, that you have this box upside down.  We salute your curiosity and suggest better reading can be found at EATNAKD.COM"

Rescue Waffles - gluten free and delicious

My lovely new induction hob stopped working the other day when we started cooking breakfast.  The chap that turned up to fix it, a day later, said he couldn't repair it as it had been installed incorrectly by the kitchen fitters.  What to do, what to do.  We have pancakes every morning for breakfast; they are quick and easy and keep us from being hungry the rest of the morning.

The first morning I sliced apple, added cinnamon and sugar, and baked the already prepared pancake mix in the oven.  Slow, and not as delicious as the individual pancakes, where you get a choice of flavours with each pancake.  We usually have a variety of fruits and jam on the breakfast table.  The second morning I tried cooking them in the microwave.  Disgusting.

When it became obvious there wasn't going to be a quick fix - the oven needs lowering to give an increased airspace and the cable needs upgrading, we got the waffle iron out of storage.  The flat is small so things we don't use all the time have to be put away.

Lovely lovely waffles.  Glad to have been compelled to revisit these.  You can make a big batch and freeze them, just pop in the toaster for a hot waffle (if you have a toaster - got rid of that to save space...)

Set waffle baker to medium heat.  Spray or brush oil onto the waffle baker as the first waffle tends to stick even in a non-stick pan.

Ingredients
125g flour (mine is urid 40%, tapioca 40%, cornmeal 20%)
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oil
rice or other milk to produce a batter

This amount made eight squares.

Mix flour and baking powder together.  Separate egg yolks and whites.  Place whites in a clean large bowl for whisking.  Mix egg yolk, oil and sugar.  Mix in flour and add milk to get a smooth but not sloppy batter.  Whisk egg whites until they hold their shape.  Fold egg white into batter.

Ladle a blob of batter onto each section of the waffle baker.  It doesn't matter if the finished waffle doesn't come out completely square but it is a pain if you put on too much and it bulges out everywhere - much harder to clean up.  With experience you will know how much to use.

Cook until the waffles are golden brown on the outside and cooked all the way through.  If you find they are stodgy in the middle when burning on the outside you have the heat set too high.  If you are planning to store for later toasting you can use a slightly lower heat so that they are cooked all the way through but not quite as brown as you would normally like.

Cool on a rack.  Eat with whatever you fancy or freeze in plastic bags.