Kiss and Make Up GF Mac n' Cheese

This should be called "Martha's Make Up Mac and Cheese for Putting Her Foot in Her Mouth"... Why? Because of her comment in 2011 about not catering to allergies and letting those guests starve instead. I can't tell you how mad I was when I read that. I was disgusted that the woman who I had admired for years, the woman whom my husband fondly compared me to, and the woman whose whole image of being the perfect homemaker and hostess could, or would say such things. But she did. My zeal for all things Martha waned. Significantly.
I suspect Martha more than heard about her faux pas comment. And I suspect that she, like all of us who have had a case of  "foot in mouth disease", felt bad and sheepish about what was said. As proof of her penance, when "gluten free" is searched on her site there are 316 search results. Click here to take a browse and see for yourself: http://www.marthastewart.com/search/apachesolr_search/gluten%20free . So enough about Martha. Let's get to the food.

This was GOOD. My daughter was the one who sought out a recipe this time to satisfy her cravings for Mac and Cheese. She also did, as I do, a few substitutions here and there- and the results were yummy. This one is a keeper! Martha you are forgiven. You and your cookbooks are no longer in my bad books.

Here is the link to the original:http://www.marthastewart.com/900309/gluten-free-mac-and-cheese

On a side note... remember I mentioned a few posts ago about our new pasta discovery? Found it in Safeway- a major grocery chain. The brand is Barilla. Also a major pasta brand. They now have a gluten free line of pastas, and it is the new favorite of my celiac daughter. The Barilla gluten free pastas seem to have a nice spring and bite without being mushy or gritty. They also have more flavor than most pastas we have tried. And...it holds up beautifully to baking. This is what was used in this mac and cheese recipe- so it has been tested too on this front.


Martha's Gluten Free Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

3 tbsp unsalted butter, and a bit more for buttering your dish

1/2 cup gluten-free crisp puffed-rice cereal, slightly crushed (gf rice krispies- use a zip lock bag to make less mess)

1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

1 small yellow onion, diced finely (used powdered onion 1/2 to 3/4 tsp)

2 tbsp potato starch (used our local bakery's gf flour mix that contains potato starch)

2 cups whole milk, warmed (used 2%)

3 cups cheddar, shredded (used mozza-cheddar mix since we were out of plain cheddar- daughter figures cheddar would give it more wow factor)

1 tsp Dijon mustard (used honey mustard- was out of dijon- daughter thinks dijon would be better too)

3/4 lb gluten-free penne, cooked al dente and drained (used 12oz box of Barilla Gluten Free Penne pasta) 

unsalted butter

Coarse salt and ground pepper

 

 Method:

 

Step #1:

Preheat oven to 350'F.

Butter six 8oz ramekins or a 2-quart baking dish (my daughter used a 9x9 pyrex glass pan).
Microwave 1 tbsp butter until melted, then toss with cereal and Parmesan.

Step #2:

In a medium/large saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat.
Add onion and cook until softened- about 4 min. (if using powdered onion just add to butter and move on to next step) 
Sprinkle with potato starch and cook 1 minute- stirring to incorporate.
Slowly whisk in milk and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened- about 3 min.
Remove from heat.
Stir in cheddar and mustard.
Mix until smooth- then season to your liking with salt and pepper.
Add pasta, stirring to coat- then add your pasta mixture to the baking dish of choice.
Sprinkle with cereal/parm mixture and bake until sauce is bubbling and topping is golden- about 15 to 20 minutes.


In Martha's words: "It's a good thing!"

Flourless GF Cornbread

You know how it is when you just have a craving for something. Then, you search for a recipe for that something... and then you have to decide if the recipe can be adapted to be made not only gluten free, but hopefully tasty with not too weird a texture.

But once in a while you stumble across a gem that doesn't need to be adapted or finagled or tried out to see if it "works" as a gf version. This cornbread is one such gem. It is tasty. And it is gluten free already. Yahoo!
I have made this cornbread on a number off occasions and it is the best one I've made pre or post Celiac Disease in the family. It has flavor, and is not too dry. And whenever I make it, it always seems that there is never enough. I don't think a batch has ever lasted a full 24 hours in our house.

Here is the link to the original recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe/michael-smiths-cornbread/8544/


Skillet Cornbread

1 stick or 1/2cup or 8tbsp Butter

1 ½ cups Milk

1 ½ cups Cornmeal (the recipe calls for coarse cornmeal, but I just buy what is at my grocery store-plain old cornmeal- couldn't tell you if it is coarse or not lol)                          

½ cup Brown Sugar (I like to use dark brown) 

3 Eggs (at room temp is best) 

1 tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

Step#1: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place an 8-inch cast iron skillet in the oven to preheat. (I haven't tried this in another type of skillet, but I think I would stick with cast iron in this case.)

Step#2: Combine butter, milk, cornmeal and brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a slow, steady simmer and whisk for a few minutes until thickened. (Make sure your heat isn't too high and burns the mixture- my daughter did this once. Also, cook it long enough that it leaves "tracks" as you are stirring- somewhat porridge like in consistency.)

Step#3: Add eggs, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl and whisk lightly. Add cornmeal mixture and stir until well combined. (Ok, I do things a bit different here... I whisk up my egg mixture and add it to my pot of cornmeal that I have taken off the heat. I figure I use less dishes, since I use my measuring cup from my milk to stir the eggs in. Also to note: the baking powder wants to clump up so make sure you get all those lumps out with some vigorous mixing prior to adding it to your cornmeal batter.)

Step#4: Remove your now hot cast iron pan from the oven and oil it. (I used a dab of olive oil and use a brush to coat the pan.) Carefully pour in your well combined cornmeal batter into your hot pan and bake for 20-25 minutes- or until your cornbread is golden around the edges and cooked through.

ENJOY!

GF Holiday Rice Pudding

I know it can be tricky cooking gluten free meals when you have company coming over for the holidays. What will they think? Will a "normal person" like it? Will they think it tastes weird? Will I have to go looking for all sorts of strange ingredients to make this? The list of worries could go on... Let's face it- you have enough stress already dealing with the holiday season.

But I am here to help alleviate some of your stresses...at least on the gluten free front. And even better, this recipe is easy. The creamy white of the rice pudding drizzled with raspberry puree is also beautifully fitting for the Christmas season. Did I mention yet that it is YUMMY?! Yes my kids fought over who was going to have the last bowl and my company raved about it. I hope you enjoy this dessert as much as my family has. In fact I'm making it this Christmas!

Here is the link to the original recipe:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Rice-Pudding-21031637  

Rice Pudding with Raspberry Purée

8 cups Milk
1 1⁄4 cups Arborio Rice (same kind as when making Risotto)
1⁄3 cup Sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 cups fresh or frozen Raspberries
2 tbsp Sugar

1 1⁄2 cups heavy/whipping Cream

Nutmeg

1. Place the milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the rice and 1⁄3 cup of sugar. Then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer (stirring frequently) until the rice is tender and most of the milk has been absorbed (about 45 minutes). Remove your rice pudding from heat and stir in vanilla extract and set aside to cool.

Note: Watch your temperature. You can scorch the milk. I did slightly...oops! But don't worry, the taste didn't come through- I caught it in time. So don't make my mistake...don't try to do too much at once and forget about it. 

2. While your rice is cooking away in the milk, it is a good time to make the raspberry purée (I used frozen and it worked fabulous). Place your berries in a food processor and add 2 tbsp of sugar- purée until smooth. Strain your raspberry sauce through a fine sieve to remove seeds and set aside.

3. Just before serving, whip the cream. Fold the whipped cream into your rice pudding and then transfer into bowls or pretty glasses. Now using a spoon, drizzle raspberry sauce around the edges of each serving of pudding and sprinkle with a touch nutmeg (remember that nutmeg is pretty potent- so a dash or two in each bowl or glass should suffice). Serve, and delight in the yumminess!

Additional Note: I made this a couple of hours ahead of time so I didn't have so much to do all at once while preparing the rest of my meal. I kept my rice pudding covered on the counter so it would not dry out- it could be refridgerated likely, but it is nicer when it is warm or room temp when served. I also made my purée and refridgerated it (although not really necessary), as well as made my whipped cream and placed it too in the fridge. Then it is just a matter of assembly before serving.

Crispy Battered Fish

Last night not knowing what to make, not feeling well with MS, and looking for something quick and easy- I decided to try my hand at making battered fish. So I "googled" it looking for a suitable gluten free recipe. I must also note that my kids are not huge fans of eating fish. My daughter especially so. I figured that battered fish would be a good way of packaging the fish so my children would be more apt to gobble it up without complaint. Though still skeptical, my son and daughter did end up liking the end result. My daughter in particular was surprised that she liked it as well as she did.
So here it is- from About.com:   http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/breadingsandcoatings/r/Coatings.htm

Gluten Free Fish Batter

This gluten free beer-battered fish fry batter produces crisp, light fried fish. It makes a delicious gluten-free batter for onion rings and shrimp too! If you don't like beer batter just substitute club soda for the beer. (Not having gf beer or club soda on hand, I substituted with Gingerale and cut my sugar down by half or more since I thought it may be too sweet otherwise.)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:

• Oil for Frying -Use an oil designed for high heat frying, preferably peanut or coconut oil-(I used mostly peanut oil, but needed a bit more so topped it up with canola oil.)
• 2 pounds fresh fish fillets (I used Basa because my husband went crazy buying it on a sale- but though it definitely was not dry, the end result was a bit mushy. Basa I think is too delicate a fish. I maybe would recommend maybe cod or haddock instead since it tends to firm up more when cooked.)
• 1 cup all purpose gluten-free all purpose flour mix (I used our local gf baking mix)
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon gf baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon cayenne powder (I did used the cayenne- it was good and it wasn't overpowering. Next time I am going to try maybe smoked paprika or ground ancho chili pepper.)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounce bottle of gluten-free beer, or 12 ounces of club soda (I used Gingerale and it worked fine.)

Preparation:

Step#1:

Combine cornstarch, gluten free all purpose flour, baking powder, cayenne pepper, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper in a large, plastic zip lock bag.

 

Step#2:

Shake the bag to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients. Pour this mixture into a medium sized bowl.

 

Step#3:

Add gluten free beer or club soda and mix until the batter is smooth, and not too thick or thin. Add more liquid if the batter is too thick. (You will need a whisk for this since the corn starch doesn't want to blend well if a spoon is used. Also make sure you incorporate your liquid well before adding more. Mine turned out maybe a tad thin, but still ended up tasty and crisp.)

 

Step#4:
Dip fish fillets in batter, making sure both sides are coated. Hold above the bowl to let excess batter drip off. (This is where if you make it too thin that the batter will want to run off too much.)
 
Step#5:
Fry in hot oil until golden brown. (I had my gas burner on high the whole time while cooking. I used a deeper pot to help prevent spatters. To test your oil, use the end of a wooden spoon- hold it touching the bottom of the pot. If bubbles appear around the spoon then the oil is hot enough to begin cooking. When done cooking, I placed my fish on a cooling rack for cookies that sat on top of a cookie sheet. That way the oil can drip off and the batter doesn't become soggy. Place in a warm oven until ready to serve.)

Enjoy!