Coeliac Awareness Week '13

I have found a few Gluten Free blogs to follow and love lately, and one of them, Apple & Spice, brought it to my attention that it is Coeliac Awareness Week this week! As someone who is Gluten Intolerant and Coeliac-all-but-with-a-diagnosis, I feel like its an important week in the UK to raise some awareness about what it means to have an intolerance to gluten. 

My story of intolerance (of the glutenous variety) started 6 years ago when I started feeling sick, often. I was on first name basis with all of the staff at my gastroenterologist's office due to the frequency with which I had appointments. Five rather unpleasant exams later, still no diagnosis. It was clear that there was something very wrong with my digestive system, but they couldn't quite put a label on me yet. 

I had bowel resection surgery after about 18 months of all of this, because symptomatically the specialists suspected I had Crohns Disease. After a fairly traumatic surgery and recovery period fraught with complications, pathology reports came back negative. The trouble with diagnosing any of these gastrointestinal disorders is the nature of the diagnosis. So many of these diseases exist in little pockets of infection riddled throughout the intestines, and if those exact pockets aren't biopsied, the results will show negative. The amount of stories of people suffering through countless false negatives until finally a positive biopsy is vast. And frustrating. This article in the Huffington Post 50 Shades of Gluten Intolerance (as linked by My Darling Lemon Thyme) talks about it far more scientifically than I can, and is worth a read. 

I continued on with my journey towards diagnosis, but the journey never seemed to end. I got sick of being poked and prodded and so decided to stop (well, having to go through a colonoscopy in the UK AWAKE & IN AGONY was the final straw for me. Seriously, if you need to have one, do it in Australia, we won't make you feel a darn thing). It was only very recently that I decided to go Gluten Free again to see if it made a difference, and the difference has been, well, life changing. I won't go into it, because, well this is a food post afterall, but lets just say, it has been well worth sticking to for me. 

I love my two new GF recipe books and am enjoying discovering a new way of cooking and baking that still allows the foodie in me to escape!!

Seriously Good Gluten-Free Baking

The Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef

To honour Coeliac Awareness Week, I will only be posting recipes that are Gluten Free, and will link to my favourite other Gluten Free blogs that I currently adore. Its funny the number of people I know who have some form of intolerance to gluten, and apparently it has become quite trendy to follow a Gluten Free diet according to the Harvard Medical School. 

Do you suffer from an intolerance to Gluten? Do you find it to be easy to live with? Do you have any favourite blogs or restaurants who make it easier to handle?

Mother's Day Brunch - Cast Iron Pears & French Toast with Cinnamon Marscapone

Happy Mother's Day! It was Australian mother's day today as well as in the States, but as we celebrated the British Mothering Sunday back in March, today was an understated celebration. But, it was the most perfect first (real) Mother's Day for me as I think I spent about 98% of the day cuddling my baby girl, and so I couldn't have wished for more. 

Well....maybe I would have wished for a second serve of brunch!! 

Mr M is renowned for his breakfasts, he's always made a mean crepe or pancake, and has mastered French Toast in the past few months. When we were in New York over Christmas we had brunch out at a cute little place in Williamsburg, Cafe Colette, where we ate the best French Toast we'd ever had! We both ordered the Cast Iron French Toast with poached fruit as we thought it sounded incredible. We were right, it was incredible! When we got back to London we had a go at making it ourselves and found it to be worth the extra step of poaching the fruit first, it is quite simply the best french toast you could have! 

French Toast is best made on bread that is starting to go old and stale, and as most Gluten-Free breads aren't terrible soft and light, they are perfect for French Toasting!! It was our first attempt of GF French Toast and as we were devouring it in record time, Mr M said to me "I'm so glad we can eat this again, I was devastated to have lost this breakfast". Good to see the drama and love of food is catching on!!

Ingredients

Bread (GF or regular, but if regular, have 3 day old bread)

2 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

Cinnamon

Marscapone

Fruit of your choosing - we used pears, but apples, peaches, plums, figs or apricots would all work!

Demerra sugar (raw sugar)

Method

1. Start off by poaching the fruit. To do this you need to slice it into 1 cm thick pieces and line it in a cast iron pan. Cook on medium heat for about ten minutes. Towards the end add a teaspoon of sugar to help caramelise slightly, meanwhile prepare the toast. 

2. Beat eggs, milk and cinnamon together until well combined. 

3. Dip each piece of bread in the egg mix and let the excess drip off. 

4. Place eggy bread in a hot pan (that has had a bit of butter melted in) and cook until both sides have browned. This will take about 5 minutes. 

5. Start placing the cooked bread on top of the cooked fruit and break apart to fit in the gaps so that its one layer. 

6. Pour excess egg mix over the bread to fill the gaps completely. 

7. Place under the grill/broiler for a few minutes until the egg has cooked completely. 

8. Serve with Cinnamon Marscapone (which is simply marscapone cheese mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of icing sugar). 

Enjoy immediately while hot and while the bread is still a bit crunchy on top!

So that was my request for Mother's Day Brunch this morning. We got up and made breakfast together and ate with out little girl babbling away in her highchair next to us. It was perfect in every single way.

A big happy Mother's Day to all of my mum/mom and soon-to-be-mum/mom friends as we all enjoy our first (and a few celebrating more) Mother's Day, the special God-Mothers with their never-ending love for our babies, as well as all of those seasoned mum's out there that have been doing this for all of our lives too! I hope you've all had a few extra cuddles and kisses from the special ones who have made us who we are so incredibly lucky to be. It is the most overwhelming and wonderful honour in the world. 

Photo Phriday # 5

Pavlova in a Glass

Or, in the UK it is also known as an Eton Mess! But to an Aussie, anything with a baked meringue is always going to be called a Pavlova.

I was inspired by a favourite blog, Pink Patisserie, which posted a recipe for a Rhubarb Eton Mess this morning, and having every single ingredient on hand already, I knew it was the perfect dessert to make tonight. Baby M and I had dinner with another mum and bub friend down the street tonight, and we just had a low-key dinner, but I wanted to take a little treat for dessert that would be easily transportable and not be too fussy to prepare.

I bought fresh rhubarb and strawberries on the weekend and have been waiting for the perfect way to use them. I love love LOVE a good pavlova and when I saw this Eton Mess post, I knew it would be such a fun way to present it. I am not the most patient of all people either, so when I get something in my head that I want to do, it pleases me endlessly to be able to follow through that same day!

There are three components to this dessert, the meringues, chantilly cream and stewed fruit.

Ingredients
3 egg whites
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 t cornflour
1 t vanilla
1 t white vinegar
Rhubarb stalks
Strawberries
3 T caster sugar
300ml double cream (whippable)
3 T caster sugar

Pavlova Meringue

1. Beat egg whites with electric beaters and gradually add the caster sugar until stiff peaks form. This usually takes around 5 minutes. It will be velvety and thick and glorious.

2. Slowly fold in the cornflour, vinegar and vanilla until well combined.

3. Scoop spoonfulls of mixture and place on a tray, lined with al foil and sugar (which helps them to not stick).

4. Bake in a slow oven (150C/300F) for 15 minutes until the peaks just slightly start to brown. They will then crack upon cooling, which is perfectly normal.

Chantilly Cream

Beat cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until soft peaks, approximately 3 minutes. Be sure not to overwhip, or it will begin to start turning into butter!!! Less ideal.

Stewed Fruit

In a saucepan, place pieces of rhubarb with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Cook for a few minutes, until softened, but not too much until they break down. Allow to cool and strain the water. Slice the fresh strawberries and leave aside with the rhubarb.

To compile the Pavlova in a Glass, start with the cream on the bottom. Then put the meringue, followed by fruit, and repeat as many times as your glass is tall!

Its best to put this together just before serving, so that the liquids from the fruit don't make the meringue soggy. The crunch of the meringue, with the sweetness of the cream, together with the slight tartness of the fruit are the perfect combination and make for perfect biteful after perfect biteful!

Such an easy dessert to be able to make ahead of time, and you can make it even easier and buy the meringue already made!! It couldn't be more straight-forward than that! I really like the presentation of this dessert and enjoyed making it almost as much as I enjoyed eating it!!! My photos are nowhere near as good as Pink Patisserie's, but I'm hopeful that they at least tasted as good, which is the main thing anyway!!

Swings and roundabouts

I've had writers block this week. Writers block. Bakers block. Bloggers block. I have been busy with lots of little projects, too many projects, and none of which are finished, which makes me feel very restless! There has been more migraines and sickness over the past week and yet more happy moments and good company that I am so grateful for. On balance its been such a great week, but yet, I still feel whelmed. 

And what do I do when I'm feeling whelmed, I go and squeeze my little koala bear (Baby M of course) and instantly feel light as a feather. She's had the ability of cheering people up since she was a newborn. If you are crying in her company, she'll start laughing until you smile back at her. All the crabby bus folk can't help but crack a smile when she breaks into spontaneous "peek-a-boo" games with them. She just makes people happy. And so when she's sleeping, that's when I pour through the hundreds upon hundreds of photos that I've taken of her that week. And even through the lens of a camera, she has the ability to make me feel infintiely happier.

Last weekend we took her to the swings for the very first time.

She was somewhat nervous to start with, as was mummy! But here are just a few sweet photos of our little one getting her swing-legs!

I hope to push through the bloggers block quickly and if not, well, I have hundreds upon hundreds of photos I can be adding each week!!!

Prawn & Rocket Linguine

This recipe comes from the Donna Hay "No Time to Cook" recipe book, which seems fitting for almost all stages of life!!! It truly doesn't take longer than 15 minutes to go from fridge to plate, which works if you're home from a long day at the office, rustling something up amongst all the paperwork at home or juggling kids, hubby, and puppy oh my! Donna Hay is a good Australian cook who makes real food that normal people want to cook! Everyone wants to eat the Michelin Starred meals, but does everyone want to cook them on a Thursday night... perhaps not. I noticed there is a new Donna Hay cookbook out now, so I'll have to procure that soon and give some new recipes a try, but this one is an oldie but a goodie. 

Ingredients

Linguine (I didn't have any, so used spaghetti instead)

Olive oil

Garlic cloves

Raw green prawns

Lemon zest

Chilli flakes

Sea salt and cracked pepper

Rocket leaves (arugula in the USA)

Lemon juice

Method:

1. Boil a pot of water and submerge pasta, stirring every now and then, until al dente (approx 10 minutes).

2. While the pasta is cooking away, prepare the rest of the ingredients, which take about 3 minutes to cook at the end, so the timing is perfect!! Cut 3 garlic cloves into small pieces, and zest some lemon to amount to about 1 teaspoon. My grater/zester is often MIA, so I just finely chopped some lemon rind instead, and wouldn't have known the difference!

3. Cut the tails of the prawns if they have them, and cut them in half if you so desire (in Australia they are actually big enough to justify this, but unfortunately, not always the case in the UK).

4. When you think the pasta is almost done, heat some oil in the pan and add the garlic, prawns, lemon and about 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes (fresh would be fine too, just don't put too much!).

5. The prawns will take about 2 minutes to cook through (they turn pink and prawn-like). You can always throw another shrimp on the barbie if you'd prefer to cook em that way.... to each their own!

6. When the pasta has finished, strain it, and return to its pot. Throw in the cooked prawns, and I added an extra tablespoon of good quality oil at this point. Add the shredded rocket, salt and pepper and combine well.

Serve up while its piping hot and enjoy with a chilled glass of crisp white! If you leave it sit for too long, the rocket will start to wilt, which is neither attractive nor delicious, so be sure to only make this meal as you are ready to devour it! 

Photo Phriday #4

Maple glazed, maple pecan biscuits

These biscuits will always feel special to me. I can still remember when I first made them for my family in Jersey when my little niece was only little (not that being four now is all that big, but you know, she was much littler). They were so delicious, eaten in about 5 minutes flat, and the house smelled of maple glaze for the rest of the day. It was everything you want a biscuit to be (unless you can come up with a way to make them entirely negative calories, then that would be everything I would want them to be!). 

I love that I wrote the recipe on my niece's etch-sketch and considered not even writing it up properly, but that would be cruel, my scrawl is hardly legible, and these are definitely in the "need to know" pile. 

And here is for the slightly more coherent version....

Ingredients:

(2-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1.5 teaspoons maple syrup (or flavouring but the syrup is incredible)

3/4 cup of butter

1 large egg

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 oz (2 cups) of pecans, chopped coarsely

Method:

1. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda.

2. In a food processor, pulse granulated sugar and brown sugar (i'm not sure why, but just follow the method, you won't regret it).

3. Add the maple syrup and pulse for about 20 seconds

4. In separate bowl, cream butter for a few minutes until pale and soft. Add the sugar in three additions. Beat well for another few minutes.

5. Add the egg, vanilla and remaining maple syrup and mix until just combined.

6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.

7. Add the chopped pecans to the mixture and stir through until even dispersed but not overly smooth

8. Roll into two smooth logs and wrap tightly in cling film.

9. Refridgerate for 2 hours (or if you are impatient, pop in the freezer for half an hour).

10. When the log is sufficiently cool, it should be quite firm, and easy to cut.

11. Use a cerated knife and cut slices of the logs, about 1.5cm thick.

12. Place on baking tray and bake in a moderate oven (180C/350) for 18 minutes, or until lightly 

golden brown (not 15, not even 20, but eighteen minutes).

While these cool slightly, prepare the maple glaze (MANDATORY).

13. Whisk together 3/4 cup of icing sugar with 1/4 cup of maple syrup until a smooth consistency. If it gets too thick, you can add a little hot water to the mixture as you go.

14. While the cookies are still warm, use a pastry brush to spread the glaze over each biscuit. It will set within about one minute (which in itself is a reason to glaze things, so much fun to watch things set so quickly, which really, seems to be going against the nature of putting runny objects on top of hot ones....miraculous stuff).

Have two or three set aside before giving them to the vultures, you will not see the plate come back with any biscuits left, I promise (and if you do, get new friends, yours have terrible taste!!). 

This are the kind of biscuit that you will want to make a double batch of to have one log frozen on standby, for emergency situations. Being able to defrost a log and bake at a moments notice would be impressive even if they were just regular butter cookies, but, when your un-announced friends taste these crisply-glazed but yet doughy and sweet biscuits, they will be sure to drop by announced every time, hoping that you haven't prepared anything else!!!

They are that good. 

Fresh Garden Risotto (GF)

It had been yonks and yonks since we'd had a risotto until last night. In my head they are a lot of effort, standing and stirring for hours and hours. But when I got a text from Mr M during the day yesterday, requesting we not have steak for dinner because he was in pain from his dental work, I thought that I would be a good and supporting wife and prepared myself to stand at the stove for hours and hours making a risotto.

But as I started chopping the ingredients I remembered that my risotto was actually really simple and not all that labour-intensive. And it wasn't even hours and hours. Half an hour. Tops. I worked with an Italian woman in Melbourne, who taught me how to make the most basic and tasty risotto, and I've been making it this way ever since. 

I wanted all the ingredients to be fresh, but also soft, so I made a quick parsley pesto and grilled some cherry tomatoes until they were soft and squishy. 

Parsley Pesto

Follow the recipe for regular basil pesto, but use fresh flat-leaf parsley instead! I also added some pecan nuts too, which gave a slightly sweet taste. Mr M LOVES parsley so I knew it would be a winner with him at least. He has been known to buy so much parsley on the weekends that I started putting it in vases around the house!!! 

Basic Risotto

Ingredients

1.5 cups aborio rice (this serves approximately 3)

4 cups chicken stock (2 chicken stock cubes + 4 cups of boiling water)

1 onion finely cut

1 T butter

And then the flavour combination of your choice. 

Method:

1. Put a teaspoon of butter in a heavy-based (and preferably wide) pan on medium heat on the stove. 

2. Add the chopped onion and stir until translucent and starting to brown (about 5 minutes)

3. Add the aborio rice and stir for a few minutes until it too has become translucent. 

This is to show you the colour differential between the raw rice on the spoon and the "translucent" rice

4. Add a splash of your favourite white wine (Okay, perhaps not your favourite  wine, but definitely one that you enjoy, because if you're only using a splash, there's a lot left to get through!). This will bubble and reduce really quickly so be sure to stir the rice around quickly. 

5. Add half of the chicken stock to the rice. 

6. Over ten minutes stir a few times until the liquid has almost completely gone. At this point, add in the rest of the stock. 

7. Cover the pan (if you have a lid) and leave for ten minutes, stirring once or twice in this time only. 

8. Taste a few pieces of rice and if it is still quite crunchy, you'll need more water and time. I added another half a cup of plain hot water (no more stock or it will become too salty) and gently stirred over the next ten minutes. 

I needed a more sturdy spoon half way through!

9. The rice should have absorbed most of the liquid by this time and be al dente (cooked but still a little firm). I probably make mine too dry compared to a true Italian risotto, but I like it sitting in a mound on my plate, so there. Add the rest of your butter and stir through. This gives the risotto a lovely creamy and rich texture and helps take on whatever flavours are to come. 

10. I then added the grilled tomatoes and parsley pesto and gently stirred through. 

11. Season as you see fit and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. 

This tasted very much like a garden risotto in that the parsley made it so fresh and vibrant, whilst the grilled tomatoes gave it such an authentically Italian taste, so perhaps it was an Italian Garden Risotto! Or so I'll say anyway! We gobbled ours up and Mr M had no trouble chewing away so it was a win on all fronts! 

So there you have it, how to make an authentic risotto in approximately half an hour! Now that we have remembered how good and non-evening-consuming risotto's are (and that my gluten intolerance can tolerate them), I get the feeling we'll be putting these back on the dinner roster for sure!

...maybe to accompany a steak next time though!