Gluten Free Jam Drops

Gluten Free Girl is currently doing posting "one-cookie-recipe-a-day" for Christmas. I haven't had a chance to have a good look at them but for a Christmas party the other day I made these jam drops. They were quick, easy and very, very good to eat. I had loads and loads of compliments on them and no one guessed they were gluten free! I used Orgran All Purpose Plain Gluten Free Flour instead of the gluten free mix they use on the site and no guar gum. I used some ginger marmalade for the jam. You could use any jam that isn't 100% fruit for these to be FODMAP friendly.

Fattoush

• 1 cucumber, finely sliced with a mandolin
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 125g greek style fetta, crumbled
• 2 roma tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup herbs (mind, coriander, continental parsley)
• 1 colve garlic
• 2 large slices of FF oat bread
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1tsp sumac
• 2 cups, butter lettuce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Sprinkle salt on cucumber slices and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Rinse salt off cucumber in a mesh strainer and squeeze as much water as you can out of it.
3. Add vinegar, stir. Sit for 15 minutes.
4. Add fetta, tomato and sumac to cucumber and set aside.
5. Brush bread with olive oil and grill. Rub with garlic.
6. Mix herbs, lettuce and tomato/cucumber mix with lemon juice.
7. Rib up bread and add to top of salad just before serving so still crunchy.

Thai Beef Salad

Serves 1

• 200g beef sirloin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• handful of baby spinach
• 1/2 red capsicum, sliced finely
• handful or bean sprouts
• 1 tbsp, finely chopped chives
• 1 tbsp, coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp, mint, roughly chopped

Dressing:

• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 birdseye chilli diced finely

1.   Heat BBQ or heavy based fry pan.
2. Brush meat with oil and season. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side.
3. Transfer to a plate to rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Mix together dressing ingredients and set aside.
5. Mix remaining ingredients in a serving bowl. Thinly slice beef and place on top of salad. Pour dressing over. Serve.

Pumpkin, Fetta and Pine Nut Salad

• 500g pumpkin, diced
• 1 tbsp, olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4 handfuls of baby spinach
• 200g fetta cheese, crumbled
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Brush oven tray with olive oil and put on pumpkin and drizzle with a little extra oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft.
2. On another tray spread pine nuts. Toast in oven until golden (~5mins).
3. Cool pine nuts and pumpkin. Mix all ingredients together. Serve

Suggestion: Use balsamic vinegar and oil or balsamic glaze as a dressing instead of the lemon and oregano.

Light Potato Salad

Serves 4

• 16 baby potatoes
• Handful dill, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
• 2 tbsp Sour cream
• 2 tbsp Egg Mayonnaise
• Lime, juiced
• Salt and pepper

1. Boil potatoes until just tender. Drain.
2. Add mayonnaise, lime, sour cream and salt and pepper while still warm.
3. Refridgerate until cold and add herbs.

Potato, Chickpea, Spinach and Lemon Soup

Serves ~ 4

• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp lemon infused olive oil
• 1L chicken stock
• 2 tbsp sweet sherry
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups of fresh spinach
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 tsp red peppercorns
• 1 tsp black peppercorns

1. Heat oil. Sautee garlic.
2. Add stock, potatoes, bay leaves, pepper and chickpeas. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Add sherry.
3. When potatoes are soft add remaining ingredients and season to taste.

Tomato Salsa

This is really nice on mexican food or (in moderation) with corn chips.

• Tomato
• Chilli - green and red
• Chives
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Tobasco sauce
• Coriander
• Lime Juice

Mix to taste

Corn Fritters

• 1 can of corn, drained and rinsed
• 6 tbsp of gluten free self raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup crumbled greek fetta
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tbsp chopped chives
• salt and pepper
• canola oil

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Heat 1.5 cm of oil in a heavy fry pan until very hot
3. Place 1/2 cup size portions into oil to make little corn "pikelets". Cook until brown on bottom and flip.
4. When cooked on both sides, sit on paper towel.
5. Serve hot or cold with raita or tatziki dip.

Vietnamese Style Soup

This is a bit of a hit and miss recipe so be sure to taste as you go along.
Serves 2

• 1 small clove garlic, finely sliced
• 1 inch ginger/galangal, finely sliced
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 red chilli, finely sliced (sambal oelek can be used instead)
• 1 bruised lemongrass stalk
• 1 tbsp of chives, finely sliced
• 1/4 coriander leaves and root, roughly chopped
• 1-2 limes, juiced
• 500ml chicken stock
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• rice noodles (already softened in boiling water), meat, vegetables as available 

1. Sautee garlic and half of the ginger in a little vegetable oil. Add stock, lemongrass, lime leaves, fish sauce (to taste), chilli and vegetables/meat. Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables/meat cooked.
2. Add noodles, lime juice (to taste), herbs and remaining ginger

Suggestions: Smoked chicken

Prosciutto, Green Bean and Roasted Tomato Salad

This salad is a great one for those BBQs when you are asked to bring something. It looks very impressive, tastes great and the best bit is you can have it ready in 20 minutes.

• 4 cups of rocket/baby spinach 
• 1 cup of green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 50g of proscuitto slices
• 1 cup of mini-roma tomato or grape tomato (you can also do this with 4 regular romas), cut in halves
• 1/4 cup of shaved parmesan
• 1/4 cup of shredded basil
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. On trays lined with baking paper place the prosciutto slices and the tomatoes (cut side face up). Season the tomatoes and drizzle with a little olive oil. Put in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked and the prosciutto is crispy. Crumble the prosciutto up into little pieces.
3. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for five minutes. Drain and place in a bowl with some iced water. Drain after five minutes.
4. Mix the remaining olive oil and vinegar to taste.
5. Layer the ingredients in a large flat bowl. Begin with the salad greens followed by the beans, tomatoes, parmesan and prosciutto. Drizzle with dressing.

Gluten Free Naan

I used to use this recipe for naan, but the naan it produces is more bready than real wheaten naan. Lately I have experimented with my own recipe. The quantities in the ingredient are a bit of a "feel" thing, so be sure to experiment.

Serves 2

• 1.5 cups gluten free plain flour (I use Orgran Brand) plus extra for kneading
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1tsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of dried yeast
• 3 tbsp of greek yoghurt
• olive oil

1. Heat a non-stick baking tray in the oven on the highest temperature you can.
2. Warm the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds so tepid. Add the sugar and yeast and set aside for 5 minutes to allow yeast to activate.
3. Sift the flour into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the yoghurt and enough of the milk/yeast mixture to make a fairly damp dough.
4. Turn out onto a floured board and using floured hands kneed until a smooth soft dough.
5. Divide the dough into two balls and flatten each one using the palm of your hand. When quite thin, set aside on a greased board. The naan is more fluffy if you set the dough aside in a warm place to prove for an hour, but this is not necessary. If you do this, only turn your oven on to pre-heat fifteen minutes before cooking.
6. Take the hot baking tray and lightly grease with olive oil. Place bread. When the bottoms are browned, turn the bread using a spatula.
7. When browned all over, brush with butter, garlic (optional) and salt. Serve hot.

Tip - if you are having trouble getting a nice crust on your naan but an oven proof bowl full of boiling water in your oven while you cook. 

Pumpkin Risotto

Serves 4

• 1/2 butternut pumpkin, diced
• 1tsp olive oil
• 2 cups of arborio rice
• 1L chicken stock, hot
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 tbsp of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of chives, finely chopped
• 1 cup of parmesan
• 1/2 clove of garlic

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Lightly brush base of a baking tray with olive oil. Spread pumpkin over it and put in oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft and a little brown.
2. Heat the rest of the oil and sautee garlic and then rice for 2 minutes. Add the wine. Cook until reduced.
3. Slowly add hot stock 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring and waiting for each bit to reduce until adding more.
4. When rice is soft and stock absorbed. Set aside for five minutes.
5. Add herbs and cheese to taste (you will not need all the parmesan).
6. Serve with remaining parmesan and a green salad.

Vegetarian Stir Fry

Serves: 4

• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1 zucchini, cut in half and then sliced to 0.5cm
• 1 bunch broccolini, cut into 3cm sticks, set the stalks aside from the heads
• 1 carrot, diced to 1cm cubed and blanched in boiling water for 5mins then drained.
• 2cm of ginger, finely sliced into batons
• 1 small clove of garlic finely diced (you could use garlic flavoured oil when cooking the vegetables instead of fresh garlic)
• 1tsp of fish sauce
• 1 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tbsp of lime or lemon juice
• 1 birds-eye chilli, de-seeded and finely diced
• 1 handful of fresh coriander leaves
• 4 eggs very lightly beaten
• vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp of peanut oil

1. Mix fish sauce, soy, sugar, juice and chilli. Set aside.
2. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sufficient vegetable oil to fill to 1cm. When very hot, pour in the egg. Swirl in the pan to make an omelette. Turn when brown on bottom. When cooked, remove from oil onto a paper towel.
3. Empty pan of oil and reheat dry pan. Return omelette to pan to crisp upon both sides. Remove, roll, slice into ribbons and set aside.
4. Heat up peanut oil in pan. When very hot add the carrots and broccolini stalks. Fry for 2 mins. Add 1tbsp of hot water and place lid on pan until it has steamed off and vegetables are just soft.
5. Add remaining vegetables and stir fry until cooked and a little blackened.
6. Add sauce, egg and coriander. Taste and adjust the sauce seasonings (the fish sauce and juice can vary in their flavour so the measurements above are a guide only).

Fried Rice

Serves 6

• 3 cups of cooked brown rice (preferably cooked the night before)
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1 green capsicum, diced
• 1 carrot, diced (cooked with a little water in microwave for 3 minutes, drain)
• 1/2 cup of corn kernels (you could use fresh, canned or frozen)
• 4 eggs, very lightly beaten
• 2 birds-eye chilli, de-seeded and finely sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 2 cm of ginger, finely grated
• 2tbsp of light soy
• 1 bunch of chives, finely chopped
• 1 handful of finely chopped coriander (optional)
• 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• vegetable oil

1. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sufficient vegetable oil to fill to 1cm. When very hot, pour in the egg. Swirl in the pan to make an omelette. Turn when brown on bottom. When cooked, remove from oil onto a paper towel.
2. Empty pan of oil and reheat dry pan. Return omelette to pan to crisp upon both sides. Remove, roll, slice into ribbons and set aside.
3. Heat up the sesame and vegetable oil until hot. Add vegetables and toss. When they are cooked and a little brown at the edges add the rice.
4. Toss until a little browned. Add soy, herbs and omelette and toss together. Adjust soy to taste.

Alternatives:  The vegetables here can be varied as you wish (I usually make it from left over odds and sods). Broccolini is a good for example. You could also also add some meat for a non-vegetarian version - lap cheong chinese sausage, bacon and chicken are all good. It is best to fry it separately and add towards the end. Some prawns could also be added towards the end of cooking.

Potato Salad

Serves 4

• 8 med potatoes (you could use 16 cocktail potatoes), washed and quartered
• 1 tbsp of greek yogurt (you could use cream or sour cream)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp of dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tbsp of capers, finely chopped
• 1tbsp chives, finely chopped
• 2 rashers of bacon, diced

1. Place potatoes in a shallow microwave safe dish with 1/2tsp of water. Cover with plastic film and microwave on high 2 minutes at a time until just cooked (takes 4-6 minutes).
2. While potatoes are cooking fry the bacon until crispy and shake all other ingredients together in a jar for dressing. Season and adjust ingredients in the dressing to taste.
3. Mix cooked potatoes, dressing and bacon thoroughly. 
4. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Frittata

Serves 3 - 4 for a light meal

• 1 red capsicum, diced small
• 1 zucchini, diced small
• 4 rashers of bacon, diced
• 2 birds-eye chillies, deseeded and finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (you could use garlic oil instead)
• 2 med-large desiree potatoes, washed and diced
• 4 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp diced chives
• 1/2 cup of grated tasty cheese

1. Pre-heat grill.
2. Put potatoes in a microwave safe bowl, covered with glad wrap and microwave for 3 minutes or until just soft.
3. Heat oil in a large non-stick fry pan. Add potatoes, bacon, garlic, zucchini, capsicum and chilli. Fry off on high heat until potatoes start to show some colour.
4. Sprinkle over the chives and the cheese evenly. Pour eggs on top. Tilt pan to make sure eggs have spread around the whole pan.
5. Let cook for 5 minutes on high.
6. Place pan under grill (if a plastic handled pan, be careful not to melt it!) until browned on top.
7. Serve with a green salad and some crusty bread

Alternatives: You could substitute some FF chorizo sausage for the bacon for a more authentic spanish taste.

Beef Chilli

Serves 4

• 500g blade steak - cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 carrot - finely diced
• 2 sticks celery - finely diced
• 1/2 jar Masterfoods Mexican Spices (a mixture of cummin, sweet paprika, chilli, tumeric)
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• 1tsp hot sauce (I use tabasco sauce)
• 2 capsicums, diced
• 1 cup of canned kidney beans
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 500 ml beef stock (I use Massell brand)
• 250 ml crushed tomatoes
• 1 bunch Coriander, ripped up
• 1 lime, juiced
• greek yogurt/sour cream to serve

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Sautee the carrot and celery. Reduce heat and sweat until soft.

2. Add meat and the spices. Stir until combined and meat a little brown. Add tomatoes, hot sauce, beef stock and beans.

3. Bring to boil, and then reduce heat to simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add extra water if needed.

4. When meat is falling apart, add capsicums. Cook for a further 20 minutes on low.

5. The dish can be set aside at this point if needed.

6. Just before serving add coriander and lime. Serve with rice and Greek yogurt on the side. 

Alternatives: you could use this mixture in tacos or burritos (using corn tortillas).

Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies

Makes about 20 brownies
Cooking time: 1 hour

• 150g butter
• 100g walnuts, coarsely chopped (you could use any type of nuts really)
• 150g dark chocolate buds
• 150g white chocolate buds
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• 1/3 cup rice flour
• 1/3 cup gluten free plain flour
• 4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of a square 23cm (base measurement) cake pan with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang. Spread the nuts over a baking tray and bake in oven for 5 minutes or until toasted. Set aside to cool.
2. Combine margarine, dark chocolate, cocoa and water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 secs at a time, stirring in between (it only needs about 1.5 mins in the microwave total). When all melted and combined move on to next step. 
3. Add the nuts, white chocolate, sugar, almond meal and combined flours, and stir until well combined.
4. Use an electric beater to beat the eggs in a bowl for 5 minutes or until thick and pale. Use a metal spoon to gently fold half the egg into the chocolate mixture until just combined. Repeat with the remaining egg. Pour the chocolate mixture into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack.

This recipe is a modified version of one by Nadia French in Good Taste, Feb, 2006, p. 80 available here.

Spaghetti Bolognese

This is a very rich meat sauce for pasta. Yes, it does have a fairly large amount of wine and tomatoes in it but, given the amount being made, each individual serve is still be fructose friendly (less than 30ml of wine, 100g tomatoes, 1/8 garlic clove per serve). Must be served with gluten free pasta to be fructose friendly.

Cooking Time - 2.5 hours

Serves - 8-10

• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 sticks of celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• liberal pinch asafoetida powder
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (this could be omitted and/or replaced with garlic oil if you are sensitive to garlic)
• 500g lamb mince
• 500g veal mince
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 eggplant, diced fairly small (I like to salt mine and then rinse and dry it before cooking but this is optional)
• 2 x 400g tinned tomatoes, blended so there are no lumps
• 1L, half chicken stock/half water
• 1 bunch of chives finely chopped
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves shredded

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add carrot, garlic and celery. Cook on medium to low until soft and browning.
2. Put eggplant on a lined, greased cooking tray (I used olive oil spray). Spray with oil. Place in a 180C oven for 15-20 minutes (until brown), turning once or twice. Set aside.
3. Add meat and dried herbs. Break up the meat as best you can using a fork, spatula or whisk. Brown off. Keep cooking on low to medium heat until all the liquid has dried from the meat.
4. Add the wine. Cook at simmer until reduced.
5. Add the tomatoes and eggplant. Bring to boil and cook at simmer for 2 hours. Add a little of the stock if it gets dry. Do not stir too much.
6. Just before serving stir in chives and basil. Serve on gluten free pasta with parmesan cheese.

This sauce is suitable for freezing.

Alternatives - would taste very good with polenta instead of pasta.

Fructose Friendly Indian

Indian cuisine can be a real struggle with fructose malabsorption. Most Indian restaurants in Australia are Punjabi and thus use onion in the base of the gravy for all their sauces. The commercial curry pastes available in the supermarkets also often contain onion and garlic. While I have basically given up being able to eat anything but "plain dahl" and tandoori chicken in my local indian takeout, I have found a couple of things that help me to satisfy my curry cravings.

• The local indian grocery - Because it is common for many hindu and jain families to refrain from eating onion or garlic, many indian stores carry curry pastes that do not have them included. Indian groceries also carry many FF flours in bulk (besan (chickpea) flour, rice flour) as well as other herbs and spices.
• Manjula's Kitchen - This website is a treasure trove of Indian recipes without onion or garlic. Most of the recipes are suitable for those with fructose malabsorption and range from basic curries to more complicated recipes like these puda dosa. Manjula helpfully includes a video of herself making each recipe (very helpful for more complicated dishes).

Crust Pizza

Most fast food places either don't have any fructose friendly options (other than hot chips!). Crust Pizza is one take away outlet that I have found to be an exception to this rule. Their pizzas are delicious and I can be sure what I am eating isn't going to make me sick (unless I eat too much!!!). 

They used to have a full ingredient listing online but unfortunately this appears to have been taken down when they upgraded the site. While this is a pain, you can still enjoy Crust! The key things to avoid are the sausage/meatball type toppings and their tomato base (they have three other tasty base options). I usually use the "build your own" pizza option on their website so I can make sure everything is okay for me.

Minestrone Soup

Serves 6-8


Cooking Time: 45 minutes

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 cup pumpkin, diced
• 100g smoked bacon, finely diced (omit for vegetarian version)
• 1 bunch basil, stalks finely chopped, leaves torn
• 1/2 cup red wine 
• 400g can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 small courgettes, diced
• 400g can of borlotti beans
• 1 medium bunch, silverbeet, stalks diced, leaves chopped roughly
• 1 cup of GF pasta (I used Orgran Animal Shapes)
• 750ml FF chicken or vegetable stock
• Parmesan cheese/basil pesto to serve

1. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add celery, carrot, pumpkin, basil stalks and bacon. Reduce heat, cover pan with lid just ajar and sweat vegetables for 10-15 minutes or until just soft.
2. Add courgettes, tomatoes and wine. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add silverbeet, beans, stock and pasta. Simmer until pasta is cooked (10 minutes). If at any point the soup is too thick for your liking, add a little water.
4. Serve with fresh basil leaves on top and some grated parmesan or a tablespoon of basil pesto.

(Modified version of recipe in Jamie Oliver, Jamie's Italy, Penguin, 2010)

This recipe is suitable for freezing but beware the gluten free pasta will not hold up well to this. It may be worth omitting it and adding it when reheating. I usually blend the soup for freezing anyway as the veggies loose a bit of their texture in freezing. 

Kedgeree

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 100g smoked salmon or trout (hot smoked fillet style) finely shredded and deboned
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 1.5 cups FF chicken stock
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp FF curry paste (you could substitute this for 1 tbsp of FF curry powder mixed in water to a paste)
• 1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 eggs

1. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and sit in cold water to cool.
2. Heat ghee in a medium saucepan. Fry curry paste until fragrant.
3. Add capsicum and rice to paste. Stir. Add stock. Stir.
4. Leave to simmer on a very low heat until rice is cooked and stock largely absorbed.
5. Remove from heat. Add the fish. Add lemon juice and parsley to taste. Season.
6. Peel the boiled eggs and slice into quarters.
7. Serve the kedgeree with sliced egg on top and garnished with parsley.