The Joy of Gluten Free Cooking

Kingfish Skewers with Zucchini Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:05:00 +0000

I have to confess that I am quite anxious when it come to preparing fish. I have spent too many years mercilessly overcooking unidentifiable white fish fillets, in little foil parcels, in the oven. As we are so spoilt living in South East Queensland with the quality, variety and freshness of the local seafood, I have decided that I need to apply myself to mastering the art of cooking fish.

This Kingfish was caught off Fraser Island late last night, packaged and sold to me at the Carrara Farmer's Market this morning, and was to be gracing our dinner plates tonight. I got to the markets a little late today (11am) and was offered this beautiful piece of Kingfish at 25% off the marked price by the fishmonger from 'Seafood Direct'. Instead of $40 a kilo, I paid $30 for a 1 kg fillet, of which I used only half for this recipe. Sometime the early bird does not get the worm when it comes to great market bargains!

I wanted to prepare something really special, but simple to allow the fish to be the star of the dish. I vaguely remembered seeing Kingfish being cooked on Masterchef so I entered 'Masterchef Kingfish' into Google and it came up with this lovely recipe. As luck would have it, I had exactly all the ingredients needed on hand - most of them purchased fresh that morning.

Click here to view the recipe on the Masterchef website.

It was so simple to make, looked really good and tasted truly sublime. I can honestly say I was the best piece of fish I have EVER cooked. I followed the recipe almost to the letter of the law. I was also keen to try the fresh green king prawns I had bought, so I marinated a couple in the same lime marinade and char-grilled them for 1-2 minutes per side. The zucchini salad was crisp and refreshing and the perfect accompaniment to the softness of the fish which just melted in my mouth.

I never try and force the girls to try anything they don't want too. I prefer to let them say 'no thanks' to the idea, then watch them salivate whilst I cook, serve and eat it in front of them. The girls turned their noses up at the offer of fish for dinner so I had fed them earlier with some left over beef curry. After tasting from our plates, the girls ended up with a small portion each, and I made up a little entree-sized plate of prawns for Libby to enjoy.

This is a top pick for a dinner party as it requires very little preparation, cooks very quickly (less than 2 mins) and looks impressive when plated up. At approximately $10 per serve, it is great value too!

On Mothers Day I was kicked out of the Kitchen!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:20:00 +0000

On Mother's Day I was spoilt rotten and evicted from my own kitchen - not that I minded one single bit! I woke up to breakfast in bed, delivered to me by my darling husband and the girls. Poached eggs and bacon on gluten free toast and a cup of tea, just the way I like it. Yum!

Chris doesn’t cook very often as he travels so much for work but what he does cook he does very well. Last year after being inspired by an episode of Master Chef (he was totally addicted!!!) he asked me to teach him how to poach an egg. After a few attempts, he absolutely nailed it and now is our household’s resident egg poacher. He is the poaching master and I am quite happy to hand over the kitchen to him for this purpose.

Hmmm... All I need now is to teach one of the girls how to make Hollandaise sauce to drizzle on top...

The day before hubby had given me an early Mother’s Day present, in the form of a Dymock’s gift voucher and the girls and I had a lovely time working out how to spend it that afternoon.

I bought cookbooks of course! I did try my best to look at the other books, but there was nothing that really grabbed my interest. I love reading fiction but I am quite a quick reader so I prefer to swap books with friends or borrow from the library, rather than buy them. Cookbooks on the other hand are great to have as a resource I return to, time and time again.

The two books I chose were ‘1000 Gluten Free Recipes’ by Carol Fenster and ‘The Conscious Cook’ by Tal Ronnen. I choose the first because it is an encyclopedia of gluten free cooking with 172 breakfast recipes, 205 main courses and 377 recipes for cakes, cookies and desserts. I will be trying many of them out over the next few months and will publish the results.

The second book is by Tal Ronnen, who is an award winning vegan chef. This wouldn’t normally be my kind of cookbook, as I can’t live without meat, but I saw this chef on Oprah recently and I was very impressed. Tal has worked really hard to make Vegan food of a five star quality and to bust many myths people have about Vegan food. I relate to his philosophy as in many ways the challenges of going Vegan are similar to the challenges faced by those on restricted diets due to food intolerances – how do you make delicious food that is nutritious and doesn’t make you feel you are living in constant denial?

I picked up this book and wanted to cook and eat everything I saw. It’s all so fresh and healthy but mouthwatering. Many of the recipes are gluten free or very easily converted to GF. Quinoa and other alternative grains are showcased too. I am still a bit naive when it comes to exactly what to do with these other grains. Who better to learn from the one of the world’s best? There is even a recipe for Nori Rolls using Quinoa instead of rice – I am excited to give that recipe a try this week.

*****

After a lazy day spent reading my new books I wasn’t allowed back in the kitchen. The family had evicted me and I was forced to watch in exile from the stool on the other side of the kitchen bench as they all busily worked away. Chris was making his delicious spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and the girls had decided to make some sweets for that night and for school lunches. Libby wanted to make Banana Cake. Cate chose to make her favourite Choc Caramel Slice.

Sadly our bananas were just too far gone and Libby had to improvise halfway through making the cake. Using the recipe already posted here, she turned it into an apple cake with a bit of coaching from mum on the side. I don’t mind handing over the kitchen to her, as I know Libby faces the rest of her life avoiding gluten. I have made it one of my missions to make sure she can cook herself great food, and make good quality food choices, so that she won’t struggle too much when she finally leaves the nest.

Libby substituted the bananas for half a large can of pie apples and added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the mix. The rest of the pie apples were placed on top of the cake mix before it was baked and she sprinkled brown sugar all over the top to create a nice glaze. Here was the beautiful result... Libby's Gluten Free Apple Cake

Cate made Gluten Free Choc Caramel Slice and she rationed it across the next few days, which took lots of will power. This slice freezes really well so you can make a large batch, store out of sight in the freezer and just pop out a few squares when you need an indulgence.

Gluten Free Choc Caramel Slice

2/3 cup rice flour

1/3 cup maize flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

125 g butter, melted

395 g can sweetened condensed milk

2 tbsp golden syrup

30 g butter, extra

1 cup (150g) gluten free dark cooking chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan forced. Grease and line an 18cm x 28cm lamington pan.

2. Combine flour, sugar, coconut and butter, mix well. Press into base of prepared pan; bake 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, combine sweetened condensed milk, golden syrup and extra butter in a saucepan; stir constantly over medium heat until almost boiling. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

4. Pour caramel over base and bake a further 10 minutes; cool.

5. Spread Caramel Slice with melted chocolate; refrigerate until set. Serve cut into pieces. Makes about 24 squares.

Notes – I love to mix the maize flour in with the rice flour. It adds a lovely yellow colour and rich flavour to the mix. It’s one of my favourite flours for using in cakes and sauces such as Béchamel for lasagna.

Baked Stuffed Capsicums with Caramelised Baby Carrots

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Wed, 12 May 2010 13:27:00 +0000

For readers who might think from my posts to date that I bake and eat nothing but cakes and cookies, here is a super tasty, nutritious meal that I prepared on Saturday night.

Hubby was tinkering with the cars and doing man stuff in the garage; the kids were alternating between sleeping and studying so I had a bit of time to play in the kitchen. The plan was to serve a beautiful steak with a more fussy side, since I had the time. Sadly the steaks I had taken out of the freezer were just not right. They were the last lot of some bulk steak I had bought cheap at the supermarket. When defrosted they smelt real bad – so straight in the bin they went. Cheap becomes expensive if it goes straight to the bin. I guess it was to be Vegetarian Night instead!

I had bought these red capsicums fresh from the Farmer's Market held on Friday morning in the car park of Carrara Markets. The Friday market is great because I can get the shopping done early and have the weekend free to spend with the family. I still frequent the Sunday markets at the Racecourse in Bundall every fortnight, as there are more stalls and sometimes greater variety than Carrara.

When I saw these perfectly round and even sized capsicums, they practically screamed ‘make stuffed capsicums’ to me. I love wondering around the markets and being inspired to cook by what is in season, grown locally and as fresh as it gets. Stuffed capsicum is one of those great dishes that works well to disguise lots and lots of veggies for the kids. I am lucky in that my children love their veggies but I still try and add as many varieties into as many dishes as I can.

Ingredients

4 medium-sized red capsicums

4 cups cooked white rice (2 cups when uncooked)

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 medium zucchini, grated

5 medium button mushrooms, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

3 green onion, sliced

2 small ripe tomatoes, finely diced

100g can of corn kernels

10 black olives, pitted and sliced (adjust to your taste)

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

Cook your rice in a rice cooker or by boiling and set aside.
Carefully cut around the tops of the capsicums and keep the lids. Scoop out any seeds and fleshy membrane inside. Rinse and put aside to drain. Slice the seed cluster off the lid of the capsicum and remove any remaining seeds.
In a small saucepan sauté the chopped onions, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini with a dash of olive oil until the onions are soft and translucent. (3-5 minutes)
Place sautéed vegetables in a large mixing bowl. Add the cooked rice, corn, and Parmesan cheese and mix thoroughly.
Combine the tomato paste and vinegar in a small bowl and stir into rice mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Taste the mix – if too acidic add 1- 2 teaspoons of caster sugar to round off the flavour.
Spray the insides of the capsicums with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stuff with rice mixture. Any left over stuffing makes a great rice salad for the next day.
Place lids on top and cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes at 170C in a fan forced oven. The capsicums are cooked when soft but still holding their shape.

Caramelised Baby Carrots

Trim the ends and peel your small carrots. In a medium saucepan heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil over a low heat. Add the carrots, put on the lid and shake pan to toss and coat with oil. Every 2-3 minutes give the pan a quick shake to toss the carrots and allow them to caramelise evenly. Cook for around 20 minutes until soft and golden. Season with sea salt and cracked blacked pepper.

Variations - If you don’t like capsicums, you can use the same filling in tomatoes. Scoop out the flesh; dry the insides with paper towel and leave to drain upside down whilst you prepare the stuffing. Remember to roast for slightly less time, as the tomatoes will cook quicker!

Nutritional Information

Red capsicums are just so fabulous for you. They contain about three times the vitamin C of oranges by weight with less than half the calories. 100g of red capsicum provides seven times the recommended daily intake of vitamin C. The red varieties are also rich in beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. Vitamin A is important for healthy skin and boosts the immune system. Capsicums are said to act as an anti-inflammatory and are very high in anti-oxidants. I try to include them to our diet almost everyday, raw as much as possible to preserve nutrient values.

Friday Night's Quick Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:15:00 +0000

Similar to the need to have “Autopilot” quick meals on hand, I find it invaluable to keep one or two Gluten Free cake mixes in the cupboard for fast and stress free sweet fixes. Two of my favourite are Basco’s ‘Golden Butter Cake’ and Well and Good’s ‘Chocolate Mud Cake Mix’.

Last Friday night Libby had a friend stay over. The first thing I did when I walked in the door was switch on the oven to preheat and then grab my mixer out of the pantry. Vanilla cupcakes were my choice for quick and easy treats. I like Basco's ‘Golden Butter Cake’ because it has a nice flavour, performs consistently well and the end product looks and tastes like a real cupcake. I have made trays of these to take to school and no one ever picked they were gluten free. I even had a parent ask me for the recipe!

The girls were upstairs playing in Libby’s room. Before the girls even had a chance to come down and complain about being hungry, I had these little babies mixed, baked and out of the oven cooling. Definitely in the running for Supermum of the year now....

I love cupcakes because you can cook them in less than 15 minutes, and the kids are not emotionally scarred from having to wait an hour for a full size cake to cook. The cupcakes also cool quickly so you can ice them within the hour.

What I also like about this mix is the price. I think I usually pay about $3.50 in IGA or Woolworth’s for the packet. For some reason I can’t explain, the Basco Vanilla Cupcake box is about $1 dearer so I just buy this one and make cupcakes with it. It comes with an icing satchel, which is a nice bonus. Basco's are made by Green's General Foods. Thank you Green's for not charging ridiculously inflated prices for your cake mixes. At $3.50 these are comparable to gluten full Green's Cake mixes!

I like to make little cupcakes for the kid’s lunch boxes. They get to feel special that their mum has made a recess jealousy inducing treat. I keep the portion size small so their diet is in balance. I like to use patty cases with a 3-4 cm base at max. Most bakery bought muffins or cakes would be 3 to 4 times this size!

You can make up a batch, ice them and pop the cakes in the freezer on a plate for 1 - 2 hours. Once frozen, wrap individually in gladwrap, store in the freezer door and pop one in the lunch box when needed. The great thing about a frozen cupcake is that it will survive the journey to school, through the playground and into the bag racks, with icing intact. By recess it is defrosted but not squashed beyond recognition. Decor have these great little containers that can fit two little cupcakes. The container also has a little fork attached to the lid for when I fill it with sliced watermelon or fruit salad. Just love them and bought mine from Woolworths for about $3.50!

I also really like Well and Good's ‘Chocolate Mud Cake Mix’. It is a little dearer than the Basco mix but we are talking CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE PEOPLE so I don't mind too much. I usually source this mix in my local IGA store at Ashmore City, but I think I have seen it in Coles as well. It is rich but not too dense (exactly how I like my men!) and is full of chocolaty goodness. I have made this cake lots of times and it's been consistently great. The product is gluten free and dairy free too. I baked this mix in Christmas cupcake cases, dusted with icing sugar, for our swim club’s Christmas Party. We have a few kids in the club who cannot eat gluten or dairy. The look on their faces when they found out there was party food they could eat was priceless! Everyone else just tucked in oblivious to the gluten free status of the cakes and kept asking if there was any more...

Publish Post

Fast Friday Nights

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:29:00 +0000

Friday night – at last the end of the week. The day when the last thing you feel like doing is standing in the kitchen for hours to create something elaborate. You’re tired from picking up the kids late from {insert your child’s choice of soccer, dance, karate, swimming, or pole dancing lessons here...}.

It is important to have some great quick and easy dishes in your regular repertoire that you can put together as if on autopilot. One of my autopilot dishes is Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I could probably cook it blindfolded with one hand behind my back standing on one leg - though chopping the ingredients up in this yoga position would be a blood sport.

Think about those dishes that you have probably cooked for years. Things you can easily just throw together in 20 minutes or less. Make a list. Think about how you could convert a few of them into gluten free versions. Is it just matter of using GF stock cubes? Changing the pasta from wheat to rice and/or corn? Thickening the sauces with GF cornflour instead of standard plain flour? Once you have started to transform your pantry items on hand from “gluten full” to “gluten free”, you may be surprised at just how easy re-jigging your mother’s favourite beef casserole recipe may be.

Back in my stressed out and overworked days, standard operating procedure for a Friday night fare would have been pick up takeaway, or alternatively an ‘almost ready made meal’ such as Latino fresh tortellini (cooks in 5 mins!) with a container of microwavable pasta sauce to plonk on top. Within 10 minutes dinner was served! Bon Appetite!!

Being gluten free your options are a little more limited when it comes to takeaway choices. Having a few autopilot dishes ready to go for a Friday night is a great way of not giving in to temptation at the gluten loaded corner takeaway shop. This recipe is a little rich and decadent with all that cream but we all need comfort food at the end of a hard week. Mondays can always be your salad days!

Ingredients

1 Large single chicken breast fillet, trimmed of fat and thinly sliced

250 g rindless short cut bacon, trimmed of fat and thinly sliced

250 g mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced (to taste)

300 ml fresh cream

1/3 cup white wine

2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 heaped teaspoon seeded mustard

Your choice of brand GF pasta shells or spirals

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated or shaved to serve

Continential parsley, chopped, as a garnish to finish

Method

Put large pot of water on to boil.
Start chopping up your ingredients. Cut up the onion. Place in a medium saucepan with the olive oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Cut up the chicken. Remember, the smaller the slices of chicken, the faster they will cook! Add the chicken to the pot and stir.
Add the minced garlic and mustard. I love garlic and so do all my family so I use two cloves!
Cut the mushrooms and add to the pot. Cook for 3-4 mins.
Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook according to the directions on the packet.
Add the mustards to the saucepan, cook for 1 min. Add the wine and simmer for 2 mins. Add the cream and stir frequently until the sauce is at a high simmer. Cook for a further 5 mins until cream has reduced slightly and thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Optional: If you like your pasta sauce thick so it coats the pasta, mix 2 teaspoons of GF cornflour well with 3 tablespoons of cold water in a small glass. Gradually add to the saucepan whilst stirring vigorously to avoid creating lumps. Simmer for a further 2 mins to ensure the flour is cooked off.
Serve with the GF pasta and parmesan cheese
Variations:

Make it sexy - Use prosciutto in place of the bacon to dress up this dish and add your choice of fresh Italian herbs such as basil or parsley finely chopped to the cream sauce in final 2 minutes of cooking.
Make it kiddie friendly – add ½ cup of grated cheese, omit the seeded mustard and use less garlic to suit the kids’ tastebuds.

A Tale of Two Meat Counters - Buyers Beware

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:09:00 +0000

In the last week I have had two shopping experiences I wanted to share...

The first - on Wednesday I needed some prosciutto to dress up a much loved pasta dish that hubby had requested specially - a Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I stopped at the Super IGA in Ashmore briefly before going to pick up Cate from swim training.

I usually love shopping here as they have a very good selection of pre-packaged gluten free goods that are always cheaper than Woolworth's and health food supermarkets such as Mrs Flannery's. In December they had the most awesome little GF Christmas Cakes in the bakery section for around $6. Libby loved them. After Christmas they were reduced to $2 so I bought about about 8 and froze them to use later, cut up in school lunches. Just couldn't go past them at that price...Anyway back to the cold meat...

There was no prepackaged prosciutto left so I headed to the deli to buy the 6 slices I needed. I don't know about you but I am normally a bit distracted after placing my order. I am usually daydreaming about the next item I want to buy and what I'm going to create with it; or checking out the specials, rather than watching what the deli staff are doing in the back.

Because this afternoon I only needed the one thing, I was watching the young girl serving me more closely. She took the delicious looking chuck of prosciutto out of the cabinet and carried it over to the slicer near the back. I looked over at the machine and could not believe the state it was in! The slicer, and bench top underneath it, was covered in a rainbow of different meat shavings. It was like a magic fairy had covered everything with a fresh layer of shaved meat snow, or, maybe like a giant stainless steel meat lovers pizza with the lot. In places it was centimeters thick. It definitely looked like more than a few hours of accumulated meat scraps. Who ever was in charge of the deli that day did not seem to care about cleaning up, let alone minimising the risk of cross-contamination.

I reluctantly took the prosciutto home and used it. It was already close to 6 pm, and I was cooking the dish by request for hubby who was going away for a few days. After getting home, the more I thought about it, I realised I should have been stronger and less afraid to say something to the deli staff or supermarket manager.

My second part-time job at age 15 was working in the deli at a local supermarket. Some items in the deli, such as rolled roast pork or chicken contain stuffing mixtures and we would regularly slice them on the same machine as all the other products. Nobody ever trained me about gluten cross-contaminated at that job. Until I noticed this usually messy meat slicer I just had not occurred to me that this was something I should be watching out for.

To minimise the risk I would suggest shopping early, not long after the store has opened. The slicers are supposed to be correctly sanitised at the end of the previous nights trading. Ask the person serving you to use a fresh set of gloves. If the meat that you want to buy is close by a suspect food item in the display counter, just don't buy it - go for the packet version.

Maybe I'm getting paranoid about this now, but I think I am just going to stick to buying my cold meats such as ham and salami in the pre-packed section where they are clearly labelled Gluten Free. I'm just not willing to take the risk.

Okay, now to story number two - earlier this evening I needed to buy a small amount of chicken breast to make a chicken curry for dinner. I went to the local butcher outside Woolworth's in Southport Park shopping centre. I don't normally shop there but as I only needed one thing, it was easier to buy it there, rather than go in the supermarket and face the pre-dinnertime rush hour. Of course my freezer was full of what I needed, but I had forgotten to it out in time to defrost.

The lady who served me was eating what looked like a chocolate brownie! She put it straight down on the counter, grabbed a plastic bag, picked up the chicken I had ordered with it and proceeded to weigh and wrap it up. I was in a little bit of shock! I had not said anything about her eating the brownie because I had just assumed she would wash her hands and put gloves on before reaching for my chicken. Nope - she just dived right in there...

Again, I should have said something! I stupidly just handed over my money and left, not wanted to cause a scene. I didn't want to make a fuss and I just didn't know what to say in that brief encounter.

My two poodles enjoyed the chicken as I couldn't bear to cook with it, or throw it away either. I regret that I didn't say anything because an opportunity to educate someone about the possible effects of their carelessness was lost. Is it my job to do this, or shouldn't current food safety standards already cover this?

What if the brownie had contained nuts? My daughter's friend has such a severe allergy that she has to carry an EpiPen with her at all times. If her mum had stopped there on the way home to buy chicken, shouldn't she have the right to feel safe about serving it to her daughter for dinner? Why should she suspect that a life threatening allergen would be on something as simple as fresh chicken?

I think the universe is not so subtlety trying to tell me that I need to pay more attention when shopping. I was so diligent when first diagnosed, but have perhaps fallen into a little complacency of late. I have been reminded this week to be ever vigilant. Sadly some people working in these stores are either ignorant or don't care about the serious health consequences these practices expose people at risk to.

I definitely will be contacting these stores about my experiences before deciding whether to buy fresh from their counters again...I'll let you know what they say and I promise to be less chicken myself next time I'm out shopping and I see something that's just not right.

Cranberry Hazelnut and Date Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:00:00 +0000

For my friends who have requested it, here my recipe for these fabulous cookies. Create this unashamedly addictive mixture of sweetened cranberries, dates, hazelnuts and coconut for yourself – I dare you to see if you can stop at one. They’re crispy on the outside but soft and chewy inside.

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 cup dried sweetened cranberries, roughly chopped

1 cup dried dates, roughly chopped

¼ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

2 cups skim milk powder

2 cups of desiccated coconut

Method

Beat the sugar, eggs and oil together with an electric beater until well mixed and creamy. Mix in the nuts, fruit and powdered milk until well combined.

Add the coconut. The mixture will be quite stiff and hold together.

Spoon into balls, place on baking tray covered with baking paper and flatten slightly with the back of your spoon. Bake in a preheated fan-forced oven at 160C for 12 mins. Cookies should appear browned but still soft in the centre. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 mins before moving to a cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 32 cookies depending on the size you make them. They will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

To get the same look for your cookies as my photos - take half the dough and roll into a sausage shape with a diameter of about 4-5 cm. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 20 mins approx. Repeat the same with remaining mixture. Remove from freezer and slice into pieces 1 cm thick. Top with a cranberry or hazelnut and bake as per original instructions. Either way they taste just as good!

Lunch at Shi-Loh Jamaican Cafe Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:46:00 +0000

My friend Maria and I decided to catch up for lunch last Thursday and I was keen to try this place. Having driven past the cafe many times I was intrigued by what Jamaican food might offer. With neither of us having been lucky enough to visit Jamaica in person, we figured the cafe was our next closest thing.

The place wasn’t busy as we were there mid week for lunch. The décor was colourful and cheerful and we were made to feel immediately welcome by our hosts. The feeling was fun and the reggae background music made me feel instantly relaxed and in a holiday mood.

The menu was simple but inviting and some great value lunch specials ranging in price from $10 - $14 were on offer.

To my great relief the mention of my gluten intolerance was meet by enthusiasm and understanding by the staff. Everything is made fresh and from scratch. The food is healthy, delicious and I could have almost my free choice of the menu except for a few dishes.
Spoilt for choice I was very tempted to try the chicken curry or the coconut fish lunch specials until our host informed us that she has just finished making a batch of Quinoa & Pumpkin Pilaf from the dinner menu. Both Maria and I were keen to try this dish. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is an ancient grain very high in protein and is supposed to be very good for you. Lots of gluten free cooks love to use it.

I have used Quinoa Flakes to made a really tasty Gluten Free version of Anzac Cookies (promise to post that recipe soon...) but I haven’t used the grain in this way. It was so lovely – not unlike a risotto but so light in texture. It was cooked with pistachios, pine nuts, pumpkin, and onions; served with a simple side salad. It tasted great and was super healthy as a bonus. I would definitely order this dish again and again! I also had a homemade lemon & lime ice crush drink. It was fabulous!

I would love to take Chris back one night to try some other dishes and listen to the live Reggae music they offer on Friday and Saturday nights. If you live in the area, or are visiting, why not give this place a go. It’s a refreshing change from the usual glitz and glamour of the Gold Coast where you can find genuine people who are very passionate about their food.

Address: 149 Scarborough St, Southport, QLD
Phone: 07 5528 4849
Hours: Lunch Wed - Sun 11.30am Dinner Tues – Sun 5.30 pm
Shi-Loh Jamaican Cafe Restaurant (including online menu)

Torta di Polenta con Limone (Lemon Polenta Cake) served with Lemon Mascarpone

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Sun, 02 May 2010 10:31:00 +0000

Not long after going gluten free, in a fit of super enthusiasm after reading one too many cookbooks, I rushed out and stocked up my pantry with items I had never heard of before. The cupboard was overflowing with organic quinoa grains and quinoa flakes, chia seeds, tapioca and polenta. Some items I did start to experiment with, but I confess than the polenta was left well alone in the cupboard. That is, until I decided to have a go at this delicious sounding traditional Northern Italian cake.

Alas, my original polenta purchase had been in the pantry so long it had overtaken its use by date and been completely overrun by corn-loving pantry insects.

I should know better by now! After moving from Sydney to the Gold Coast I have mostly gotten used to the vast array of creatures in and around our home – Indonesian barking geckos, poisonous cane toads, noisy fruit bats and the beautiful but spoilt black swans that knocked on the back door to demand food.

I’m not sure if the pantry invaders were weevils, pantry moths or something else again. They went straight to the bin without so much as a proper forensic investigation. Living in south east Queensland you just cannot leave anything in it’s original packaging – it’ fair game. I could be much lazier when we lived in Sydney or the South Coast of NSW. The advantage is that my pantry has never been better organised – all those matching containers so neatly lined up and nesting so sweetly together. Ahhh the pleasure of an organised pantry...but better get back to the polenta...

My baking was stalled until I returned from the supermarket with a fresh supply of polenta as well as more sealed containers to keep the pantry invaders at bay. After rounding up and containing any loose packages in the pantry, I was set to start again. Here goes.....

Torta di Polenta con Limone (Lemon Polenta Cake)

500g butter, at room temperature

500g caster sugar

zest and juice of 3 lemons

zest and juice of 1 orange

6 large eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

500g almond meal

300g yellow polenta (finely ground or instant polenta)

2 teaspoons of gluten free baking powder

icing sugar, to sprinkle on finished torte

Preheat your oven to 170C

Grease a 28 cm spring form cheesecake pan and line the base with baking parchment.

Place the almond meal, polenta and baking powder in a small mixing bowl and mix thoroughly by hand to combine. Set aside.

Place the butter, sugar and lemon and orange zest in the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat until thick and pale.

Keep the mixer going and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg is added. Stop and scrape down the sides when needed from time to time. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.

Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl. Gentle fold in one third of the combined polenta, almond meal and baking powder mixture. Add one third of the lemon and orange juice and mix. Repeat with next third of the wet and dry ingredients until all are added. Mix until all ingredients are combined.

Place cake batter into prepared tin and gently tap to remove any air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 1 hour and then reduce oven temperature to 160C for a further 40 minutes. Remove from oven and leave in tin to cool completely.

To serve, remove from tin when completely cold, dust with icing sugar and serve with Lemon Mascarpone.

Lemon Mascarpone

250g mascarpone cheese

½ cup icing sugar

juice of ½ a lemon

Place all ingredients in electric mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The verdict?

The judging panel of hubby and two daughters were clearly impressed not only by the size of this enormous torte but also by the taste. First serves were quickly consumed and all served themselves seconds that were a bigger size than the first. That’s always a good sign.

The cake is quite dense and moist with a lovely delicate yet robust citrus flavour. The lemon mascarpone packs a punch and is a great accompaniment.

My original version was a little gritty. Having not cooked with Polenta before, I didn’t buy the finely ground version that was at the supermarket, choosing instead a coarser version. It didn’t seem to put off anyone in my family but I have changed the recipe above to use the right version of polenta.

This is a great cake for a large party or special occasion. Hubby said he thought it would be great at a dinner party so perhaps I better plan an Italian feast to match this great dessert!

Easy Gluten Free Banana Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:09:00 +0000

This banana cake always hits the sweet spot with my kids and their friends. It is so easy to make... I believe that just because you have to make things from scratch, rather than buying from a shop, doesn't mean cooking has to be hard. I have made this recipe whilst half asleep and completely stuffed up the order in which I added the ingredients. To my delight it still turned out great and I couldn't tell the difference. Big thumbs up for anything that indestructible. The base is oil, rather than butter, so you end up with a lovely moist cake that tastes even better the next day. This also makes it dairy free. You can substitute the soy flour for a flour of a similar consistency if soy intolerance is an issue for you.

Easy Gluten Free Banana Cake

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup soy flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I like using either Canola or Rice Bran Oil)
1 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla essence (not the fake stuff!)
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 small (60g) or 2 large (80g) eggs

Preheat the oven - fan forced 160C or normal 180C
Grease and line a rectangular loaf tin with non stick baking paper
Sift the two flours and baking powder together
Beat the sugar and oil together with your electric mixer until really well mixed (3 mins.)
Add vanilla essence and mashed bananas. Beat on medium high until creamy
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well until combined.
Slow mixer and add the flour gradually until all combined.
Pour into tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 mins.

This recipe makes great muffins - just fill your muffin cases 2/3 full and cook for approx. 15 - 20 mins. Test with a skewer after 15 mins. The muffins are done when the skewer comes out clean.

Welcome to my blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Gunther) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:12:00 +0000

For years I couldn’t work out what was making me feel unwell. Every since I was a small child I have suffered from severe stomach pain, fatigue, depression and intestinal problems. Countless doctors had been unable to shed any light on the root cause of my strange and varied list of ailments. Many times over the years I was told I had ‘lowered immunity’ and was just plain ‘run down’.

It was only when searching for answers to my daughter's learning difficulties that I came upon the answer. My youngest daughter was really struggling at school. My husband Chris and I had relentless pursued many paths of investigation to help her including all the usual hearing, sight and mental processing tests. The professional verdict of her child psychologist was ADHD of the inattentive kind. At no stage did it even occur to me, nor her teachers or doctors, that food intolerances might be at play.

I have to confess I was very ignorant at the start of this journey. In the past I had scoffed at ‘those’ mothers who severely restricted their children’s diets for what I thought was little scientific or medical basis. How wrong could I be! Not only did we discover that gluten intolerance was the reason my daughter had been ‘living in an allergy fog’ but than most of my own medical problems were caused by gluten intolerance as well.

I stumbled upon the existence of gluten-intolerance by dumb luck or good fortune or perhaps both. When researching ADHD and other paediatric behavioural problems I keep coming across references to a gluten-free and casein-free diet. It was recommended by several sources for improving the quality of life of ADHD sufferers and their families. I began to spend all my spare hours reading anything I could get my hands on about gluten intolerance.

Within the first few books I was convinced there might be something to this – many of the experiences and sympthoms shared in these books mirrored very closely to our story. With the support of my family GP my daughter and I embarked on a series of tests and a strict elimination diet. The results were clear and we began to feel better within days of eliminated gluten from our diets.

Making the change was not an easy process but I threw myself into it with gusto. It was easy to keep motivated as the change in our physical and mental health was so profound from the first few days. Today I am full of energy and I have lost over 20kg. I no longer struggle to have the energy to get through each day or suffer from deliberating mood swings.

My daughter is a different person. She is warm, kind, gentle and loving – no longer restless, angry and confused. Her grades are fantastic having moved from mostly C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s. More important than anything is that she is a happy child who loves life every day. The change for our family has been profound and far-reaching.

It’s been fourteen months since the Gunther family went gluten free. This blog is my way of sharing what I have learned with others who may be looking for answers to their own health issues, or just starting to change their diets. Take heart if you are feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand. It wasn’t as scary as I thought at first and I don’t feel that I live in denial of great food. Having to relearn what I know about food has awakened a great passion for cooking in me. What a fortunate side effect!

The Joy of Gluten Free Cooking is about exactly that – the joy of creating something delicious that you know will make you feel good. It’s the happiness that comes from finding a great local food spot that understands what you can and cannot eat and is able to cater to your needs. It’s the look on your child’s face when you offer them an irresistible looking cupcake, or homemade cookie, that they are actually allowed to eat. May you find passion in your kitchen and joy in everyday life!

Michelle Gunther