Gluten free Madras Curry Pie.

I made this lovely spicy pie for my hubby Jason’s birthday last week as he loves a nice curry and pie combined into one. Since discovering the gluten free pastry of my dreams, I have become all enthused again about pies and their fillings.
Make the pastry first as it loves a long spell in the refrigerator to rest. This recipe can be found, plus many more mouth watering GF recipes on the blog gfandme.com and is called Mary’s Magnificent Pastry. I don’t have any photos of me making it as I thought of this blog just as I parcelled it up for the fridge resting time😊.

Pastry ingredients
2 cups GF gluten free flour, I used Bobs Redmill all purpose GF flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 cup of butter, chilled and cut into cubes
1/2 cup sour cream
Beaten egg and dash of milk to brush over pie before baking.

Pulse the flour and xanthan gum powder in a food processor, add the butter and pulse till the dough forms pea sized lumps. Add sour cream and pulse till dough comes together. If you don’t have a food processor just rub the cold butter into the combined flour and xanthan gum with your fingertips and mix in sour cream then get in there with your hands and gently work it all together into a ball 😄.
When combined into a nice ball split into 2 smaller balls, pat down into a thick discus shape and wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 4 hours, overnight is even better.

Now for the Madras curry which has to be about the easiest one I’ve ever made from scratch.

Ingredients for curry
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder (recipe says this is optional)
2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons grated ginger
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 kilogram chuck steak (I used a whole bolar blade roast I cut up) cut into 2.5 cm cubes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup of beef stock

Combine the coriander, cumin, turmeric, pepper, chilli, garlic, ginger and lemon juice in a bowl to form a paste. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat, add half the beef and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a bowl and repeat process with the rest of the beef.
Reduce heat to medium. Add spice paste and cook for 1 minute. Return beef and accumulated juices and stir till well coated with spice paste. Add tomato paste and stock.

Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beef is tender.
Remove lid and cook uncovered for a further 15 minutes or until sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
Put aside to cool completely.

To make the pie.
Take your pastry out of the refrigerator and roll one disc out to about five millimetres in thickness to the size of your pie dish. It rolls out really well from cold without much difficulty.

Add your cold curry to your pastry base and distribute evenly. Roll out your second disc of pastry to the same 5 millimetre thickness and place on top. Glaze with the beaten egg and milk mix, or just beaten egg white if you like.

Bake pie in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius till nicely browned.

Yes, this looks rather too browned but I can assure you it wasn’t burnt and it tasted so good 😄. We like our curry pie with a nice fruity sauce on top and I reckon a fruity chutney would go down a treat with this.
The curry would be lovely on its own as well with some rice and roti or butter naan. Hmmm I think I need curry for tea!
Bon apetit!

Gluten free Couscous

I have been surprised and delighted to discover that there is such a thing as gluten free couscous! Jason (Chucky) found it in our local small IGA supermarket (independent grocers association, I think) the other day along with lots of other weird and wonderful GF substitutes for everyday foods he always seems to miss out on. We can’t find it in the two major supermarket chains here in Albany, Australia which are Woolworths and Coles. They have gluten free stuff too but not this. I made some up last night to have with the GF chicken kievs Jason made for our tea. It was super yummy! It’s made out of maize flour and water and has a definite taste of corn, other than that it responds just like wheat based couscous and should go well in salads etc.

To make one serve,
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup GF couscous
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Butter

Heat the water in a saucepan till boiling. Add oil and salt.

Turn off heat source and pour in GF couscous whilst stirring.

Cover saucepan with lid and leave to absorb water for 5-6 minutes. When time is up, fluff the couscous up with a fork and mix in a tablespoon or to taste of butter.

I served this yummy couscous with the chicken kievs and it went well with the garlicky chive butter oozing from the chicken.

In a way, it’s probably a fluffy polenta but was texturally exactly the same as it’s non GF relative. Well worth a try 🙂
Bon apetit!

Basil Pesto

I was thinking about what to cook for tea tonight that won’t be too heavy in the tummy as we will eat late. Jason has karate practise until 8.30 and will need to have something easily digested. We decided on pasta and basil pesto 🙂

First assemble the ingredients. As there are only five of them, it didn’t take too long at all.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, halved or chopped
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
5 tablespoons olive oil

Get a small fry pan and heat it on a moderate heat. Add the pine nuts and gently toast till nicely browned.

Tip out onto a plate and allow to cool.

Add the basil leaves, shredded cheese, garlic and pine nuts to the food processor ( or mortar and pestle if preferred) and process till finely chopped.

Whilst your food processor is running pour in the olive oil in a thin stream till the pesto has reached a lovely wet and blobby consistency 🙂

I shall add this to his gluten free penne pasta when he gets home tonight. It tastes so good on its own and I bet it tastes even better on some crackers or even a rack of lamb! Yum!
Bon apetit!

Mushroom and Chestnut Soup.

We went out for dinner one evening a few weeks back. As soon as we walked through the door, we were hit by the most memory evocing smell. I smelt my Grandmothers kitchen from years ago! Lovely smells of sage and thyme and roasted things 🙂 . What we ended up eating that night to start with was the bringer of that memory. It was a beautiful Chestnut soup that just transported our tastebuds to nirvana. Best tasting soup ever.

The nearest recipe I could find is the one following that is so, so close in flavour.

Mushroom and Chestnut Soup.

First assemble all your ingredients.

You will need,

30gm butter

1 tablespoon of Olive oil

100gm pancetta, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

500gm mixed mushrooms, sliced (use Shitake, oyster, shimeji,cup etc) We used dried shitake and porcini mushrooms as well.

285gm can Chestnuts, drained (we used chestnut puree, unsweetened!)

1 potato, diced

4 cups of good quality vegetable stock

1 tablespoon Sage chopped

1tablespoon thyme

1/2 cup of cream

In a large saucepan, heat butter and olive oil on high and saute the pancetta, onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes until onion is golden.

Add the mushrooms, chestnuts and potato and cook 3-4 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.

Stir in the vegetable stock and herbs. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in cream and cook for another 4-5 minutes.

Remove from heat and using a hand/stick blender (or food processor), process until smooth. I also rubbed it through a drum sieve for a velvety texture. Season to taste and reheat if necessary. Serve soup with a swirl of cream.

We sprinkled ours with black pepper and made gluten free goats cheese toasts to have with it!

This worked as well!

Wonderful flavour. Just about the same as the restaurant. Next time, I’ll use the whole tin of pureed chestnuts and less dried mushrooms and see how that goes. It was a lovely satisfying Sunday night dinner with the rain pouring down outside and sitting in front of the fire to eat 😀

Gozleme of Lamb,mint, fetta and spinach.

Here is the yummiest snack/meal I’ve made in recent times. As my partner is gluten intolerant, I’ve just substituted the normal Self Raising flour for Orgran brand gluten free SR Flour. Give it a try!
This recipe serves 4 depending on your hunger 😉

Ingredients 200gm plain yoghurt (natural, unsweetened)
250gm Self Raising flour (substitute for gluten free here)
1 tablespoon olive oil
150gm minced lamb
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of chilli flakes
a pinch of dried mint
4 tablespoons of tomato juice (I used Passata)
50gm baby English spinach
100gm Fetta, crumbled
8 fresh mint leaves, torn
olive oil for frying
50gm butter, melted (optional)

Beat the youghurt and a pinch of salt in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add flour until it is a stiff dough, then knead on a lightly floured bench till it is soft and only slightly sticky. Transfer to an oiled bowl and leave, covered for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the lamb with a pinch of salt and pepper until browned. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the garlic, cumin, chilli flakes and tomato juice. Cook for another minute or until dry. Turn off the heat and leave to cool, then drain if needed.
On a floured surface, split the dough into four equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a 30cm circle. Place a quarter of the spinach over half of each circle, then sprinkle with a quarter of the fetta, then add the lamb and mint leaves and season. Fold the dough over and seal the edges with a fork.
Preheat a barbecue hotplate or large frying pan. Brush one side of each Gozleme with olive oil and cook until the base is golden. Brush the top with olive oil, turn and cook until golden.
Brush with melted butter, cut into four pieces (or two 🙂 ) and serve with a pinch of sea salt and lemon wedges if liked. Would also be good with an ice cold beer if your that way inclined.

These are so yummy and for a little bit of effort, you get a huge amount of flavour and enjoyment.
Enjoy!