Free Hamper of Gluten-Free Goodies to Celebrate Coeliac Awareness Week!

May 17, 2013 in Competition | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

DellUgo_glutenfree_hamper

This week is Coeliac Awareness Week – and I have a gluten-free hamper to give away (worth approximately £100)!

Ugo Foods are offering a hamper filled with gluten-free goodies to give away to one lucky winner. This includes Asda’s new fresh chilled pasta and also Dell’Ugo’s fresh Chickpea Fusilli (winner at this year’s FreeFrom Awards which I wrote about),  as well as other gluten-free items.

Asda has just launched two types of gluten-free fresh pasta under its Free From range – a penne and a tagliatelle. Made from cornflour and rice flour with the addition of water (no additives here!) it cooks in 3 minutes. Both pastas are fresh (you’ll find them in the chiller cabinets) and sell at £1.50 for a 300g bag.

Asda have been working incredibly hard on their Free From range. They have a huge range of products – and they’re all inexpensive. These pastas hold together well, and taste really, really good. It’s definitely worth buying fresh pasta, as opposed to dried, because they do taste better. And I particularly loved the tagliatelle.

Dell’Ugo is the UK’s largest fresh pasta brand and specialises in making filled and unfilled pasta, based on authentic Italian recipes. For me, the Gluten-free Chickpea Fusilli is really great pasta. Not only is it gluten-free, but it’s also completely grain-free. And chickpeas are wonderful because they’re high in soluble fibre and they’re a slow-burning complex carbohydrate, gentle on the digestive system, high in soluble fibre, high in B vitamins especially folic acid and minerals, and the phytonutrients in chickpeas act as a powerful anti-oxidant.

To win the hamper, go to the facebook page and follow the instructions… Good luck!

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Brazilian Food in Cabana

May 14, 2013 in Restaurant Review | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

cabana salmon ceviche

cabana chicken malagueta

According to Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard last year, “The biggest London food trend… has already started. Cabana, the Brazilian grill…has stolen a march on the wave of Brazilian and Peruvian restaurants due to hit the capital.”

In summer 2014 World Cup madness is due in Brazil,  and then there’ll be the Rio 2016 Olympics. Gourmet Live say they’re betting on Brazil as the next great cuisine to conquer our palates – not just because of the focus from the sport, but because acai, Caipirinhas and world-class steaks are just the beginning…

I went to Cabana’s third restaurant, in Westfield White City, (they also have restaurants at Westfield Stratford and Central St Giles in the West End and are planning more…) The first thing you notice is a fantastic buzz. There are Brazilian-made posters plastered all over the walls, funky lighting and a bright, warm interior design that all make the place feel truly vibrant, yet relaxed.

The food revolves around barbecueing – you can tuck into succulent, marinated barbecue skewers such as Spicy Malagueta Chicken (their bestseller which I tried and really was delicious), tender, juicy steaks, spicy burgers, sticky ribs or even a pulled pork and sausage stew called Feijoada. But that’s not all there is. We also tried some street foods between us to start – the Toasted Corn Nuts and Four Corn Salad (sweet, blackened, giant and toasted corn with palm hearts) and the Salmon Ceviche (chilli and lime cured salmon), and then had Sweet Potato Fries sprinkled with paprika and an Avocado & Mango Salad with the chicken. I loved it all! The crunchy nuts, clean tastes of the salad and zingy ceviche were a great warm-up to the main. The chicken was tender and the flavours were great – hot and punchy but not too fiery, with deliciously fresh ingredients. (And I even took a bottle of their Malagueta sauce home with me.) The fries and mango salad were really good, too. There was real attention to detail with all the dishes, and I came away thinking that there are lots more I’m sure I would enjoy just as much.

They were very good, too, about the gluten-free, dairy-free thing. There’s lots that you can eat if you’re gluten-free and/or dairy-free and they took my request seriously and made sure everything was fine. (And they also do a kid’s menu.)

Of course, you’re meant to wash it all down with the ubiquitous drink, especially the national drink of choice, Caipirinha. Apparently there are many stories of how the Caipirinha was invented but they say that their favourite is this. In old times people would press a cloth dampened with alcohol to their forehead to reduce fever, and suck a lime to improve immunity. One day, a feverish man found the alcohol from his forehead dripping into his mouth as he sucked a lime. Because it was bitter, he ate a spoonful of sugar. He got better, and the Caipirinha was born…

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Seedy Bread

May 7, 2013 in Baking, Bread | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 comments

Seedy-Loaf

Recently my publishers took some new photographs for the cover of the paperback version of Simply Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free. One of the recipes we tried was a bread recipe. I took the White Bread recipe that’s in the book and, in order to make it more visually punchy, added seeds to the recipe. This also adds crunchiness and an extra level of taste.

Adding seeds to bread is a brilliant way of introducing them into your daily diet. And, in doing so, you’re getting additional essential fatty acids, iron, zinc, B-vitamins, vitamin E, calcium and magnesium – helping you to enhance your immune system, combat energy and boost your brain power, amongst other things.

This bread really is delicious. It will keep well for a few days, and you can also freeze it. (I often cut it into slices, freeze it, and toast it straight from the freezer.) It didn’t make it to the cover shot, but it was lovely to eat at lunchtime on the shoot, anyway!

gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soya-free, nut-free, citrus-free

Makes 1 loaf (about 16 slices)     Preparation time 15 minutes     Cooking time 60 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 120g/4¼oz/⅔ cup potato flour (NB potato flour not potato starch)
  • 50g/1¾oz/scant ½ cup gram flour
  • 50g/1¾oz/⅓ cup maize flour
  • 150g/5½oz/heaped ¾ cup brown rice flour
  • 1 tsp sea salt, crushed
  • 1 tsp fruit sugar or caster sugar
  • 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • 1 tbsp dried active yeast
  • 75g/2½oz mixed seeds – pumpkin, sesame, sunflower and linseeds, plus extra for sprinkling
  • 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and lightly grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with a little oil.
  2. Sift the flours, salt, sugar, gluten-free baking powder, xanthan gum, psyllium husks and yeast into a large mixing bowl and, using a metal whisk, mix thoroughly. Add the olive oil and mix in gently. Pour in 400ml/14fl oz/scant 1⅔ cups warm water and mix thoroughly with the whisk for at least a minute, to aerate the dough. Whisk until the dough holds some shape, but is still soft enough to fall from the whisk, adding 1 or 2 extra tablespoons of warm water if it feels too stiff. Add the mixed seeds and mix in gently. Alternatively, sift the flours, salt, sugar, gluten-free baking powder, xanthan gum, psyllium husks and yeast into the bowl of a food processor with the dough blade attached and blend to mix together. Add the olive oil and blend again, then add 400ml/14fl oz/scant 1⅔ cups warm water and process for 3–4 minutes to aerate the dough. It will be sticky. Remove the bowl of the food processor from the machine and mix the seeds into the dough mixture gently with a metal whisk.
  3. Spoon the dough into the tin. Dip a metal tablespoon in cold water and smooth the surface of the dough with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle some seeds over the top to cover.
  4. Bake for 55–60 minutes until the bread is golden brown. Turn out of the tin and tap the bottom. If it sounds hollow, it is done. If not, return the bread to the tin and bake for another 5 minutes, then test again to see whether it is done. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Free From Food Awards 2013 – The Results and the Party!

April 19, 2013 in Free From Awards | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

fffa2013

On Tuesday night I made my way to the Royal College of Physicians for the FreeFrom Food Awards party. It was a hugely enjoyable evening (not least because of the delicious gluten-free, dairy-free and main allergen-free nibbles, and sulphite-free wines!) And I got to chat to lots of gluten-free friends from Twitter, and other free-from industry people. Really, really enjoyable!

Set up six years ago, the Awards have really come into their own. Starting off with no industry support or sponsorship, and buying the products herself, Michelle Berriedale-Johnson (and her team) has brought the Awards into the mainstream. It is now backed by major sponsors and recognised throughout the food industry. To me, this is a seriously impressive achievement – and a huge support to people with food allergies/intolerances or coeliac disease. As Antony Worrall Thompson (who presented the Awards) said, “I have been involved with the FreeFrom Food Awards from the start and am really delighted at the way they have grown. FreeFrom is becoming such an important part of food-thinking for all of us these days that it is important to have a reliable, independent guide to freefrom excellence – and the Awards provide just that.”

Bessant & Drury

The winner of The FAIR Trophy for the Best Free-From Food 2013 went to Bessant & Drury for their Lemon Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert. I was really pleased for them because I think it’s a brilliant product. Their packaging and branding looks great, I think – and this ice cream tastes utterly delicious (as does the chocolate ice cream which I felt compelled to try, of course…) Their ice creams are free from dairy and lactose, gluten, GMO, eggs, soya, cholesterol, and artificial additives, flavourings and colourings, and they’re made with super-healthy coconut milk.

Ugo

Ugo fusilli

And the winner of The Innovation Award went to Dell’Ugo Chickpea Fusilli. Again, I thought this was a great choice for a winner because this really does tick all the boxes. It is truly innovative (a grain free pasta), incredibly useful for intolerant/allergic people, and holds together well and tastes great.

Below is a list of all the winners and runners up – huge congratulations to everyone!

The
 FAIR Trophy for the best 
free-from food 
2013

Winner

Bessant & Drury – Lemon, Dairy Free Frozen Dessert

Runners up

Christine’s Puddings Frangipane Tart

The Indian Coeliac Paratha

Lifestyle Catering Catalan Pork

The Innovation Award – sponsored by The Newburn Bakehouse

Winner

Dell’Ugo Chickpea Fusilli 

Highly Commended

Lactofree Spreadable

La Zaragozana Ambar Green (apta para celiàcos) 0.0% (non-alcoholic)

Commended

Good Wine Online So Lo SO2 2009 Navitas

Tesco Free From Soya Crème Caramel

1. Plant ‘milk’, spread, cheese & desserts – sponsored by Sainsbury’s


Winner

Bessant & Drury Dairy Free Frozen Dessert – 
Lemon  

Highly Commended

Koko Dairy Free Original+Calcium

Lucy Bee Extra Virgin Fair Trade Organic Coconut Oil

Provamel Orange & Redbush Yogurt Alternative

Pudology Banoffee Pud

Vivesoy Cappuccino/Soy Milk

Commended

Clearspring Sweet Grains Dessert Amazake

Provamel Rice-Coconut Drink

2. FreeFrom Breakfast Cereals – sponsored by Goodness Direct

Winners


Doves Farm Fibre Flakes

Hale & Hearty Choco Jungle Cereal

Commended

Doves Farm Cereal Flakes

Perkier Ginger and Raisin Porridge

Sainsbury’s FreeFrom Cornflakes

3. Bread and bread mixes – sponsored by Tesco

Winners

Sainsbury’s FreeFrom Soft Brown Seeded Bread

The Indian Coeliac Paratha

Highly Commended

Mum’s Mill Quick bread Mix/Bread Flour Mix

Waitrose LOVE Life GF Seeded Sliced Loaf

Newburn Bakehouse Fruit Loaf

Newburn Bakehouse Gluten Free Brown Bread Loaf

Yes You Can! Seeded Brown Bread Roll

Commended

Biona Organic Rye Bread with Chia Flax

Fria Gluten Free Vallmofralla Poppy Seed Roll

Yes You Can! Fresh White Bread

4. Grocery ambient/store cupboard – pasta, sauces, pizza bases, flour stock etc – sponsored by Tesco

Winners – Pasta

Riso Gallo 3 cereali – Spaghetti

Rizopia Organic Brown Rice Pasta Elbows

Highly Commended

Cornito Sea Waves Pasta

Eat Water Slim Noodles

Riso Gallo 3 cereali – Fusilli

Commended

Le Veneziane GF Tagliatelle

Rizopia Organic Brown Rice Pasta Fusilli

Winners – general grocery ambient

Hale & Hearty GF Breadcrumbs

Sanchi Tamari Soy Sauce

Highly Commended

DS-gluten free Yorkshire Puddings

Mortimer Chocolate Company White Couverture Powder

Orgran Buckwheat Pancake Mix

Orgran No Egg Natural Egg Replacer

Saladworx Hebridean Seaweed & Lemon Dressing, Marinade & Drizzle

Sukrin Gold

Womersley Raspberry Vinegar

Commended

Innovative Solutions GF Multi-purpose Flour

Sainsbury’s FreeFrom Tikka Sauce

Sanchi Instant Miso Soup

Tesco Free From Pizza Bases

5. Freefrom foods manufactured for food service – sponsored by Livwell

Winners – Savoury

Hotch Potch Eggs Savoury Scotch Eggs

Pizza Hut GF Pizza

Highly Commended

Proceli Gluten-free Burger Baps

Red House Foods Georgia’s Choice GF Fish Cake

Winner – Sweet

Glamourpuds Hot Chocolate Fudge Pudding Pot

Highly Commended

Almondy Tårta with DAIM

Glamourpuds Banoffee Sponge Pudding Pot

We Love Cake Apricot Macaroon Slice

Commended

Glamourpuds Raspberry Jam Sponge Pudding Pot

6. Ready Meals – sponsored by Food Heaven 

a. Pizzas, pies & pasties

Winner

Freedom Deli Ham & Cheese Panini

Commended

Mamma Cucina Vegetable Pizza

b. One pot meals – to include ‘world food’

Winner

Lifestyle Catering Catalan Pork

Highly commended

Amy’s Kitchen Mexican Tortilla Bake

Amy’s Kitchen Mushroom Risotto Bowl

Lifestyle Catering Boeuf Bourguignon

Tideford Organics Organic Beetroot Soup with Crème Fraiche & Dill

Commended

Afia’s Spicy Beef Samosa

Dee’s Quinoa Pots with Thai Spiced Vegetables and little lentils

Tesco Free From Three Cheese Pasta Bake

c. Meat meal centres (sausages, meat balls, burgers etc)

Winner

Pig & Co Lucanian Roman Sausage

Highly Commended

Pig & Co Hey Pesto!

Red House Foods Georgia’s Choice Chicken Bites

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Pork & Bramley Apple Sausages (Gluten Free)

7. Raw foods and superfoods – sponsored by Delamere Dairy

Winner

Orgran Multigrain Crispibread with Quinoa

Highly Commended

Raw Health Raw Sauerkraut

Commended

Raw Ecstasy Activated Walnuts – Raw Chocolate

8. Children’s food – sponsored by Asda

Winners

Bessant & Drury Dairy Free Frozen Dessert – Chocolate

Rizopia Organic Brown Rice Pasta Fantasia

Tesco Free From Chocolate Dessert Shakes

Highly Commended

Bessant & Drury Dairy Free Frozen Dessert – Strawberry

Doves Farm Chocolate Stars Organic and Gluten Free

Glamourpuds Hot Chocolate Fudge Pudding Pot

Pulsin’ Beond Organic Açai Berry Bar

Red House Foods Georgia’s Choice Chicken Bites

Commended

Eskal Ice Cream Party Tubs

It’s Only Natural Moshi Monster Poppet Raspberry Ice Lolly

Nim’s Fruit Crisps Apple Crisps


9. Savoury biscuits and snacks – sponsored by the Food & Drink Innovation Network

Winner

Conscious Foods Finger Millet Dippers

Highly commended

Le Pain des Fleurs Organic Chestnut Crispbread

Commended

Cornito Crackers Pikant

Le Pain des Fleurs Organic Buckwheat Crispbread

Le Pain des Fleurs Organic Quinoa Crispbread

The FreeFrom Bakehouse Jalapeño Pepper & Sweetcorn Muffins

The Indian Coeliac Vegetable Samosa

10. Scones, sweet tarts, Bakewells, sweet biscuits and cookies sponsored by Yes! You CanWinner

Christine’s Puddings Frangipane Tart

Highly commended

The FreeFrom Bakehouse Chocolate Macaroons

Lovemore O’Chocos

Perkier Popping Tiffin

Commended

Lazy Day Foods Ginger Truffle Slice

Lazy Day Foods Belgian Chocolate Rocky Road

Lovemore Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peace of Cake Raspberry Abricotines

11. Cakes, cake mixes and cupcakes – sponsored by Mrs Crimbles

Winner

Waitrose LOVE Life GF Millionaire Blondies

Highly Commended

Heavenly Cakes Eton Mess

Melsie Jane Bakes Victoria Sandwich

Sweetcheeks Pistachio & Lemon Zest Loaf

Commended

Cakes Divine Carrot Cupcakes

Mummy’s Yummys Indulgent Chocolate Brownies

Rebel Bakery GF Big Apple Pie

Silver Box Bakery Brownies

The Newburn Bakehouse Lemon and Poppyseed Muffins

12. Chocolate and snack bars– sponsored by Amy’s Kitchen

Winner

Sainsbury’s FreeFrom Mint Crisps

Highly Commended

BoojaBooja Around Midnight Espresso Chocolate Truffles
Winning Ways Fine Foods Ltd Dairy Free Choc covered Raisins

Commended

Kinnerton Luxury Dark Chocolate

13. Christmas foods – sponsored by Genon Laboratories

Winner

Hale & Hearty Luxury Mince Pies

New Pictures for Simply Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Paperback…

April 15, 2013 in New book | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 comment

My publishers decided to do another cover for the paperback version of my book Simply Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free (which has just come out). We sat down and thought about possibilities… We came up with a the idea of showing either a bread, a pizza, perhaps a tart or even Salmon en Croȗte. So we shot a new version of the Tomato Tart and we also shot a revised version of the Roasted Onion and Lemon Thyme Tart, adding figs to make it look visually punchy. But, in the end, these looked too similar to the cover for my first book, The Best Gluten-Free, Wheat-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes.

Tomato-Tart

Fig-&-Red-Onion-Tart

(We swapped the image of the Roasted Onion, Fig and Lemon Thyme Tart in the inside of the book, and I tweaked the recipe, too.)

We also shot a new version of the Salmon en Croȗte, (and used this new photograph inside, too), but it didn’t work as a cover image.

Salmon-Encroute

We shot a Seedy Bread and also the Rosemary Focaccia but these, too, didn’t work as a cover image. What did work, though, was the pizza. It came out looking completely delicious and seemed to underline the message of the book – that cooking gluten-free and dairy-free can be truly easy. So we went with it – and I love it. I had changed artichokes and olives for peppers and pine nuts in the recipe, to make it more colourful – and I think the colours now sing and the whole thing looks brilliant!

Pizza-2_RETOUCHEDuzma2

Chargrilled Pepper, Parma Ham and Pine Nut Pizza

gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, seed-free, citrus-free

Serves 2     Preparation time 25 minutes, plus 30 minutes rising     Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 6 tbsp passata
  • 2 tbsp tomato purée
  • 80g/2¾oz/1 cup drained, bottled or tinned chargrilled peppers in oil, cut into strips
  • 50g/1¾oz Parma ham, thinly sliced
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 10 large basil leaves, torn into little pieces
  • 30–60g/1–2¼oz/⅓–⅔ cup soya cheese, shaved
  • 25g/1oz pine nuts, toasted

Pizza Dough:

  • 85g/3oz/scant ½ cup brown rice flour, plus extra for rolling the dough
  • 85g/3oz/¾ cup gram flour
  • 30g/1¼oz/¼ cup maize flour
  • scant ½ tsp xanthan gum
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dried active yeast
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  1. To make the pizza dough, sift the flours, xanthan gum, salt and yeast into a large mixing bowl and, using a metal whisk, mix thoroughly. Add the oil and mix in gently. Pour in 100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup warm water and, using either a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly. It will be sticky. Alternatively, sift the flours, xanthan gum, salt and yeast into a food processor. Blend to mix together, then add the oil and blend well. Add 100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup warm water, a little at a time, and continue blending to form a soft dough. Process for 3–4 minutes to aerate the dough. Put the dough in a clean bowl, cover with cling film and leave to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7 and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Turn the dough out again onto a lightly floured surface and knead a little, then shape it into a ball. Flatten the dough slightly, roll it out into a large circle about 5mm/¼in thick and neaten the edge, using a sharp knife. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet.
  3. Put the passata and tomato purée in a bowl and mix well, then spread it over the pizza base and place the peppers, ham, cherry tomatoes and basil over the top. Bake for 12 minutes until the base is starting to turn brown and the tomato sauce is bubbling. Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle the cheese and pine nuts over the top, then return to the oven for 3–4 minutes until the cheese has started to melt. Serve immediately.

The Paperback Version of Simply Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free is Being Published This Month!

April 6, 2013 in New book | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

SimplyGluten_Nov12

Here’s the new cover for the paperback version of my book, Simply Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free, that is being published next Thursday. YAY!!

I’ve been so pleased with the way this book has been going. It received lots of great review coverage, including Waitrose Weekend who said –

“Simply delicious recipes…[it] features a range of easy but delicious recipes for all meals – and is the ideal family cookbook for those on a restricted diet.”

Vegetarian Living, Now Diet and Taste Italia all published extracts, and InterAction, the magazine for Action for M.E. and Freefromrecipesmatter.com both recommended it. And woman&home.com voted it one of the 5 best allergy cookbooks. They said –

“Cooking for a guest with a food intolerance? Or simply not sure where to begin when cooking from scratch? Grace Cheetham has been living with food-allergies from a young age so she understands just how daunting free-from cooking can be. She’s developed a collection of tasty classic breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes which forgo gluten and dairy but are still straightforward to make.”

The book was Americanized and published in the US, and also translated into Brazilian (and published by Publifolha 2011), Danish (and published by Paludans Forlag 2012) and French Canadian (and published by Editions Ada 2012).

And now onto the paperback version…! We weren’t sure that we’d got the cover right on the hardback edition, so decided to do a different cover for the paperback. We were worried that the cupcakes on the original hardback made it seem that the book was just sweet baking, whereas it’s all types of meals – with the focus on making it as easy as possible. So DBP (my publisher) very kindly set up a day’s photography shoot in order to get a new image for the cover. We ended up with a gorgeous-looking pizza picture (this pic below is just a picture I took with my phone) which we all fell in love with. I think it says everything about the book – that you can have delicious food, that’s gluten-free and dairy-free – all done as simply as possible.

pizza on shoot

I went to the shoot – and had a great time watching my recipes come to life. The home economist, Jayne Cross, cooked and styled the recipes brilliantly.

pizza on shoot 4

And Gail Jones, the art director, and Toby Scott, the photographer, and his assistant, Ben, took fantastic pictures.

pizza on shoot 2

pizza on shoot 3

I adapted the original recipe a little. It was an Artichoke, Parma Ham & Olive Pizza and became a Chargrilled Pepper, Parma Ham & Pine Nut Pizza, in order to make it more visually appealing (and revised the recipe inside the book). I also tweaked the recipe for the Roasted Onion & Lemon Thyme Tart, adding figs – and the team shot that, plus another version of the Salmon en Croȗte, the Tomato Tart and the Rosemary Focaccia. These aren’t their professional shots – just me hopping about with my phone…

fig tart shoot

salmon en croute

tomato tart shootfocaccia shoot

Many thanks to everyone involved – I love the new shots and the new cover!

pizza shoot team

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Easter Loaf in a Breadmaker

March 26, 2013 in Bread | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 comments

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Easter Loaf

Recently Panasonic asked me if I would like to try their breadmaker for their Ideas Kitchen. I’ve never used a breadmaker before, so I was really excited – especially when the delivery guy turned up with a beautiful, shiny machine the following day. In truth, it’s very, very simple, and it saves you having to do the hard-work-mixing (ie whisking the water into the dry ingredients to aerate the dough) – either by hand or in a stand mixer/food processor – and cleaning the messy bowl. Just mix together the dry ingredients, pour the water into the machine, and then the dry mix. And leave the breadmaker making little noises every now and then (much to Zoë’s delight) and creating delicious aromas.

I made an Easter loaf – with chopped apricots, ground mixed spice and lemon zest. It’s sweet from the small amount of sugar and the apricots, and the flavours sing through. It came out wonderfully moist, with a good rise and a fantastic crust.

gluten-free, dairy-free, soya-free, egg-free, nut-free, seed-free

Makes 1 loaf     Preparation time 10 minutes     Cooking time 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 60g potato starch
  • 60g cornstarch
  • 150g brown rice flour
  • 50g maize flour
  • 50g gram flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp ground mixed spice
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • zest of ½ lemon
  • 150g unsulphured dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp dried active yeast
  1. Remove the bread pan and set the kneading blade.
  2. Sift the flours into a large mixing bowl, add the salt, sugar, spice, xanthan gum and lemon zest and, using a metal whisk, mix thoroughly.
  3. Pour 350ml tepid water into the bread pan.
  4. Add the flour mixture, then add the chopped apricots. Wipe the outside of the bread pan to remove any flour or liquid.
  5. Put the bread pan into the Bread Maker, turn slightly clockwise and close the lid.
  6. Place the dry yeast in the yeast dispenser.
  7. Select the bake menu number 12 by pressing the Menu pad.
  8. Press the Start pad to start the machine.
  9. When the machine has finished, press the Stop pad, remove the bread and leave to cool on a wire rack.

*If your Panasonic breadmaker does not have a yeast dispenser, then add the yeast with the flour as per point 4.

Please note, when I tested this I found that the paddle remained in the loaf which may be caused by the gluten free flour used.

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Paella

March 22, 2013 in Family meals | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

paella Madhouse

If you’ve been watching What’s Cooking on Channel 4, you may have seen Jo Pratt cooking up a storm during the first week. I first met Jo a few years’ ago, when she was planning her first (gorgeous-looking and hugely successful) book In the Mood for Food. She wrote another after that, went off and had two beautiful babies and has returned to the world of TV, books and other foodie things with her new book Madhouse Cookbook, which I’ve been working on with her.

The premise of the book is really simple. It’s billed as a life-transforming collection of recipes for busy parents – for surviving the stressful week, coping with hectic weekends and enabling you to cling onto your social life. All of the dishes have been devised to make life easy – with shortened preparation and cooking times, brilliant plan-ahead tips and ‘Lifesaver’ and ‘Leftover’ mini-recipes to make those precious moments you spend cooking go further.

I made her Baked Seafood Paella yesterday. As Jo says, this is a “real-life recipe”. You don’t need a special paella pan and, instead of having to stir and continually do things, you simply prep it then put it in the oven and let it cook itself. It really is spectacularly easy – and it’s a great recipe if you’re having friends round for dinner, as well as a lovely one for the whole family.

gluten-free, dairy-free, soya-free, egg-free, nut-free, seed-free,

Makes: 4 adult portions     Preparation time: 20 minutes     Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
  • 300g/10½oz/1⅓ cups paella rice
  • 250ml/9fl oz/1 cup dry white wine
  • a large pinch of saffron strands
  • 1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika or standard sweet paprika
  • 750ml/26fl oz/3 cups hot gluten-free and dairy-free fish or chicken stock
  • 500g/1lb 2oz shellfish, such as mussels and/or clams
  • 2 medium squid tubes, cut into rings
  • 150g/5½oz/scant 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted, or fresh green beans, chopped
  • 8–12 raw, whole king prawns
  • ½ small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Scrub the mussels thoroughly with a stiff brush under cold running water to remove all traces of grit, then remove any barnacles or other debris attached to the shells and pull off and discard any beards. Rinse again and discard any mussels that stay open.
  2. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
  3. Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole over a medium heat, add the onion, garlic and red pepper and fry for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened. Stir in the rice for a minute or so until it is coated in the oil, then add the wine, saffron, paprika and stock. Stir well and bring to the boil, then bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
  4. Stir in the mussels and/or clams, squid and peas and season lightly with salt and pepper. Nestle the prawns into the surface. Return to the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the seafood is cooked through. Make sure all the prawns are pink and discard any mussel or clam shells that haven’t opened.
  5. Sprinkle over the parsley and serve with lemon wedges. Provide empty bowls for the shells, and a few finger bowls of warm water and plenty of napkins for messy fingers.

Paella Mixta:
If your friends aren’t massively into seafood, then make your paella with chicken and chorizo. Add 150g/5½oz thickly sliced or chopped chorizo and 4 roughly chopped chicken thighs to the fried onion and cook until the chicken is golden. Add the rice and follow the recipe as above, but just using prawns and not the mussels or squid.

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Birthday Dragon Cake

March 14, 2013 in Chocolate Cakes, Entertaining | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 comments

ioc dragon cake

I’ve never made a show-off decorated cake before… Or, indeed, anything with show-stopper decorating before. But, with Zoë’ in my world now, many things are changing… Up until now, I’ve done fairly simple cakes for her birthday parties. But her best friend, Ivy, had had a Peppa Pig cake for her 3rd birthday and then had a Princess Castle one for her 4th birthday. Zoë’s birthday is 5 weeks after Ivy’s and, as her 4th birthday approached, I realised I was going to have to step up to the mark.

I decided to try something from Juliet Stallwood’s book, Icing on the Cake. Billed as the ultimate step-by-step guide to decorating baked treats, the book tells you that “like your very own fairy godmother, Juliet Stallwood will transform you from humble home baker to icing queen with a wave of her piping nozzle!” Great – sounds like just what I needed!

Zoë and I chose the Dragon Cake. I made it in a slightly different order to the recipe below, just because I only had the evenings to make it in, plus I was making a gluten-free and dairy-free version, and I find that dairy-free frosting works better if it’s chilled in the fridge. I started off by making 2 gluten-free and dairy-free sponges – that was Thursday night, after work. Then, on Friday night , I made a dairy-free frosting and then left it in the fridge to chill and firm up. Then I rolled out some modelling paste and coloured them. I used natural colours, which is why it ended up pink and yellow – (plus Zoë loves pink). I made all the parts for the dragon and left them to harden overnight. I remember texting a friend a picture of the bits at about 11pm at night and then heading off to bed, slightly nervous…

Dragon bits

The following morning, I sandwiched and covered the cakes with the frosting, and then covered the whole thing with a layer of the modelling paste. Modelling paste feels a little weird at first, but once you get used to how stiff it is to work with, it gets easy. Then I attached all the dragon and flame bits and I started to smile for the first time in the whole process… It had seemed like it was going to be difficult and it took quite some time. But, in fact, it was fairly easy. And it felt FANTASTIC when I’d finished it.

ioc kids

Zoë was suitably impressed. So were all her friends. Yay! Now I’ve just got to go one better next year…!

gluten-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, seed-free, citrus-free

Makes 1 cake

Ingredients:

  • icing sugar, for dusting
  • 150g/5½oz coloured modelling paste (I used a natural red dye and added just a few drops to the paste, and kneaded it in, to make pink)
  • 60g/2¼oz coloured modelling paste (I used a natural yellow dye and added a few drops then kneaded)
  • 2 x 20cm/8in round sponge cakes (I made gluten-free and dairy-free chocolate ones)
  • 1 recipe quantity frosting (I made a dairy-free chocolate one)
  • 100g/3½oz seedless raspberry jam
  • 800g/1lb 12oz white sugar paste
  • 200g/7oz red-coloured sugar paste (I used a natural red dye and added lots of drops then kneaded)
  • edible glue or cooled, boiled water (I used boiled water)
  • 5g/¹⁄8oz black-coloured sugar paste (I used a raisin, instead)

You will need:

  • small rolling pin
  • 5mm/¼in marzipan spacers (optional)
  • sharp knife
  • dragon and flame templates (see this link)
  • tray lined with baking parchment
  • 20cm/8in round cake drum
  • small paintbrush
  • ruler
  1. Dust the work surface with a little icing sugar, then knead the first colour of modelling paste until it is soft and pliable. Roll out the kneaded modelling paste until it is 5mm/¼in thick, using marzipan spacers if you like, and cut out the dragon’s head, ears, body and legs, using the templates. Indent the toes and mouth with the sharp knife, then smooth the edges of all the parts with your fingers. Repeat with the second colour of modelling paste to make the tummy and wings, indenting the line details on both parts with the sharp knife and smoothing the edges with your fingers. Without assembling the dragon, transfer the parts to the prepared tray and leave to dry overnight, uncovered, in a cool, dry place. Roll the trimmings into balls and store in an airtight container so the modelling paste does not dry out.
  2. When the dragon parts have dried and, using the cake drum as a firm base, layer the sponge cakes, then fill with frosting and jam to make one tall 20cm/8in cake. Cover the cake with the remaining frosting. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours. When the frosting has set, dust the work surface with a little icing sugar, then knead the white sugar paste until it is soft and pliable. To cover the cake with the kneaded sugar paste, roll out the kneaded sugar paste until it is 5mm/¼in thick, using marzipan spacers if you like. Carefully lift the rolled sugar paste and gently place it over the top and side of the cake, taking care not to stretch or pull it. Use your hands to smooth it over the top and side of the cake, making sure to smooth out any air bubbles. Trim off any excess sugar paste at the base of the cake with the sharp knife. Roll the trimmings into a ball and store in an airtight container so the sugar paste does not dry out and crack.
  3. Dust the work surface with icing sugar, then knead half of the red sugar paste until it is soft and pliable. Roll out the kneaded sugar paste quite thinly and cut out about 10 flames, using the template. Brush the back of each flame with edible glue or water, then press them vertically onto the side of the cake. Repeat with the remaining red sugar paste until the side of the cake is covered in flames.
  4. Brush the back of the dragon’s body and head with a little edible glue or water, then attach them to the top of the cake. Attach the ears, tummy, legs and wings, securing each part with edible glue. To make the nose, roll a tiny ball of the first colour of modelling paste, then flatten it slightly and indent with the end of the paintbrush. To make the eye, roll out a very small ball of the remaining white sugar paste. For the pupil, roll out a tiny ball of black sugar paste and attach it to the eye (although I used a raisin), then attach an even tinier ball of white sugar paste to the top of the pupil, flattening it slightly as you do so. Attach the nose and eye to the head with edible glue or water. To make the tail, roll the remaining first colour of modelling paste into a long, tapered sausage about 15cm/6in long. Flatten the wider end of the sausage to form the base of the tail, then attach the base to the top of the cake with edible glue or water, making sure it lines up squarely with the body. Mould a tiny ball of the second colour of modelling paste into a triangle and attach it to the tail tip with edible glue or water. Curl the end of the tail slightly to form an s-shape over the top and side of the cake, securing it in place with edible glue or water. Roll the remaining second colour of modelling paste into tiny balls, then attach them to the body and head of the dragon with edible glue or water, flattening them slightly as you do so. Leave the cake overnight to allow the sugar and modelling pastes to dry.
  5. Tips: You will need to make the dragon parts at least a day before they are needed. And you can change the expression of the dragon by altering the position of the pupil.

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Pizza Delivery from Dominos

March 4, 2013 in Restaurant Review | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 comments

dominos

dominos chimichurri

dominos farmhouse

dominos vegaroma

Recently I was asked whether I’d like to try the new gluten-free pizza delivery from Domino’s. Free pizza, that’s gluten-free? Sure!!

I asked the PR people whether they could guarantee that it would be dairy-free as well and, after a few emails, decided that it sounded safe to try. Apparently, Dominos have spent the past four years developing their gluten-free (and dairy-free) pizza base and it’s endorsed by Coeliac UK. They also say that, because all Domino’s pizza are made to order from scratch, you can have a pizza that’s dairy-free, too. When I asked for confirmation that there wouldn’t be any cross-contamination, the PR lady came back with the following –

One team member will take ownership of each gluten-free pizza from the start to the end of the makeline. The gluten-free bases are made in dedicated central production facilities and every gluten-free base is stores in a sealed pouch before use. Before opening the base, the team member must wash their hands. New pizza screens will be used where possible. If not, the screen will be visually checked to ensure it is clean before a gluten-free base is placed on it. We have carried out extensive testing to prove that any gluten on the screen does not transfer to the gluten-free pizza. Fresh sauce, a clean spoodle and a clean cutter will be used for all gluten-free pizzas. Within each store, a manager or appointed person will conduct a hot rack check to confirm pizza is on the correct base, correctly topped and boxed before it is sent for delivery. I believe that this should remove the issue of cross contamination with dairy, as anything that goes on/near the base is washed thoroughly.

Sounds all good, I thought, and went onto the website to order. Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t make the website work (and got a little confused anyway, because the g-f symbols arent consistent). So I called up my local branch and… 15 minutes later… finally finished the call. The woman I first spoke to said that they didn’t do dairy-free. I asked to speak to someone else so she passed me onto another woman who said point blank that they didn’t do dairy-free pizzas. When I pressed her on this (saying that the PR people had asked me to try the pizzas and had assured me that dairy-free was possible), she said that she couldn’t give 100% guarantee that they’d be completely dairy-free. So we talked… and talked… and, in the end, she said that, yes, the team member will wash their hands before making the pizza and, yes, they will use a completely clean screen for it, and that all the equipment and the sauce is guaranteed to be fresh/clean. So I decided to give it a go…

I ordered the Chimichurri (chicken breast strips, red and yellow peppers with a drizzle of Chimichurri sauce – apparently this is the result of a competition on ITV’s This Morning). And I also ordered the Farmhouse (ham, onions, mushrooms) because I thought that Zoe would like it, and the Veg-a-Roma (sundried tomato & garlic sauce, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, herbs) because I love sundried tomatoes.

The pizza base was good. It’s crusty, it holds together well and, while it has a very bland taste, it does taste good (no obvious metallic or bitter aftertaste). And I liked the Chimichurri. The chicken was tender, the yellow and red peppers were really nice, and the sauce was was punchy and garlicy – great. Yay! A good-tasting gluten-free and dairy-free pizza that you can get delivered!

But when I tried the Farmhouse and the Veg-a-Roma, I was disappointed. The Farmhouse had hardly anything on it, and mostly tasted of the tomato sauce, which wasn’t particularly good. Pizza-loving Zoe tried it but didn’t want to eat anything other than the ham on the top. And the Veg-a-Roma again had very little toppings on it, and I didn’t think it tasted particularly of a sundried tomato & garlic sauce, but more of a sugary-sweet tomato sauce with slightly bitter green peppers.

Domino’s tell us that, while some gluten-free products attract a premium, Domino’s gluten-free pizza will be charged at the same price as its other pizzas. Which is great. But what seems to happen when you order it without cheese, is that they don’t make up the shortfall at all. So you end up with a pizza which can feel overpriced for what you’re getting. The Chimichurri is £13.99 which seemed fine because I liked it. But the Farmhouse (£11.99) and Veg-a-Roma (£13.99) didn’t.

So all in all, yes, the pizza’s seem to be safe for anyone who’s gluten-free. And, if you make sure the staff at your local branch understand that they need to be just as careful in terms of dairy-free, it seems to be safe, too. But it would be great if Domino’s would look at what they could do to add extra to the cheese-less versions…

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