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Homemade Major Grey Chutney – from pineapple

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This recipe makes a little more than 1 quart of chutney. It was adapted for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

4 cups fresh pineapple (peeled, cored and coarsely chopped in small bite-sized pieces)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup apple cider or white vinegar
1 cup Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup lime, seeded and chopped – leave the peel on
1/2 cup ginger root, peeled and minced
1/2 cup orange, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup lemon, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 1 lemon)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes (or one dried cayenne pepper, minced)
1 teaspoon gluten free ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon gluten free ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon gluten free ground allspice
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt (if you use table salt, use non-iodized, and use less)

Mix all the ingredients in a large non-reactive pot (non-stick, enamel or stainless). Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the chutney does not burn.

Adjust the sweetness if necessary (you may want to add a 1/4 cup of sugar, for example.)

The original recipe (from the Bernardin canning jars manufacturer) called for mangoes and cilantro and did not include any salt. Also, the original recipe gave instructions for canning. Since this recipe has been altered, it is not known how long the chutney would have to be processed for canning. Therefore the chutney should be kept refrigerated.

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!

Spicy Swiss Chard Soup with Asiago

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

Put 2 sliced onions and a tablespoon of butter in a non-stick soup pot. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar and cover the pot. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, then remove the lid and brown the onions.

Next, add

1 bunch of cleaned swiss chard, greens only, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large carrot, sliced
1/2 teaspoon GF Vietnamese hot garlic sauce
a few grindings of pepper

Fry this for a few minutes, then add

6 cups gluten free chicken stock

Cover the pot, and simmer for 10 minutes until the carrot slices are tender.

Remove the lid and add

1/4 cup GF sour cream

Serve with freshly grated Asiago cheese for sprinkling on top.

Make sure 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!

Valentine Cookies – raspberry

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Make a recipe of gluten free sugar cookies, and roll and cut 1/4″ thick into valentine heart shapes. Cut a center out of half the cookies (these will be the tops of the sandwich cookies). Bake as directed.

Dust the top cookies (the ones with the center cut-out) with gluten free confectioner’s sugar.

Spread the bottom cookies with raspberry jam (we prefer seedless), and top each with a cookie that has a center cutout – this will allow the jam to show through.

A pretty, gluten free cookie for Valentine’s Day!

Carrot Cake – gluten free!

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The cake is dairy free, although the icing contains dairy. The recipe was adapted and made accessible to the gluten free community by Gf-Zing! , which celebrates flavor in the gluten free world.

Dry ingredients:

2 cups gluten free cookie flour
2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Other ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups coarsley grated carrots (4-5 carrots needed)
1 cup crushed pineapple (drained before measuring)
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 teaspoon Authentic Foods powdered vanilla)
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries or raisins (make sure these are gluten free)

Oven temperature is 350.

Grease two 9 inch round cake pans liberally and dust them mochiko flour (sweet rice flour).

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. Add the berries or raisins and set aside.

In another bowl, or the food processor, cream the oil and sugar with the 4 eggs. Then add the carrots, pineapple, ginger, vanilla.

Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fruit. Do this in the bowl, not the food processor, as the food processor would dice up all the berries and fruit.

Spread the dough evenly between the two prepared pans and bake for 35 or more minutes, until a knife tests clean when inserted near the center of the pans.

Remove the cakes to racks to cool for ten minutes, then remove from the pans.

Frost with Cream Cheese Icing:

Cream together:

8 ounces gluten free cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1 Tablespoon brandy
1/4 teaspoon powdered gluten free vanilla (Authentic Foods brand)
1 box (4 1/2 -5 cups) confectioner’s sugar

Frost the bottom layer of the cake, put the second layer on top. Frost the top and the sides with remaining icing.

This makes a substantial and large cake which will feed 16.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Key Lime Pie – gluten free and dairy free

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

Make a 9 inch gluten free pie crust, and pre-bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until it is as brown as you like it. Set the pie shell aside to cool.

Filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup gluten free gravy flour (see below)
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon butter or gluten free vegan margarine
1/4 cup fresh squeezed key lime juice (requires 8-10 tiny key limes or 4 regular limes)
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest


Meringue:

4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (to stabilize the meringue)
6 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the sugar, gluten free gravy flour, cornstarch and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in the 2 cups of water. Cook at medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until thickened. At this point, it will taste bland. Don’t taste it now.

Stir a small amount of the hot mixture in to the egg yolks, then a little more, then a little more, until half the hot mixture has been added to the yolks. Combine the yolk mixture with the rest of the mixture in the saucepan, whisking constantly and cooking for two minutes. Whisk in the butter or margarine. The aim of this process is to mix everything without getting lumps of hard-boiled egg yolk. Stir in the key lime juice and zest. Cool slightly, then pour in to the cooked pie shell.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar for the meringue using a hand beater or an electric beater until the whites form soft peaks that hold their shape. Gradually beat in the sugar and the vanilla until the meringue is glossy and holds well. Spread the meringue carefully all over the pie to cover the pie completely. Bake the pie for 6 minutes, or slightly longer, to brown the top of the meringue. Cool the pie completely before serving.


Gluten Free Gravy Flour:

Mix these ingredients together and use what you need:

6 Tablespoons brown rice flour
2 1/4 Tablespoons sweet rice flour (mochiko)
4 1/2 teaspoons tapioca starch
1 teaspoon of xantham gum

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies – gluten free

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

1 cup gluten free butter or vegan margarine
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cups gluten free cookie flour
1/3 cup gluten free unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups gluten free semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups chopped dried cherries (Rainier cherries are good)

Oven at 350 degrees.

Cream the butter 0r margarine (or one stick of each) with the two sugars and the vanilla until light and “fluffy.” Beat in the egg. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture. Mix thoroughly. Up to this point in the recipe you can use a food processor to do the mixing.

Stir in the chocolate chips and the cherries.

Drop tablespoons of dough on a silpat lined cookie sheet. Flatten them slightly with your hand or with the bottom of a glass that you dip repeatedly in sugar.

Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, then remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the pan before removing them to a rack to cool completely.

This recipe will make a 3 dozen cookies or so, and they will be eaten so fast you will have to make more right away!

Be sure to use all gluten-free ingredients!

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.

 

 

 

Enchilada Casserole, or Tortilla Pie

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

1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (we buy gluten free turkey and grind it ourselves in a food processor)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon oil
3 or 4 cups of gluten free enchilada sauce
salt to taste
12 or more corn tortilla (gluten free)
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

You will use less enchilada sauce if you want a drier “enchilada pie” and more if you want it wetter. The finished product will have a sort of lasagna texture if you use the smallest amount of enchilada sauce.

Fry the turkey, onion, garlic, oregano and cumin in oil until just cooked through (4-5 minutes). Add 1 cup of the gluten free enchilada sauce. Salt and pepper to taste, and you can add Vietnamese garlic pepper sauce too, for an East-West spicy taste.

Cut the tortillas in half. Using a ceramic baking dish that will hold 3 quarts (we use a long shallow dish), cover the bottom of the dish with a quarter of the tortilla halves. It is ok if they overlap. Top 1/4 of the cheese, then cover the cheese with 1/3 of the fried turkey, 1/4 of the remaining sauce. Spread out each ingredient at you layer them up. Repeat the layering, finishing with the final layer of tortilla, then sauce, then cheese (you will have run out of turkey and want the cheese to be on the top of the sauce so it will melt and look nice.)

If you feel the assembled casserole looks too dry, it is ok to drizzle some chicken stock around the edges.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, until the middle is hot and the cheese on top has melted.

Use all gluten free ingredients, including the spices!

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!

Ginger Biscuits or Cookies

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All those gluten-free cookies need to have the spice and flavor component enhanced, as spices and flavors tend to disappear into the rice flour…..Here is a good way to obtain a nice, strongly ginger-flavored cookie – a recipe from Gf-Zing!

You will need Miss Roben’s Mock Graham Cracker Cookie mix for this recipe.

Put the contents of 1 package of Miss Roben’s Mock Graham Cracker mix in a large bowl.

Add:

2 teaspoons gluten free ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
3/4 cup minced crystallized ginger

Now, follow the instructions on the Miss Roben’s Graham Cracker mix bag, adding the honey, vanilla, butter, and water. Do not leave out the honey – use a fresh, local honey for extra good flavor.

Roll out the dough between pieces of waxed paper dusted with confectioner’s sugar, until the dough is about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters or a small glass. You can prick the cookies with a fork or press them with a ceramic cookie stamp – both methods will make nice designs on these cookies.

Bake the cookies as per the instructions on the Miss Roben’s bag. If you cook them longer they get darker and crunchier. They will keep for a long time in a cookie jar, and are excellent with coffee or tea.

Your friends in the glutenated world will want this recipe!

Make sure that you use all gluten-free ingredients!

Quick Gluten Free Red Enchilada Sauce

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The original recipe included wheat flour, but this recipe is gluten free. This Gf-Zing! recipe produces 2 cups of finished enchilada sauce.

1/2 cup minced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup gluten free chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup water or stock

Fry the onion and garlic gently in oil until they are wilted. Add the seasonings and stir. Add the tomato and stock and simmer 10 minutes.

Be sure to use all gluten free ingredients, including the spices, canned tomato product and stock. As of December 15, 2005, the McCormick brand states on their website: “When a product that contains gluten is formulated, we take precautions to ensure the source of gluten is declared on our label in the ingredient statement.” This makes the McCormick brand of spices very attractive to the gluten-free community. The DelMonte website makes similar statements about their tomato products. “The list below includes products that, to the best of our knowledge, do not contain wheat, oats, rye or barley/malt ingredients. The list may change or not be complete due to formula changes or new product introductions. Please read the ingredient statement on the label for the most current information.”
Note: it is important to check with the manufacturer and read labels to see if policies or ingredients have changed.

Sugar Cookies – gluten free

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Here at Gf-Zing!, we decided that sugar cookies are a little bit like pie crust without the pie, so why not use a gluten free pastry flour to make the cookies?

Gluten free baking can produce a pretty bland product. This sugar cookie dough has extra -strong vanilla flavor, due to the addition of Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder. Authentic Foods is located in Gardena, California.

2 1/2 cups gluten free dream pastry flour (see below)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon liquid GF vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon powdered GF vanilla (Authentic Foods makes such a product)

confectioner’s sugar for rolling

Cream the butter and sugar with the liquid vanilla extract. Mix the gluten free flour, salt and powdered gluten free vanilla in a separate bowl. Add the egg to the butter mixture. Mix thoroughly. Then add the dry ingredients. Form in to a ball and refrigerate for one hour at least. You can use a food processor for mixing this dough.

Roll out the dough to 1/4″ thickness between two sheets of wax paper. If you need to “flour” the wax paper to keep the dough from sticking, use liberal amounts of confectioner’s sugar. Cut out the cookies, using a cookie cutter and transfer them to a silpat lined cookie sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or more, until they are as brown as you like them.

“Dream pastry flour” is from Bette Hagman’s cookbooks, and the recipe is also available on the internet. It is meant for use in pie crusts:

2 cups tapioca starch
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
4 cups mochiko (sweet rice flour)
4 teaspoons xantham gum
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Mix these ingredients really thoroughly, either in a large bowl, bag or jar, and store in an airtight container.

Gf-Zing! recommends using all gluten free ingredients.

Apple Pecan Breakfast Cake

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This recipe for a very moist breakfast cake comes from the specific carbohydrate diet. It has been adjusted by Gf-Zing! to include some gluten free flour. It contains no white sugar, using only honey as a sweetener.

In a large bowl, mix up and set aside:

2 cups finely ground pecans
1 cup gluten free cookie flour mix
3 cups coarsely grated baking apples

In a food processor, mix well:

2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda

Grease a heavy bundt pan extremely well. Mix the contents of the food processor with the apples, ground pecans and gluten free flour. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for one hour at 350 degrees, until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean. The edges of the cake will be pulled away from the sides of the pan some, and the top will be brown.

Let cool for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the cake from the pan if necessary and turn the cake out on a rack to cool.

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.

Almond Paste – homemade and gluten free!

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We don’t know if commercial almond paste is gluten free or not – it is often made with glucose derived from wheat or barley, and some members of the gluten free community avoid commercial almond paste. Here is how to make your own gluten free almond paste for baking cakes and cookies. Almond paste made at home does not have as intense an almond flavor as the commercial product because it does not contain bitter almond. This recipe has been developed and tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

1 pound shelled, blanched, peeled almonds (simply put, the almonds look whitish in color, with no brown skin on them – it doesn’t matter if they are whole or slivered)
3 1/2 cups gluten free confectioner’s sugar
2-3 egg whites

Grind the nuts in a food processor with a sharp blade until they are almost turning to the consistency of peanut butter. (This is a perfect opportunity to use one of the original Cuisinarts that turned everything to mush and slush.)  After grinding the almonds to a paste, add the sugar and 2 egg whites. Process until the mixture forms a uniform ball. Add the third egg white only if you have to. You will probably need to separate the mixture into two batches to process the paste. If that is the case, mix the almonds and sugar, divide it in half, then add one egg white to each half. That is the best way.

This almond paste will work for baked goods. Do not eat it raw, as it contains raw eggs.

It will keep for less than a week in the refrigerator, so use it quickly. To use it in recipes, weigh out amounts with a kitchen scale.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

Venetian Christmas Cookie/Neapolitan Three-Colored Cakes

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venetian cake

Three-colored cake - gluten free

One of the greatest gluten-free interests we had was recreating this Christmas cookie. We first encountered it in Better Homes and Gardens magazine in the 1970s. Back then, the recipe called for 10 drops of green food coloring and 8 drops of red (for the different colored layers). Now, in the December issue of Gourmet (2005), the same recipe has appeared under the name of Seven-Layer Cookies, but with 25 drops of each color of food coloring and with chocolate icing on both the top and the bottom. This larger amount of food coloring produces a much more garish cookie. With the bright colors and chocolate icing on top and bottom, it seems like the three-car garage of cookiedom. We prefer the original, smaller amounts of food coloring, and chocolate only on the top. Gf-Zing! presents the recipe here, adapted for gluten free cooking with gf flour and extra almond extract to make up for the flavorless rice flour, and including a link to how to make your own almond paste.

8 ounces gluten free almond paste
3 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups gluten free cookie flour mix
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 drops green food coloring
8 drops red food coloring
12 ounces apricot preserves
4 ounces gluten free semisweet chocolate

You need 3 pans, each 9×13″ to make these cookies, or use the same one over and over.

Grease the three pans, line them with wax paper, and grease the wax paper.

In your food processor, mix the almond paste, sugar, egg yolks, butter, almond extract and salt. Beat for 5 minutes, until the mixture is really smooth. Add the gluten free cookie flour and mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the dough from the food processor into the egg whites.

Remove 1 1/2 cups of the batter and spread it all over the bottom of one of the three prepared pans. Remove another 1 1/2 cups of batter to a separate bowl, add the green food coloring and spread the green batter in a second pan. To the last remaining batter, add the red coloring. Spread this red batter in the third pan. The batter spread in the pans will be very thin – only a quarter of an inch or so.

Bake in a preheated oven 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. The dough will start to pull away from the edges, and start to brown around the edges. The top will be springy to the touch. Remove the pans from the oven and set aside.

Melt the 12 ounces of jam in a pan. Some of the recipes for this cookie call for straining the jam, but this is not necessary. Enjoy the lumps! Turn out the green cake on a flat cookie sheet that is lined with tin foil or some other durable material. Spread half the jam on the green cake. Top with the plain colored cake. Spread the remaining jam on the plain colored cake. Top with the red cake. Put a piece of plastic wrap on the top of the red layer. Put a cookie sheet on top. Place canned goods, or heavy weights, around the cookie sheet to weigh down the cake and glue the layers together. If you have a heavy wooden cutting board, you can use that instead. Set aside in a cool place for several hours or overnight.

Melt the chocolate. If you like bitter chocolate, add an ounce of bitter chocolate to the semisweet chocolate. Remove the cans, cookie sheet and plastic wrap from the top of the cake, and then spread the red cake layer with melted chocolate. Allow to harden (this will take some time – at least 30 minutes). Slice off the edges of the cake and put these scraps on a plate for sampling. Slice the cake into squares, about 1″ on a side, using a sharp knife and a ruler (to mark where to cut). You may have to run hot water over the knife, then dry it with a clean towel, from time to time so that crumbs don’t get onto the chocolate topping.

These can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer, with wax paper between the layers of cookies, and removed as needed. If cut into 1″ squares, over 100 cookies are produced.

Make sure to use all gluten free ingredients.

Serving Venetian cakes
Elegant Gluten Free Cakes

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!

Cornmeal Almond Cake with Orange Syrup

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The original recipe that this comes from was written in metric weights. It is interesting that 190 grams of corn meal is 1 cup, and the same weight of almond meal is 2 cups (loosely packed). There is not an error in the measurements – this is just how it worked out! This recipe has been modified and tested for the gluten free community by Gf-Zing!

1 1/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
grated zest and juice from a navel orange
1 cup extra light olive oil
1 cup corn meal (or 190 grams)
2 cups almond meal (or 190 grams)
1 1/2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder

Beat the eggs with the sugar and salt, using an electric mixer, for 3 minutes, until light in color and fluffy. Beat in the zest and orange juice, and then the extra light olive oil. This creates a sort of mayonnaise-like substance, with the eggs acting as an emulsifier.

Mix the corn meal, almond meal and baking powder together and fold into the egg mixture. The batter will look like corn meal mush.

Grease a 9-inch spring-form pan, line it (bottom and sides) with wax paper, then grease the wax paper. Pour the batter in to the lined pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour and five minutes. The cake will be dark brown on the top. Remove it from the oven.

Syrup:

Make a syrup of 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice (1 orange). Simmer this syrup for 8 minutes. Skim off any foam. Add 2 Tablespoons of gluten free orange liqueur, if desired. Poke holes all over the top of the cake with a skewer, then pour the hot syrup over the cake, while the cake is still in the pan. The cake will soak up the syrup almost immediately.

As soon as possible after pouring the syrup on the cake, remove the sides of the cake pan and transfer the cake to a plate. Use the wax paper to help you in moving the cake, and make sure to remove the metal bottom of the pan too. If you leave the syrupy cake in contact with the pan for much time at all, the acidic syrup will interact with the metal pan and cause the cake to have a metallic flavor.

Chill the cake completely before serving. When completely finished, the cake will be about 1 1/2 inches tall and will serve 12.

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

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!