Tag: gluten free

Potato Latkes

1 Comment
latkes

Potato Latkes

Ingredients

  • Potatoes
    • I use around 450g per batch.
  • 1 small red sweet onion, finely diced.
    • I have used brown onion as well for more of a hashbrown flavour.
  • 2 eggs, beaten.
  • 3T flour
  • Salt & pepper to taste.
  • Oil (or butter) for frying.
  • Toppings: sour cream & apple sauce.

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, gluten free, peanut free, tree nut free.

Directions:

  1. Grate the potato.
    • A food processor is great for this! I have also hand grated. In some countries you can buy bags of frozen pre-shredded potato.
    • Note: if using a food processor for the potato then you can also use it for the onion but remove the potato first.
  2. Squeeze the potato with your hands to remove excess moisture and then pat dry.
  3. Put the potato in a mixing bowl and add onion, eggs, seasonings, and flour. Mixture should be thick and cohesive.
  4. Heat and oil a frying pan and fry batches of potato mix (I use about 2T for each patty).
  5. Fry for several minutes on each side.
  6. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately or keep warm in the oven on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
    • If you want to wait and have everyone eat together then you can brown each side of the latkes on a higher temperature, cook for a slightly shorter time, and then finish them all off in the oven for 5-10 mins.

How to make amazing rotissere / BBQ style corn on the cob

1 Comment
wp-1485411539397.jpg

Amazing slow cooked corn

 

Want to make amazing corn on the cob? Slow cook it in chicken broth as part of this amazing roast chicken recipe.

How to make amazing rotissere / BBQ style chicken even if you’re working or just plain busy

5 Comments
Mixing spices
Chicken in the crockpot
Laying out the veggies
Chicken broth
Ready for the oven
Corn in broth
Thick gravy
Amazing slow cooked corn
Moist left over over chicken
Gorgeous roast chicken

This creates amazing melting-off-the-bone roast chicken with crispy skin and fantastic gravy. For best results (and practicality) it uses both a slow cooker and a oven. (The alternative is 5 hours in the oven but then you won’t get the amazing corn!).

Ingredients

  • Spice blend
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 1 tsp smoked paprika
    • 1 tsp onion powder
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • 1/2 tsp white pepper + 1/4 tsp black pepper (or just fresh grind in tri-colour peppercorns)
    • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 chicken to roast
  • Vegetables to roast (i.e. potatoes, zucchini, carrot, whole peeled garlic, corn-on-the-cob).
  • Oil (I like rice bran oil)
  • Potato flakes or cornstarch (for the gravy)

Allergy friendly: soy free, dairy free, gluten free, peanut free, tree nut free.

Tip: Whole peeled garlic is often sold in large bags; consider portioning it out into little bags and freezing it. You can pull it out of the freezer each time you have a roast.

Directions

  1. Mix the spice blend together.
  2. Peel the onion & top’n’tail it.
  3. Make sure the chicken is ready for cooking (i.e. giblets removed).
  4. Rinse the cavity and pat dry with a paper towel.
  5. Rub the spice blend over the chicken inside and out.
  6. Put the onion inside the chicken cavity.
  7. Put the chicken into the slow cooker.
    • A note on timing: You can rub the chicken the night before, wrap it in a plastic bag, and marinade it overnight in the fridge so that all you have to do in the morning is pop it in the slow cooker. The choice on whether to put the cooker on Low or High depends on how long it will be in there and how long you want to have it in the oven. My chicken wasn’t 100% defrosted so I had it on High in the slow cooker for 5 hours and then in the oven for 1.5 hours.
  8. Prepare your vegetables to roast.
    • I chop the potatoes up and put them in the steamer in the microwave for about 10 minutes to give them a bit of a head start before placing them in the roasting pan.  You can brush the veggies lightly with oil before placing the chicken on top – they just need a touch to keep from drying out before the fat from the chicken starts to drip out.
  9. Carefully pull the chicken out of the slow cooker and put it in the roasting pan. Baste it with the juices from the slow cooker.
  10. Roast the chicken for 60-90 mins. Start the oven at 180-200’C; you’ll be able to drop the temperature to 150’C and cover the chicken in tin foil once it has browned. Keep basting the chicken periodically with juices from the slow cooker.
  11. Put the corn-on-the-cob in the slow cooker (in the chicken juices) as soon as you take the chicken out. Cook on High for 60-90 minutes.
    • The juices will only cover the bottom of the corn; this is fine. It comes out cooked, still with a good steamed firmness, sweet, and lightly flavoured by the chicken broth.
  12. Once the chicken, roast veggies, and corn are all cooked, you can use the juices in the slow cooker to make gravy. You can use flour or cornstarch, or try potato flakes.  It’s not just that these are gluten free, it’s that they thicken the gravy quickly and don’t go lumpy like cornflour sometimes does. Add potato flakes gradually (leaving the slow cooker on) and stirring; I made my gravy quite thick.

Leftover roast chicken can be used for the next night, sandwiches, to make chicken fried rice, or as a pizza topping on a flat or scone base.

Chocolate Irish Potato Cake (Vegan & Allergy Friendly)

6 Comments
CHOCOLATE IRISH POTATO CAKE (VEGAN & ALLERGY FRIENDLY)
CHOCOLATE IRISH POTATO CAKE (VEGAN & ALLERGY FRIENDLY)

 

Ingredients

  • 4T ground linseed/flaxseed + 6T hot water
    • OR use 4 eggs.
  • 1c hot unseasoned mashed potato (instant is fine)
    • 1c of potato flakes + approx. 3/4c boiling water makes 1c mashed potato.
  • 1c hot water
  • 3/4c rice bran oil
    • OR 3/4c softened butter
  • 1 1/2c sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2c flour (or gluten free baking mix)
  • 2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4c cocoa
  • Optional: 1 tsp cinnamon

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, tree nut free, gluten free*.

Note: I’ve included ingredient options so that you can choose whether to use butter & eggs; I made mine without. It’s worth having a recipe like this even if you don’t have allergies. It’s great if you’ve run out of other ingredients (or would rather use the eggs for breakfast!), it’s cost effective, it’s allergy friendly to share with others, and you’re getting extra nutrients + fibre from the linseed. The other fabulous thing about linseed as an egg replacement is that it makes cakes and breads beautifully moist.

My inspiration for this recipe came from finding potato flakes in a bulk foods store and wondering what I could do with them. I gather from the internet that in some countries (like the USA) it’s reasonably common to find potato flakes or instant mashed potato at the supermarket; elsewhere, have a hunt in bulk food and health food stores.

Directions

Note: This is a thick batter and you’ll get the smoothest batter by using a food processor. You can also use a big mixing bowl and electric hand mixer but in that case you’ll want to go a bit slower (i.e. egg, beat, egg, beat, etc. and alternate the potato & dry ingredients) to blend & aerate it.

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180’C.
  2. Prepare your egg replacement. Use a bowl or mug, put in 4T ground linseed and 6T hot water. Mix and then leave it, for 5-10 mins, until needed (this gives the seeds time to absorb the water) it turns into a stretchy liquid that’s a bit thicker than egg.
  3. Mix up your mashed potato. You can use a bowl, put in 1c of potato flakes, and then slowly add 3/4 – 1 cup of boiling water while stirring until smooth. It turns into mashed potato very quickly.
  4. Slowly add 1c of hot water to the mashed potato stirring carefully to create a smooth liquid.
  5. In the food processor, blend the oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
  6. Add the linseed (egg-replacement) and blend.
  7. Add the liquidy potato.
  8. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, cinnamon and blend till smooth.
  9. Pour into a silicon cake tin.
  10. Cook for 25 min and check (a knife is likely to come out sticky); cook for another 15 mins and check (a knife is now likely to come out clean). Turn the oven off and leave the cake inside for another 10 minutes. Pull cake out and place on bench to cool.
  11. Dust with icing sugar.

This comes out as a beautifully moist, rich, chocolatey cake.

Alternatives:

  • If anyone successfully plays around with coconut flour/sugar, let me know. I wonder if it would turn out like a gluten-free Bounty Bar cake.
  • If you like coffee consider adding 2T dark roasted instant coffee when adding the dry ingredients.
  • For birthdays or special occasions, try splitting the batter between two cake tins. Layer the cakes with cherry, plum, or raspberry jam in between and a thick chocolate frosting on top.
  • For another allergy friendly chocolate cake, check out this Depression-Era Chocolate cake.

How to make chocolate peanut butter

1 Comment
wp-1485155114616.jpg

Oops – too thick to get smooth in the little pulser. It needs the food processor!

Ingredients

  • 2c (300g) shelled peanuts
    • I used 1/2c for my mini-batch; you probably want to do 2 cups at a time if you’re using it regularly.
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2T oil
    • You may want to use peanut oil. I used rice bran oil.
  • 1/2c (45g) cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2c (170g) powdered sugar

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, gluten free, tree nut free, contains peanuts.

For smooth peanut butter, click here.

My first attempt to make chocolate peanut butter ran into a power problem. I was trying to make a mini-batch in the pulser and the addition of cocoa + honey made it to thick for the motor. I was able to make something warm and delicious for dessert (that tasted like a Snickers bar) but it needed a full size batch in the actual food processor to make it smooth. I have therefore borrow quantities from InspiredTaste.

Directions

  1. Roasting gives the peanut butter more flavour. You can choose whether you want to buy roasted peanuts or roast them yourself (if purchasing pre-roasted, check the type of oil that has been used if you have a soy allergy). Roasting gives the peanut butter more flavour and helps to loosen the oils inside the peanuts to blend into a smoother butter.
    • Heat the oven to 180’C / 350’F and toast the peanuts on a baking sheet till they are golden and glossy with oil. This will take about 10 mins.
  2. Put peanuts, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of oil into a food processor.
    • Note: I used a little pulser/grinder but that will only cope with 1/2c peanuts.
  3. Blend for about a minute and then scrape down the sides with a plastic spatula. You’ll find it starts off looking a bit like crumbly breadcrumbs – this is normal!
  4. Blend again until shiny and smooth.
    • Add a teaspoon of oil at a time if you’re finding it dry.
  5. Add salt to taste (and sweetness if you prefer).

The whole process is really quick and will make smooth peanut butter.If you prefer crunchy peanut butter that’s easy too. Put only 1/3c of the peanuts into the blender to start and pulse until they’re chopped into tiny pieces; pull them out and reserve for later. Use the rest of the peanuts to make smooth peanut butter and then stir your crunchy bits back in.

Making your own peanut butter (turns out it’s easy!)

10 Comments

Home-made peanut butter & linseed bread

Ingredients

  • Shelled peanuts
    • I used 1/2c for my mini-batch; you probably want to do 2 cups at a time if you’re using it regularly.
    • Salt
    • Oil
    • Optional: sugar, maple syrup, or honey if you prefer it sweet.

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, gluten free, tree nut free, contains peanuts.

Commercial peanut butters often contain vegetable oil blends so check carefully if you have a soy allergy or make your own 🙂 We discovered this the hard way!

Directions

  1. Roasting gives the peanut butter more flavour. You can choose whether you want to buy roasted peanuts or roast them yourself (if purchasing pre-roasted, check the type of oil that has been used if you have a soy allergy). Roasting gives the peanut butter more flavour and helps to loosen the oils inside the peanuts to blend into a smoother butter.
    • Heat the oven to 180’C / 350’F and toast the peanuts on a baking sheet till they are golden and glossy with oil. This will take about 10 mins.
  2. Put peanuts, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of oil into a food processor.
    • Note: I used a little pulser/grinder but that will only cope with 1/2c peanuts.
  3. Blend for about a minute and then scrape down the sides with a plastic spatula. You’ll find it starts off looking a bit like crumbly breadcrumbs – this is normal!
  4. Blend again until shiny and smooth.
    • Add a teaspoon of oil at a time if you’re finding it dry.
  5. Add salt to taste (and sweetness if you prefer).

The whole process is really quick and will make smooth peanut butter.If you prefer crunchy peanut butter that’s easy too. Put only 1/3c of the peanuts into the blender to start and pulse until they’re chopped into tiny pieces; pull them out and reserve for later. Use the rest of the peanuts to make smooth peanut butter and then stir your crunchy bits back in.

Linseed Bread and Home made peanut butter

Prawn Fried Rice

1 Comment

 

Ingredients

  • 2c cooked rice (refrigerated from previous day)
  • 1 1/2c frozen vegetables
  • 1 1/2c prawns
  • Dried ginger
  • Sliced green onion
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Fish sauce
  • Oil (I like rice bran oil)
  • optional: coriander, chilli, lime slices.

This is the kind of recipe that you may want to make on the spur of the moment because you have leftover rice, or it may be something that you prep the night before so that you can whip up lunch or dinner the next day quickly.

In terms of prep time, the rice needs to have been cooked and cooled long enough. This changes it to resistant starch which will help it to stir fry. My personal preference is basmati rice (both for taste and that it holds together well in a wok); I made this with long grain white rice and it worked well enough but some of the cooked grains for break apart.

My prawns were frozen so I had both those and the veggies covered on the bench for the afternoon to defrost. They were cool when they went in the wok but not frozen so this leads to a quick cooking time.

Tip: I find that sliced green onion freezes well. I portion it out in little bags and then pull it out as needed for stir fries and pizza.

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, treenut free, gluten free. May not be suitable for people with fish or shellfish allergies.

Directions

  1. Cook your rice the day before. Personally, I like to use the rice cooker with water, salt, and rice bran oil.  As your rice cools give it a bit of a fluff (easier if you’ve used some oil in the cooking) and put it in the fridge to cool overnight.
  2. Prepare your vegetables. If you’re using frozen veggies then it’s a good idea to put them in the fridge at the same time as the rice so that it can defrost overnight. Alternatively, you might want to use something like grated carrot.
  3. Prepare your prawns. If frozen, make sure that they’ve defrosted slowly. Give them a rinse and pat dry.
  4. When you’re ready to cook, heat your wok nice and hot with some oil.
  5. Add the prawns and a pinch or two of ginger.
  6. Prawns aren’t as temperamental as squid but they don’t need a long cook time. About 5 minutes for prawns (and less if using shrimp instead).
  7. Add your vegetables.
  8. Add the rice. Keep moving it around to separate and coat the grains.
  9. Add a dash of fish sauce. Add sugar and salt to taste.
  10. Keep moving everything around so that it doesn’t stick; add more oil if needed.  Serve when hot through.
  11. Serve with condiments if desired (like chopped fresh coriander, fresh chillies, lime slices etc.).

Roast Pork Sirloin

3 Comments
dav
dav

Ingredients

  • Pork Sirloin roast
  • 4 crushed garlic cloves
  • 4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary / 2 tsp dried
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Olive oil
  • Optional: potatoes, carrots, zucchini etc. to roast.

Allergies: soy free, egg free, peanut free, dairy free, gluten free.

Directions

  • Prepare any vegetables that you want to roast. Personally, I used potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. I was useless at cooking potatoes and avoided doing so (using kumara instead) until I learned the trick of parboiling them (or similar). I chop them up and put them in the steamer in the microwave for about 10 minutes to give them a bit of a head start before placing them in the roasting pan.  You can brush the veggies lightly with olive oil before placing the pork on top – they just need a touch to keep from drying out before the fat from the pork starts to drip out.
  • Mix the garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper together. Moisten with a dash of olive oil. Rub it all over the pork.  Optional: I’m told that if you like garlic, you can also cut small slits in the pork fat and stick whole garlic cloves in to get some yummy roast garlic.
  • Place the fat side down. Place it on top of the potatoes etc. if you have any in the pan.
    • NOTE: I was rather puzzled when I read the initial recipe I was using as my pork roast was rolled and tied with string – it had fat all over! I shrugged and just chose a side to face up. Turns out this was an error (check out the photos below). If your roast is rolled up, cut the string and lay it flat with the fat facing the bottom of the pan. One end will be thicker as this cut is basically pork sirloin chops + pork belly.
  • Cook at 200’C for 30mins.
  • Check on the veggies and turn the roast over so that the fat is now on top. Roast for 25 mins.
  • Remove and stand for 10 minutes.

So… I’d never cooked one of these before and the rolled pork did seem to resemble the photo I saw on the internet. I didn’t realize that the string was supposed to be cut and the meat lay flat so the cooking (and learning) process took much longer than expected. My main concern was that the pork would dry out (a near thing!) so I was doing a lot of checking and basting towards the end. I also began to appreciate why some of my friends have a meat thermometer rather than needing to slice into the meat to check.

dav

I steam my potatoes in the microwave for about 10 mins before putting in the roasting pan.

dav
dav

Oops – I put the pork in rolled up (as it came). The veggies cooked but the pork was still pink when I unrolled it. All I’d managed to do in an hour was to start cooking the fat on each side of the roll!

dav
dav
dav

Rolling it out flat the meat and fat finally began to cook. After another 30 mins at 200’C there was definitely progress. By this point I was hungry and decided to speed things along.

dav
ROAST PORK SIRLOIN

I trimmed off the fat (just leaving a thin layer to provide moisture). I cooked it for about 20 mins at 180’C (basting regularly) and then grilled it to brown the thin layer of fat.

dav

All turned out well in the end with a good collection of roast pork.

dav

The fat I continued to cook to make crackling. The rendered fat and juices can be made into gravy or you can collect the fat as lard. Lard can be used for lots of things, for instance frying potatoes.

Excess roast pork can be frozen and kept for later meals such as pork fried rice or making pizza.

Smashed avocado (easy avocado dip)

2 Comments


This is an easy dip to make that is great to eat outside in the garden paired with home made crackers.

Ingredients

  • 1 large avocado
  • 1T olive oil
  • 1T lemon juice
  • Salt to taste

Note: This is an easy recipe to scale to the number of people you’re serving. If you’re using a small avocado then change the olive oil & lemon juice from a Tablespoon (15ml) to a dessert spoon (10ml).

Allergies: soy free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free.

Directions

  1. Scoop out the avocado with a spoon.
  2. Smash up with a fork.
  3. Mix in olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.

 

Allergies: soy free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free.

Mum’s Spiced Fruit Loaf

1 Comment


This is a fabulous recipe and a firm family favourite. It’s also very versatile and can be used to make child sized cakes (in silicon cupcake cases) or miniature christmas cakes (in muffin trays). It also freezes well.

Ingredients

Group 1

  • 1/2c sugar
  • 50g butter or 60ml rice bran oil
  • 1c sultanas
  • 1c chopped dates
  • 1T golden syrup or maple syrup
  • 1 1/4c water

Group 2

  • 1 1/2 tsp  ground ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2c chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Group 3

  • 2c flour (or gluten free baking mix)
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder

Allergies: dairy free, soy free, egg free, gluten free*, nut free*.

Directions

  1. Place Group 1 in pot. Boil; then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
  2. Stir in Group 2.
  3. Ideally allow to cool to room temperature (this takes several hours) as this allows the dried fruit time to soak.
  4. Grease and line loaf tin. Preheat oven to 180’C.
  5. Stir in Group 3.
  6. Bake for 1 hour or until skewer comes out smooth.
  7. Cool in tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto wire rack.

Notes

I use a greased silicon loaf tin and often cook a smaller portion in silicon cupcake cases at the same time (for my toddler); the cupcake-sized cakes only take about 15 mins to cook.

This is a versatile recipe. Sometimes I have my toddler help me assemble all of Group 1 and 2 in the pot before I put it on to heat; sometimes I only give the fruit mix 5-10 mins to cool before adding the dry ingredients and cooking it. Sometimes I’ll do the fruit mix after my toddler’s midday nap, let it cool all afternoon, and then put it in to cook after dinner (when the oven is already warm); I’ve also allowed the fruit to soak all night and then cooked it in the morning.

I’ve made this a number of times and varied ingredients (while essentially keeping to the base recipe); i.e. using 1/2c sultanas and 1/2c cranberries; having no walnuts; using coconut thread instead of walnuts; using 1c mixed nuts (smashed) + coconut + melted chocolate + extra water (this is the one pictured).

Walnuts are a soft nut that are easy to smash and chew. I’ve made this using a nut mix (predominantly walnuts & almonds with some hazelnuts and brazil nuts) because it was on special – the other nuts just take a bit more effort to smash. If you have a young baby or toddler then you may want to leave the nuts out until they’ve grown all their molars and are comfortable chewing nuts.  I’ve found the ideal way for us to smash nuts is to put them in a plastic bag and have my toddler enthusiastically whack them with her toy hammer!

Allergies: Soy free, peanut free, egg free, dairy free (replace butter with oil).