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.