Gluten Free Moroccan Vegetable Stew (Vegan)

Finally, a recipe that will satisfy my adventurous foodie friends as well my veggie/vegan, hemp-wearing, protest-of-the-week, if-it's-not-on-NPR-I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about friends! Woohoo!

Additionally, I thought I'd throw out another reminder that all measurements are approximate. I know that pretty much every professional chef will cringe when I say this, but I love the spontaneity of just throwing in spices and seeing what comes out (also, I'm kind of lazy when it comes to cooking and measuring stuff would just mean more things to clean).

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen white rice
1 can chickpeas, water drained out
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 cup veggie broth (or chicken broth if you're not into the whole vegan thing)
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (your choice of color-I like orange and red, personally)
2 big handfuls baby spinach (or more if you really like spinach)
1 container firm tofu, cubed
3/4 cup dried apricots, diced
2/3 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp crushed garlic
2 tbsp crushed ginger
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (adjust to your level of spiciness)
1 handful fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pan to medium, add a teeny bit of oil, and lightly fry the almonds until fragrant.
Put the almonds aside.
Saute the onions and peppers in the oil. Add the garlic and ginger, and cook until the onions are translucent.
Add the tomatoes, broth, apricots and rice. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
Add all the spices and the almonds.
Simmer on low for 15 min or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Just before serving, mix in the honey, salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 4.

Gluten Free Honey-Infused Mascarpone Pot de Creme

I went to Baraka Cafe in Cambridge with my DH and some friends this past weekend. If you get the chance to go there, by all means DO. It's Algerian/Tunisian, with lovely authentic decor, in an intimate setting that is perfect for a date. And the food...OH. MA. GAWD. Soo good!

For dessert, we had the daily special: a honey-lavender infused mascarpone pot de creme that was simply amazing. It was lighter than regular cheesecake, with a wonderful creamy texture and a hint of honey flavor. This was truly unlike any cheesecake I've ever had, so I made it a challenge to try to recreate it as best I could. The result, while not an exact duplicate (I had no lavender), was probably about 85-90% of the way there. It is truly fabulous, and so easy to make!

Ingredients:
1 8 oz tub mascarpone cheese
2 large egg + 1 egg white
1 8 oz container of honey flavor, Greek style yogurt (I got nonfat to keep it reasonably healthy)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp honey

Combine all the ingredients and pour into 6 slightly greased ramekins. Put the ramekins in a baking pan and fill with boiling water until the water level reaches about halfway up the side of the ramekin. Bake at 325 for about 35 minutes or until set. Run a knife around the circumference of each ramekin to loosen. Cool in the fridge until ready to serve.

The photo shows a pot de creme garnished with strawberry preserves and a sliced strawberry, but there are lots of options. Some suggestions:

poached figs or apricots
chocolate ganache
candied ginger
fresh mango
sweetened coconut milk and finely diced pineapple

Enjoy this delicious (and as far as desserts are concerned, relatively low-fat, low-cal) gluten free treat

Gluten Free White Chocolate/Raspberry Ganache Filled Cupcakes

I love filled cupcakes. I don't have any childhood nostalgia about Hostess cupcakes, so I think it's purely a foodie kind of thing. Fillings taste good, and they can instantly improve a somewhat-too-dry cake. This recipe is a bit time consuming, but it's easy, and the results are impressive.

Ingredients (makes about 16-18 cupcakes)
1 box Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 bag frozen raspberries (I like Wymans--they separate easily and don't have extra sugar)
1 bag white chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli)
1 bag dark chocolate chips
1 can gluten free vanilla frosting (or make your own buttercream frosting)

Cake

In a small pot, defrost the frozen raspberries with a little water, until the consistency looks mushy. Run the mush through a sieve over a bowl to separate the seeds. You should now have a bowl full of bright red raspberry puree. Set this aside.

Prepare the cupcakes per the instructions on the box. Add a few tbspsful of the puree and swirl. Make sure you swirl very gently, otherwise the entire batter will look purple. Scoop the batter into prepared muffin tins and bake as directed.

White Chocolate/Raspberry Ganache

In a small pot (you can use the same pot you defrosted the raspberries in; just wash it out), heat the white chocolate with 2 tbsp of butter until melted and a little shiny. Add about half the raspberry puree and stir until blended. It should look a little purplish. Pour the ganache into a bowl and put in the freezer until it is mostly cooled. It should have the consistency of a slightly runny frosting.

Filling the Cooled Cupcakes (cone method)
Take a sharp knife (a paring knife works best), and stick it into a cupcake at roughly a 45 degree angle halfway between the center of the cupcake and the edge. cut a circle. A little cone of cake should pop out. In the hole you have just created, fill with the ganache. cut (or pinch off) the pointy part of the cone, and put the little cake circle over the ganache, plugging up the hole.


Frosting:
Mix together buttercream frosting with the remaining raspberry puree

Gluten Free Chicken Provencale with Macadamia Nuts

I used to avoid anything with "Provencale" in the title, because I automatically assumed it meant it included olives, capers or mustard, which I can't stand. However, a recent trip to France proved that wasn't the case. Provence is known for many things; lavender fields, olive oil and psychotically aggressive drivers in teeny, tiny cars to name a few. But, what really makes Provencal food is the emphasis on locally grown vegetables, simple herbs, and wine. No olives required.
There's no nostalgia related to the macadamia nuts in this recipe--I just like them, and they add a nice crunch.

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)
1 package chicken tenderloins
1/2 large sweet onion
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp freeze dried shallots (or whatever the fresh equivalent is)
3-6 cremini mushrooms, sliced (white button and portobello can also be used)
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp herbs de provence
1 tbsp garlic, chopped
2 cups white wine (I prefer chardonnay, but pinot and riesling work well too)
1/2 cup chicken broth (I use Progresso in a box-it's gluten free)
1/2 cup macadamia nuts

In a large saute pan, heat the oil on medium-high until it shimmers. Add the chicken and brown on each side, 4-5 minutes. Add the shallots and onion. Cook until the onion becomes translucent, then add the wine. Add the mushrooms, tomato and herbs de provence. Cook for another minute or two and stir. Add the chicken broth and macadamia nuts. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice.

Happy Hanukkah! Gluten Free Latke Recipe

In honor of Hanukkah (and the fact that I did an hour-long nia workout and therefore absolutely need to make back the calories I've burned off), tonight I made gluten free latkes!

Latkes (serves 6-8 or 4 gluttons)

3 russet potatoes
1 sweet onion
3 eggs (you can use egg whites, but really, c'mon, you're already about to eat a potato latke soaked in oil, so what's a little extra caloric intake from the yolk going to do?)
1/4 cup gluten free breadcrumbs (I use Dr. Schar brand--so far it's the best of the ones I've tried)
salt
pepper
oil (I use olive, but it doesn't really matter)

Grate the potatoes and onion. I use a food processor, because I'm lazy, but if you really want to be an authentic "balabuste", then grate everything by hand. This way, you can gain looks of sympathy from your family as you sigh loudly, "Oy, the grating! It is so exhausting and my hands are so dry! Oh no, don't get up on my account. You know I suffer like this because I love you."

Take the grated potatoes and onion and squeeze out all the water. It's probably better to do this over a garbage can if you don't have a garbage disposal, because inevitably you'll get potato shreds everywhere.

In a bowl with the now-dried potato and onion mixture, add the eggs, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and mix until thoroughly blended. You can use a fork for the mixing if the idea of sticking your hands into an eggy-crumby-potato-y mess grosses you out.

Fill a frying pan with the oil, about an inch or so high. Heat the oil on medium high. When the oil is nice and hot, form handfuls of the latkes, and drop them one at a time into the frying pan. Press down on them a little with a spatula to flatten them. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, or until the bottom is golden brown. Then, turn them over and cook the other side (probably 2-3 minutes). Place the cooked latkes on a plate lined with paper towels.

Enjoy!

Then, get someone else to do the cleanup. :)

Welcome, and GF Apple Cranberry Cake Recipe

Hi all you gluten-free people out there!

Considering that I have been posting my GF recipes to Facebook for a while, I figured now would be as good a time as any to actually put all of this stuff together. If you've been going after packaged GF food as I have, you've probably realized that gluten free food has a taste spectrum. On one end, there is the stuff that you think, "Oh my gosh, this is is so good...this is actually gluten free?" On the other is, "Oh my gosh, this is actually edible?" Unfortunately, a lot of pre-packaged GF food tends to trend toward the latter, and it's really a trial-and-error to figure out what the tasty stuff is. For the most part, I pick known brands (primarily Glutino, Kinnikinnick, Gluten Free Pantry, and now Betty Crocker's Gluten Free mixes), and then "doctor them up" to make them into something more like I would have made before becoming, as my husband so lovingly describes, a glutard. I also realize that a lot of packaged GF foods have a lot of stabilizers, fillers and other necessary but not exactly natural ingredients; so to that end, I also try to modify recipes to make them as healthy as possible.

So, with that out of the way, here is the Apple Cranberry Cake I made today. All measurements are approximate, since I mostly just eyeball ingredients.

1 box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 egg white
2-3 apples, chopped (I prefer a mix of granny smith and mcintosh, but it's your cake, do whatever you like)
1 cup of cranberries (I use fresh, but dried should work equally well)
1/2 cup of milk, vanilla soy milk, or yogurt

The following spices are to taste; if I had to guess, I'd say I use about 1tsp of each, except for the cinnamon, which is more like a tbsp.
cinnamon
cardamom
vanilla extract
allspice

Mix everything in a bowl and bake according to the box directions. Cake is done when a knife (or other sharp projectile) comes out clean. This may be up to 15 minutes after what the box directions indicate, because of the added bulk caused by the fruit.

Here's what it looks like when it's done: