Tag: gluten free

Grilled pork with strawberry balsamic glaze

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This is a great way to use strawberries that are still fresh but a little bruised. It’s also nice to use them in a savoury dish for a change – especially if you’ve been eating lots after going strawberry picking! It met with toddler approval 🙂

This recipe does create rather more dishes than I’d normally prefer so is best if both mother and child are feeling happy, healthy, and relaxed. If you’re looking for a last minute quick and easy meal when you’re both feeling tired or stressed then I suggest Welsh Rarebit.

Ingredients

  • 400-500g pork to oven grill (i.e. pork chops, sirloin steak, tenderloin etc.)
  • Bacon strips (optional)
  • Olive oil
  • 2 tsp crushed garlic
  • 1/3c balsamic vinegar
  • 2/3c sliced strawberries
  • Salt and pepper
  • Potatoes (optional)

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

Directions

  1. I served this dish with roast potatoes so I started with those knowing they would take the longest to cook. My preference is to cut the potatoes and pre-cook them in a microwave steamer. Then place them in a roasting dish lined with baking paper and baste with a little olive oil.
  2. Take the pork and sear at a high heat for 1-2 minutes on each side.
    • The purpose of this is to help seal moisture into the pork so it’s worth taking the time for the extra step.
  3. Place pork in the roasting dish with the potatoes. Wrap the pork in the bacon strips. The bacon isn’t essential to the recipe but if you happen to have it then it’s a tasty addition! I’ve read recipes that suggest the bacon also helps the pork to retain it’s moisture (but mainly it’s tasty).
  4. Bake the pork at 180’C for 30 mins.
  5. While the pork is cooking start on the strawberry glaze.
    • In a pot (or glass Pyrex jug) heat olive oil and garlic.
    • Add balsamic vinegar and 1/3c strawberries (reserve the rest of the strawberries).
    • Bring to the boil. Then simmer for 10 mins (stirring occasionally).
    • Add salt and pepper to taste.
    • Add remaining 1/3c strawberries.
  6. Baste the pork and then grill till the bacon is crispy. (I flipped it and grilled it on both sides).
  7. Serve with remaining strawberry sauce, roast potatoes, and greens. Freshly picked basil also goes well if you happen to be growing some on the windowsill.

Allergy: Egg free, peanut free, dairy free, soy free.

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Welsh Rarebit

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This is such a wonderful comfort food. It’s tasty, quick and easy to make (even with a grumpy toddler), and a cheap meal to make if these are the kind of staples you have at home. You’re also likely to end up with leftover cheese sauce that you can use the next day (make mince & cheese pie, lasagne, nachos, or just serve with baked beans or broccoli!).

I also have to confess that I normally mispronounce this and tell my toddler that we’re eating Welsh Rabbit.

Ingredients

  • 4 slices thick bread (can use gluten free bread)
  • 250g strong cheddar cheese
    • (I have had this turn out fine with a mild colby so don’t stress if you don’t have something stronger).
  • 100ml milk
    • (apparently you can replace this with light ale but I haven’t tried)
  • 25g butter
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1T plain flour (or superfine white rice flour)
  • 1T mustard
    • (I like Dijonnaise)
  • Paprika
  • Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • Dried onion (optional)

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

Directions

  1. Lightly toast bread.
    • (If soft it will go soggy).
  2. In pot on a low heat, melt cheese + milk + butter.
  3. Turn heat to medium and stir in egg.
  4. Add flour and stir swiftly until fully mixed.
  5. Take off heat. Add mustard; dash in Worcestershire sauce (if desired); add a dash of paprika (or you can sprinkle on top once spread); mix in dried onion (if desired).
  6. Butter toast and lay on baking tray.
  7. Spoon cheese sauce onto toast. Sprinkle on paprika (if not already mixed in).
  8. Grill until cheese goes golden and starts to bubble.

 

Optional:  You can add ham, cooked bacon, anchovies, or warm baked beans to the bread before spreading the cheese sauce. Remember that everything needs to be warm and cooked before it goes under the grill!

Allergy: peanut free; soy free*.

Note: This can be made soy free as long as you’re careful to select soy free ingredients.

 

 

Egg Fried Rice without Soy Sauce

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Ingredients

  • 2c cooked rice (refrigerated from previous day)
  • 1c frozen peas & corn (refrigerated from previous day)
  • 2 eggs
  • Sliced green onion
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Chicken stock powder
  • Oil (I like rice bran oil)
  • optional: fish sauce, chilli, lime slices.

Note: Instead of sugar and salt, you can use 1/2 – 1T of coconut amino acids to achieve a similar umami flavour to soy sauce.

You can play with ingredients, i.e. consider chopped ham or bacon, bbq pork, char siu pork, shrimps etc. You want everything to be cut small and to be pre-cooked; you are essentially heating everything through. It’s important that the rice needs to have been cooked earlier, cooled and been fluffed, and then completely chilled in the fridge (cooling for 12 hours changes the type of starches the rice contains).

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.

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

Directions

  1. Cook your rice the day before. Personally, I like to use basmati rice in the rice cooker with water, salt, and rice bran oil. Today I used 80% basmati and 20% black rice; this has the fun visual side-effect of dying the basmati a dark purple colour! 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 (I used a mix of peas, corn, cubed carrots, and small cut beans) 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. When you’re ready to cook, heat your wok nice and hot with some oil.
  4. Crack two eggs and scramble them. You can choose either to: (A) cook them as an omelette, take it out and cut into strips, and re-add once the rice is in, or (B) add the rice when the eggs are almost cooked and break the eggs into small pieces while moving the rice grains around.
  5. Add the rice. Keep moving it around to separate the grains and break the egg up.
  6. Add stock powder, sugar, and salt to taste. (You may also want to add a dash of fish sauce).
  7. Add your vegetables (and any pre-cooked meat).
  8. Keep moving everything around so that it doesn’t stick; add more oil if needed.  Serve when hot through.
  9. Serve with condiments if desired (like dried shallots, dried or fresh chillies, lime slices etc.)

 

Why not use soy?

You may not like the taste of soy, or may dislike the sodium content; for us, it’s because of a soy allergy. Salt and sugar (I prefer brown) can be found in a variety of soy free fried recipes as way of substituting for the salty flavour of the soy sauce and also providing a dash of sweetness.

 

Mediterranean Lamb for the slow cooker

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Ingredients

  • 400g lamb (small cubes)
  • Marinade:
    • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
    • 1/2 tsp black pepper
    • 1 tsp paprika
    • 2 tsp ground ginger
    • 1 tsp tumeric
    • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp cumin seeds
    • 1 tsp coriander
    • 1 tsp garlic flakes
    • 1 tsp honey
    • 1-2 T oil
  • 2T plain flour (or superfine white rice flour)
  • 1-2 T tomato paste
  • 1 onion (diced)
  • 1 large carrot (grated)
  • 1-2 T tomato paste
  • Dried dates, dried sultanas, dried apricots (or use 1/2 – 1 tin apricot halves).
  • Flaked almonds
  • 1/2c chicken stock

Directions

  1. Marinade the lamb overnight in the fridge (I marinade mine in the ceramic slow-cooker pot).
  2. In the morning you can brown the meat if you want but I always skip that step for sake of convenience and dishes!
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients in order and mix as you go. The exception is the apricots, I used tinned apricots (because they’re cheaper) and they can get added 30-60 mins before you finish cooking.
  4. Turn the slow cooker on. I put mine on around 8am on Low and then checked it periodically to add a little more water (I wanted to keep the consistency to thick gravy but you can add more liquid as per preference).
  5. Serve with your choice of carbs and veggies. If you’re in a rush then couscous is very quick, or you could choose rice or noodles; personally, I love the opportunity to make fluffy dumplings in the slow cooker so I made a double batch of cheese-garlic-mixed herb dumplings 🙂

 

As always, adjust the recipe to your personal taste. You can easily add more meat or a legume of your choice (i.e. chickpeas); don’t be put off by the long spice list if you don’t have all those in the pantry, there are lots of spice blends available at the supermarket if you prefer.

Allergens: Soy free (do check the chicken stock carefully though or use home made), dairy free, egg free, gluten free, nut free.

 

Crazy One-Dish Chocolate Cake!

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I love this chocolate cake recipe (you can also use it to make cupcakes) because it’s allergy friendly, vegan friendly, and toddler friendly (everything gets mixed and cooked in one dish!). There’s no eggs, dairy, soy, or nuts, and it can be made using gluten-free flour.

I found the recipe thanks to Happy Mum Happy Child and apparently it’s based on a Depression-era recipe when dairy was hard to get hold of.

INGREDIENTS :

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or gluten free plain flour)
  • 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons oil (I use rice-bran oil)
  • 1 cup cold coffee (or use water)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Combine all dry ingredients in a greased 20 x 20cm baking pan (that’s right, in the dish you’re baking it in).
Make 3 depressions (holes) in the dry ingredients. You want there to be two small ones, and one large one.
Pour the vinegar into one of the small holes, and the vanilla into the other small hole.
Add the vegetable oil to the large one.
Pour the cold coffee (or water) over the entire thing and mix until smooth and combined (I used a wooden spoon).
Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Once cooled, ice or lather in caramel syrup and enjoy with whipped cream.

 

Allergens: soy free, dairy free, nut free, egg free, can be made gluten free (replace the flour with gf flour).