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Lamb Steaks with Herbs and Lemon

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This simple recipe from the Gf-Zing! website is designed for the gluten-free community, but the glutenated world will enjoy it too! You can make a delicious meal with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Have ready a couple of plates, some mashed potatoes and a glass of pinot noir for the chef, and start cooking:

  • 1 to 1.5 pounds Lamb top round roast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh mint (optional)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated
  • freshly ground salt and pepper
  • 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large tomato cut into eight wedges
  • 1/2 a lemon

Slice the lamb roast into four 3/4 inch slices – each one should be the size of a playing card or a burger. Spread each slice on both sides with the minced or grated garlic, then sprinkle one side with thyme, mint, salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a robust pan until hot. Fry the lamb steaks on the non-herb side for 3 minutes, then flip them to the other side that has the herbs on it.

Fry for 2 minutes, then add the tomato wedges and fry for 2 minutes more. Move the lamb steaks and tomato wedges to your plates, sprinkle with fresh lemon juice and serve.

Gluten Free Squash Muffins with Cranberries

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Most muffin and quick bread recipes include a very large amount of sugar, producing a cloyingly sweet breakfast.  This Gf-Zing! recipe uses less sugar (and some honey), and is gluten free.
Mix Dry ingredients in a large bowl:

1 cup Bette Hagman’s Featherlight Mix, or other GF flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup pecan meal
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Mix wet ingredients in another bowl:
1 cup fresh or canned squash, mashed
1/2 cup mango juice (or other fruit juice)
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg product

Stir the two mixtures together until thoroughly mixed, then add:
3/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line 12-muffin pan with aluminum liner papers.  Fill liners with batter to the top.  Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Applesauce Muffins – gluten free

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These yummy muffins were developed for the Gf-Zing! website. The large amount of cinnamon balances the blandness of rice-based flours.
Use a 12-muffin pan, and line with aluminum foil liners.

In a large bowl, mix:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 egg or 1/4 cup egg substitute

1 cup unsweetened applesauce *

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum

Mix throroughly, then stir in 2 cups Bette’s Featherlight Rice Flour Blend (Authentic Foods makes a pre-mixed bag of this flour blend, or you can mix your own using the directions in one of Bette Hagman’s books.)

Next, stir in 1 cup dried cranberries, and 1/2 cup broken or chopped pecans. Stir to blend thoroughly.
Spoon the batter in to the muffin liners, then bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

* If by chance you do not have any ready-made applesauce, you can make your own with a couple of apples. Poke several holes in the apples with a fork.  Microwave the apples on the setting you use for baking potatoes, until they are cooked through. Cool them so that you can peel them without burning yourself.  Remove the soft apple from the peel, discard the seeds and core, and mash away.  That’s it!

Make sure all your ingredients, including the spices, are gluten free.

Other muffins you might like:

Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins

Coconut Almond Muffins

Bev Lieven’s Donut Muffins

Donut Muffins (lower refined sugar recipe)

Banana Maple-Pecan Muffins

Fish in Rice Wrapper

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This easy frying technique is very versatile and worth trying for almost any product that you might once have “floured” before frying. The result is gluten-free, but it is superior to much of what the glutenated world consumes!

You will need to find some gluten free rice wrappers (banh trang wrappers) in an Asian grocery store. These wrappers are round, and they have a cross-hatch pattern on them from the basket weave of the manufacturing process. You can use the 6 inch or the 8 inch variety – no matter. To use the wrappers, you soak them in warm water for 20 seconds, one or two at a time. Be careful to read the label – there are a few versions of this product that contain wheat (they have a different cross-hatch pattern on them.)
Set out a pie plate of warm-hot water right next to where you are working, and open the package of rice wrappers.

Prepare a zesty seasoning mixture of chopped scallions, garlic, ginger, hot peppers, salt, pepper or whatever you like – use some type of onion-like vegetable, and some fresh herbs that go with fish. You will need a tablespoon of seasoning mixture per piece of fish.
Cut the fish into 4″ pieces (skinless, boneless). Use salmon, cod, hake or other firm-fleshed fish.

Place a single wrapper in the water, then lay it out on a piece of waxed paper until it is soft enough to roll – about 20 seconds total.

Place the soaked wrapper on a plate, put a tablespoon of the seasoning mixture in the center of the wrapper, spreading it to the same size as one piece of fish.

Put a piece of fish on top of the seasoning on the soaked wrapper.

Complete the package: Fold the bottom piece of wrapper over the fish, then fold in the two side bits, then roll the package up towards the top of the wrapper so the package becomes a sort of egg roll.

Set the wrapped fish aside and continue with the rest of the pieces of fish, using one wrapper per piece.

Heat oil on medium-high until hot enough for frying in a non-stick pan or heavy pan and fry the wrapped fish packages for 4 minutes per side until crispy and browned. The oil should be hot enough so the packages sizzle immediately when they go in the pan.

Serve the fish packages as is or with a gluten-free asian dipping sauce – the kind that is served with pot stickers.

Gluten Free Turkey Dressing (stuffing)

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A few thoughts on gluten free Thanksgiving dining…the first year, we felt obligated to pursue some type of exact replica of glutenated turkey dressing – and were disappointed by many expensive and wasteful batches of dressing with the consistency of wet kitty litter.  We eventually made something good – but –  the second GF year, a relative made an excellent wild rice and mushroom dressing – better than good. A new pathway for gluten free Thanksgiving dining!  And, with the wild rice being native to North America it seemed very fitting somehow.
To find the recipe for Wild Rice Stuffing with Wild Mushrooms, buy some dried pears and seek the recipe here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105886

That dressing turned our minds around, and this year we will consider using a butternut squash risotto, along the lines of the one in the Bistro Cooking at Home by Hamersley.  Hamersley’s butternut squash ristotto is made with maple syrup, rosemary, sherry and sherry wine vinegar, along with cubes of butternut squash. We sometimes use shallots, and sometimes onions and garlic. The flavors are nicely balanced, with plenty of “umami” or fifth taste flavor as well, even if you cut the amount of butter in half.

We heartily recommend using a rice dressing (or stuffing) for the gluten free turkey dinner, and making it in a separate dish rather than stuffing it in to the bird.

Update for 2010: You can also use Against the Grain rolls for making any normal stuffing recipe.  If you like, you can use a mixture of half Udi’s Bread and half Against the Grain Rolls.  Cut the rolls, or the rolls and bread, in to large cubes and toast in the oven for 20 minutes at 325.  The Against the Grain rolls will maintain their structural integrity and stand up to the liquids in the dressing, while the Udi’s bread will disintegrate somewhat.  The combination of the two textures works well together.

Chicken Meatballs with Raisins (gluten free)

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Meatballs:

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, minced fine

1 medium onion, minced fine

1/2 cup raisins

2 Tablespoons beaten egg

4 Tablespoons coarsely grated fresh parmesan cheese

3 Tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 teaspoon Vietnamese hot sauce

salt, pepper

2 Tablespoons or more of cornstarch

Mix all ingredients for meatballs, adding more cornstarch if necessary to make a soft mixture that will just barely hold together to form meatballs. Make walnut sized balls, roll each ball in garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour. Fry the meatballs in a few tablespoons of peanut oil in a hot skillet a few at a time. When they are browned on all sides, remove them to a plate and set them aside. Fry additional meatballs in this manner until they are all browned. Then leave them to sit for a few minutes while you make the sauce. They are not yet completely cooked and are not safe to eat until they have cooked in the sauce that you will make next.
Sauce:

olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, minced

1/4 cup minced fresh Italian parsley

1 Tablespoon brandy

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

28 ounces crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper

Fry the garlic and onion in 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a 12 inch non-stick skillet set over medium heat. Deglaze the pan with the brandy (add the brandy and stir around to loosen anything that is stuck to the pan). Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Taste the sauce for sweetness, salt etc.
Now place the meatballs in the sauce carefully. There should be enough meatballs to make one layer on the top of the sauce. Stir very gently with a wooden spoon or bamboo spatula to settle the meatballs in to the sauce – do not break up the meatballs. Cover the pan and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so. Because of the garbanzo bean flour that was used to coat the meatballs prior to frying, the sauce will become quite thick – watch that it does not stick. Taste the sauce and adjust as necessary.

Serve over Tinkyada brown rice penne. (Cook the penne according to package directions, but check if it is cooked before the time is up – this pasta can cook quicker than the package states. Rinse the penne in cold water, then return to the pan and stir in 1 Tablespoon of olive oil to keep it from sticking together. )

This recipe was adapted for the gluten-free community by Gf-Zing!, and was based on a Turkey Meatball recipe called Polpette alla Mollie which was found on the internet.

Muffin Madness – the GF muffin Round-up

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Here you will find gluten free muffin recipes that will make your breakfast choices so much more interesting! A gluten-free thank you goes out to everyone who contributed a muffin recipe.

A sampling of recipes from friendly muffin enthusiasts follows. To contribute others, please send an email to gfzing@gmail.com.

Donut Muffins Bev Lieven of Milwaukee Celiac-Sprue Crew sends in the following recipe for the ever elusive gluten-free replacement for America’s favorite deep-fried temptation – the donut. She notes: “Cake donuts were my favorite prior to my diagnosis in 1981…This recreates the taste and texture without the mess of frying.”

Combine:

2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (opt.)


Mix in blender: 1 egg
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. melted margarine
1 tsp. vanilla

Add to dry ingredients. Mix to moisten. Fill lightly “Pam-ed” muffin tins half full. Sprinkle w/ cinnamon sugar (Mix 1 c. sugar, 1 tsp.or more ground cinnamon.) Bake at 375º for 15-20 min. Makes about 1 dozen.

(Bev notes: I use non-stick muffing pans without paper liners so the edges of the muffins get crisp.)


BANANA MAPLE-PECAN MUFFIN

Theresa Brandon of Eastern Iowa Celiac’s Connect contributed the following recipe with this note: “This is the tastiest muffin recipe I have found or made. It is super moist and filling. Great with a cup of fruit for breakfast. Freezes well and is portable. And it is BIG! “

FILLING:
3 ripe Bananas, mashed
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Mix and set aside

TOPPING:
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup maple syrup
Mix to get crumbly texture

MUFFINS:
2 cups GF flour mix(I use GF pantry French bread and pizza mix for mine)
1 tsp. zanthan gum
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 Tbls. buttermilk powder
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water

Combine all dry ingredients. Make a well in the center, pour in wet ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Gently fold in filling mixture. Cut in with knife. Spoon into muffin cups.

Add topping mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Makes 15 large muffins.

Gluten Free Empanadas

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Empanadas are delicious! And, for Gf-zing! they are one of the holy grails of gluten free cooking – we seek to make a dough that will encase the meat filling and be dry but intriguing, and not quite like pie crust. We have found a way to do this by using the Breads from Anna mix (without the yeast), and the traditional white wine and olive oil that make the interesting and tasty-flavored crust. The recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

The many ingredients and spicy flavors of empanadas are delightful, and the empanadas can be carried like a sandwich, for lunch, backpacking or picnics. We find that our friends always want the recipe but are sometimes appalled by the list of ingredients – raisins, cheese, allspice, cayenne pepper, meat – it is a medieval list of ingredients, but SOOOOO good!

Dough:

3 1/2 cups Breads From Anna mix (Soy and Rice free kind), but don’t include the yeast packet
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 egg

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. You will have a little bread mix left in the bag, which you should save for the filling and rolling. In a second bowl, mix the milk, white wine, oil and egg, then add to the dry ingredients. Knead (yes, knead) the dough until it is like pie crust in texture. Cover the bowl until you are ready to fill the empanadas, as this dough dries out quickly. As you work with the dough, you may need to add extra white wine, a teaspoon at a time, if the dough starts to dry out.

Filling:

Fry the following ingredients in a non-stick skillet, just until the meat is cooked:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound ground beef, chicken or gluten free turkey
1/2 of a green bell pepper, minced
2 Tablespoons garlic, minced

Then add and stir-fry briefly:

1/3 cup golden or brown raisins
1/4 cup chopped olives (green ones stuffed with pimientos, or black ones in brine but not oil-cured)
1 1/2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Breads from Anna mix (see dough, above)
1 3/4 teaspoons ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Take the pan off the heat, and add:

1 cup packed grated Jack or cheddar cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (we wash it and snip with scissors)

The mixture will be damp but not soupy. Set aside.

To make the empanadas:

Preheat the oven to 350-375 degrees

Take a walnut sized piece of dough and squish it in your hands to compact it. Put a piece of waxed paper on the table, sprinkle with leftover Breads from Anna mix, and put the walnut-sized ball of dough there. Top with another sheet of waxed paper, then use a rolling pin to roll the ball of dough into a circle of 4″ diameter. Take off the top sheet of paper. (This method of rolling the dough yields very little mess to clean up!)

Place 1 Tablespoon of filling on the bottom half of the circle of dough, then fold the top half down to cover the filling, and squish the edges together to form a half-moon shaped turnover, completely encasing the filling. Place the filled empanada on a Silpat lined baking sheet. Repeat this process 23 more times or so – the recipe will make approximately 24 empanadas. Leave an inch between the empanadas, as they expand some while baking.

Once you have a sheet full of empanadas, bake them for 12-20 minutes. Take a look at them after 12 minutes, and let bake for additional time if needed. We prefer them slightly browned.

Serve warm, or put them in the refrigerator and use them for packing a lunch box or going backpacking.

Make sure all your ingredients, including the spices, are gluten free!

Sweet and Sour Tofu “Meatballs”

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This recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

1 pound block of firm tofu, crumbled and drained

Mix in:

1 1/2 Tablespoons gluten free Honey Roasted Peanut Butter
3 Tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
8 scallions, minced
1/2 cup fresh or soaked dried shitake mushrooms, chopped fine
1 cup green pepper, minced
2 gluten free french rolls or 3-4 gluten free hot dog rolls, crumbled
freshly ground black pepper

Mix all of the above ingredients thoroughly, form into walnut sized balls, roll in garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour, and fry in 1/2 inch of peanut oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on high heat or non-stick pan on medium-high heat. The balls will brown so that they look like a meatball on the outside. When you cut in to the tofu balls, they will be light colored on the inside.  If you roll the balls in rice flour they will shed a nasty grit in to the frying oil, then the grit will burn and the meatballs will have a ghostly pallor on the outside. Use garbanzo bean flour for rolling the tofu balls!

Set the cooked tofu balls aside on paper towel on a plate to drain the frying oil away.

Sauce:

Mix all of the following in a saucepan:

1 1/2 cups unsweetened pure pineapple juice
1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup apple cider or rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Vietnamese hot garlic sauce
freshly ground black pepper

Whisk the mixture so there are no lumps. Bring to a boil, stirring all the while. When thick, it is ready. Add 1 drained can of pineapple chunks and heat through.

The tofu balls are more delicate than meatballs. To serve the tofu balls place some on each dinner plate and spoon sauce and pineapple chunks on each serving. If you add the tofu balls to the sauce all at once, the presentation will not be as nice, they will soak up the sauce and they will be hard to retrieve intact.

Note: one large can of pineapple chunks yields quite a lot of juice.  You can use the juice from the chunks as part of the 1 1/2 cups of juice.

Serve them with rice, and steamed broccoli.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

White Beans, or Flageolets Baked with Thyme

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This recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

2 cups dried flageolet (preferred) or small white beans, cooked and drained – the beans swell up when soaked and cooked – there will be 6 cups of beans, cooked

2 small onions, chopped
8 baby carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons butter or oil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne or Korean red pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt (or a couple of anchovies, rinsed and minced)
14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
2 cups homemade gluten free chicken broth

Grease a large casserole dish (with lid) and place the cooked beans inside. Make the sauce:

Fry the onions and carrots in the butter or oil until lightly browned. Add the garlic, cayenne pepper, pepper, thyme and salt (or anchovies), and stir fry for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and broth.

Pour this sauce over the beans in the casserole. Stir gently to mix, put on the top and bake the casserole, covered, in a 350 degree oven for one hour or until done. Remove the lid towards the end of the cooking to evaporate some of the liquid. The beans should have the consistency of baked beans – not too soupy.

Serve with lamb chops, grilled, or a roast turkey or chicken.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Cranberry Orange Walnut Quick Bread

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It is up to the individual to decide whether they can eat oats or not. To eat oats or not is a controversial issue in the gluten free world. Please research the oat issue carefully for yourself, and decide what you want to do in consultation with your healthcare professional. If you are feeding a gluten-free guest, please inquire whether they eat oats or not. You may substitute dried coconut for the oats in this recipe. This recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

2 cups gluten free cookie flour
1 cup rolled quick or old-fashioned gluten free oatmeal, uncooked or oat substitute
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Authentic Foods powdered gluten free vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xantham gum

3/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
grated zest of one orange
3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix the first 8 ingredients in one bowl, and mix the second 7 ingredients in a second bowl. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan, line the bottom with parchment paper, and grease again. Flour the pan lightly with mochiko (sweet rice flour).

Combine the contents of both bowls and stir briefly just until thoroughly blended. Spoon the dough in to the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour and ten minutes. When a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, the bread is finished.

Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack for one hour. Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely before serving.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free, and investigate the oat issue and the source of the oats and ask your medical professional for their advice regarding this topic before eating oats.

Batter Fried Fish – gluten free!

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One of the most popular postings on the Gf-Zing! website is this method of making batter for frying fish.  It originally comes from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Cooking book. She uses cornstarch and chickpea flour, which yields a much nicer fried fish than any wheat flour will do. The batter is excellent for hake, cod, scallops etc. Cut larger firm-fleshed fish filets (skinless) in to 2 x 1 inch pieces. The recipe for the batter can be halved.

You marinate the fish in seasoning to flavor it, then dip it in batter, then fry and serve.

Seasoning for 2 pounds fish or scallops (marinate in this mixture for 2 hours):

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1-2 jalapenos, minced (omit if you don’t like spicy food)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
pepper
juice of 1/4 lemon

Alternative seasoning:

Sprinkle the fish liberally with a few teaspoons of a spice mixture of your choice, for example (the following makes a lot of extra spice mixture):

1 teaspoon of gluten free cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon gluten free paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons dried EACH thyme and oregano
1 Tablespoons gluten free garlic powder
2 Tablespoons kosher or sea salt

The batter:

3/4 cup corn starch
3 Tablespoons chick pea flour (store this in the freezer)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or other seasoning
1 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1 Tablespoon gluten free baking powder
3 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons cold water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Dip pieces of seasoned hake, cod or whole scallops in the batter and fry in very hot oil (2″ deep) until golden brown. If you use a deep fryer, the result will be superior.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Quiche – gluten free!

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This recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

For this quiche, you will need an unbaked pie shell – use 1/2 recipe GF Pastry Crust. Save the extra 1/2 egg from making the pie crust for the filling. Roll out the crust between two sheets of waxed paper until it fits the pie plate. Then remove the top sheet of waxed paper, flip the dough over in to a 9″ deep-dish glass pie plate, then carefully remove the other sheet of waxed paper. Repair any tears in the dough and set this unbaked crust aside.

2 onions, minced and fried in 1 Tablespoon gf butter (you can use leeks, shallots, some garlic, whatever oniony root vegetable you prefer, or a combination)
6 strips bacon, chopped, fried until crisp and drained of fat (you can chop the bacon with kitchen scissors before frying it. )
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
Cooked spinach, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms (fry and drain) – choose one of these, or none of them, as you like
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 pound grated gruyere cheese (about 2 cups grated, and you can substitute other cheeses that are lurking around the cheese drawer)
4 eggs plus the leftover egg from making the pie crust
1 1/2 cups liquid (you can use any combination of milk, almond milk, rice milk, sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese, heavy cream, light cream, gf chicken stock etc. for the liquid, and if you use chicken stock use no more than 1/2 cup of that)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Into the bottom of the unbaked pie shell, sprinkle and evenly distribute the fried onions, bacon pieces, marjoram, parsley, vegetables (if you are using them), and finally the cheese.

In the food processor, combine the eggs and the 1 1/2 cups of liquid, salt and pepper. Whir this mixture to combine, then pour on top of the things in the unbaked pie shell.

Bake at 400 for 40 minutes, until puffed and browned on the top. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 – 15 minutes before serving. Keep any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Note: Vegetarians can substitute a small amount of gluten free chipotle chilis in adobo for the bacon – this will make the quiche spicy.

Remember to use only gluten free ingredients!

Mongolian Hot Pot, or Meat Fondue in Bouillion

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Get out your old fondue pot, or buy a new one – this is a fun dinner adventure for the gluten free cook! This meal is not suitable for very young or very irresponsible diners, as it involves boiling stock. The recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

Prepare for quick-cooking and place on plates to take to the table, using a separate dish for each meat or fish:

Boneless chicken, sliced in bite-sized chunks for cooking quickly in soup
Rib-eye steak, fat removed and sliced in bite-sized chunks
Shelled, deveined whole shrimp
Sliced green peppers
Quartered mushrooms
Sliced onions
Broccoli flowerets
Cauliflower chunks
Other meats and vegetables of your choice

Prepare the stock by bringing the following ingredients to a boil:

1 quart gluten free chicken stock
2 slices ginger
Several cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Pepper

Transfer the boiling stock to a fondue pot with a burner underneath to keep the stock hot. Place a pad under the fondue pot to protect the table.

Make several dipping sauces, such as Tartar Sauce, Satay Peanut Sauce, Ginger Green Chile Sauce, Dry Spice Dipping Sauce. Put each sauce in a serving dish with a serving spoon.

Provide each diner with a fondue plate (hard-to-find plates have little indentations for sauce built right in to the plate,) or a regular dinner plate and several small dishes for their sauces, a fondue fork for cooking their meat and vegetables, and a knife and fork for dealing with their cooked food. Warn diners that the stock is hot.

The diner selects meat or vegetables to cook, spears the food with the cooking fork, then plunges the fork into the simmering stock in the fondue pot. When their forkful of food is cooked, they transfer the food to their plate, then use their other fork to dip the food in to their sauces and eat the food. Using a separate cooking fork is the best way to do this process while not sharing winter colds and viruses.

Serve plain jasmine rice on the side.

Use all gluten free ingredients!

Butterscotch Tapioca with Toasted Coconut

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This recipe was developed by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

First, prepare the brown sugar:

In a small frying pan, brown 1 Tablespoon butter until light brown, then add 1/2 cup dark brown sugar and melt the sugar into the butter. Do not burn. Set aside.

2 3/4 cups 1 % milk
3 Tablespoons Minute Tapioca
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg

Mix this in a 2 quart saucepan and let sit for 5 minutes. Then cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil.

Add the brown sugar mixture in to the tapioca and stir to mix completely. Add 1 teaspoon GF vanilla and stir again. Pour tapioca in to a serving dish and chill completely.

Serve with toasted coconut sprinkled on each serving. Toasted coconut is obtained by spreading a layer of gluten free baking coconut on a cookie sheet or pie plate and baking at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Collard Greens with Grapefruit

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1/2 a large red onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic
1 sprig of fresh tarragon
1 dried cayenne pepper, cut in half
4-6 stalks celery, sliced
1 bunch collard greens (center ribs removed, leaves sliced in 1 inch widths)
2 Tablespoons wheat free soy sauce
2 Tablespoons sherry
1 Tablespoon honey
1 red grapefruit, peeled and divided into sections, white membranes removed
freshly ground pepper
freshly ground salt

Fry the chopped red onion in the butter, in a non-stick skillet set over medium heat, for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onion is browned – it will smell really great! Add the garlic, celery, cayenne pepper and tarragon branch and stir fry for a minute. Add the collard greens and stir fry as they wilt, another couple of minutes. Add the soy sauce, sherry and honey and stir fry as this cooks in to the greens, another 5-7 minutes. Add the grapefruit sections and stir-fry as the grapefruit sections start to fall apart and the greens cook some more – another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

This recipe is based on one from Hammersley’s Bistro Cooking at Home. The original recipe was for duck, with bitter greens and grapefruit etc. and appeared on page 203.

 

 

 

Sour Cream Apple Pecan Cake

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Since we can’t have gluten, why not have some vanilla ice cream with our breakfast instead? This cake is good, with or without added vanilla ice cream. It is pretty darned sweet – not so sweet that it makes your teeth hurt, but almost.

Mix in a food processor, and then transfer to a large bowl:

2 cups gluten free cookie flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans (toast them in a 300 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, cool, then chop)
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum

Remove 2 3/4 cups of this mixture and pat it evenly into an ungreased 9×13 inch baking pan. Set aside.

To the remaining dry ingredients, add the following and combine thoroughly:

2 teaspoons gluten free cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup gluten free sour cream
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla
1 egg

Lastly, to this mixture add:

2 cups finely chopped apples (peel first)

Carefully plop spoonfulls of this mixture over the stuff that is in the 9×13 pan that you set aside earlier. Spread the gooey dough carefully over the dry layer.

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan, then cut in large squares and serve it slightly warm with gluten free vanilla ice cream. At the time of this writing, Haagen-Dazs claims gluten free status for its vanilla ice cream, but the consumer must check frequently to see if the company has changed their formulations.

Note: The bottom “crust” improves the structural integrity of this cake, and produces an interesting textural contrast.


Always use all gluten free ingredients!

Lemon Rice Pudding

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In a large bowl, mix the following ingredients:

2 eggs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon gluten free vanilla

Cook one cup of dry, long-grain rice with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, until done. You can use a rice cooker, or do it on top of the stove. While the cooked rice is still very hot, stir it quickly and vigorously into the bowl with the eggs and seasonings. Stir quickly so the eggs don’t cook before the mixture is all mixed up. The hot rice will cook the eggs.

Transfer to a serving dish; sprinkle the top with gluten free cinnamon.

Cool the pudding to room temperature or colder before serving.
Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

The original version of this recipe is from Still Life With Menu, by Molly Katzen, published in 1988.

Baked Fish

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This recipe has been adjusted by Gf-Zing! to make it accessible to the gluten free world.

Place the following ingredients in an oven-proof casserole with a lid:

2 Tablespoons white wine
2 Tablespoons butter (or gluten free margarine, or olive oil)
2 Tablespoons capers
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (use your kitchen shears to snip the parsley)
1 teaspoon snipped fresh chives
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Give this mixture a little stir, then add
2 pounds of cod, haddock or other white fish

Sprinkle the fish with salt, freshly ground pepper, and gluten free paprika. Pour another 2 Tablespoons of butter or olive oil over the fish.

Cover the casserole and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pieces of fish.

Be sure to use all gluten-free ingredients, even the spices.

Sushi, Musubi

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Mix up a batch of gluten free sushi rice, and you are ready to make a Hawai’ian specialty called “musubi.” In Hawai’i Musubi is often topped with Spam, but no matter, it is a great method of making a sandwich-like concoction that is perfectly sized for lunch. This recipe is presented here by Gf-Zing!, celebrating flavor and excitement in the gluten free world.

You will need a plastic musubi mold or a Spam can to make this recipe. You are going to make a sort of brick of seasoned rice wrapped in seaweed, with fillings in the middle. Spam musubi would have the Spam on the top, rather than in the middle, but that is no matter.

You can cook sushi rice on top of the stove or in your rice cooker. Use about 2 to 1 ratio of water to dry, medium grain Japanese or sushi rice (Kokuho Rose or Nishiki are two common brands.)

Rinse 2 units of rice well. Cook it in 4 units of water, or use the sushi rice line on your rice cooker insert to measure the water. Turn on the cooker and wait until it is done.

When it is just finished cooking, place the rice in a large bowl. Have ready some gluten free seasoned rice vinegar, a rice paddle, and a piece of paper or a small hand-held fan.

While fanning the rice with one hand, stir the rice (using the rice paddle) with the other hand. Sprinkle a bit of seasoned rice vinegar on the rice and continue stirring and fanning. Continue to do this, adding more seasoned rice vinegar, until the rice has a pleasant sweet-sour-salty taste and has gotten cool. The rice is ready. For two cups of dry rice (5-6 cups cooked), you would use about 7 tablespoons or so of the vinegar.

Cut a piece of sushi nori (that is a dark sheet of edible seaweed that looks like shiny green-black paper) to fit the bottom and up the sides of the musubi mold. It should extend out the top of the mold on both long edges by an inch and a half. Typically, this requires half a sheet of sushi nori. Keeping the edges of sushi nori going up the sides of the mold, put some of the prepared rice in the bottom, on top of the nori. On top of this, you can add small amounts of any of the following fillings, as you like:

Cooked fish or shellfish
avocado slices coated in lemon juice (so they don’t get brown)
slivered cooked carrots
gluten free smoked fish
cucumber slivers
Japanese seasoning peppers (gluten free)
gluten free ham, sliced very thin

Fill the rest of the mold up to the top with seasoned rice. Press down on the rice with your rice paddle firmly. Fold the ends of the nori down over the top, then use the presser that comes with the mold to tightly compress the entire thing by pressing down on the top of the folded nori. You will have a dense brick of rice and pretty colored foods all contained in a portable form. Wrap this brick in tin foil (aluminum foil) and you have a nice complete lunch. Depending on the ingredients you used for filling, you may not need to refrigerate this musubi, making it very convenient for camping or work places without refrigeration.

Important Notes: Unfortunately, currently the gluten free community must avoid wasabi paste, which often contains wheat. Soy sauce also often contains wheat, so read labels before trying to dip your musubi in soy sauce. Be careful also to make sure that the seasoned rice vinegar is gluten free. Some are not. Also, imitation seafood products are often made with wheat and should be avoided.

A picture of spam musubi (with the spam on top) is available at the following page:
Wikipedia article

Always use gluten free ingredients.

Yeast-raised Buckwheat Pancakes

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This recipe has been developed and tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

Mix in a large bowl:

1 cup gluten free cookie flour
1 cup buckwheat flour (this is not wheat)
1 package (about a tablespoon) gluten free fast-rising yeast
2 Tablespoons gluten free buttermilk powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir this up, then add 2 cups lukewarm water. Mix well and set on a radiator or other warm place for 1 hour.

After an hour of rising, add

2 eggs
3 Tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

Mix well. Then let the complete mixture rise for another 15 minutes or more.

Adjust the thickness of the batter to your liking by adding additional water for thinner pancakes. Heat a heavy skillet nice and hot. Add some butter. Spoon in some batter in the size you like. When each pancake has bubbles on the top that have popped, and the top of the pancake looks kind of dry, flip the pancake. Cook on the other side. The pancakes will be a dark color because of the buckwheat flour. Serve hot with butter and grade B pure Maple Syrup.

Store the leftover batter in the fridge over night – the pancakes you make the second day will be even better than the first day’s pancakes.

Make sure all of your ingredients are gluten free!

French Chicken, with Butter and Sour Cream

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This is a simple but perfect way to cook a chicken on top of the stove in an hour or two. The recipe has been modified and tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

1/3 stick of butter
A 3-7 pound gluten free roasting or frying chicken, cleaned
salt
pepper
Sour cream

Melt the butter in a heavy pot that has a lid and will hold the chicken. Heat the butter until it browns slightly. Add the chicken, and turn it around in the butter until it is coated on all sides. If the chicken has a pop-up timer, make sure it is facing up! Season with salt and pepper. Put the lid on, and cook over a low, low heat for 1-2 hours. Try not to keep opening the lid, but if you must, you must. When the chicken is cooked through, there will be considerable liquid in the bottom of the pan.

Remove the chicken, reduce the liquid to a cup or two. Add 1/3 cup of gluten free sour cream, more or less, a few tablespoons of additional butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard the skin; slice the meat and add the meat to this sauce. Serve immediately. This is good with potatoes, plain rice or Nilufer’s Khitchri rice dish.

You can use cornish game hens instead of chicken, if you prefer – they will take about 45-60 minutes to cook.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten-free – including, believe it or not, the chicken itself. The poultry industry sometimes adds “solutions” to poultry, some of which contain gluten. It’s a weird, weird, world!

Creamy Lentil Soup with Curry and Chipotles

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This mulligatawny style soup is gluten free, dairy free and vegan. The recipe has been developed and tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon gluten free homemade chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 Tablespoon gluten free curry powder
1 teaspoon gluten free turmeric powder
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 or 2 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup gluten free ketchup
1 quart water
1 can coconut milk
1 cup dry brown lentils
1 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste

Briefly fry the onions, garlic and ginger in the oil until soft. Add the curry powder and the turmeric and stir to coat the onions. Add the rest of the ingredients except the salt, and simmer uncovered for a half hour. Taste the soup. Add the salt, cook over low heat for 15 minutes more, and serve.

Make sure that all your ingredients are gluten free!

Eggplant Caviar

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When this recipe first came to our attention, in the 1970s, the instructions called for cooking the mixture for two hours in a covered pan over very low heat. Over the course of time, the hybridization of eggplants and the introduction of hotter stove burners have necessitated some changes. The recipe is presented here in its original form, with recommendations for modern cooking methods. The recipe has been tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped in 1/4″ cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can gluten free stewed tomatoes (14 ounce size)
2 Tablespoons gluten free tomato paste (optional)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
the juice of a half or a whole lemon

Fry the eggplant in the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed non-stick frying pan (12″) until soft, about ten minutes. Mash with a potato masher, then add the rest of the ingredients except for the lemon juice. Do not add the lemon juice yet.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cover the pan. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting and cook for 2 hours, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn. A heavy pan is necessary. When it is just starting to stick to the bottom of the pan, it is done cooking. Add the juice of 1/2-1 lemon, to taste. It should be somewhat tart.

This mixture is typically spread on “black bread” or Westphalian pumpernickel. For the gluten free community, try to find “Genuine Bavarian Gluten-Free Toast Bread” which is distributed by R & R Export-Import Specialties, PO Box 7667, Nashua NH 03060. (800)-818-7729.

Notes for modern cooks: If you have a stove that has hot burners, you can stir-fry the mixture for about 20 minutes, stirring constantly, until it starts to stick to the pan. The flavor will not be quite as intense as the old-fashioned low-heat method achieves, but it will be perfectly acceptable. If the eggplant seems to become soft and mushy quickly during the initial frying, this should be a clue that you need to cook the mixture for less time than two hours. Thirty years ago, the eggplant cubes could stand up to quite a bit of cooking and maintain their structural integrity but somehow the modern hybrids seem to disintegrate quickly.