Maple-Soy Chicken Wings and Vietnamese Salad

Maple-Soy Chicken Wings (serves 6)
24 chicken wings (you can do more - I make 4 large chicken wings per person)
1/2 cup of soy
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 tsp of chilli flakes
2 tbsp of chinese rice wine

1. Mix up all the above besides the rice wine and allow wings to marinate overnight. Stir a couple of times while marinating if you have a chance.
2. Pre-heat oven to 180C (lower if fan forced).
3. Spread wings in a single layers on some foil covered (this helps later with cleaning!) baking trays. Reserve the marinade.
4. Bake the wings for an hour. I find it helps to increase the temperature a bit for the last ten minutes or turn the fan forced oven on so that they crisp up.
5. While the wings are cooking put the marinade in a small saucepan. Add the chinese rice wine. Bring to the boil and put on a high simmer until reduced. Make sure it is boiling or simmering fast so that you kill any bacteria in it.
6. Serve the wings with the thickened marinade and hoy sin sauce (for those that aren't so keen on chilli).

Vietnamese Salad (serves 10)
2 carrots, julienned
2 cucumbers, julienned
1/2 wombok, hard centre removed and finely sliced
1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 bunch chives, chopped
1 bunch mint, roughly chopped
300g vermicelli rice noodles - cooked according to instructions and chopped a little with scissors

Nuoc Cham (Minus the garlic) made using this recipe as a dressing

1. Toss together the salad ingredients and the Nuoc Cham.
2. Serve with maple-soy wings

Variations -
This salad would be good served with a hot roast chicken from the supermarket if you are in a hurry.
You could also serve it with deep fried tofu for a vegetarian alternative

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup

2 large sweet potatoes, diced
2 litres of stock (I used reconstituted massell chicken stock cubes)
1 carrot, diced
1 stick of celery, diced
1/4 cup of dry sherry
1 small tub of light cream
2 tablespoons of dried chives


1. Sautee the carrot and celery in a pan until soft and a little brown at the edges.
2. Deglaze the pan with sherry being sure to get all the brown bits up.
3. Add the stock and potatoes. Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.
4. Simmer uncovered until potatoes have begun to fall apart.
5. Add the cream and chives. Blend. Season to taste.

Pea and Bacon Soup

2 cups of split peas
2 litres of stock (I use reconstituted massel cubes)
2 potatoes
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1/4 cup of dry sherry
2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons of dried chives

6 rashers of bacon, diced

1. Sautee the carrot and celery in a pan until soft and a little brown at the edges.
2. Deglaze the pan with sherry being sure to get all the brown bits up.
3. Add carrot and celery mix, stock, potatoes, lentils and bay leaves to a slow cooker. Cook on whichever setting you prefer until lentils are soft.
4. Remove the bay leaves. Add the chives. Blend.
5. Fry off bacon until crispy. Add to soup or, for vegetarian option, serve on the side.

Vegetarian Quesadillas

Serves 4

Salsa

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 clove of garlic (leave out if sensitive but this sauce is HOT so there is very little garlic per serve)

1 tablespoon of ginger, grated

1 tablespoon of hot hot hot chilli sauce (I use this one which has a nice a smoky flavour)

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

1/2bunch of coriander, chopped

2 tablespoons of dried chives

1 tsp of smoke flavour

Guacamole (people sensitive to polyols may wish to omit this)

2 avocados, mashed

1 lime, juiced

3 teaspoons of tobacco sauce

Quesadillas

10, corn tortillas (look for Woolworth's Brand or Diego's)

1 large capsicum, diced

1 can of corn, drained and rinsed

1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped

1 lime, juiced

1 bag of spinach

1 cup tasty cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Salsa

1. Heat a little olive oil in a medium sized pot. Sautee the garlic and ginger. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, smoke flavour and hot sauce. Reduce. When thickened add the chives and coriander. Blend. Cool in the fridge.

Guacamole

2. Mix ingredients together. Season to taste

Quesadillas

3. Place corn, capsicum, coriander, spinach and cheese on one tortilla. Top with another like a sandwich.

4. Heat fry pan to hot. Place quesadilla in the pan. Weigh down with something (e.g. a another heavy based pan). When browned underneath, turn over with a spatula. Remove when cheese melted.

5. Serve with guacamole and salsa.

NOTE: If you are sensitive to the guacamole or the sauce you can just leave these out. I find that you use so little (about 1 tablespoon of guacamole and 2 teaspoons of salsa) over the whole meal that it's fine. 

VARIATION: Serve also with some greek yoghurt.

Cauliflower and Broccoli Pasta Bake

1 x 500g packet of gluten free penne

1 head of brocolli, roughly chopped

1 head of cauli flower, roughly chopped

6 anchovies

1 tsp of dried thyme

3 dried chillies, crumbled

1 can of crushed tomatoes

1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

1 cup of parmesan cheese

1 tbsp of butter

1 tbsp of flour (Gluten free if sensitive)

500 mls of milk

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 200C 

2. Heat one pot of salted boiling water and a vegetable steamer to boiling.

3. Put vegetables in the vegie steamer. Remove when just soft through. Set aside to cool a little.

4. Put pasta in salted water. Cook until just before al dente (if you over cook it the pasta bake won't have any structure). Drain, set aside.

5. While the pasta and vegies are cooking make up a white sauce using half the cheese - melt butter, add flour, cook for one minute, slowly add milk while whisking. whisk until thickening, add cheese and nutmeg and whisk further. Season to taste. Set aside.

5. Chop up the vegetables into bite sized pieces. In a fry pan, fry up anchovies, thyme and chillies in a little olive oil. Add the vegetables. Coat with olive oil and spice mix. Fry until a little browned.

6. To construct pasta bake. Empty can of tomatos into a baking dish/casserol dish. Add the vinegar to taste. Add the pasta and veggies a little at a time so mixed. Cover with white sauce. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan.

7. Bake until brown on top.

8. Serve with salad

Variations - Add some pinenuts to last minute of frying veggies off. 

Spanakopita Pie

2 x 250g packets of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of water

1 bunch of dill, finely chopped

1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch of chives, finely chopped

500g of low fat ricotta

250 g of low fat feta, crumbled

1 tsp of nutmeg

1 tbsp of lemon zest

1 egg

1 tbsp of melted butter

1/2 packet of filo pastry* 

1. Pre heat oven to 180C

2. Mix together the spinach, herbs, cheese, nutmeg, lemon zest and egg. Season with salt and pepper. You should end up with a smooth creamy mix.

3. Brush baking tin or casserol dish with better. Line with two layers of filo leaving a little pastry overhanging around the edges. Brush with butter. 

4. Place spinach mix in the lined tin. Cover the top with two more layers of filo brushed with butter. Fold over the overhanding edges.

5. Bake in oven until golden brown on top (20-30 minutes).

* Filo pastry does contain wheat but because it a very thin pastry and you only use a small amount, each slice of pie includes relatively little wheat (as compared to regular pastry in a pie). I don't find this small amount of wheat to be a problem. People who are very sensitive to wheat could use gluten free puff pastry or they could add 2 extra eggs and do without the pastry altoether. This would make a spinach fritatta rather than a pie.

Carrot, Sprout and Radish Salad

2 carrots - peeled and finely sliced using vegetable peeler

1 cup of finely sliced radishes

200g of snow pea sprouts

1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped

2 rashers of bacon, diced

2 tbsp of pine nuts

2 tpsb of orange juice

1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil

1/2 tbsp of maple syrup

1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard

salt and pepper

1. Heat up 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a fry pan. Fry off bacon. Add pine nuts just as bacon getting crispy. Toss until pine nuts a little brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Mix together juice, remaining oil, syrup, mustard and seasoning. Adjust to taste.

3. Toss all ingredients together. Serve.

Rice Pudding

This is a great way to use up leftover rice.

• cooked rice
• about half as much milk as rice
• 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup of rice
• lemon rind or zest
• 1/2 tbsp of malibu rum per cup of rice
• 1/4 tsp of garam masala per cup of rice
• 1/2 tbsp of butter per cup of rice

Put all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then reduce to simmer. Simmer until has reduced and thickened. Serve as is or with fruit.

Article in The Age

I don't usually link to articles about fructose malabsorption but this one is particularly good. It also includes some Melbourne restaurants that can cater for the low FODMAP diet.

Salmon with Wilted Asian Greens

Serves 1

• 1 Salmon Fillet, brushed both sides with olive oil
• 1 handful of chinese broccolli, stalks cut from leaves
• 1 tsp of grated ginger
• 2 tsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of sesame seeds

1. Bring a pot of water to the boil. Mix ginger, soy, oil and sugar together.
2. Heat fry pan until hot and add salmon fillet, skin down. Cook for 2-3mins then turn and cook to your liking. If it is a particularly thick piece of salmon you may find it necessary to cover the pan and cook longer on a low heat - this will help prevent the fish from getting dry.
3. When the salmon is cooked through, set it aside. Add the broccolli stalks to the boiling water. After 1 minute add the leaves. 30 seconds later drain the lot.
4. Put the greens in the bottom of a shallow bowl, top with the salmon. Sprinkle with the dressing and sesame seeds. Serve with boiled rice or mashed sweet potatoes.

Deep Fried Tofu

These little lumps of fried goodness are a great treat and a quick and easy entree for any dinner party.

Serves 3-4 people as an entree
- 1 packet of silken tofu
- 2 tbsp of corn flour
- 2 cups of vegetable oil
- chilli flakes
- salt
- dipping sauce*

1. Heat oil in a wok, pot or deep fryer.
2. Cut tofu into large cubes. From 1 packet you can get about 10-12 cubes.
3. When oil is very hot (look for a shimmer on the top but no smoke), lightly dust each tofu cube in corn flour and lower into the oil on an egg flip. The Tofu is very fragile so this should be done with care. Fry until lightly browned all over and drain on paper towel. The tofu should be nice and crunchy on the outside and soft and silky in the middle. .
4. Sprinkle with salt and chilli flakes and serve with dipping sauce(s) of your choice.

Tip: It is best to cook the tofu in batches as the oil  temperature drops and the pieces stick together if the pan is too crowded

The dipping sauce you serve really makes or breaks this dish as the tofu itself is quite mild in flavour. You can go with just plain lemon or lime if you want something subtle but I prefer something a little more spicy such as nuoc cham or sweet chilli sauce (most commercial sweet chilli sauces are fructose friendly but you can also make your own if you like).

Bi Bim Bap

Serves 2 - 3

• 1 cup of white rice
• 1 large zuchinni, julienne sliced
• 1 cup bean shoots
• 1 carrot, julienne sliced
• soy sauce
• sesame oil
• egg

Sauce

• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp miso paste
• 2 tbsp sambal oelek

1. Cook the rice.
2. Mix together sauce ingredients to taste (the miso cuts the chilli factor down a lot so adding or reducing the miso alters the heat).
3. Put bean shoots in a pot of water with a little salt. Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
4. Stir fry the zucchini in a little sesame oil and soy sauce. Set aside.
5. Stir fry the carrot. Set aside.
6. Place the rice in two bowls. Top with the vegetables in little piles.
7. Fry an egg, sunny side up. Place on top of vegetables. Add sauce.
8. Serve, Stir, Eat.

Alternatives: 

Baked: if you have access to a hot pot that can go in the oven it is worth baking the dish.  Prepare up to step 5. Put rice in a lightly oiled hot pot. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Add the vegetables and top with the cracked egg egg and cook for a further 5 minutes until the egg is just set. Serve in the hotpot if possible.

Cheese: Adding some cheese before putting the vegetables on the rice is a nice addition (not very authentic but nice). A mild cheese is best. This is particularly good if baking the dish as the rice and cheese get nice and crispy.

Meat: you can include meat if you want. Cut finely, marinate in soy sauce. Stir fry and add some sesame seeds at the last minute.

Pumpkin Soup

• 4 cups of pumpkin, peeled and diced
• 1 large potato, peeled and diced 
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 500ml beef stock (check for onion/dehydrated vegetables - massell does a good FF one which is also vegetarian)
• 500ml water
• 1 cup of milk/cream
• 2 tbsp diced chives
• 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Sautee the carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil. Sweat until soft and going golden.
2. Add pumpkin, stock and water. Bring to boil and let to simmer for 1 hour.
3. Blend with a stick blender and add milk/cream, chives and seasoning to taste.
4. Serve garnished with parsley and, if you like, sour cream/yogurt/cream.

Alternatives: you can use half pumpkin/half sweet potato if you like. Also, I have had a nice version which used some curry powder and coriander.

Grilled Vegetable and Proscuitto Salad

This is a nice variation on this salad I published a few months back which doesn't require an oven.

• 4 cups of rocket, rinsed and dried
• 1 medium eggplant, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1/4 cup of shaved parmesan
• 100g finely sliced proscuitto, shredded
• 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

1. Salt the eggplant and zucchini and sit in a sieve over a bowl for 30 minutes or more. Once the bitter liquid has come out of them, rinse the salt off and pat them dry with paper towel.
2. Heat up 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a fry pan. Fry the eggplant and zucchini until cooked through and browned on the edges. Set aside.
3. Toss together, rocket, parmesan and prosciutto. Top with cooked vegetables.
4. Mix together remaining oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Pour on salad. Toss and serve.

Alternative: you could leave out the proscuitto to make this vegetarian. If I did this I think I would stir some pesto in to the dressing or add a couple of finely sliced sun dried tomatoes to give it a bit more zing.

Spicy Cumin Beef Stir Fry

Serves 2

• 250g beef finely sliced across the grain (you can use any beef steak - I used chuck and it was not chewy at all because of the marinade and searing)
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp corn flour
• 1 long red chilli finely chopped
• 1 red or yellow capsicum large dice
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp of peanut oil
• 1 clove minced garlic (you can omit this if sensitive)
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped chives
• 1 tsp of sesame oil

1. Mix the soy and cornflour together. Add beef and leave for 30mins - 1 hour.
2. Heat oil in wok. When very hot and smoking add the beef in batches. Sear the outside of the beef, remove from pan and drain on paper towel.
3. When the beef is done, drain any remaining oil from pan and add the sesame oil. Stir fry the remaining ingredients except the chives. When fragrant (about 1 min) add the beef back into the pan. Stir fry until capsicum is cooked. Be careful not to burn the cumin.
4. Add the chives and season with more chilli flakes to taste. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Source: this is a slightly modified version of this recipe from the NY Times.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Broccoli

This is a one-pot wonder meal that I really like because it is so quick and tasty. It is also surprisingly light.

Makes 1 fairly large serve.

• 3/4 cup of brocolli small broccoli florets*
• 1 cup GF pasta spirals
• 1/2 tbsp of capers finely chopped
• 1 tsp of finely chopped chives
• 1/2 tsp of lemon zest
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tbsp of grated parmesan
• 1 tbsp of creme fraiche or cream
• 50g of smoked salmon ripped into smaller pieces (you could use either the cold smoked or hot smoked kind)

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil. Add the GF pasta. When about 1-2 minutes from cooked add the broccoli.
2. When pasta is cooked, drain the pasta/broccoli it and add the remaining ingredients except the salmon. Put on a low heat. Stir.
3. When the creme fraiche, juice and cheese have combined to make a sauce, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the salmon. Serve.

Alternatives: Substitute the basil or dill for the chives.

* I have recently heard that broccoli can be a problem for people with fructose malabsorption. If this is you use rocket or green beans instead of the broccoli. If using rocket, add it at step 3 when adding the salmon.

Spicy Chorizo with Pippies and Prawns

Serves 2

1 small stick of spicy chorizo (I actually prefer using Hot Hungarian Csabai) sliced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic (depending on tolerance), crushed
1 long red chilli, finely diced
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
2 tbsp of dry sherry
2 tbsp of continental parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon, cut into quarters
1/2kg of pippies
6 king prawns (peeled or unpeeled, whatever suits you)

1. Heat oil in pan. Fry off chorizo until crispy. Remove with tongs and drain on paper towel. Keep oil (it has lots of nice flavour from the sausage).
2. Add the pippies, garlic, chilli, paprika, tomatoes and sherry. Toss and put lid on pan. Periodically shake pan and stir pippies.
3. When the pippies are mostly open, add prawns. As soon as prawns are cooked add the parsley and stir. Serve with lemon.

Serving suggestion - Brown rice or crusty bread (gluten free) with some rocket on the side.
Alternatives - You could leave out the prawns altogether. You could also use scallops instead of pippies and prawns but this would mean you cook at step 2 only very briefly.