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eggfree

Gluten-Free Apple Desserts

by Emilia on October 1, 2008

It is apple season here.

I have been eating apples almost everyday - local apples are the best, maybe it is the cold winters and the light during the nights in summer, but I have never had better apples than the ones growing here. Therefore I embrace this time of year and eat locally grown apples as much as I can.

Even the scent of them is intoxicating and heavy; I often walk around shops trying to decide what fruit or vegetable to buy and I always smell them and rely on that one sense to pick up the best tasting ones.

Foreign winter apples do not have any kind of scent compared to these seasonal, tiny and perhaps a little bit bruised local apples.

I wish locally produced food was more appreciated here in Finland; that is certainly not the case at the moment, even though it is much the trend elsewhere. There are many benefits to eating mainly seasonal and local, but the most important thing would be - for me at least - the fact that it tastes, oh, so good.

We just recently got locally produced organic pork; you just can not compare the taste of it to the meat that has been produced with factory farming. The price was also much cheaper than when bought from a supermarket, we paid 4,50 euros per kilogram, when the price is twice that at a supermarket for factory farmed pork meat. It was also nice to be able to see the pigs and have some sort of connection to the food I eat.

It has been many meals now with apples and pork; I still feel that this is the most delicious of meals and I am ever so grateful for the opportunity to eat like this.

Apples boiled with hard cider

I came to make this dessert one evening when we had made some pork chops with cider and there was some left; I was surprised with the intensity of flavour and delighted, this has since become a favourite for us, and it works well as sweet dessert or as a side dish, especially with five spice flavoured pork.

The sugar should be left out if this is used as a side dish for something savoury; as for the cider, I would imagine that using some sharp apple juice might also work, but I have not tried it. If you are into fat-free cooking, just lose the butter, I do not think that the flavour will suffer much. A dairy-free margarine would work just as well as butter.

Make sure your cider is gluten-free if you are celiac.

Apples boiled with cider recipe

serves 4, takes around 15-20 minutes to make

-6 small apples or 4 medium sized

-1-2 cups hard apple cider

-2 heaping tablespoons of butter

-small pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla

-0,4 cup, 1 dl, sugar, I would recommend replacing a part of this with brown sugar or muscovado sugar, or then using 0,2 cup maple syrup. It will taste better than with just white sugar.

Heat a (cast iron) pan on medium heat.

Slice those apples and place on the pan with the butter.

After the apples have gone a little bit soft add the sugar, wait until the sugar has melted and then add the cider.

Make sure the apples are covered with the cider and then let it reduce.

The apples are done when there is only a small amount of the sugar and cider mixture left along with the apples; you don’t want to make this too dry.

Serve hot with some good quality vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.

Tosca apples

This recipe is a nice substitute for a more traditional apple crumble, I think so.

As for variations, replace the butter with some dairy-free margarine for a vegan and casein free dessert. The amount of sugar and also the kind of sugar used can be played with; if you like using just brown sugar or maple syrup, then try it, also some other kind of sweeteners might work.

Tosca apples recipe

serves 4 and takes about half an hour to make

-100 grams almond slivers

-6 small apples or 4 medium sized ones

-1-2 tbls vanilla sugar

-100 grams butter

-1 dl, 0,4 cup, sugar, or 0,2 cup maple syrup, I really recommend trying this with maple syrup

-2 tbls muscovado sugar

-small pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter

-1 tbls cinnamon

Preheat oven to 170 C 340 F.

Slice the apples.

Take a small saucepan and place it on medium heat. Place the butter in it along with the sugar and let them melt together.

Take a baking pan, or a cast iron pan, grease it and place the apples in it. I would recommend using a cast iron pan here, if you have one of those where you can take the handle off.

Place the apples on the pan and sprinkle some vanilla sugar on them along with the cinnamon.

Sprinkle the almond slivers on top and then pour the sugar and butter mixture on top of the almond slivers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven, the almond slivers should be slightly browned, just slightly, and the apples should be soft when this is done.

Serve with some ice cream.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Gluten-Free Bread Recipe And Baked Portobellos

by Emilia on September 26, 2008

My boyfriend is the baker in our house; he has the patience to try different flour combinations and also more creativity with the whole process of gluten-free baking than what I have.

This recipe is the result of one of his experiments and thus far my favourite gluten-free bread; the pros with this particular recipe is that it uses “whole flours” as in no starches like for example potato starch, it is easy to make, the taste is “earthy” and “dark” which I love - the darker the bread the more I like it- but it does mean that people whom like white breads will probably not be infatuated with the taste of it, the texture is nice and a bit fluffy even. The cons are that like many breads it collapses somewhat in the middle and it does not rise the way wheat raises.

The recipe and bread are not perfect, but I think good enough to be shared.

Gluten-free bread recipe, this is egg-free and dairy-free

Dry ingredients

-2,5 dl, 1 cup, buckwheat flour

-1,5 dl, 0,6 cup, almond flour (ground almonds)

-1 dl, 0,4 cup, quinoa flour

-1 tbls coconut flour

Mix all of these ingredients together.

Wet ingredients

-4 dl, 1,6 cups, warm water (the warmth is determined by the kind of yeast used)

-1 heaping tablespoon of psyllium husk powder

-50 grams of fresh yeast

- 2 tsp salt (use salt according to taste, 2 teaspoons will make a very salty bread)

- one small pinch of sugar (optional, this is used because I believe that the yeast needs a bit of sugar)

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Then take both of the wet mix and the dry mix and combine them. Add two tablespoons of olive oil after you have combined the ingredients; this is also optional.

Take a bread pan and oil it, place the dough in it. Let the bread dough sit for half an hour covered in a warm place.

Bake the bread for 45-60 minutes at 175 C or 350 F.

I usually cut the bread horizontally because it works better that way since it does not rise very high.

Baked Portobello mushrooms are something of a classic with vegetarians at least; they are so extremely meaty that they would pass for meat when placed between slices of bread.

Still, as an omnivore, I would prefer this over a beef sandwich - it is probably the extra earthiness that comes with the mushrooms combined with the flavourful satisfying butter that melts through the mushroom.

There are many options with these, but my personal pick would be the ones baked with chillies and garlic. Other options include Dijon mustard, herbs, just garlic and parmesan, the list goes on and with the variety of choices everyone will probably find their personal favourite, except for the mushroom haters, I know that such people do in fact exist, even though I find it strange.

I am sorry for not posting a picture of the actual sandwich, but when I had made the sandwich - I placed three mushrooms between two bread slices - I ate it all without having the patience to photograph it. That is why I had to use a picture of peeling the mushroom instead of the photo I had planned to use, but I can say that eating the hot, spicy and flavoursome sandwich straight away was worth it.

Baked Portobello mushrooms

Serves 4 and takes approximately half an hour to make

-8 slices of bread

-4 portobello mushrooms

-8 tablespoons of soft butter or dairy-free margarine

-1 red long chilli, you can leave the seeds if you want this to be hot

-2-3 garlic cloves

-salt according to taste

Preheat an oven to 200 C or 400 F.

Peel the mushrooms like in the first photo and remove the stems. I never wash any kind of mushrooms; it ruins the flavour and turns them into a slimy mess.

Put the butter, the washed and chopped chilli, and the garlic cloves into a blender with the salt and blend everything together.

Take a baking dish and place the mushrooms on it upside down and divide the butter between them.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they are done.

Remove the mushrooms and take the bread slices placing them onto the baking dish so that they soak up all of the butter, then place a mushroom between two bread slices and enjoy.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Blue Cheese Potatoes

by Emilia on September 10, 2008

I have been meaning to make a post about gluten-free side dishes I eat and like; when I was thinking about the foods I would like to include I felt like this one side dish deserves its own post, even though it is as simple as can be.
Blue cheese potatoes are my all time favorite way to eat potatoes, and I was always a happy child when my dad made these.

White potatoes have been a problem for me in the past, but it seems like I can eat them in moderation - without feeling like I would be dying from stomach pains - now days. If you are celiac, you might also have problems with things like white potatoes - it is something worth looking into if you still experience discomfort after you went gluten-free. Same thing goes for other starchy things like many gluten-free flour mixes, corn starch etc.

So, to celebrate my ability to digest potatoes I have been having them almost non-stop, not a wise thing to do if you a prone to allergies, but I will stop eventually, at least I will cut down to one portion per week so that I can still eat them occasionally.

This I tell myself while I decide to have some more of those delicious starchy potatoes.

The autumnal weather suits this particular potato recipe very well, along with many others, since it really has that lovely stick to your ribs quality, which at least I crave especially as the season turns colder.

I do love heavy foods whatever season it might be, but especially during the coldness of winter and fall.

My preparation for the cold season ahead has included, besides from eating foods that keep me warm, ordering a whole reindeer, half of an organic pig and I have thought about buying some organic beef and maybe one organic lamb. I will also be getting some organic winter vegetables from a local farm, so hopefully I will have a winter filled with tasty organic and local foods.

Not all blue cheese is gluten-free, so make sure yours is if you are celiac.


Blue Cheese Potatoes Recipe

Serves 4

-150-200 grams blue cheese, use less if it is something strong and more if you are using a milder cheese, I use a Finnish one called Aura which is not all that strong

-1 cup, 2,5 dl cream (heavy cream)

-7 medium sized potatoes, they should be already cooked; I usually use some leftover potatoes, those ready ones in the freezer work well too

Preheat the oven to 400 F or 200 C.

Slice the potatoes.

Pour the cream into a small saucepan and crumble the blue cheese into it. Let them melt together on a low heat.

Pour the cream mixture on the potatoes and bake them in the oven for 45-60 minutes.

I don’t use any salt or pepper in these since the flavor of the blue cheese is so strong and it also adds salt to the food.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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