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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.
(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.
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!
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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
I made pizza for Zoë’s 4th birthday party this year. We had 16 little ones running around our home and garden and Zoë had a great time. (The mess at the end, though, was jaw-droppingly terrible!) Most kids love pizza – and it’s one of Zoë’s absolute favourites. Of course it’s delicious but it also makes a great finger food meal for them when they’re learning to eat, so they usually start eating pizza from an early age and know that they love it.
We didn’t do a formal sit-down tea, so the pizza worked well (along with hummus, carrot and cucumber sticks and ice cream) as they could run around, dipping into the food whenever they wanted. I also made a Pink Dragon Cake – but I’ll tell you about that another time…
gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Serves 2 Preparation time 25 minutes, plus 1 hour rising Cooking time 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 6 tbsp passata
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 80g/2¾oz/scant 1 cup drained, bottled or tinned chargrilled peppers oil, cut into slices
- 50g/1¾oz Parma ham, thinly sliced
- 8–10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 30–60g/1–2¼oz/⅓–⅔ cup soya cheese, shaved
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
- To make the pizza dough, sift the flours, xanthan gum and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and, using a metal whisk, mix thoroughly. Add the oil and mix in. Pour in 100ml/3½fl oz/scant ½ cup warm water and, using either a wooden spoon or your hands, mix to form a soft dough. Alternatively, sift the flours, xanthan gum and salt into a food processor. Add the yeast and blend to mix together. 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.
- 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, if you like. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet.
- Put the passata and tomato purée in a bowl and mix well, then spread it over the pizza base and sprinkle with the peppers, ham and tomatoes. 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 over the top, then return to the oven for 3–4 minutes until the cheese has started to melt. Serve immediately.
Full of the flavours of the Mediterranean, this recipe transports you to sun-drenched Italy! As someone who has been intolerant to gluten and dairy for many, many years, I’ve generally stayed away from Italian food, thinking that it’s mainly based around pasta, pizza and a lot of cheese. But when we went to Tuscany recently, I discovered that real Italian food is a wonderfully, all-embracing cuisine. Of course there’s pasta and pizza and of course there are many different cheese showcased throughout the menus. But there’s also a delicious range of recipes that create little bites of heaven with vegetables, meat, fish and fruit, as well. In Tuscany I gained enormous respect for the way Italians work with local produce and hope that this (dairy-free) Italian-style recipe does the cuisine justice.
gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Serves 4 Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 35 minutes
Ingredients:
Dairy-Free Pesto:
- 60g/2¼oz basil leaves
- 30g/1oz/scant ¼ cup pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 50g/1¾oz dairy-free cheese
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 large aubergines, sliced widthways and ends removed
- 3–4 tbsp olive oil
- 6 large tomatoes, sliced and ends removed
- 200g/7oz dairy-free soya cheese, cut into small square-shaped slices
- 1 large, ripe avocado
- a few basil leaves, to serve
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and put the aubergine slices onto a baking tray. Drizzle over the oil and bake for 20 minutes until tender.
- Meanwhile, make the pesto. Heat a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pine nuts and dry-fry until just starting to turn golden. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Wash the basil and pat dry in a clean kitchen towel. Put the pine nuts, basil, garlic and dairy-free cheese into a food processor and blitz. With the motor running, pour the oil until a thick, dense sauce forms.
- When the aubergines have cooked, put a slice of tomato on top of each aubergine slice. Then put a small dollop of the pesto sauce on top and cover with a slice of dairy-free cheese.
- Return to the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the dairy-free cheese is starting to turn golden. Remove from the oven.
- To make the stacks, put one pile of aubergine/tomato/pesto/dairy-free cheese on top of another, on a serving plate, using the smaller piles to put on top of the larger ones. Press the stacks down slightly to anchor them. This will make about 12 stacks.
- Cut the avocado into quarters and remove the skins and stone. Slice each quarter into thirds and half each slice. Top the stacks with a couple of pieces of avocado each and sprinkle the basil over. Serve hot or cold.
One of the brilliant things about this dish is that the beetroot is soft and sweet. I usually either roast or juice beetroots but when I roasted some the other day, they came out of the oven really dry and uninspiring. So this dish started because I wanted to poach the beetroots and get a lovely tender result. Fennel seemed a natural partner because, although it takes on the colour of the beetroot, it keeps its beautiful aniseed taste – so when you add the wonderfully rich soya cheese, this dish becomes a great collection of flavours, rather than just a mixture. The flavours soak into the quinoa, making this supergrain delicious and the puy lentils give it some bite.
gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Ingredients:
- 150g/5½oz/heaped 1 cup quinoa
- 200g/7oz/1 cup puy lentils
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into quarters
- 3 beetroots, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 250ml/9fl oz/1 cup gluten- and dairy-free stock
- 2 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
- 100g/3½oz soya cheese, crumbled
- sea salt and black pepper (optional)
- Rinse the lentils thoroughly and put them in a large bowl. Cover with water and leave to soak overnight or for at least 12 hours, then drain, rinse well and drain again.
- Put the lentils in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer for 40 minutes until soft. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the fennel, cover the pan with a lid and cook, shaking occasionally, for about 5 minutes until the fennel is starting to brown. Add in the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds, then add the beetroot slices, making sure that everything sits on the base of the pan. Pour in the stock, add the thyme, and season lightly if you want. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and leave to simmer for about 40 minutes, until the beetroot is tender.
- Meanwhile, put the quinoa in a sieve and rinse well. Transfer to a saucepan and pour over 250ml/9fl oz/1 cup cold water. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer for 15–20 minutes until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed. If there is any water left, drain the quinoa thoroughly. Transfer to the serving bowl and mix together with the puy lentils.
- Heap the cooked fennel and beetroot on top of the quinoa and puy lentil mixture, taking care not to break up the fennel when taking it out of the pan. Scatter the cheese on top and serve either hot or cold.
This is truly delicious! The combination of the sweet squash, the earthy mushrooms, spinach and the pine nuts and the fresh, woody flavours of the parsley all combine beautifully with the strong soya cheese taste. Bite through the crispy, light pastry into the soft, melting centre, with the crunchy pine nuts interspersed – and enjoy!
gluten-free, dairy-free, yeast-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Serves 4–6 Preparation time 15 minutes, plus 30 minutes chilling Cooking time 15 minutes
Ingredients:
Light Pastry:
- 1 potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 100g/3½oz/heaped ½ cup rice flour, plus extra as needed
- 40g/1½oz/heaped ¹⁄₃ cup gram flour
- 40g/1½oz/scant ¹⁄₃ cup maize flour
- ½ tsp sea salt, crushed, plus extra to season
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 125g/4½oz chilled dairy-free margarine, diced, plus extra for greasing
- 1 large egg, beaten
Filling:
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 500g/1lb 2oz butternut squash, peeled and finely diced
- 200g/7oz mushrooms, sliced
- 50g/1¾oz/⅓ cup pine nuts
- 200g/7oz baby spinach leaves
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 large handfuls finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 200g/7oz dairy-free soya cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat the oven to 1800°C/350°F/Gas 4. To make the filling, put the butternut squash and mushrooms into a large casserole dish and drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil over. Cover with a lid, shake the dish a little to spread the oil around and bake for about 50 minutes, until the squash is tender. Carefully drain all of the juice out and leave to one side.
- Meanwhile, to make the Light Pastry, put the potato in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil over a high heat , then turn the heat down to medium and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain immediately, then mash until smooth.
- Sift the flours, salt and xanthan gum into the bowl of a food processor with the dough blade attached and blend to mix together. Add the dairy-free margarine and blend until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the mashed potato and blend for a few seconds until mixed in. Add the egg and blend for 20–30 seconds until the mixture comes together to form a sticky dough. There should be a little extra moisture at the base of the bowl. If it is too dry, gradually blend in 1–2 tablespoons chilled water. If too sticky, add a little rice flour.
- Shape the pastry into a ball, wrap it in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Heat a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pine nuts and dry-fry until just starting to turn golden. Remove from the heat, remove the pine nuts and leave to one side.
- Wash the spinach thoroughly and put in the frying pan. Cook over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes until the spinach has wilted, stirring occasionally. Put the spinach into a fine sieve and push all the juice out of the leaves with the back of a spoon. Drain the liquid from the pan and leave the spinach to one side.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of the oil in the pan and add the onion. Fry for about 3–4 minutes until starting to turn golden, then add the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds. Add the flat-leaf parsley and fry for about a minute until just wilted. Add the butternut squash, mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach and the soya cheese. Season lightly with salt and pepper and mix together gently but thoroughly.
- Turn the oven up to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6. Liberally dust a large chopping board with rice flour and roll out the pastry into a large rectangle about 3mm/1/8in thick, about 30cm/12in x 40cm.16in. Be careful as the pastry will still be slightly sticky. Put a piece of baking parchment about 10cm/4in wider than the pastry over it and hold it in place with one hand. Turn the board over and carefully put the baking parchment, with the pastry on top of it, on the work surface.
- Put the filling in the centre of the pastry, making sure you leave about 10cm/4in on each side to fold over the top. Using a sharp knife, cut a square of pastry away from each corner of the pastry. Discard these pieces or use them to decorate the top of the pastry, if you like. Using the baking parchment to keep the pastry together, fold the two long sides of pastry over the filling so that the edges overlap slightly. Carefully smooth the pastry along the seam with your fingers to secure it. Fold the two short ends of the pastry over just to seal the sides, trimming with a sharp knife if they are too long. Smooth the pastry at the seams again. Using a pastry brush, brush all of the egg over the top of the pastry, particularly at the seams and cut 3 slits in the top of the pastry to let the steam out.
- Bake for 35–40 minutes until the pastry is a rich, golden brown and serve hot.
These really are delicious. Unfortunately I didn’t get much as Peter polished off a couple and then Zoe ate not only hers, but most of mine, too!
I’ve used a lot of water in the pastry mixture because this makes it much easier to process it in a food processor, but it also means that it is malleable enough to work with it when you’re folding the pastry. If it’s fairly dry (like traditional pastry made with gluten) it will crack. Plus it cooks better when you add more liquid – without catching or burning. You’ll find it very sticky, but bear with me!
Spinach is an amazing food to cook with. It’s delicious, packed with nutrients (it contains 13 different antioxidants, it’s rich in lutein which helps to guard against eye disease and is bursting with calcium, magnesium and vitamin K) and it has a great texture when cooked – perfect for these pastries.
gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Ingredients:
Pastry:
- 120g/4¼oz/¾ cup rice flour
- 120g/4¼oz/1¼ cups gram flour
- 60g/2¼oz/scant ½ cup buckwheat flour
- 50g/1¾oz/⅓ cup maize flour
- ½ tsp dried active yeast
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- ½ tsp crushed sea salt
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Filling:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 500g/1lb 2 oz baby spinach, thoroughly washed
- 3 tbsp sultanas
- 3 tbsp pine nuts
- 100g soya cheese, grated or crumbled
- ½ tsp allspice
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- To make the pastry, sift the flours, yeast, xanthan gum and salt 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 300ml/10½fl oz/1¼ cups warm water and process for 10 minutes to aerate the dough. It will be very sticky!
- Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, to make the filling, put the pine nuts in a frying pan over a medium-low heat and dry-fry for a 2–3 minutes, shaking the pan frequently, until the nuts have turned golden brown. Remove and leave to one side.
- Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan or wok over a medium heat and add the garlic. Fry for about 30 seconds then add the spinach leaves, working in batches if necessary. Cook the spinach for 2–3 minutes until wilted. Remove and put into a fine sieve. Using the back of a metal spoon, push any excess liquid through. (Don’t discard the liquid, though, as it’s full of vitamins – drink it, instead!)
- Mix together the pine nuts, spinach, garlic and the sultanas and allspice and season lightly.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4 and put a sheet of baking paper onto a baking sheet. Liberally dust a large chopping board with rice flour. Transfer the dough to the board and roll it round gently, so that it can absorb enough rice flour for you to be able to work with it, sprinkling more rice flour onto the board whenever you need it. You want it to be dry enough that it won’t stick to the board. Divide the dough into quarters and gently roll out a piece of pastry to a rectangular shape, about 5mm/¼in thick. Working quickly, put a quarter of the mixture in a wide line in the middle of the pastry and cover with a quarter of the soya cheese. Turn the ends of the pastry up and then fold the sides over, making sure that the last side folds over the first side slightly. Turn the pastry over carefully, using a metal spatula to pick it up from the chopping board if you need to. Place on the baking paper and repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve either hot or cold.
Jenny from Juvela very kindly sent me some samples of the Juvela range of products (many thanks, Jenny!) and I thought the Tagliatelle was great – incredibly easy to cook, with no need to add oil or keep stirring to stop it sticking together. And it’s made from good ingredients – Maize starch, Egg, Rice Starch, Emulsifier (Mono- & Diglycerides of Fatty Acids).
I tend to eat gluten-free pasta that’s either got a lot of corn in it, or made completely with corn – so they’re always a yellow colour. Having a beautifully light – almost cream-coloured – pasta in my cupboard inspired me to make a very light/fresh-coloured dish. So I made a Watercress & Pea Tagliatelle. Watercress is an often-unsung food hero. With a spectacularly unique, peppery taste, it’s absolutely packed with nutrition. It normally comes into season May–October but I found some last weekend. So, when autumn arrives and most of the seasonal veggies are root veggies or squashes, watercress stands out as a wonderfully fresh, zingy ingredient to work with. (I have cheated, though, and used completely non-seasonal frozen peas, too!)
gluten-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, nut-free, seed-free
Preparation time 5 minutes Cooking time 10–12 minutes Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 150g/5½oz gluten-free tagliatelle or other gluten-free pasta
- 200g/7oz shelled peas
- 2 egg yolks
- juice ½ lemon
- 200g/7oz/scant 1 cup soya yogurt
- 50g/1¾oz watercress
- 50g/1¾oz soya cheese, grated
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the tagliatelle and cook over a medium-high heat for 8–10 minutes, or according to the packet instructions.
- Meanwhile, put the peas in a steamer and steam, covered, over a high heat for 3–4 minutes until tender. Remove and set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and soya yogurt and set aside.
- Drain the tagliatelle and rinse well with boiling water, then drain again. Put the tagliatelle back in the saucepan and quickly stir in the egg mixture. Quickly add the peas and watercress, stir thoroughly and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with the grated soya cheese sprinkled over the top.
I work for a publishing house, Duncan Baird Publishers, where I run a list of cookery and natural health books – commissioning and managing them. This year we published a brilliant book called The Best Recipes for Babies & Toddlers by the founder of the Planet Organic stores, Renée Elliott. As Trudie Styler says, this book “is a wonderfully inspiring book for any parent trying to provide the best possible nutritional start for their baby”. This recipe is an adaptation of one of my favourites from her book – and one that I make for Zoe because she adores it.
In this recipe Renée soaks the rice overnight, using kefir or natural yogurt with the soaking water because of their beneficial bacteria and yeast cultures. I haven’t used kefir or yogurt but I’ve still soaked the rice, which breaks down any phytic acid (that can block absorption of minerals in your system) and also makes the rice much easier to digest. Brown basmati rice is a bit of an unsung hero, I think. You get the nutritional benefits of brown rice but it’s quicker and easier to cook. Renée also uses Cheddar cheese, which I’ve substituted with soya cheese, and gluten-free Worcestershire sauce which I couldn’t find, so I’ve used tamari instead.
This is delicious hot but also cold, too – so it’s great for meals out and about. Thank you, Renée, for a wonderful recipe!
gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, seed-free, citrus-free
Preparation time 20 minutes, plus at least 7 hours soaking Cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes Serves 2 adults and 2 children
Ingredients:
- 175g brown basmati rice
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 55g pine nuts
- dairy-free margarine, for greasing
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 eggs
- 225g spinach
- 175g soya cheese, grated
- 1 tbsp tamari soy sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- Put the rice and 500ml warm water in a medium saucepan and leave to soak, covered, for 7 hours or overnight.
- Drain the rice, then return it to the pan and add the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil over a high heat, stir, then cover and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes until the rice is cooked.
- Meanwhile, put the spinach in a steamer and steam, covered, over a high heat for 3–4 minutes until wilted. Remove and drain thoroughly, pressing the spinach leaves with the back of a spoon to squeeze out any remaining liquid.
- Preheat the grill to medium. Put the pine nuts on a baking sheet and grill for 2–3 minutes until lightly browned, checking frequently to ensure they don’t burn. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 and grease a 20 x 20cm baking dish with dairy-free margarine. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and cook over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Remove from the heat.
- Put the eggs and spinach in a blender and blend for 1–2 minutes until smooth, then transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the pine nuts, onion, soya cheese, tamari, thyme and rosemary to the spinach mixture and mix well. Stir in the rice, then spoon the mixture into the baking dish.
- Bake for 45 minutes until lightly browned. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then serve.
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