Gluten free Parkin.

Tis the season for all those lovely Christmas flavours to be swirling around the house. So far I’ve made 9 Christmas puddings and two Christmas cakes. My refrigerator is groaning with cake and pudding. Two of the puddings and one of the cakes are gluten free for my dearly beloved and I and the rest are all gifts for family and the odd friend. I made a non gluten free version of Parkin for my end of year work party which went down well so I made another one for my husband that he could eat without gluten or the rolled oats. I was more than a tad concerned about what to substitute for the oats and settled on quinoa flakes as they looked very similar in structure.

First assemble all that you’ll need to bake with.

  
Ingredients.

200g butter

1 large egg

4 tablespoons milk

200g golden syrup

85g treacle

85g light brown sugar

100g quinoa flakes

250g gluten free self raising flour

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Heat your oven to 160C or a bit less if fan forced. Grease a deep 22cm/9in square cake tin and line with baking paper.

  
Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together until the sugar has dissolved. 

 
Remove from the heat. 

 
Mix together the quinoa flakes , the GF flour and ginger.   

 
Stir in the syrup mixture, followed by the combined egg and milk (lightly beaten together).

  
  
  
Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 50 mins to an hour until the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top.

  
Cool in the tin then wrap in more baking paper and foil and keep for 3-5 days before eating if you can as it apparently becomes softer and stickier the longer you leave it, up to two weeks. 

  
I had to eat this as it smelt so lovely. It worked really well using the substitute quinoa flakes. The flavour is the same as is the texture.  Well worth making but I don’t know how your meant to leave it for a few days. That just won’t be happening 😂😂😂😂😂.

Bon appetit!

 

Spiced honey cake, gluten free.

I’m always on the look out for a tasty recipe that my husband can eat as well. Even though this wasn’t originally designed to be gluten free, I made it this morning by substituting the regular flour out and replacing it with a commercial brand of gluten free plain flour and it turned out just perfect 😋

It is from the latest issue of delicious.uk I think and I thought I’d give it a go. 

Spiced Honey cake.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

100g light brown (muscovado) sugar

100g golden caster sugar

175g clear honey

2 medium eggs, beaten

260ml milk (I used buttermilk)

325g plain GF flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp each of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

50g candied mixed and chopped peel

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange (optional) I didn’t  use it.

Preheat the oven to 150 C/fan forced 130-140 C and lightly butter and line a loaf tin (22cm x 12cm x 7cm)

Put the butter, sugars and honey in a pan and stir over a low heat until melted. Leave to cool slightly, then stir in the beaten eggs and milk. I used a Pyrex jug in my microwave on high for 2 minutes which worked just as well. Give it a good stir.

  
  
  

Sift together the flour and salt, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and all the spices. Add the  caraway seeds and candied peel and make a well in the centre.

  
  
  
Add the butter mixture and beat until smooth. You can add the zest of the lemon and orange here if using.

  
  
Pour the batter into the loaf tin, then bake for 1 1/4 hours or until firm to the touch and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn onto a rack to cool completely.

  
  
This recipe comes with a honey glaze topping which I haven’t used but the recipe follows.

Honey glaze.

1 tbsp clear honey

1 tbsp milk

60g icing sugar

Warm the honey in a small pan. Mix in the milk and icing sugar until smooth. Brush over the cake, then leave to cool completely.

  
It is really delicious and I believe it would also be nice served with butter as well. 

Bon appetit! 

Thai Green Curry Prawn Risotto

Well hello everybody! Apologies for the long break in blogging. Sometimes it’s good to have a break to recharge the batteries and that’s what I’ve been doing 😄 I also turned 50 on Monday the 20th! 

I’m going through a happy phase of making different curry pastes for freezing for future meals and this green curry paste caught my eye. It’s not too hot at all (but you can add as much green chilli as you like) and is full of lovely flavours. I teamed it up with a prawn risotto and the most delicious meal transpired. I hope you all enjoy it as much as Jason and I did. 

Green curry paste.

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

6 white peppercorns

1 teaspoon roasted shrimp paste (belechan)

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 

4 coriander roots and stems, roughly chopped

2 lemongrass stems, pale part only, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger or galangal ( I used ginger)

2 large green chillies , seeds removed and roughly chopped (you could use the smaller hotter ones and double for more heat)

4 kafir lime leaves, spine removed, roughly chopped

2 red eschalots, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Toast coriander and cumin seeds with the peppercorns in a small frypan over medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Cool slightly then grind to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. 

If you can’t find pre-roasted shrimp paste, wrap the teaspoon of shrimp paste in foil and toast in a frypan over medium heat for 1 minute each side to toast slightly. Cool. I then added all the other ingredients to my little stick blender and processor attachment along with the toasted and dried spices and shrimp paste and a tablespoon of water and whizzed the heck out of it 😄. You can bash it up first if you like in the mortar and pestle but I just went  down the easy path and it turned out just fine.

  
Now for the making of the risotto.

Thai green curry prawn risotto.

12 big green prawn, shells and tails removed

750 ml fish, chicken or vegetable stock ( I used my homemade chicken stock) , simmering on stove

1 tablespoon of neutral flavoured oil, (I use rice bran)

1 onion, finely diced

2 -3 tablespoons of your lovely green curry paste

2 kafir lime leaves, finely sliced

1 teaspoon finely grated ginger

1 garlic clove, crushed

200 gm arborio risotto rice

150ml coconut cream or milk

1 tablespoon grated lime rind

Good pinch of salt
Put your green prawn flesh in a bowl and add a couple of teaspoons of your green curry paste and stir through. Set aside to marinate whilst the risotto is cooking.

  
Heat the oil in your pan (I used a wide soup pot😊), over low heat and gently fry the onion for 2-3 minutes until softened. Stir in your green curry paste, cook for a few seconds, then add the kafir lime leaves, the ginger, garlic and rice, and cook for a further minute, stirring.

  
Start adding your hot stock, one ladleful at a time, waiting for the stock to be absorbed each time. Continue until all the stock has been used, stirring occasionally to stop sticking. When the rice is cooked to your liking, add the pinch of salt to taste,  pour in the coconut cream or milk and add the raw prawns. Cook till coconut cream is absorbed and the prawns are cooked. Add the lime rind and turn the heat off.

  
This was such a delightful dish to make and eat. Very light and delicately flavoured, not too spicy. I have at least another two risotto meals or curries I can make out of the rest of the paste that was made now stored in my freezer! 

  
Bon appetit!

Cornish Fairings.

One thing my coeliac sufferer of a husband misses in a biscuit is ginger nuts. Those rock hard but ever so dunkable ginger biscuits. I’m not sure how I got onto this recipe but it is seriously divine even after I made it into a gluten free recipe. It is from the delightful River Cottage website originally. According to Hugh’s site, Cornish Fairings were traditionally sold at Cornish fairs.

First assemble your ingredients.

You will notice if you look carefully that I seem to have two containers of cinnamon in there. I discovered it before I put extra cinnamon in instead of ginger!

Ingredients.

4oz GF plain flour. I used Bobs Mill 1 for 1 .

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda (Recipe originally said 1 teaspoon but it was too much the first time I made these)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

2 oz brown sugar

2 oz butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Mix the flour, baking powder,bicarbonate of soda and spices in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the sugar.

Next add the golden syrup and mix together, using your hands as its easier, until its a smooth paste.

Roll into balls about walnut size and place on a baking sheet.

Cook for 15 minutes at 180c until biscuits have cracked on top. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Hugh’s recipe said to first cook them for 15 minutes at 180c then lower temp to 150c and bake a further 5 minutes. I did this the first time I made these and they burnt! I’ve changed  the recipe to suit my oven but I believe its best for everyone to learn where food cooks best and at what temperature their ovens work best at.

Jason loves these. They are very similar to a gingernut, but I think they taste a lot like those glorious dutch biscuits Speculaas. Bobs Mill 1 for 1 flour is brilliant as it already has the xantham gum added so you can just measure it out like your normal flour for any recipe. You can’t imagine how happy I was when I found this in Solomons Merchants grocery store this morning.

However you make these glorious little biscuits, enjoy them with something you can dunk them in 😀

Machchi Kari , Fish Curry.

This yummy recipe is my favourite curry. I found it in my huge old Charmaine Solomon Complete Asian cookbook. It takes roughly twenty minutes to make and probably five or ten to eat it’s that delicious 😄. It is also gluten free and lactose free for anybody like my husband who is allergic to both.
First get your ingredients to hand.

Ingredients,
500gm firm fish fillets
2 tablespoons oil
6-8 curry leaves (I could not get any this time so left them out)
1 medium onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cummin
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2-1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste (I forgot to put this in and didn’t miss it 😄)
Lemon juice to taste.

Make sure your fish fillets are fairly uniform in size so they cook evenly. Heat oil in a wok or pan and fry curry leaves if using them till slightly brown. Beware, they spatter! Add the onion, ginger and garlic and fry until onion is soft and golden.

Add all the ground spices and fry, stirring until they smell aromatic. I fried mine for about a minute.

Add coconut milk and salt (if using) and bring to the boil, stirring.

Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for ten minutes, then put in the fish, ladle the liquid over it and simmer until the fish is cooked through.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice to taste. I forgot this step as well and found it didn’t matter for us. Serve on rice or even a nice potato mash if you like.

This is a very tasty and quick meal and well worth the effort.
Bon apetit!

Sweets for my sweet, sugar for my honey….

I follow a most sublime blog called “GF and me” which was created by a wonderful lady with her husband when he became a coeliac sufferer. I  eagerly await each of her posts as she has created wonderful recipes and gluten free pastries that have bought me back from the brink of despair at ever making decent gluten free pastries ever again for my partner who is also a coeliac sufferer. Here is a link to her blog and her delightful recipes 🙂

http://gfandme.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/pumpkin-pie-cheesecake/

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

For the base.

1 1/2 cups of Gluten Free biscuit crumbs

( I used a packet of Butterfingers Gluten Free Macadamia Shortbread and a half packet of Freelicious brand Frollini Italian milk cookies)

1/4 cup Butter (or non dairy equivalent if you need)

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

Mix the biscuit crumbs and spices together and add the melted butter and mix till combined. Press into a 9 inch (I used a 22cm) spring form pan. Refrigerate base whilst making filling.

 For the filling.

750gm Cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of sugar (I used Raw caster sugar)

3 Eggs

1 cup of Pureed Pumpkin

1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit ( Equals 170-176 degrees Celsius)

Blend cream cheese and sugar till lump free. Blend in eggs, one at a time, then spices and pureed pumpkin.

I took the step at this point of fitting my whisk attachment to my Kenwood Chef and gave the mix a good whipping to eliminate any white lumps and then poured the filling over the top of my crumb base. The cheesecake rose up like a souffle on cooking and was extremely light and fluffy on eating 😀

Bake your delicious cheesecake for 50 minutes or until just set.

Yes, it will crack on cooling but only a little and it certainly didn’t affect the taste in any way.

Leave it to cool completely before refrigerating. Tastes great left till next day but we couldn’t wait that long 😀

This is even better served with Pecan nuts either toffee or just roasted and a dollop of cream but we like it just as is.

Bon appetit!

My Chilli Marmalade tryout!

All praise for this delicious recipe must go to Emily over at chillimarmalade.com. She has the best food site i’ve discovered, plus she’s an expat Aussie so she’s great in my books 🙂

Here is a picture some of the ingredients you’ll need.Recipe follows.

Ingredients,

10 Red capsicums (Peppers), diced small

10 Long Red chillies, sliced with seeds left in

1 head of garlic minced

1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced finely

750gm Raw castor sugar

250ml Red wine vinigar

Combine all on top of stove and cook, stirring often until it resembles jam. Bottle into hot, sterilized jars and seal with lids immediately.

I made a heartful of chillies!

Boil all together just like this!

And this is what you end up with! It actually made 3.5 one cup jars of lovely sticky hot (but not devestatingly hot) chilli marmalade. One of the nicest I’ve tried. Great with cheese, steak and inserted into stirfries. Yummo!

Bon appetite!

My Slow Cooked Sticky Veal.

This was our tea tonight and it was yummy! I share it with you and hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients.
400gm sliced veal shin (osso bucco)
2 teaspoons oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced or minced.
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
150ml-250ml beef stock
Small bunch fresh coriander/cilantro
1 small mild red chilli, shredded

Heat a large non-stick frying pan. Rub veal with a little oil and brown over high heat. Place in a large saucepan/casserole dish. Add onion, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, stock. sweet chilli sauce and hoisin sauce over the top of the veal.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes or until tender. Remove lid and increase heat to reduce and thicken the sauce if necessary. When ready to serve, scatter with coriander and shredded red chilli.
Serve with stir fried veg and steamed rice.

This is such a lovely easy to prepare dish and goes equally as well piled upon a lovely buttery mashed potato as I’ve done in the picture. I hope it’s not too fuzzy.

Bon appetit!