Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce

Last year we had a fantastic meal at The Lamb Inn, Chinley and I was bowled over by the Tarragon sauce that I had served with my Ham Hock.  For a while now we have had taragon growing in the garden but for some reason it has gone unused, until now.  Tarragon is a fantastic herb that tastes quite different from how it smells.  This pleased Fran as when it is picked and chopped it has an aroma similar to aniseed which she does not like, however, added at the end of a dish and cooked down for a few minutes, the aniseed edge is lifted a little and you are left with a wonderful warm and savoury taste that is perfect with all meats and sits particularly well in a creamy sauce.

So this time while looking through the fridge to see what could be made for tea we decided on Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce.  Fran had some inspiration in a dish she had at Cafe Rouge called Poulet Breton, however we couldn't find a decent recipe for this so we trusted a little instict, kept it simple and did it alone!

Chicken and Courgettes with a Tarragon Sauce

What you will need (serves 2):

2 chicken breast fillets
1 medium leek (chopped)
1 medium courgette (thinly chopped)
30g butter
1 glass white wine
handful tarragon (leaves loosely picked and chopped)
double cream
salt and pepper

First soften the leeks in the butter over a medium heat
Then add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes
Then add the chopped courgettes and cook till softened (add a splash of water if dry)
Next add the wine and allow to bubble for a couple of minutes
Finally add the cream and Tarragon and stir through, allow to warm slowly infusing the dish with the Tarragon and add a little seasoning to taste.

We had it with home grown beans and mash and managed to make it stretch to 4 servings! It would work well with rice too.

The Tarragon flavour took me right back to the meal we had at The Lamb Inn and will definitely be a herb we use again soon.  It sits perfectly with a cream sauce and this simple recipe gives the impression of a much more defined dish that is still surprisingly quick and easy to make.

Enjoy

Picnic food

After a rather long and unscheduled break, I thought is was time to get back into the kitchen, and what better to make on a rainy weekend than picnic food, in the hope for some picnic weather.

The weather never came, so what was picnic food turned into lunch at work food.

I was inspired to make pastry goods after a trip to the Malton Farmers' Market on our last trip over to North Yorkshire. We came across a stall from a Farm in Claxton where the lady was selling a range of gluten-free goods, alongside her normal sausages and pies etc. We bought a minced beef pie, chicken pie and mini sausage rolls. She explained that someone in her family needed gluten-free so she decided to make everything herself. She also makes a range for people who can eat gluten, but not wheat.

My first attempt (actually that's a lie, my first attempt in recent years) into making gluten-free pastry started with homemade sausage rolls. Seems simple enough, but to have gluten-free sausagemeat without forking out for gluten-free sausages to split, meant making my own.

For both the recipes for sausagemeat and the pastry I turned to the ever-reliable Leiths Techniques Bible.

I used their basic sausagemeat recipe and their rich shortcrust pastry recipe.

Sausagemeat

450g minced fatty pork

1 medium onion, very finely chopped (optional - I used it)

4 slices of white bread, crumbed (I used one gluten-free roll)

1 egg, beaten

fresh sage leaves, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Mix together the pork and onion

2. Stir the breadcrumbs into the mixture with the egg and sage (I added some extra dried sage and some extra thyme as I like my sausage meat herby!)

3. Add plenty of salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Fry a little of the mixture to check the seasoning.

Rich shortcrust pastry

170g plain flour

100g butter

1 egg yolk (white reserved for glazing the sausage rolls)

2 tablespoons ice cold water.

I didn't follow their method exactly as I used a food processor to rub in the butter to the flour, but then followed it by sprinkling on the water mixed with the egg yolk. And then chilling in the fridge.

After chilling the pastry, it became difficult to handle, so I added a little more water and a little more flour to get it to a roll-able consistency.

After rolling out, I put a sausage shaped length of sausagemeat along the pastry.

I brushed on some of the reserved egg white to act as glue and carefully rolled over the pastry. The pastry did crack a little, but nothing major.

I then chopped up the roll to create mini sausage rolls (admittedly, not the prettiest), all ready for baking. After a brush of egg white, they went into the oven at Gas 7/ 220C for around half an hour until golden.

The sausage rolls were excellent. The pastry was tasty, but a little dry. But to be expected from gluten-free flour really. But the sausagemeat was moist, and very very tasty. They lasted most of the week for lunches. Next time, maybe cheese and onion rolls, and hopefully we'll make it out on that picnic.

Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto

Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto

The next cauliflower recipe we tried was Jamie Oliver's Cauliflower Risotto from the Jamie's Italy book. The recipe uses his version of risotto bianco with certain additions, most notably the pangrattato to sprinkle.
I have reproduced Jamie's recipe here - mainly for our own use since the book has you flipping back and forth between the cauliflower risotto and the risotto bianco recipes.

1.1 litres stock (chicken/vegetable)
2 tbsp olive oil
knob of butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Half a head of celery, finely chopped
400g risotto rice
2 wineglasses of dry vermouth or dry white wine
70g butter
115g grated Parmesan
2 handfuls stale bread (we used one gluten-free roll)
1 small tin anchovies
3 small dried chillis
1 cauliflower
Parmesan for grating
Chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat the stock. Break the cauliflower into florets and add to the stock. Put the olive oil and butter unto a separate pan, add the onion, garlic and celery and cook very slowly for15 mins. When the veg has softened, turn up the heat and add the rice.

2. Lightly fry the rice, stirring continuously. After about a minute it will look translucent. Add the vermouth and keep stirring.

3. Once the vermouth has cooked into the rice, ass the first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn't cook too quickly. Keep adding ladles of stock stirring continuously, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. The cauliflower should be softened by now so you can start adding it bit by bit, mashing it into the rice. Continue until the rice is cooked and all the cauliflower had been added.

4. Meanwhile whizz the bread in a food processor with the anchovies and the oil from the tin along with the chillis. Heat a frying pan with a splash of oil and fry the flavoured breadcrumbs, stirring and tossing continuously until golden brown.






5. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the butter, Parmesan and parsley. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 mins. Sprinkle with the anchovy pangrattato, grate some more Parmesan over and serve.

Once again, this recipe was superb. The cauliflower flavour coming through nicely. Using this much celery in a risotto was a new one for me, and as a well-known celery-hater (or I thought I was a celery hater until now) I was pleasantly surprised. Jamie's tip of letting the risotto stand seemed to work as the texture was spot on. The pangrattoto is something we're likely to try for other things as it added - in Jamie's words "an amazing kick". it was salty, hot, crunchy and was the perfect garnish.

Pancakes

Yes I know its over a week late, but this post is more about a kind of revelation. 

While I searched for inspiration for a savoury pancake last week I remembered something foodie that must have dug itself deep into my head. Some time ago, I knew of an Italian chef who ran a small village restaurant. His food was excellent and his passion for his restaurant and customers was second to none. He ran a traditional type of Italian where the pasta could be the starter, then a salad or veg, followed by the meat or fish. There was not a pizza in sight (This is street food, not restaurant food!). He was a character. I remember him once insisting that Cannelloni was not pasta, but pancake.

After googling this, I couldn't seem to find a definitive answer to whether Cannelloni is supposed to be pasta or pancake. I found out that it can be. I also found out that manicotti is also the name for a dish of pancake tubes, filled in the same manner as cannelloni. But then when searching further, it seems that mancotti can be pancake or pasta. All very confusing. But also very simple.....

Being gluten-free now, this means my pasta choices are limited. Generally there is fusilli or penne available, and incresingly so spaghetti and sometimes lasagne. But that's it. So here is the revelation. If cannelloni/manicotti can be pancake, it certainly will be in this house! Gluten-free pancakes are no trouble, but finding and cooking lasagne sheets and constructing rolls would involve so much more faff (and cost).  A workable way of making interesting baked pasta dishes has now come into my life! Hurrah!

What I made came straight from my head and I didn't follow any recipe, but I will attempt to document it here as best I can. Apologies for the picture, not very appetising. I promise it tasted much better than it looks!

I used a standard pancake recipe of 100g (gluten-free) flour, 1/2 pint milk and egg. There are so many recipes and recommendations out there so I won't re-write the method. I made a batch of 6 pancakes and let them cool between sheets of greaseproof paper.

Filling:
A few mushrooms, chopped
Bacon lardons
Red onion, chopped
Dried sage
White wine (optional)
Cream

Topping:
Milk
Flour
Butter
Cheese, grated

1. Gently fry the bacon, onion and mushrooms together. They want to be softened rather than browned.
2. Add a dash of white wine if you have any in (and open - its not that important) and reduce.
3. Sprinkle in some dried sage. I like sage flavour so added about a heaped tsp.
4. Pour in some cream and stir. The amount I used was enough to make a sauce, but not make it runny. This is actually the stuffing rather than the sauce, so it needs to be chunky.
5. Make a bechamel sauce with the butter, flour and milk (Delia's recipe (within her cannelloni recipe) uses cream and nutmeg which I left out - there are so many calories already!). Stir through some grated cheese, saving enough for the top.
6. Construct the cannelloni by spooning some bacon mixture onto each pancake and rolling it up. Place the rolls side by side in an oven proof dish. Pour over the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
7. Bake until heated through and the cheese and sauce are bubbling. We serves it with a dressed green salad.

P.S. The picture at the top is of dessert. A standard pancake with the obligatory nutella and a generous drizzle of cream. Lovely!

Cajun Chicken Quinoa Salad

In celebration of receiving our first issue of our subscription to Good Food Magazine here is a recipe based on one we found in that, the April of the magazine.
This was another week day lunches solution and was very very tasty indeed. It has enough flavour from the seasoning and stock to stop the cravings for anything salty and fatty that might be calling to you from the vending machine (or is that just me?), and with the lentils as well as the quinoa it was very filling.
The recipe in Good Food Magazine uses apricots, but I'm not a big fan of those, so I used a couple of peppers instead. Not really a logical substitute, I know. Also the recipe says to use 4 chicken breasts, but I think this is because it is for a main meal for 4. I only used 2, to keep the costs down and to make it lighter.

2 skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
100g/4oz quinoa
600ml/1pint hot chicken stock
1 red pepper, cut into dice
1 green pepper, cut into dice
2 red onions, sliced
175g lentils
Olive oil

1. Heat the oven to 220C/gas 6. Coat the chicken with the cajun spice and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with a little oil and cook for about 20 mins until cooked through.







2. Cook the lentils according to the pack instructions. This involves, rinsing, and simmering for around 40 mins until tender.

3. Cook the quinoa in the chicken stock until tender. This takes about 15 mins and is when you see the germ start to separate from the grain.

4. Drain both the lentils and the quinoa and mix with the chicken and all it's juices.

5. Fry the onions and peppers in a little olive oil until soft, but not brown. Then mix with the rest of the ingredients.








This was so good, I will make it again and again. In fact I think I will be living off it for lunches at work for a while!

Quinoa Salad

Here's a recipe which was inspired by reading Gluten Free Girl, and by discovering the lunch options at Marks and Spencer. We were in Stockport the other weekend and needed a quick fix for lunch. I had read on another blog that M&S had now started doing gluten free sandwiches, so we went in in search. After asking the manager if they had any, we found out that this branch doesn't currently stock them, but there were other alternatives. So I picked up a pot of their Super Whole Foods Shaker Salad. This was full of quinoa, lentils, beans and other bits and bobs which made you feel healthy just by looking at it. It also came with a seperate lemon and herb dressing. So it was on this that I based my quinoa salad.

200g (Approx) Quinoa
Vegetable stock cube (gluten-free)
1 butternut squash
Handful of frozen peas
2 chopped tomatoes
the juice of half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh basil

1. Rinse the quinoa, and boil in enough vegetable stock until the germ seperates (in accordance with the pack instructions). Drain if needed and reserve some of the stock for the dressing.
2. Chop the butternut squash into small dice and roast in the oven until tender, but not falling apart.
3. Heat through the frozen peas in a little boiling water.
4. Combine the quinoa with the squash, tomatoes and peas, and tear up and add a generous amount of basil.
5. To make the dressing, mix the lemon juice with a little of the reserved stock and enough olive oil to give the balance you like. I like my dressings quite tangy, but taste as you go, you can always add more of each ingredient. Combine the dressing with the salad.

I kept the dressing seperate from the salad itself as it lasted me all week for lunches. This salad is a great way for gluten-free eaters to get a bit of whole grain, and I believe that quinoa is one of those superfoods that we should be eating more of. Or something like that! It is also high in protein so is good for vegetarians and vegans too. Actually, without a conscious effort it turned out that most of my meals last week were actually vegetarian, and that can only be a good thing in my mind. I'll be making this salad again this week, as it definitely adds a bit of variety and freshness to lunchtimes.

Chorizo and Squash Risotto

Chorizo and Squash Risotto

OK now it's my turn.  This is just a very simple idea that I thought you might like to try and I don't know about you but I find making risotto very therapeutic.  Now although I can eat anything, apart from toast in the morning I am basically gluten-free as I eat the same food as Fran (most of the time).  The Chorizo I used was gluten-free as was the chicken stock (Knoor). 

What you will need (for about 4 people):

Olive Oil
40g Butter
250g Arborio Rice
100g Chorizo (chopped)
1 Butternut Squash (diced)
1 Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1 glass white wine
1 ltr Chicken Stock
Handful of Frozen Peas

First get a your chicken stock to a simmer and add the butternut squash. 
In a frying pan, heat the oil and butter and cook the chopped Chorizo for a few minutes till the oils are released. 

Remove the Chorizo with a slotted spoon and put aside.  The fry the onion and garlic in the residue oil for 5 minutes till soft.  Add the rice and coat with the oil.
Add the wine and bubble till the alcohol has evaporated then add a ladle of stock (leaving the squash cooking for a little while).
As with all risottos, keep adding stock as the rice begins to dry out.

After about 10 minutes drain the stock into another pan and put the squash to one side, bring the stock to a simmer again and continue adding to the rice.

When the rice has been cooking for about 20 minutes add the squash.  At the 25 minute mark add the Chorizo, then the peas for the final couple of minutes.  The rice should take about 30 minutes and use all the stock.

Simply serve with some Parmesan shavings and enjoy.

Granola

Granola

After having a bit of a lull in inspiration for breakfasts, I turned to Gluten Free Girl again. Most shop bought breakfast cereals have gluten in, in some form. Yes corn flakes, rice crispies, and obviously anything wheat based contains gluten. I've gone through a few boxes of Whole Earth Cornflakes in the past, which are actually a God-send, This is the only shop-bought cereal I've found which is safe, although recently I've come to fancy a change to something more adventurous.

One thing I do miss is muesli, or even granola. Not that I've ever made granola or bought it. Just had it a couple of times in hotel buffet breakfasts! I love the crunch and the nuts and seeds, and that overall toasted flavour. Alas that is to be no more. Basic oats have gluten in so standard muesli, granola and even simple porridge is a no go.

Gluten Free Girl has recently published a recipe for muffins which look great, and would be a great breakfast food, although I am a bit scared about the amount of raw ingredients in the recipe. I need to find a local health food shop where I can get all the grains and flours she speaks about, plus I'm only just starting the gluten free baking thing, so I think it will be a while before I progress to this. Although, after reading her wonderful website for hours on end, I found a recipe for Granola which by all accounts (given the amount of reader comments) is amazing. Plus there weren't that many scary ingredients either. Most things are available in Morrisons! Well, apart from gluten free oats. Had to travel to Tesco for those!

Just as an aside, if you need gluten free and haven't heard of Gluten Free Girl, aka Shauna James Ahern get reading her website, book and recipe book. Even if you can eat gluten, read her anyway! Her writing is so inspirational. Not just about living gluten free, but about the joys of food and about life too. If you're feeling down, just log on to her site, you'll feel so much better!

Anyway, Granola. A quick google, and the difference between granola and muesli is what seems to be the baking process. I suppose that is obvious given the texture and the ingredients, but honestly, I'd never given the matter any thought. I assumed Granola was a posh way of talking about muesli. Anyway, I digress.


Before Baking

I won't re-produce Shauna's recipe, as you can find it here (along with a lovely piece about friendship, and obviously food). But basically it is a lovely mixture of oats, nuts, fruit, seeds, ginger and cinnamon with a bit of maple syrup throughout. It is baked in the oven and stirred several times until it is golden and crisp.

This will certainly be the breakfast of choice in this house for the next few days, until the batch runs out. Then we'll have to stock up those oats again.

Chinese Food

Happy Chinese New Year (Kung Hei Fat Choi apparently), and Spring Festival - if you celebrate it.

For those people who follow us on facebook you may be aware that a while ago we tried to make some homemade Chinese dumplings. The reasons for this were three-fold. One, it seems most Chinese dumplings and most dim sum options are made from wheat flour, two, I'd found a recipe for the dough which contained no gluten, and three, we have been given some gluten free* wheat starch to try, just to see if it is gluten or wheat that I have a reaction to. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the dumplings were a disaster. More like a pile of gloop. But we will not give in. Watch this space. And, by the way, I definitely have a reaction to wheat, no doubt there. Still seem to have a reaction to gluten though, but less-so.

So, homemade Chinese food for the Chinese New Year. In the past we have tried the Ken Hom Chicken with Chilli Peppers and Basil which was lovely, so we wanted to try something different. I have been reading Hollow Legs for a while now, with special interest in the homemade Chinese recipes, especially the various dim sum, looking for ways to adapt them. We have looked at this recipe for General Tso's Chicken before but never tried it, until now! We thought on this occasion, we'd leave the dumplings alone and go for a safer option.

After slight confusion over mixing the marinade ingredients, the recipe worked well and we loved the sour taste of the vinegar in the sauce. We didn't use skin-on chicken thighs, and had to use just the one type of soy sauce - the gluten free kind, but the dish was delicious. The level of chilli spiciness was just right, and as a sauce lover the amount of sauce for me was great. The dish, however, did test our chopstick skills as the chicken did threaten to ping across the table at various points! Yes, its been a while since the chopsticks were out. More practice I say.
We served it with egg fried rice and stir fried mixed veg. Lovely.

 * I believe that the Codex standard for gluten free food was previously set at lower than 200ppm, meaning foods with containing gluten at this level or lower would be considered safe for people with Ceoliac disease, but since last year this has changed to 20ppm. (Hence why many foods now show the disclaimer that they may contain traces) The wheat starch I used was 50ppm and therefore, technically, it was gluten free, well at least up until last year.

Coffee Cake

This is my first proper attempt at a gluten free cake, and in fact at gluten free baking. Actually it is cheating a bit since I used Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour. I have been reading Gluten-free Girl and the Seriously Good! Gluten Free Baking book by Phil Vickery and realise that the real science and skill is in the blending of the various flours for each particular dish, whether it be for a cake, biscuits, muffins etc. Thankfully Doves Farm have done the hard work for me on this occasion. I do want to try some of Shauna's recipes from her book as well as some of the Phil Vickery ones, but I'll use up my pre-blends first.

Coffee Cake:
6oz sugar
6oz butter
3 large eggs, beaten
6oz Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour
15ml strong coffee

Icing:
Mixed chopped nuts
Butter
Icing Sugar
Strong coffee

1. Cream together the butter and sugar - ideally until pale.
2. Mix in the beaten eggs, a little at a time, adding a tablespoon of flour if it curdles.
3. Sieve in the flour and stir through gently.
4. Add enough of the coffee to get the flavour balance. I found this to be around 15ml.
5. Divide into 2 cake tins (I used silicone cake tins - just as I'm too lazy to grease the metal tins) and bake for 20-25 mins at 180C or until evenly cooked. Test with a metal skewer - if it comes out clean, the cake is ready, if not cook for a further 5 mins.

Icing:
Combine enough butter, icing sugar and coffee, tasting as you go to make the amount of icing you need. Spread between the cake layers and over the top and decorate with the chopped nuts.
The icing measurements are intentionally vague, it depends how sweet your tooth is so to speak, and how thick you want your icing. I was actually far more stingy than I have been previously, as eating mainly icing is a bit much!

The cake turned out surprisingly light and moist. I was expecting it to be rather dry as some gluten free baked goods can be. We didn't keep the cake for long enough really to see how stale and dry it got, as it was just so lovely! After about 3 days, it clearly was still edible!

Mozaic Cafe and Delicatessen, Ashton-u-Lyne

Last week we received an email inviting us to try a new Moroccan and Lebanese cafe in Ashton. This was new to us. We've not really eaten or cooked Moroccan food, don't even know what Lebanese food is,  generally we don't eat in cafes, or even eat in Ashton! But since receiving a tagine for Christmas the whole Moroccan thing is something we were keen to try. Plus this was our first invitation to review - long may they continue! So yesterday we took a trip into Ashton to try all these new things

The Mozaic Cafe and Delicatessen is in the centre of Ashton, within the pedestrianised area and close to the shops. As you walk in the first thing you see is the deli counter, full of exciting and unusual salads, and also a selection of various meats. A menu is displayed behind the counter showing what seemed to be the range of take away options.



Deli counter with the chef

We decided to eat in. There were 6 tables set up towards the back of the cafe, but the most noticeable thing was that the kitchen was completely open, not even any sort of counter between the customers and where the food is prepared. Clearly they have nothing to hide! We were seated at a table and immediately offered a hot or cold drink. Just by our table was a shelf with all sorts of Moroccan cooking books and travel books to look at, as well as different size tagines for sale. There were no menus on the tables, but a chalk board on the wall detailing the delights on offer. As we were considering what to have the lady at the next table offered some advice. She told us that the meat meze main course was lovely as she was tucking into a serving of houmous and flatbread.
We decided on a mini meze to start and then something a bit more adventurous for main. I explained that I couldn't eat things like bread and couscous. The waiter immediately understood asking us if everything needed to be gluten free. Top marks.


Mini Meze

The mini meze starter was amazing. The array of salads available (even without the couscous options) was impressive. Among our favourites were the homemade houmous, both green bean salads and the beetroot salad. This came with a portion of flatbread and homemade tzatziki to drizzle over everything if we liked. Everything on the plate tasted fresh and different. The vegetables were crisp and the dressing refreshing. All this for £3.50! Bargain.

I'd chosen the Lemon and Chilli Chicken for a main, and Tim the Spicy Lamb. These came with a small side salad, a choice of rice and a drizzle of that tzatziki. I chose the Saffron Rice and Tim sampled all 3 options which included plain, saffron and brown rice. The brown rice contained cashew nut and vermicelli which was an interesting combination.


Lemon Chilli Chicken with Saffron Rice

The Chicken was superb. The chicken seemed as though it was slow cooked and shredded. Very tender and moist, and tasting real, as opposed to the fake sponginess of prepacked and overly processed cheap chicken. The sauce was very tasty, not too much chilli, but enough to warm your mouth, with a bit of subtle tang from the lemon.

Spicy Lamb and Three rices

The Spicy Lamb dish was tasty, and not too spicy, with the familiar delicious flavours that often accompany lamb. The waiter had given us a small amount of homemade harissa as an accompaniment to this dish if we wanted more fire. The harissa complemented the dish well and was more flavoursome than other harrisa pastes previously tried.

The bill came to around £15, which we thought was excellent value: 1 starter, 2 main courses, and 2 hot drinks. We were stuffed!
We even bought the favourite green bean salads and some houmous to take away for lunch the next day.



Lunch the next day!

During our time at Mozaic we saw plenty of customers come and go, from regular lady with the recommendations, to office workers taking out mixed salads and wraps to the older gentleman (who was speaking French with the chef) who may have been Moroccan himself.
We don't know if the food was typical of Morocco or Lebanon as we have no frame of reference, but we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of what was on offer.

Mozaic is in our opinion a lovely little cafe, a real gem in a busy part of town.  The eating area is small and cosy which just adds to it's charms with staff who are very attentive and knowledgeable.  Another particularly pleasing aspect to the place is it's diverse range of customers which shows how well the cafe is serving the local community.
We would fully recommend paying a visit, whether you have the time to eat in, or just to grab a lemon chilli chicken wrap on the go, or even to sample the recommended mixed meat meze. I know we'll be back to try that!

Sweet Potato with Chilli and Thyme

I have decided to throw in a couple of ideas every now and again that don't really amount to a recipe but it just might inspire you in some small way.  Here is a nice idea of what to do with sweet potato.  There really is a never ending list of dishes this could accompany, however on this occasion we had it with Caramel Chicken as seen here.


Sweet Potato with Chilli and Thyme

When I say we had it with the Caramel Chicken, that is not strictly true.  The reason why the photo is of one lonely potato is because on the 1st attempt the potatoes were a bit tough so I returned them to the oven and had as a snack a little later!!  With that in mind, if you wish to have everything ready at the same time (which isn't a bad idea when preparing a meal) then I would bake the potato for about an hour and a half wrapped in foil or slightly less if not :
Sweet Potato
Big knob of butter at room temperature
A couple of chillis finely chopped
One crushed garlic clove
A few sprigs of thyme finely chopped

All you need to do is mix the ingredients with the butter and spread over the potatoes when cooked.  Serve with whatever dish you fancy.  It was delicious!

Chicken Liver Pate and other Festive Food

After looking at all the ingredients of the full range of festive pates in the supermarket I was rather disappointed to see that only one contained no wheat or rusk and therefore was fine for me to eat. Huh!
So to satisfy the craving I turned to a Christmas recipe book that I've had for a while now.

The recipe is for Chicken Liver Pate, and in the past I have had trouble finding chicken livers. Perhaps it was because I wasn't looking in the freezer section, or maybe because they are only on the shelves near Christmas. I have tried it with lambs liver and pigs liver, but both were nowhere near as nice. So after finding a tub of frozen chicken livers in Morrisons for a few pence I was happy. Not only would this be gluten free but also far cheaper than pre-packed pates and actually far more tasty and luxurious.

Here is the recipe:
200g butter
225g trimmed chicken livers
2 tbsp Marsala or brandy
1.5 tsp chopped fresh sage
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
150ml double cream
Salt and pepper

1. Melt 40g of butter in a frying pan and fry the chicken livers over a medium heat for about 4 mins each side. They should be browned but still a bit pink in the middle.  Then chop finely in a food processor.
2. Stir the Marsala or brandy (brandy in our case) into the pan, mixing in any bits left over, then add this to the food processor. The recipe in the book didn't actually indicated if the alcohol should be cooked or not but I thought it was best to let it bubble a bit.
3. Add the sage, garlic and 100g of the butter and whizz until smooth.
4. Spoon the pate into ramekins and let it cool. Once completely cooled, melt the remaining butter and spoon it over the surface and garnish with a sage leaf if you want.



Chicken Liver Pate

This pate formed our late breakfast on Christmas day, together with a glass of chilled Camel Valley Sparkling Rose which we bought from the vineyard on our Cornwall trip last summer.



Camel Valley Sparkling Rose



We ate Christmas dinner around 4pm this year following Tim's night shift, but it did mean no early get-up to start the preparations. Plus it was just the two of us so no massive turkey to put in the oven at stupid o'clock.

Now anyone who knows me would know that to me, stuffing is the main event for Christmas dinner, closely followed by gravy. And for our Christmas dinner I made 4 different types of stuffing. All homemade, and all with gluten free breadcrumbs - made from the stale crusts of Genius bread and other rolls that I had saved up in the freezer. The star of the stuffing show is the lovely sausagemeat stuffing. This is based on a recipe that my Mum always makes from the fantastic Dairy Book of Home Cookery (1968 version!) and uses around 500g of sausagemeat, the same amount of breadcrumbs, "some" mixed dried herbs and an egg to bind. I like a lot of herbs, but my Mum would put her absolute maximum in of about one teaspoon. I use about 1-1.5 tablespoons! This was made with the sausagemeat from 500g of sausages that we had bought from a butcher on our trip to Ambleside.

The next stuffings were the classic Sage and Onion, and two lots of Chestnut stuffing. For the sage and onion, I used both dried and fresh sage, but added the dried to the pan as I was sweating the finely chopped onion. The quantities of breadcrumbs I use for  these stuffings is vague, and I apologise, but I just used enough until it looked right. Plus in the past I have followed recipes for these stuffings, but breadcrumbs from gluten free bread seem to act differently and dry the whole mixture out so I tend to use less than stated in recipes. This sage and onion, again, was bound with an egg.

The first lot of Chestnut stuffing came from the Dairy Book of Home Cookery again, and was their recipe for Chestnut cream stuffing. The mixture consisting off cooked (home roasted and peeled) chestnuts, parsley, nutmeg and cream to bind.

After a brief survey of facebook friends I decided that this year I should try a chestnut stuffing recipe with meat too and plus I had found this recipe which looked quite interesting (and didn't contain sausagemeat).

The rest of our Christmas dinner included a butter basted turkey breast joint, which was rather surprisingly moist and tasty, honey roasted parsnips (which were going to be Nigella's Maple  roasted parsnips, but after seeing the crazy price of maple syrup in Morrisons, we decided on honey), sprouts for me, carrots, broccoli, M&S chipolatas in bacon (we were going to make our own, but the novelty of finding gluten free sausages as standard was too much to pass up!), Delia's bread sauce (with extra cloves) and shop bought cranberry sauce. And gravy.



Christmas Dinner



In the past I have made Delia's giblet stock with the turkey giblets and I was going to try this again this year. However, after calling most of the butchers in the area, and further afield it seemed that this idea was doomed as no-one could guarantee they would have any giblets in. So, back to chicken livers again. I did make a stock for the gravy with chicken liver, thyme, rosemary, parsley, onion, carrot and celery which smelled divine bubbling away for a few hours on the stove. Alternatively I had bought in some Bisto Best gravy granules in case all had gone wrong, as they are surprisingly gluten free.

To start we had a classic prawn cocktail, and we do admit to buying the sauce. We had intended to make Simon Rimmer's sauce but after needing to buy practically everything on the ingredient list we just bought a jar of sauce! And we finished with homemade sherry trifle. This was made with gluten free cake bars, and the shortcut option of Birds instant custard powder again gluten free, and far easier than the constant stirring and pouring combination of making homemade custard.

P.S. The silver balls were only on half the trifle as it seems their main ingredient is somehow wheat flour. Odd.

It does seem that if you have to eat gluten free or cater for someone who needs gluten free, even Christmas dinner isn't that difficult. Especially if you enjoy cooking and are able to cook most parts of the meal. As described there are some standard branded items which are perfectly safe and are not found on the free from

shelf. To me it is not all about the products that are available for special diets, (as some are not that great anyway), but being able to make a few small adjustments to still enjoy my favourite Christmas foods.

Anyway, yes there is a lot of stuffing, and I say is, because there is still some in the fridge now, but what is Christmas dinner without the leftovers being eaten for so long afterwards?

Langdale Chase Hotel

Langdale Chase Hotel

On the rare occasion that was a night in December without the band having a concert or a caroling job, coinciding with it being a Friday, both of us being able to take it off work and also my birthday, we decided to go away for the night. The Langdale Chase Hotel is situated directly on the shores of Lake Windermere between Ambleside and Windermere in the beautiful Lake District. As a child I remember visiting the hotel for afternoon tea with my family and remember being completely in awe of the place. The wood panelled entrance hall with dramatic staircases (above), the drawing room complete with piano, and most of all its stunning location all stuck in my mind. We had booked the hotel via one of their special offers which gave us dinner, bed and breakfast, with a bottle of wine in the room for a very reasonable price. 

Wine in the room

After a hike around the village of Coniston - more like a heavy going trudge through the snow, we arrived and checked into our room (a room which had its own private balcony overlooking the lake!) and got ready for dinner.

We ordered a drink at the bar to sip while we looked at the menu. The menu was a reduced version of what was on offer on the full menu since we had booked with the offer, but still all the options looked delicious. Although I had rather hoped to be sampling the pheasant that was on the full menu. I had called ahead to say that I needed gluten free, and asked the waiter what were my options - at 2 choices per course I wasn't that hopeful! But he came back and said the chef could do all of it gluten free. I did wonder what they would do with the cous cous part of the fish dish though. 

Menu

Together we ordered the soup, the chicken liver parfait, the pork, the pavlova and the mulled wine jelly. And we finished the meal with a rather lovely 2009 Chablis in the bar.

The soup I thought needed a little salt was was good and a good texture, but the most notable thing for me was the fact that they had gone to the trouble in providing gluten free bread on the side and gluten free croutons! I have never seen that before. Normally I have found that places just leave out the bread, but not substitute it. I am told that the parfait was tasty and the plum chutney that came with it, fantastic. But Tim is a chutney fan generally!

The pork was very nice. A nice bit of crispy, salty crackling, along with the orange roast parsnip and cabbage gave enough variety on the plate to make it balanced, and for me, there was plenty of sauce - yes I am the sauce fan of us two!

I think the pavlova roulade wasn't quite what was expected as the meringue was soft throughout, but altogether was good. And the mulled wine jelly itself was great, it a little too much. It came with raspberry coulis which was divine and orange ice cream which I was a bit puzzled over as it didn't seem to match in my mind. But maybe that's because of the whole orange ice cream idea. Orange and cream mixed together, really?

Morning view of the gardens and lake from our balcony

The next morning at the buffet-style breakfast, I obviously steered clear from the sausage products to be safe, but I was presented with gluten free toast! Again, a first for me.

I suspect they bought in a loaf of Genius bread (which is the only gluten free bread worth eating in my opinion until maybe when the new Warburton's range comes out), which in itself is not a hard thing to do, but goes very much appreciated. And yes, I have told everyone I know about this!

We spent the morning wandering round Ambleside where we discovered the fantastic Lucy's of Ambleside where we bought a few goodies including gluten free quiche (yes fresh, home-made gluten free quiche!), gluten free baking powder and a massive slab of pork pie with piccalilli. We also found a local butcher who did gluten free sausages, and bought all his stock! All in all, Ambleside seems to be the place to be if you need gluten free food.

We will hopefully return to Langdale Chase as it truly is a beautiful hotel, and the service we received was excellent, and not just because of the bread! We were lucky enough to take advantage of a special offer, but would say that for a special occasion it would be well worth the money anyway.

The hotel

Stuffed Peppers

I cooked this very simple dish recently as I fancied creating something with a bit of a Moroccan feel to it.  This was perhaps inspired by the large Tagine we have just bought my parents for Christmas.  I didn't go over the top with my ingredients, however but just subtly introduced some flavours.  This dish can be easily adapted and added to according to your taste but may provide a useful start point for your own creation.




Stuffed Peppers (before cooking)


Ingredients

4 medium peppers
1 small onion
100g minced lamb
100ml water
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp garlic salt
Rind of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Black pepper

Method

I began by preparing the peppers.  I did this by slicing off the top and removing the seeds but also a took a small slice off the bottom to enable them to stand while cooking.

For the filling I fried the onion for 5 minutes then added the paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic salt and lemon rind.

I then added the lamb and fried on a medium heat till browned.








To this I added the tomato paste and water and simmered for 20 minutes till the lamb had cooked through.  I divided this filling equally into the peppers and drizzled with olive oil.  These were then baked in the oven at 200 degrees for about 30 mins.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the finished article but we just had it with some leaves and a warm lemon dressing.

Lemon Dressing:

100ml gluten free chicken stock
50 ml olive oil
Juice of one lemon
Seasoning

Combine the ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes till thickened slightly.

The flavours in the peppers were great and quite zesty.  You could easily leave out the lemon, perhaps add a little chilli and/or toasted pine nuts.  Maybe even mix some chopped spring onions with the stuffing before baking? The possibilities are endless.