Gluten-Free – Page 44 – The Food Wife

Spiced Chicken and Potato Traybake

16th July 201816th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 4-6

During the week (or weekend!) itâ€™s a godsend to be able to throw a few ingredients in a dish and then pop it in the oven and forget about it for a while (it worked perfectly for me putting The Food Baby to bed!) and then hey-presto your dinner is ready with hardly any interference from you. This is just such a dish. It takes five or 10 minutes of prep and then about 50 minutes in the oven and it’s ready to serve.

You can choose how much effort you put in to the spicing too. I made my own spice mix, but if there is a shop-bought one you like, by all means use that.

I have suggested cooking this in two baking dishes, as I found cramming it into one made it overcrowded and would have resulted in it steaming rather than baking.

Ingredients:

For the spice mix:
1 tsp (hot) paprika
1 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp sumac (or the grated zest of a lemon)
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp garlic powder (or two garlic cloves, crushed)
Pinch of salt

For the bake:
2 peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
750g small new potatoes, quartered
2 red onions, peeled and cut into thin wedges
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt
1kg chicken thighs

To serve (optional):
50g feta cheese, crumbled

Step 1: preheat the oven to 190c.

Step 2: Mix the spices together and set to one side.

Step 3: Toss the potatoes, peppers and onions in the olive oil and a pinch of salt and divide between two baking trays.

Step 4: Score the top of each of the chicken thighs with a sharp knife three times and place on top of the potatoes.

Step 5: Sprinkle the seasoning mix over the skin of the chicken and toss lightly with the vegetables, before nestling them, skin-side up amongst the potatoes and peppers.

Step 6: Place in the preheated oven and cook for 50 minutes.

This is nice served with a green salad and a sprinkling of crumbled feta over the potatoes and peppers (although leave this out if you want to make it dairy-free).

Baby Oaty â€˜Carrot Cakeâ€™ Cookies

14th July 201820th August 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes 8-10

A quick and easy mix that makes delicious soft cookies which are great as a pudding or snack for your little one. They are perfect finger food for BLW and have no dairy, egg or added sugar.

You can play around with the flavours too, just keep the oat and banana ratio. Iâ€™ve also tried ones with grated apple and chopped glacÃ© cherries which went down well.

These need to be stored in the fridge after baking and will keep for a few days.

Ingredients:
100g oats (gluten-free if necessary)
2 ripe bananas, mushed with a fork
1 eating apple, grated
1 carrot, grated
25g sultanas
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180c and line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Step 2: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl with a spoon.

Step 3: Put dessert- or table spoon-sized blobs of mixture onto your lined baking sheet and flatten to make a rough cookie shape (these wonâ€™t really spread as they cook so you are aiming for your finished product size and shape).

Step 4: Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Step 5: Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack before storing in a sealed bag or container in the fridge.

Veggie Kebabs in a Japanese Style Marinade

11th July 201811th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Makes 6 kebabs

When providing vegetarian or vegan fare for a barbecue it’s nice to offer something a little different to your standard veggie burgers and sausages. This marinade has Japanese flavours from the soy, mirin and seaweed and the orange adds a citrus hit (although if you can find it, try it with some yuzu juice instead).

The seaweed is really powerful in the marinade and holds up against the other flavours well. It gives off a definite seaside scent but don’t worry, this transforms when cooked.

If you want to go meaty, this would be nice with cubes of pork on a kebab too.

Ingredients:

For the marinade:
3 tbsp mirin (gluten-free if required)
3 tbsp light soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
Juice of 1 orange
1 tsp dried nori flakes

For the kebabs:
1 red pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
1 red onion, quartered and separated into petals
12 mushrooms
12 cherry tomatoes
You will also need 6 kebab sticks (if wooden, soak in water for a couple of hours first)

Step 1: Combine the marinade ingredients in a dish or sealable bag and mix.

Step 2: Add your prepared vegetables and leave, covered, to marinate for about 2 hours.

Step 3: Take your kebab sticks and skewer your vegetables on, ensuring you have different pieces next to each other. Start and finish with a mushroom to ensure things don’t go AWOL. Have two mushrooms and two tomatoes per skewer. N.b. The onions will have softened in the marinade; this will make them extra sweet when cooking.

Step 4: Cook on a hot barbecue for a couple of minutes on each side, turning to ensure they don’t burn.

Pesto

9th July 20189th July 2018
by thefoodwife

This weekend we hosted a family barbecue and one of the side dishes was a large pesto pasta salad. Whilst pesto from a jar is convenient, making your own is so straightforward and tastes so much fresher. Plus you get the bonus of filling the house with the beautiful smell of basil.

You could toast the pine nuts in a dry pan to intensify their nuttiness, and you could also reserve a few of them, along with some of the basil leaves, to garnish the salad.

I used pecorino, an Italian cheese similar to parmesan but made with sheep’s milk, as I was catering for someone with an allergy to cows milk, but you could use either. And of course you don’t have to serve this with pasta, it would be good with fish, chicken, roasted vegetables or anything you fancy!

I’m pretty confident this went down well based on the spoonfuls my nephew was shovelling onto his plate. And the good news is it will keep a few days in the fridge.

Ingredients:
40g pine nuts (toasted if you like, and you could reserve a few for decoration)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
40g pecorino or parmesan, roughly chopped
40g basil leaves (reserve a few for decoration if you like)
6 tbsp olive oil
A pinch each of salt and pepper

Step 1: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until they are in a thick paste. Alternatively you could use a pestle and mortar. Add more olive oil if you want a looser consistency.

Serve immediately, or store in the fridge in a sealed tub, with a little extra olive oil over the top.

Bolognese Sauce

6th July 20186th July 2018
by thefoodwife

Serves 8

Many families will have their preferred bolognese sauce and I am a big fan of adding lots of vegetables to mine, but I do it in a sneaky way. So sneaky that my husband, who cannot stand mushrooms or courgettes, doesnâ€™t mind me jam-packing them into my bolognese as even he admits he canâ€™t taste whatever he finds so offensive normally!

I find the addition of lots of finely minced vegetables (I do mine in a food processor) makes a better sauce than one simply using tomato and onion. I have used red wine, but you could use white. I used dried oregano but a little rosemary would also work well (I actually used an oil that had been infused with rosemary). Basil added at the end of cooking would also make a good addition.

And a note on the chicken livers; this is optional but Iâ€™d urge you to give it a go – it makes a richer, more flavourful sauce. It may be that you just donâ€™t mention theyâ€™re in there, much like my mum used to when we were growing up!

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 celery sticks
2 red onions
1 large or 2 medium carrots
1 courgette
1 red pepper
4 fat cloves of garlic
250g chestnut mushrooms
500g lean beef mince
200g chicken livers
1kg passata
1 glass red wine
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce (gluten-free if required)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
1 tsp caster sugar

Step 1: Begin by finely chopping all of your vegetables (I used a food processor).

Step 2: Heat some oil in a large pan (about 2 tbsp), on a medium heat. Add the celery, onion and carrot and soften for about eight to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 3: Next add the red pepper, courgette and mushrooms along with the garlic and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Step 4: Remove the softened vegetables and set to one side.

Step 5: Add some more olive oil to the pan (about 1 tbsp) and then add the beef mince, and cook until browned, about five or 10 minutes, then add your chicken livers (if using) and stir now and again for a couple of minutes.

Step 6: Reintroduce your vegetables along with the passata, herbs, bay leaves, wine, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a simmer and then lower the heat and cover with a lid and allow to cook for 45 minutes.

Step 7: Now season to taste and check if it needs a little caster sugar; a teaspoon should be enough.

Serve with pasta or you could use this as the meat layer of a lasagne.