iHateWheat.com

HOLYCRAPDELICIOUS STEAK!!

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 03:33:00 +0000

I am a firm believer in the time-honored, two-step method for cooking steak:

Get the best quality meat that you can.
Don't Fuck It Up.

I believe I successfully followed this code of ethics this evening.

I fulfilled Step One by buying a quarter cow (~125lbs split into a variety of cuts) from Haiwick Heritage Ranch (www.haiwickheritageranch.com). They sell hormone free, pasture raised, grain finished Angus. No feedlots, no stress, no unnecessary antibiotics. Plus, it is dry aged for several weeks, which I haven't seen from any other grass fed beef suppliers online. Awesome. The quarter cow arrived today, and of course we had to try it immediately. We decided to thaw out a pack of two New York Strip steaks and give them a shot.

I fulfilled Step Two by treating the steaks with simple care. First, I sprinkled a little salt and pepper, then put them on a very hot grill. I cooked them for a total of about 8.5 minutes, 5 on the first side and 3.5 on the second side, rotating them 90 degrees halfway through each side. Then, they rested for about 5 or 6 minutes in foil (normally I would let them rest longer, but I was hungry!). Then, we ate it with a side of salad.

Resulting Deliciousness:

The steaks were a perfect medium to medium rare throughout, with a respectable crust. This might have been the juiciest steak I've ever made. The high quality of the meat was fully on display. The strip of fat was perfectly done and just melted in your mouth. This steak was easily on par with any I've had in high end steakhouses (and yes, I've been to Keens and Peter Luger's in NYC). The dry aging and high quality grass fed meat is definitely the key. Luckily, I was able to pull off Step Two and didn't overcook it or, worse, cover up the meat's inherent taste with a bunch of seasoning or sauce.

This is the first time I've bought meat in bulk and so far have zero regrets. Quite the opposite. If you don't have a chest freezer full of awesome meat, you should seriously re-examine your priorities in life.

Bacon!

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:02:00 +0000

This was my second attempt at making bacon. It turned out very, very good. This might be my new favorite thing to do. We decided to invite some friends over to watch Game of Thrones the night I smoked the bacon, so I cut off a few slices to grill and put on burgers. It was fantastic! Enjoy!

Album with captions at https://plus.google.com/photos/114710096003730109118/albums/5864673173534066881

Ingredients:

Bacon:

~4 lbs pork belly from www.forestfed.com

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

~2 Tbs fresh ground black pepper

Burgers:

1 lb grass fed ground beef from www.polyfacefarms.com

gluten free buns from www.happytartbakery.com

1/4 of a white onion, finely chopped

1 egg

~2 Tbs worcestershire sauce

~2 Tbs dried oregano

salt

black pepper

swiss cheese

Asparagus:

2 bunches of asparagus

~1 Tbs lemon salt (we have some salt with lemon peel)

~2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

~1 Tbs roasted garlic olive oil

Salad

I need to get the ingredients from Carlyn, who makes awesome salads, but she is asleep!

Sweet potato fries

store bought and made in the oven

Angry Orchard cider was also an invaluable ingredient, if not directly used in food preparation.

Procedure:

Bacon:

Bacon is simple and elegant. I used a gorgeous slab of forest fed pork belly from www.forestfed.com. I rinsed it off, patted it dry, then gently rubbed on a cure of half salt and half brown sugar, plus some black pepper. Then I wrapped the belly in plastic and sealed it in a ziploc bag and put it in the fridge to cure for 6 days, flipping it over every day for even curing. When it was ready, I rinsed off the excess cure, and was pleasantly surprised that most of the black pepper stayed on while the extra salt and sugar dissolved off. I did not rinse my first batch of bacon and it turned out too salty. Rinsing is a critical step! After rinsing, I patted it dry. Next came smoking. When smoking bacon, you are not cooking it, you are further curing it by drying it out, and adding the smoke flavor. So you want the smoker to be at a low temperature, around 140-180. As you can see in the pictures, I added a second thermometer to my smoker, the stock Warm/Ideal/Hot indicator is not good enough for keeping a specific temperature. This cost about $10 and is absolutely worth it. I smoked the bacon for about 4.5 hours, adding apple wood chips regularly. Dinner was a little earlier than 4.5 hours, so I took it out and sliced a few pieces off early to grill and put on the burgers.

Burgers:

For burgers, I did my normal procedure. Whisk 1 egg per pound of meat, add the seasonings and mix in with the egg. Add the meat and mix thoroughly by hand. Make patties, thin in the middle so you end up with burgers, not meatballs. The grass fed beef was from Polyface farms (www.polyfacefarms.com), and it was fantastic. Usually, I eat burgers with no bun, but this time we got buns from our local gluten free bakery, the Happy Tart (www.happytartbakery.com). I toasted them on the grill (in the same spot I had cooked the bacon...) and they were awesome! I also made Sriracha mayo by, you guessed it, mixing Sriracha and mayo until the heat was where I wanted it. This went on the buns and was used to dip the sweet potato fries.

Asparagus:

The asparagus was simply tossed with oil, salt, and pepper, and grilled. I got it off the grill at exactly the right time, when it still has a good snap to it. It was by far the best asparagus I’ve ever made.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was a great meal with great friends. I don’t think I’d change a single thing about it. It was a perfect pre- Game of Thrones hangout! The bacon turned out fantastic, I can’t wait to eat the other 3.75 pounds of it!

Green Pork (Chile Verde)

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:24:00 +0000

It’s been a quite a while, but here is a new post! This was inspired after seeing green pork on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I looked up several recipes online and made my own version. Unfortunately, it is the wrong time of year for tomatillo, so I had to use canned ones. As usual, I used forest fed pork from www.forestfed.com, by far the best pork I’ve ever found. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Boston Butt, about 5 pounds

5 cans tomatillos

1 white onion

1 head of garlic

1 poblano pepper

Cilantro

Limes

Salt

Pepper

Procedure:

This is a very simple dish that turned out great. First, I made the tomatillo salsa. If I was using fresh tomatillos, I would have needed to boil them, but since I used canned, that wasn’t necessary. I just combined the tomatillos, about half of the onion, a large bunch of cilantro, a few cloves of garlic, and the juice from a lime in a blender, then pulsed until smooth. This made a full blender full of salsa. Next, I prepared the slow cooker by placing the rest of the chopped up onion, a poblano pepper sliced into strips, and some cilantro in the bottom. I placed the pork butt, chopped in 2 inch cubes on top of this base. I then added salt and pepper, some more cilantro, and poured a little over half of the salsa onto the pork, and stirred it in. The rest of the salsa was reserved for use as a dip or garnish. The slow cooker was set on low for about 12 hours. I served the pork with rice and beans, and homemade tortillas courtesy of my wife.

The beautiful boston butt from www.forestfed.com

The pork in the slow cooker,with onion, poblano pepper, garlic, and cilantro below.

Added salt, pepper, garlic, onion, cilantro on top of the pork

Poured the tomatillo salsa over everything

And mixed it in a little. Slow cookers are awesome! 12 hours later....

Resulting Deliciousness:

I was a little worried about using the canned tomatillos, but this came out great! This is a great example of why pork shoulder is my favorite type of meat. You can add some simple seasoning, put it on a low source of heat, just leave it alone, and come back to something delicious! Carlyn’s homemade tortillas were great, as always, and the rice and beans were a fitting side.

The final product, with homemade tortillas and some rice and beans. A simple, hearty meal.

Even better with some extra salsa

I'm Back!

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:51:00 +0000

After almost a year of no posts, I am ready to get back to blogging! In the last year, I got engaged and married the love of my life, Carlyn. She is a fantastic and beautiful person that has made my life complete. If you met her, you would understand why I've chosen to spend more time with her and less time on this site. Luckily, since she is gluten free just like me and also likes to cook, we have decided to start blogging together!

So, stay tuned for more gluten free recipes and tips on local restaurants in the Washington DC area! We hope to post at least once every two weeks, and eventually get up to one post a week.

See you soon!

Steve and Carlyn

Caprese Pizza with Bresaola

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 17:27:00 +0000

Over the last 6 months or so Udi's brand gluten free items have started showing up in grocery stores in my area. If you are gf and haven't tried their stuff, you definitely should. They make the only gf bread I have found that doesn't need to be toasted. One of their products is a frozen pizza crust. Here is my first test with the crust, enjoy!

Ingredients:

Pizza

Udi's frozen pizza crust
Fresh Basil
Bresaola (awesome, like prosciutto made with beef tenderloin!)
Heirloom Tomatoes
Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Olive Oil

Soup

Amy's Tomato Bisque
Black Pepper
Fresh Basil

Procedure:

This pizza was really easy. I used no sauce and just layered the ingredients from in the order they are listed above, except for the olive oil which was drizzled on just before serving. I followed the baking instructions on the Udi's package, total time to make was about 10-15 minutes. While it was baking I heated up some Amy's tomato soup as a side, so the dinner was kind of de-constructed since the pizza had no sauce. The soup was garnished with black pepper and fresh basil.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was a really quick, easy, and delicious meal. Using a pre-made crust and soup is certainly not cooking from scratch, which I think is the most fun. But for a quick light meal after work, this can't really be beat. Bresaola can be found at specialty cheese and charcuterie shops, delis, and some grocery stores. It is a delicious cured meat, very similar to prosciutto, but made from lean beef tenderloin instead of pork. It crisped up while baking on the pizza and added a huge amount of flavor.

Roast Chicken with Celery Root

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:20:00 +0000

I haven't roasted fowl in quite some time, so I decided to roast some chicken. I added my favorite starchy vegetable, celery root, and some broccoli and herbs from our CSA.

Ingredients:

Roast Chicken
Rub

Ground mustard
Garlic salt
Paprika
Smoked Paprika
Celery Salt
Black Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Kosher Salt
Honey

Celery Root
Broccoli
Shallots
Thyme
Garlic Scapes
Oregano
Lime
Apple Cider

Procedure:

First, I mixed up the rub - mostly mustard, then less of the other spices. I added about 2 tablespoons of honey to make it a wet rub rather than a dry rub. The honey also caramelizes and burns easily at oven temperatures. The honey plus the crustiness that mustard based rubs provide means this bird will be dark in color and will have a skin that feels thicker than usual and crispy.

After cutting up the garlic scapes, celery root, and shallots, I put them in the bottom of a baking pan with a chicken roasting rack and seasoned with salt and pepper. I then stuffed the chicken with the herbs and slices of lime. I worked the rub into the chicken and placed it on the roasting rack breast down. I added a little apple cider so the vegetables would have some moisture.

Everything went in the oven at 450 for about 50 minutes total. About 30 minutes through I flipped the chicken to allow the breast skin to brown. After removing it from the oven, I covered it with foil and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Resulting Deliciousness:

I got just what I was going for with the bird. The skin was thick and crispy and flavorful. The pictures make it look burnt, but there was no burnt taste. The meat underneath was extremely moist thanks to the lime and upside down roasting. Roasting fowl breast down helps keep the breast moist and flavorful. This is because most of the fat in chickens is near the back and around the dark meat. Roasting breast down allows that fat to run down over and through the breast instead of straight out of the chicken. Any citrus is great to stuff a bird with. I like a sliced up lime for chicken, or an orange or two for a turkey. The moisture and flavor really makes a difference.

The roasted vegetables were very flavorful, but just a bit greasy. This is a risk when you roast vegetables under a chicken or other meat. The fat from the chicken adds lots of flavor, but if there is too much it can backfire. For that reason, they are often roasted separately. You can also strain the vegetables right after roasting, but I didn't think to do that. This is less of a problem for vegetables that benefit from soaking up moisture and fat, like potatoes. But, celery root is less porous and can't handle as much fat. Everything tasted great, but the excess fat on the vegetables definitely took away from the dish.

Tempeh and Pac Choy Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:39:00 +0000

We got some pac choy and garlic scapes from our CSA. So, we threw them together with some tempeh, onion, and ginger. Served over some brown rice, it was a good, light, quick meal.

Ingredients:

Tempeh
Pac Choy
Garlic Scapes
Onion
Ginger
Brown Rice
Salt
Pepper
Soy Sauce
Olive Oil

Procedure:

This was a simple one. I just cut up the ingredients, stir fried them starting with onion and garlic scapes, then ginger, then pac choy last. Served over brown rice.

Resulting Deliciousness:

The stir fry was nice, light, and healthy. The garlic scapes were overcooked and should have been added later with the pac choy. I'm new to garlic scapes, and evidently they lose a good bit of their flavor when cooked well.

Cucumber Braised Chicken Breast

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:20:00 +0000

Soooo...... miss me? Somehow, over a year has gone by since I posted anything to this, my little cooking blog. I haven't stopped cooking, and I haven't stopped taking pictures of my food, I just got out of the habit of writing things down. Since my last post, I've basically got a whole new life - I bought a house, I have an amazing girlfriend (who happened to come with an awesome dog), and I've got two nieces or nephews on the way. I hope to get back in the habit of posting something roughly every week. Now, to the food!

Today was the first pickup for the CSA we joined this summer, Bull Run Mountain Farm (http://www.bullrunfarm.com/). If you aren't aware, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you join, you are buying a share in a local farm. You pay a lump sum up front and get a weekly share of the farm's crop for the season. It is a great way to support small local farms, be more aware of where your food is coming from, and get amazing produce that blows away the best grocery store food.

Tonight I made a sauce using cucumber, oregano, and garlic scapes from the CSA. I braised some chicken breasts in the sauce and made some brown rice and a salad to go with it.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breasts
Butter
Braising Sauce

1 sprig fresh Oregano from CSA
1/2 cup Cucumber from CSA
4 Garlic Scapes from CSA
Paprika
3/4 cup Half and Half
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Salad

Two kinds of lettuce from the CSA
Heirloom tomatoes (from a farmers market, not the CSA)
Fresh Basil from the CSA
Fresh Mozzarella
Black Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Pickled red peppers

Brown Rice

Procedure:

This was a pretty quick, simple meal. I made the sauce by blending the ingredients until smooth. I started the chicken breast by seasoning it with black pepper and searing it in a cast iron skillet in butter. Once both sides were lightly seared, I lowered the heat and added the sauce. I braised the chicken for about 10 minutes, keeping it simmering and turning them halfway through. For the salad, I just washed the lettuce and threw on the other ingredients. I then served the chicken over a bread of brown rice.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was a very nice, light and fresh meal. Cucumber is a very mild and fresh flavor and it came out better than I hoped. I figured the garlic scapes might overwhelm it, but the flavor was very balanced. I ended up adding some of the sauce over the chicken because the flavor didn't penetrate particularly far. The sauce definitely kicked it up a notch. The salad was great, very simple, very good flavors. All in all, a good, health, and quick meal.

Gluten Free Pizza Review

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:53:00 +0000

If you had asked me two years ago to review the available gluten free pizza, I would have said there was little point. There were a few frozen varieties, none were very good, and all were extremely expensive. For the price of one of those crappy little frozen things, I would have told you to just get yourself a decent steak and grill it up. Now, thanks to everyone from big grocery store chains to national restaurant chains to mom and pop local restaurants to creative entrepreneurs, it is actually possible to compare a cadre of pizzas, most of which are actually worth buying and eating.

This review is focused on pizza available in the DC area, both frozen and at restaurants. This is not necessarily a comprehensive list of what is out there, so let me know what I've forgotten!

Bella Monica

www.bellamonica.com

I'm starting this review with frozen pizzas, and starting the frozen pizzas with the best: Bella Monica. Last Thursday, Trevor from the Bella Monica restaurant in Raleigh, NC drove all the way up to DC to have a pizza party with the Gluten Free Dinner Club (http://celiacdisease.meetup.com/112/). I'd like to thank Trevor for making the trip, for making Bella Monica a beacon for gluten free food, and most of all for giving me some free pizzas to bake at home and review!! Bella Monica started as a restaurant in Raleigh, and they are expanding their gluten free pizza production to sell at grocery stores nation wide. In the DC area, they are available at MOMs, Roots, and possibly other places I'm not remembering. They are also close to being added to Whole Foods and Wegmans, and may get into Giant. If you shop at any of those stores, PLEASE talk to the managers or fill out suggestion forms to get these in the store. Ok, the actual review... This is the first gluten free frozen pizza I've had that really cooked right at home. The crust is crispy and delicious, and has no odd taste from weird flours. The sauce and toppings are fresh and the flavors meld together to make this taste like I remember REAL pizza. This stands on par with the best fresh pizza I've had at any restaurant, as far as crust - the topping choices are limited, but that is to be expected, if I want more I can add them to the cheese pizza myself. Really the only downside to these was a few of the mushrooms on my Mushroom and Herb pizza - a couple retained a lot of water and made the crust a little soggy in the area. But, that was only the big, thick pieces, some of which had been placed on top of each other. If that's the worst thing I can say about a gluten free pizza, you know it is damn good!! This is the only frozen pizza I've had that is really worth the money. I can't wait until the next time I go to the Triangle area to check out the restaurant!

Amy's

Amy's is definitely a friend of the celiac community, and I often have one of their frozen dinners for lunch if I need something quick. Their GF pizza is decent, and probably gets you the most food for your money. However, the crust is never quite perfect and the sauce and cheese aren't as good as Bella Monica. This is decent, but falls well below Bella Monica.

Glutino

Glutino has been doing gluten free longer than any other company on this list (I think). Their pretzels are absolutely fantastic. But, their pizza has lots of room to improve. It is decent as far as price - the little one in my pictures was $5. This Three Cheese Brown Rice Crust pizza that I did a direct comparison to Bella Monica with was better than their older kinds, but you knew you were eating a gluten free crust. The sauce was thin and tasteless and the cheese was poor quality. Not really worth buying unless that's all you can find and you REALLY need some pizza.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods sells their own frozen pizza crusts. They are thicker than any other GF crust I've ever seen and taste very good. However, they require careful topping and baking, as they tend to stay soggy in the middle. I recommend thawing and baking right on the rack, which can be a problem if you are not in a 100% GF house - I like to use cookie sheets for cross contamination safety, but that is guaranteed to make this crust soggy. This is definitely better than Glutino's or Amy's crusts. Against Bella Monica, it depends on if you like deep crust or thin and crispy - I like thin and crispy, so Bella Monica stays on top.

Now on to some real restaurants:

Lilit Cafe:

http://www.lilitcafe.com/

Lilit Cafe is a little restaurant in Bethesda, MD. They have a fantastic gluten free menu, thanks largely to a partnership with Sweet Sin Bakery (http://www.glutenfreedesserts.com/). I haven't had their pizza in quite a while, but it was fairly good. The crust doesn't instantly let you know you're eating gluten free, which is nice. The toppings available are top notch and serve to elevate this above frozen pizza. This is also the only place I know of that has gluten free sandwiches, which I think are the real star. There are other places that have better pizza, so I get a sandwich whenever I make it up here. Lilit Cafe deserves special thanks for being the first restaurant I've ever gone to that really caters to the gluten free crowd. It is amazing to order food at a place where gf is the norm, rather than the exception. If I lived closer, I'd be here daily.

Uno's

http://www.unos.com/

Uno's has done a great job rolling out gluten free pizza over the last 6 months. Based on how they say they train their staff, I feel very safe eating it. Uno's has had a GF menu for a long time and was among the first national chains to recognize the gluten free market as attention worthy. The pizza is very good. Their crust is buttery and flaky. I prefer a crisper crust, but Uno's tastes great and holds together nicely. It definitely adds to the taste and doesn't leave you trying to guess which kind of flour is giving the odd after taste - refreshing for GF. Unfortunately, the topping selection is rather limited. Uno's is in the process of carefully certifying toppings for the GF pizzas, so that should change soon.

Pete's Apizza

http://petesapizza.com/

Pete's is a New Haven style pizzaria in NW DC, right at the Columbia heights metro stop. I love this place. Their crust is thin and crispy and tastes great. Their toppings set them above any other place in the area. It is pricey, but 100% worth every penny. I go here whenever I can. The owner is usually there and always tries to talk to you when you order gluten free, a very nice touch that makes you feel safe with how the food is handled.

Zpizza

http://www.zpizza.com/

Zpizza is my favorite gluten free pizza for one important reason: THEY DELIVER!!!. A couple months ago, I ordered delivery pizza for the first time in about 7 or 8 years. Plus, it's really good. They have thin crispy crust the way I like it and a great range of toppings. They stopped using wheat flour in all the stores and replaced it with rice flour over a month before starting to bring in GF crusts, to really make sure there wouldn't be cross contamination. No crust is made at their stores - both GF and wheat crusts are shipped in frozen. With no loose wheat flour in the store, separate prep area, tools, and oven space, cross contamination is highly unlikely.

Rustico's

http://www.rusticorestaurant.com/

I am embarrassed to say that even though I live only a few miles away, I have never eaten the pizza at Rustico's, so I can't really review it. However, they have their normal menu marked with items that can be prepared GF, and it amounts to about half the menu - not bad at all. I have heard their pizza is great, and really need to get out there. However, I have also heard of issues with cross contamination. I haven't heard that in a while though, so the issue may have been addressed. I'll try to get out to Rustico's soon and add a real review!

Here are all the pizza's I've had, ranked in order of my favorites:

Zpizza

Pete's Apizza

Bella Monica

Uno's

Lilit Cafe

Whole Foods

Amy's

Glutino

It should be noted that the only reason Zpizza beats Pete's is because they deliver. Based solely on quality, Pete's has the edge. The fact that the frozen Bella Monica pizzas beats out two real restaurants should tell you just how amazing it is! If there were more toppings, Bella Monica might be able to top Zpizza and Pete's too.

Please add comments with your favorite places and any pizzas I left off, I'm sure there are several!

Chicken & Dumplings

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:47:00 +0000

I haven't had chicken and dumplings since I went gluten free almost 8 years ago. For some reason, it never occurred to me to try to make this great southern classic until I recently discovered the 123 Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuit mix. I suddenly remembered that dumpling dough is pretty much the same as biscuit dough, so I went for it. Plus, I've recently seen people using smoked paprika on lots of cooking shows and decided to check out the trend - the smoked paprika really brought a nice depth of flavor to the dish. This turned out perfectly. If you are GF and need a comfort food, this is a great one!

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken, roasted and stripped of meat
Brine

Apple Cider
Sage
Thyme
Rosemary
Smoked Paprika
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Celery Salt
Juniper Berries

Stock

Carcass and bones from brined chicken
Water
Celery
Onion
Carrot
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Black Pepper

Garlic
Basil
Oregano
Sage
Onion
Celery
Carrot
Dumplings

123 Gluten Free Mix, follow box directions

Procedure:

I went all out with this one. I started by brining the chicken. To make the brine, I combined the ingredients in a large pot, simmered for about half an hour, let it cool, then covered a whole chicken with the brine and let it sit for about a day. Once brined, I broke down the chicken - see this great video for how to break down a chicken. I seasoned some chopped vegetables with smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and lined a baking pan with them. I finely chopped some garlic with rosemary and sage, stuffed the mixture under the skin of the chicken, and put the chicken on top of the vegetables. That all went in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes to roast.

I ate some of the chicken for dinner, but saved most of it. The next day, I started a stock using the carcass and wings of the chicken, the roasted vegetables, and some fresh herbs. While that simmered, I stripped all of the meat from the roasted chicken and added the bones to the stock. After the stock simmered for about 3 hours, I strained it.

The stock went back in the pot, and I added some fresh carrots and celery. While that started to simmer, I followed the directions on the 123 Gluten Free buttermilk biscuit mix box to make the dough. I rolled the dough into small balls about half an inch in diameter. The chicken meat was then added to the soup and the soup was brought to a boil. I dropped the dumplings into the boiling broth one by one, being careful to space them out so they wouldn't stick together. They would drop to the bottom then rise after about 2 minutes, as they started to cook. After I added what seemed like a good amount of dumplings, I let them cook for about 15 minutes. While they finished I made biscuits out of the leftover dough. Once the dumplings were cooked through, I turned off the heat and the soup was done!

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was the best soup I've ever made. Chicken and dumplings are a great southern comfort food that I hadn't had for about a decade. The texture of the soup was perfect and the flavor was fantastic. You could really taste the garlic and smoked paprika in the pieces of chicken. The dumplings took on the flavor of the soup nicely and turned out really well. While this turned out to be one of the best all around dishes I've ever made, I think the dumplings could be improved by adding herbs or some other seasoning to the dough and making them thin strips instead of balls. You could definitely make a simpler version with diced chicken breast and store bought stock instead of the whole brining-roasting-stock making procedure, but I think the incredible flavor was well worth it.

Buffalo Pasta and Vegetable Stir Fry

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:27:00 +0000

I wanted to make something quick and easy with nice, fresh ingredients. I wandered the grocery store half awake after work and a couple vegetables and some ground buffalo caught my eye. So, I cooked each in the laziest way I knew and came up with something that was quite tasty. Here you go:

Ingredients:

Buffalo Pasta

Ancient Harvest quinoa and corn shell pasta
Whole Foods 365 brand Italian Herb pasta sauce
Lean ground buffalo
Roasted red pepper
Onion (1/2)
Black pepper
Garlic salt
Paprika
Garlic (~1/4 bulb)

Stir Fry Salad

Zucchini
Yellow squash
Onion (1/2)
Baby Spinach (medium sized package)
Pine Nuts
Garlic (lots - ~3/4 bulb)
Olive oil
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

Balsamic Vinegar
Bay Leaf
Raw Can Sugar
Honey

Procedure:

Buffalo Pasta:

I caramelized some onions in olive oil, then added the ground beef, garlic, and seasoning. Once that was well browned, I added the jar of sauce and about half a roasted red pepper. The pasta was cooked per the box instructions, which takes maybe 10 minutes after the water boils. Then the two met in a bowl and lived happily ever after.

Stir Fry Salad:

Or vegetable stir fry, whatever you want to call it. I just caramelized some onions in olive oil, then added the squashes, pine nuts, and some seasoning. That cooked on medium heat until everything was getting soft, then I added the roasted red pepper. I turned the heat up, added a couple tablespoons of apple cider, and piled the garlic on top. I let that steam for a minute before mixing it in because I added too much and couldn't have mixed it without throwing it out of the shallow pan. After that mixed in, I added a bunch of garlic and some black pepper. After the salad went on a plate I drizzled on some of the balsamic vinegar reduction I always keep around.

Balsamic Vinegar Reduction:

I should make a post just for this. It is super easy and is great on everything - salads, sandwiches, quinoa pilaf, etc, etc. All you do is put about half a cup to a cup of balsamic vinegar in a very small sauce pot with a bay leaf or two. Heat that until it starts simmering then lower the heat. Add some raw cane or brown sugar and a little honey. Let it slowly cook for a while, simmering or not quite simmering. It is ready when it is starting to get viscous and will stick to a fork. Adding more sugar and honey makes it set up faster and require less reduction - I've let it simmer for anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour. Longer with less sugar is better, but even the quick stuff is nice. Take the bay leaf out when you're done and put it in the vessel of your choice. I use a little 4oz squeeze bottle I got at REI that's supposed to be for denatured alcohol for camp stoves. Those are also good for olive oil or anything else you want to drizzle in a controlled way. This sauce is very flavorful, a little goes a long way. I make this about once a month and always have it in the fridge.

You can do this with soy sauce too, but I don't use a bay leaf. That makes a real nice sauce for stir fries or other asian dishes. Reductions like this also take on other flavors very well - you can squeeze citrus juice into either and get great results. Adding a few drops of sesame oil to the soy sauce one gives it a denser, stronger flavor and gives it a great smell.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This took maybe half an hour and ended up tasting great. It made a lot too - 4 people easily could have eaten this. I used the leftovers for lunch for several days. The spinach wasn't top notch and got a little slimy after it was in the fridge, but other than that, this was a great meal

123 Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuit Mix

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:42:00 +0000

I don't usually do reviews, and I don't use mixes too often, but I think both of those are going to change a little bit. I recently got a boxed mix for buttermilk biscuits from 123 Gluten-Free. They were AWESOME.

Ingredients:

Just followed the box instructions for the buttermilk biscuits - in addition to the mix, you need buttermilk, unslated butter, and some sugar.

Procedure:

Just followed the box instructions. But, I actually couldn't find my measuring cup, so I had to roughly estimate the 1 1/3 cups buttermilk. The dough turned out way too sticky to roll out, so I added a little corn starch to thicken it up, corn starched my hands, and just hand-formed the biscuits.

Resulting Deliciousness:

Even with my less than ideal methods, these turned out fantastic. They weren't shaped perfectly, but they tasted great. They aren't quite the buttermilk biscuits I know from growing up in the south, but they are damn good for GF. They allowed me to indulge in the somewhat unhealthy southern breakfast of a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit for the first time in probably a decade.

The mix is a little pricey at $9 at Whole Foods, but totally worth it.

Crockpot Ribs and Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Last weekend, I finished off the last of the forest fed pork I had in the freezer. I was feeling lazy, so I just threw some ribs in a crockpot with a bunch of vegetables. Turned out pretty good.

Ingredients:

Pork ribs from the forest

Marinade - about 20 hours

Apple Cider
Cumin
Cloves

Vegetables

Celery Root
Green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers with red onion (I saw a pre-cut pack at the grocery store)
Carrots

Seasonings

Garlic (about a bulb and a half)
Shallots (diced from a jar)
Apple Cider (~1/2 cup)
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Red pepper
White pepper
Paprika
Celery salt
olive oil
honey

Sauce

Drippings from everything above
Apple Cider (~1/3 cup)
Cane sugar
Cloves
Cumin
Red pepper

Procedure:

The night before, I knew I'd want to cook the ribs so I threw them in a freezer bag with apple cider, cloves, and cumin to marinate. The next evening, I took a pre-cut pack of various bell peppers and red onion, put it in the crock pot, added celery root and carrots, all the seasonings, and tossed all that in a crockpot, coating the vegetables with olive oil and seasonings. I then cut the meat into individual ribs, placed them on top of the vegetables, sprinkled on some more pepper, honey, and a little apple cider. That was cooked at about 200-250 for about an hour and a half.

After everything was done, I pulled everything out of the crockpot, leaving the drippings - mostly some pork fat, cider, and garlic, all of which had been flavored by all of the great vegetables. I added a little more cider, a little raw cane sugar, cloves, cumin, and red pepper, then reduced it for about 5-10 minutes. If reducing sounds fancy, it is not - you just simmer it until it gets thicker - the sugars get caramelized and you cook off some water. I then added the ribs back to the sauce for about 5-10 minutes, stirring most of the time to really coat them well.

Resulting Deliciousness:

These ribs were pretty good, but the vegetables stole the show - they were absolutely fantastic. I think this was because I don't have a very good crockpot, I have a multipurpose thing that's mostly good for frying. The low temperature controls aren't very good, so I basically steamed this stuff in an hour and a half instead of slow cooking it over about 4 hours, as I intended. As a result, the vegetables were nicely done, but the ribs had a very slightly chewy texture, not the perfect tenderness you want for ribs. But, they were still really good. If you have a real crockpot or a dutch oven, this would probably turn out better, texturally speaking.

If you want to see some really well-done ribs, check out my Spring Break '08 Ribs.

Roasted Pork Loin, Applesauce, and Mashed Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Last weekend I got a pork loin roast from Babes in the Wood, and cooked it on Tuesday, along with some applesauce and mashed potatoes. In case you haven't noticed, I am a huge supporter of raising animals in a sustainable way and feeding them what they want to eat naturally. This forest-fed pork is hands down the best pork that I've ever had. See my post on North Carolina Barbecue for more about that.

Ingredients:

Pork Roast

1.6 lb boneless pork loin roast
Dry Rub

Kosher salt
Raw cane sugar (or brown sugar)
Cumin
Cloves
Garlic Salt
Black Pepper
Celery Salt
Paprika

Applesauce

Honey Crisp Apples (peeled and roughly cut)
Cinnamon
Cloves
Sugar

Mashed Potatoes

2 lb bag of Red Potatoes
Garlic
1/2 Roasted Red Pepper
Olive Oil
Butter
Milk
Rosemary
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Paprika
Garlic Salt

Procedure:

Pork: I started the pork by defrosting it in a sealed bag in hot water (I like that or fridge defrosting more than microwave), while I mixed up the rub. Rubs generally have about half and half salt and sugar plus whatever seasonings you want - I used cumin, and cloves because they are my favorite pork seasonings. I also only use kosher salt or sea salt for rubs - they are much more subtle and taste better than table salt, and treat the meat better. I cut the fat layer mostly off the meat to make a pocket to add the rub. I rubbed the rub into every surface of the roast. This was placed on the bottom rack over a pan and baked at 350 for about 1.5 hours.
Applesauce: Homemade applesauce is really, really easy. I just cut up some apples, put them in a pan with a splash of cider and some cinnamon, cloves, and sugar. That was baked for about 30 minutes at 350, then ran through a food processor.
Mashed Potatoes: I boiled red potatoes with some rosemary and seasonings. I roasted garlic in olive oil and paprika at the same time the apples and roast were baking, for about 30 minutes. The potatoes, garlic, half a roasted red pepper I had leftover, butter, milk, salt, and pepper went into a food processor (in two batches).

Resulting Deliciousness:

The pork turned out pretty well. I prepared it in a more barbecue-ey way than a roast-ey way, but that's the mood I was in. I overcooked it a bit, so it was a tad tough, but wasn't dried out. The taste was great, but the rub was just a tad strong - any pork but the flavorful forest-fed stuff would have been overwhelmed by the cumin. Next time I would either cook it less, or cook it low and slow, and would have brined it if I had time. But, still really good.

The mashed potatoes were really, really creamy from the butter, milk, olive oil from the roasted garlic, and the use of a food processor instead of hand-mashing. They were really good, but unfortunately had a slight fridge taste to them from the week or two old roasted red pepper I put in. I have learned that it probably isn't good to throw a roasted pepper in a bag in the fridge - next time I have some leftover, I'll add some olive oil or vinegar to help hold the flavor.

The applesauce was also a little below my standards. Last time I did this, I roasted them for over an hour and they were awesome, almost like apple butter, but not so sweet and heavy. This time, I didn't roast it as long, so I expected a lighter flavor, which was fine. The problem was the texture - the apples had gone through at least a couple improper freeze/thaw cycles. I could tell when I bought them that they had been through that kind of abuse, I was just too excited to see honey crisp apples in January and figured they would be fine for applesauce. It might have been better if I cooked them more, but in addition to the good applesauce texture, there was a grainy texture that was a bit of a put-off. Oh well, still good if not perfect.

So, overall it was a nice meal, but there were some little things that kept it from being great.

Sweet Rolls Round 2

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:49:00 +0000

Last week, my mom tried her old sweet rolls again after talking to me about all the recommendations we got from the last try. In the interest of only changing one thing to see the impact, we decided to fix the worst of our mistakes - trying to get GF dough to rise multiple times. The result was borderline perfect!

From Sweet Rolls

Ingredients:

Sweet Dough

1.5 cups milk warmed to ~120
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packets yeast
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup shortening
7.5 cups flour (we used Jules Shepard's All Purpose Flour from Nearly Normal)
Filling

~ 1 stick melted Butter

~ 1 cup Sugar

~ 2 tbsp Cinnamon

Glaze

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
5 tbsp white karo corn syrup

Procedure:

So, this time the recipe stayed the same, but the rising steps were taken out.

To make the dough, start by mixing the yeast with half a cup of warm water. While that sits, mix together the warm milk, sugar, and salt. When the yeast has bubbled, add it to the warm milk mixture and stir. To that, add 2 lightly beaten eggs and half a cup of shortening. Mix about half the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the rest of the flour - you can use a little more or less, just add it until the dough feels like dough.

For the glaze, just mix together the brown sugar, butter, and karo syrup. Grease 3 or 4 8" baking pans and line the bottom of the pans with the glaze mix. If you want, you can add chopped up walnuts or pecans on the glaze (we used pecans).

Mix together the cinnamon and sugar (the ratio listed is an estimate, just use as much cinnamon as you like) and melt some butter. Then, separate out a baseball-softball sized chunk of dough and roll it out into a rectangle about 3-4 inches wide. Drizzle on some butter to lightly coat the dough, then sprinkle on a thin layer of the cinnamon and sugar mix. Roll up the dough and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half long. Place the pieces cut side up/down in the prepared pan (see below), with room between the rolls for them to rise. Place the populated pans in a warm oven for about 45 minutes to rise. Remove the rolls, get the oven up to temperature for baking.

Bake the rolls at 370 for 25-30 minutes. After baking, set a plate on top of the pan of rolls, then flip it over. Let it sit for a minute to let the glaze drizzle down, the remove the pan. There you are - a beautiful pan of glazed sweet rolls! They get stale quickly, so make sure to cover them soon after they cool.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This time, the rolls were almost perfect. They were still a tad on the heavy side, but barely. The taste was pretty much right on, just a little less 'doughy', or maybe yeast-y?, than I remember them being when I was a kid. Maybe next time we will try some of the other suggestions to see if we can get just a little more rise.

Thanks again to everyone for all the comments!

Chili

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:40:00 +0000

I haven't made chili in a really long time. Last weekend, my friend James made some and inspired me to do the same. I think it turned out quite well.

Ingredients:

Ground beef (90/10 lean)
Ground turkey
Celery root
Celery
Onion
Roasted red pepper
Apple cider
Peas (1 can)
Corn (1 can)
Black beans (1 can)
Pinto beans (1 can)
Kidney beans (1 can)
Garbanzo beans (1 can)
Tomato sauce (2 cans)
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Bay leaf
Kosher salt
Raw cane sugar
Honey
Black pepper
Red pepper
White pepper
Chili powder
Garlic salt
Garlic
Cumin
Cloves
Dry mustard
Paprika

Procedure:

Chili is one of the easiest things to make. All I did was cut up the ingredients that weren't canned, caramelized the onions and celery, browned the ground beef and turkey, put everything in a big pot, and let it simmer for about 2.5 hours. I tasted it from time to time and seasoned it to my taste. I went heavy on cumin because it suited my palate and my mood.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was fantastic chili. One key thing that some people don't think of is the sugar. Sugar helps balance the spices and salt and really gets all the flavors to blend together smoothly. I didn't make this chili very spicy because I didn't feel like spicy food tonight. Chili, and stews in general, always taste better after sitting around for a while. I'm really looking forward to eating this for lunch for the rest of the week!

Gluten Free Sweet Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:00:00 +0000

This was my family's favorite desert when I was growing up, we were always bugging my mom to make them. Since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about seven years ago, we've tried to re-make sweet rolls a couple times, but nothing ever came close. This time, we nailed the taste. If the rolls would rise a little more and be a little softer, they would be perfect. If you have any advice on that, please let me know in the comments!

Ingredients:

Sweet Dough

1.5 cups milk warmed to ~120
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 packets yeast
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup shortening
7.5 cups flour (we used Jules Shepard's All Purpose Flour from Nearly Normal)
Filling

~ 1 stick melted Butter

~ 1 cup Sugar

~ 2 tbsp Cinnamon

Glaze

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
5 tbsp white karo corn syrup

Procedure:

I'll tell you the original recipe, with notes about how it was different with GF flour... To make the dough, start by mixing the yeast with half a cup of warm water. While that sits, mix together the warm milk, sugar, and salt. When the yeast has bubbled, add it to the warm milk mixture and stir. To that, add 2 lightly beaten eggs and half a cup of shortening. Mix about half the flour. Once that is mixed in, add the rest of the flour - you can use a little more or less, just add it until the dough feels like dough. Knead the dough (although I don't think that is necessary for GF flours?). Place the dough in a large greased bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and let it sit in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size, about 2 hours (it did not double with GF flour, but did rise significantly). Punch the dough down, flip it over in the bowl, re-cover it, and let it rise a second time. Once risen, punch it down a final time and let it sit for 15 minutes. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar (the ratio listed is an estimate, just use as much cinnamon as you like) and melt some butter. Then, separate out a baseball-softball sized chunk of dough and roll it out into a rectangle about 3-4 inches wide. Drizzle on some butter to lightly coat the dough, then sprinkle on a thin layer of the cinnamon and sugar mix. Roll up the dough and cut it into pieces about an inch and a half long. Place the pieces cut side up/down in the prepared pan (see below), with room between the rolls for them to rise (the GF rolls didn't rise much, so we placed them closer together than you would for wheat flour rolls).

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the baking pans and make the glaze. For the glaze, just mix together the brown sugar, butter, and karo syrup. Grease 3 or 4 8" baking pans and line the bottom of the pans with the glaze mix. If you want, you can add chopped up walnuts or pecans on the glaze (we used pecans).

Bake the rolls at 370 for 15-20 minutes (they took about 27 with the GF flour - anyone know why that would be?). After baking, set a plate on top of the pan of rolls, then flip it over. Let it sit for a minute to let the glaze drizzle down, the remove the pan. There you are - a beautiful pan of glazed sweet rolls! They get stale quickly, so make sure to cover them soon after they cool.

Resulting Deliciousness:

These rolls were the closest to the real thing that we've ever gotten using GF flour - Jules' mix definitely works well, I highly recommend it. The taste was exactly what I remember. The only shortcoming was the texture - these did not rise as well as the flour ones, so they were a little more dense and harder. However, they were very worth the effort. If anyone can give me some tips on how to tweak the recipe to get them to rise better, please let me know in a comment!

Local Grass-Fed Applewood Smoked Beef

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Many people are intimidated by slow cooking techniques like smoking. In reality, it is one of the oldest, simplest, easiest, tastiest ways to prepare food. Low temperature slow cooking is very forgiving. While you'll want a smoker to really do it right, you can improvise quite well with a grill (see my North Carolina Pulled Pork Barbecue!). This was the first thing we made with my dad's new smoker.

The meat we smoked was very special, although it shouldn't be. We used extremely fresh, locally raised grass-fed beef, which was absolutely beautiful. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I am a huge supporter of feeding animals the foods they evolved to eat. No cow can properly digest corn. A happy cow is out in a field eating a variety of different grasses. A grass-fed cow's meat is leaner and far superior in taste to any feedlot meat. Because the meat is more lean, low and slow techniques are helpful because it can be easy to overcook lean meat on a grill if you're used to fatty grain-fed beef (less fat means less juices). Low and slow also helps make the meat even more tender. If the environmental, health, and moral shortcomings of feedlot meat won't convince you to go for more expensive grass-fed meat, maybe the taste and texture benefits will. And that isn't limited to cows - in my opinion, the taste benefit of a free-range life and natural diet is even greater for chicken and pork than it is for beef (check out forestfed.com, makes other pork taste like uncooked tofu). Anyway, here is what we did:

Ingredients:

Sirloin Roast
Short Ribs
Kielbasa
Dale's
Rub

Sea Salt
Brown Sugar
Paprika
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Dry Mustard
Celery Salt
Red Pepper
White Pepper
Cumin
Thyme
Onion Powder
Cloves

Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Potatoes
Barbecue Sauce

Ketchup
Dry Mustard
Tabasco
White pepper
Red pepper
Black pepper
Oregano
Garlic Salt
Paprika
Red wine

Procedure:

My dad and I started this meal by marinating the beef. I used some Dale's, one of the very few pre-packaged marinades I use. While the meat marinated for about an hour, we got the fire in the smoker going with some charcoal and scraps of oak, and cut some green branches off our apple tree (you can also buy wood to smoke). While the fire burned down, I mixed up the rub - about half and half sugar and salt, plus whatever seasonings you have around, to your taste. After marinating for an hour, I took the beef out, patted it semi-dry, and rubbed in the rub. Remember to really rub the rub into the meat - it's not called a 'sprinkle'. Once the fire was ready, we put the beef on the lower rack in the smoker, right above the water pan. About 5 hours later, it was ready. Over the course of of the 5 hours, we periodically threw in some more green applewood to keep the smoke going.

This was the first time I've tried to smoke vegetables. I ended up losing track of time and didn't put them on as early as I wanted. So, I cut them up, coated them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, wrapped it loosely in tin foil, then added them to the upper rack of the smoker. After about an hour, they were soft and ready.

Just before serving, my dad mixed up his barbecue sauce.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This was the best smoked beef we've ever made. The rub worked very well and the smoke flavor was fantastic. The meat, however was the real star. It was moist and so tender you could cut it with a spoon. You could really tell the difference from going with good cuts of grass-fed meat. The vegetables were good, but because they were pre-sliced, the smoke flavor was too strong. Next time I wouldn't cut them up and would use more seasoning after smoking and slicing.

Although very good, my rub and my dad's sauce didn't closely follow any major style of barbecue, so any fans of a particular region would probably point out some shortcomings (although the apple wood was definitely a feature of our region of Western North Carolina). I think the next few times I do barbecue, I'll try to follow a few different regions closely. If you have any favorites that you want to see me try, tell me about it in the comments!

Roast Duck with Celery Roots, Beets, and Asparagus

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:13:00 +0000

I recently heard about a new butcher shop in Alexandria, Virginia called Let's Meat on the Avenue. They specialize in local pasture fed and naturally fed meat. Obviously, I had to check it out. It's a great little butcher shop, just what I've been looking for in the area. The selection is good and you can get custom cuts and order specialty things that they don't always have. While I went in looking for grass fed beef, I ended up getting a duck. It wasn't local like most of the other meat (farm raised in Indiana), but I found I was in the mood for fowl. If you are in northern Virginia or DC and appreciate meat with a traceable source that has put real thought and care into how they farm (as well as a butcher that understands that) this is the butcher shop for you!

Ingredients:

Duck
Brine

Apple cider
Kosher salt
Garlic
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Juniper berries (lightly crushed)
Pepper
Celery salt
Paprika

Kosher salt
Cane sugar
Paprika
Cloves
Black pepper
Red pepper
Garlic Salt
Celery Salt
Oregano
Basil

Celery Root
Beets
Asparagus
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Apple Cider

Procedure:

Like most of the meat I've prepared in the last year, this started out with a brine. I took some apple cider, added the ingredients listed, simmered it for about 45 minutes, and let it cool. I removed the giblets from the duck, cut off a little excess fat and skin, and rinsed it well. The brine and the duck met each other in a ziplock bag and moved to the fridge, where they together pursued perfection of flavor and texture for the next 24 hours.

The next evening, I cut up a celery root, three beets, and a bundle of asparagus. These were covered in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed in a baking pan with a little cider and a fowl roasting rack. A fowl roasting rack holds a bird in a V-shaped rack a bit above the bottom of a roasting pan. This keeps the whole bird in the air and allows the vegetables placed underneath to receive a slow shower of flavorful drippings. If you've never used celery root, I highly recommend it. It is a large white root vegetable that you can prepare the same ways you can prepare potatoes. However, they have a nice subtle celery flavor that blows potatoes out of the water. They are an easy way to take a meat and potatoes kind of meal and kick it up to a higher level. I only discovered celery root recently and it is my new favorite thing.

Once the pan was prepared, I mixed up a rub of equal parts cane sugar and kosher salt, plus the seasonings listed above. I took the duck out of the brine, rinsed it lightly, smeared it with a little olive oil, and covered it with the rub, including the cavity. Remember that rubs are called 'rubs' for a reason - don't just sprinkle meat with it, really rub it in. This grinds it into the skin and fat and keeps the rub from running off with the drippings while you cook. Instead, the flavor infuses the meat and makes the skin slightly crusty and extremely tasty. Once rubbed, the duck got its cavity stuffed with the rest of my fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and garlic.

I placed the duck breast down in the fowl roasting rack above the vegetables. I've started cooking birds breast down whenever I remember to. This lets all of the fatty, flavorful drippings seep through the prime meat, making it juicier and more succulent than when baked on its back. I roasted the duck on the bottom rack at 325 for about 2 hours. I then flipped it on its back and roasted another 30 minutes breast up because the back was perfectly done and the breast needed a little more heat.

While this description is long, roasting like this is quick and easy. You only have to roughly chop the vegetables and the meat preparation is very fast. The only time consuming part is the actual roasting, but that's a fairly passive undertaking.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This duck turned out exactly how I wanted it to. The skin was just a little crusty and had a powerful flavor that complimented the meat. The celery root, beats, and asparagus were delicious - they held their own and did not just taste like drippings, as could easily happen with things like potatoes and carrots. I was really happy with the way this turned out.

Duck is a naturally fatty and flavorful meat, and if you cook it too fast or don't let it drip, you risk ending up with a greasy meal. This was not greasy at all. The fat that did not drip off to enhance the vegetables stayed with the skin and took on the flavors of the brine and the rub. That flavor made the difference between feeling like you were eating a nice piece of meat with a nasty strip of fat, and feeling like you were eating a well balanced, flavorful, well prepared cut.

Corn Statch Crepes

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:27:00 +0000

Whenever I'm home, I try to get my mom to make crepes. Since we both have Celiac Disease, we can't eat normal crepes made with wheat flour. Fortunately, my mom has an old recipe for corn starch crepes. We made them even before we knew we had to eat gluten free because they are easy, cheap, and taste better than most other crepes - which is saying something since we've had them in Paris crepe shops. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 Tbs corn oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup corn starch

Procedure:

These are extremely easy. Just beat the eggs, then mix in everything else. Heat up a small to medium skillet and add a little oil. Pour about 1/8 of a cup of batter into the pan and swirl it around to cover. Flip after about 45 seconds, cook another 45 seconds, and your first crepe is ready. You don't need to re-oil the pan between crepes, it's good for a while. Put the crepe on a plate, add a little filling, roll it up, and eat it.

Resulting Deliciousness:

These crepes come out nice and thin and soft, and are good with any type of filling so you can use them for anything from breakfast to desert. Some of our favorites are bacon, jelly/jam/preserves, cream cheese, scrambled eggs, cheese, etc.

Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Gumbo

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:35:00 +0000

Making gumbo from the leftover turkey is a Thanksgiving tradition at our house. It is a great way to shift the flavors away from the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and gravy everyone's been eating for two days, and it is way more satisfying than a turkey sandwich. It starts with making stock from the turkey bones and just keeps getting better:

Ingredients:

Stock

Turkey bones, stripped of meat, seasoned, baked

Rosemary

Thyme

Black pepper

White pepper

Red pepper

Dried cilantro

Basil

Oregano

Sea salt

Garlic salt

Onion
Green pepper
Carrots
Celery
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Red pepper
Black pepper
Sea salt
Garlic Salt
Oregano
Basil
Paprika
Water

Turkey, pulled into bite sized or smaller pieces
Kielbasa
Celery
Red pepper
Onion
Dad's spice mix (see Chicken, The Phantom Menace)
White wine
Roux

GF Flour (Bob's Red Mill All Purpose mix) (~1/3 cup)
Vegetable Oil (~1/4 cup) (or clarified butter)

Black eyed peas
Black beans
Carrots
Sugar
Red pepper
Water

Procedure:

Stock:

After cooking a whole bird, or other meat that leaves you with a bunch of tasty bones, I like to make stock. Homemade stock is extremely easy to make and way, way better than any store bought broth or bullion. The key to good stock is baking the bones. Once we were done with Thanksgiving dinner, we got all of the meat off the bones (you can leave skin and a little fat). Don't be shy to put down the knife and use your fingers - you can only carve nice slices off so much, and you're going to want small pieces for the gumbo later anyway. Once the bones are clean, put them in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet with sides to catch liquids - you don't want fat to drip onto the stove and start a fire. Sprinkle the bones generously with salt, pepper, and any herbs and spices you like - garlic salt, celery salt, paprika, and rosemary work well. Bake the bones at 350-400 for 1-2 hours. They should be very browned, bordering on blackened, bot not burnt or charred.

After the bones are baked, cram them into the bottom of a large pot. Don't be afraid to use some force, breaking bones is good - it exposes the marrow even further than baking. Add some roughly chopped vegetables - celery and onion are a must, I usually use a bell pepper and carrots as well, use whatever you like or look online for some more suggestions. Only chop them roughly because you'll be straining them out later. Also add herbs, spices and salt.

Cover the mix with water and get it simmering. Simmer uncovered until it reduces by about half - I think I let mine go for about 4 hours, and ended up with a little under half a gallon of stock. Let it cool a little, and skim fat off the top a few times. Strain out all the solids and you're left with a dark, flavorful stock. The stock is very potent, so you can usually cut it with equal amounts water.

Gumbo:

To start the gumbo, get the black eyed peas and black beans cooking if you're starting with dried (not necessary if they are canned). When Season the onions, celery, and red pepper with some of the spice mix and caramelize them in a pan with no oil. When there is a good amount of residue and they are getting cooked, add some wine or other liquid to deglaze the pan. Add the sliced kielbasa and cook until browned lightly. Add the stuff in the pan and the beans to a large pot, add stock and water, and start it simmering. Add the carrots and the pulled turkey. Next, it's time to make the roux. This is a somewhat delicate operation. In a pan, start mixing the flour and oil on medium to high heat. Stir it constantly while it slowly browns. The roux is done when it is just bordering on burnt. As soon as it is ready, add it to the big pot and stir it in. Let the gumbo simmer for about an hour, or until you're too hungry to wait. Taste it and add sugar, salt, pepper, or whatever else you think it needs. Serve the gumbo in bowls on top of rice.

Resulting Deliciousness:

The stock turned out very rich, very tasty. After sitting overnight in the refrigerator, it was almost jelly-like, so it was pretty high in fat. We cut it with about an equal amount of water for the gumbo. The gumbo was fantastic. Even after simmering for an hour or more, you could still taste the flavor of the brine in some of the dark turkey meat. The fatty stock did not make the gumbo greasy, which can easily happen if you don't skim enough fat off of the stock, or don't cut it with enough water. The flavors of the gumbo were perfect, everything blended well, and the meal left you feeling very satisfied. I think the key to the blending of the flavors is the few tablespoons of sugar added at the end.

Thanksgiving Desert: Pumpkin pie & Cranberry Apple Pie

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:19:00 +0000

The pies were great this year:

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Pie:

Whole Foods GF Pie Crust
Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling
Sugar
Cinnamon
Salt
Ginger
Cloves
Eggs

Cranberry Apple Pie:

Whole Foods GF Pie Crust
Top Crust -use your favorite or:

1 cup Bob's Mill All Purpose GF Flour Mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening

1 1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbs. quick tapioca
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups cranberries
1 1/2 cup apples, peeled and sliced
1 Tbs orange rind, grated
3 Tbs orange juice
2 Tbs butter, melted

Whipped Cream:

Heavy Whipping Cream
Sugar
Vanilla

Ice Cream

Procedure:

Pumpkin Pie:

For the pumpkin pie, I took the lazy way out: store-bought GF pie crust, and canned filling that tells you what to do. Libby's Pumpkin Pie filling is GF, so just follow the recipe on the can. Easy as Pie.

We usually do a GF almond flour crust, I'll post that at Christmas - it's a great bottom crust, but doesn't really work as a top crust.

Apple Cranberry Pie:

This recipe was given to my family by my mom's cousin, Donna. Hopefully she's OK with it being posted online. Anyway, for the filling, mix the sugar, tapioca, and salt and set aside. Then, mix the cranberries, sliced apples, grated orange rind, orange juice, and butter. Add the first mix to the second and mix. Immediately pour into shell, cover with top crust, and bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes - the top shell should be brown and the apples should be cooked (feel with a knife). If you don't put the filling into the shell and bake right away, the sugar will cause the fruit to juice and you'll end up with way too much liquid and a mushy pie (but it will still taste great).

For the shell, use your favorite recipe or the one above. We used Whole Foods GF shell and the top crust listed above. We didn't use one of our better recipes, or xantham gum, so the top crust was crumbly and didn't end up looking very nice. But, it did the job and tasted fine.

Whipped Cream:

Pour heavy mixing cream in mixer, whip until it starts to firm up, add a splash of vanilla. Add a little sugar to taste, about 2-4 tablespoons, while still mixing. Don't over-mix, it will turn to butter. It should just stand up on its own.

Resulting Deliciousness:

These pies turned out fantastic. The pumpkin was just your normal pumpkin, solid, tasty, needs to be there on Thanksgiving. However, the Apple Cranberry Pie is pretty much the best pie ever conceived by mankind, and it did not let us down this time. In addition to the whipped cream, we served ice cream from Kilwin's with the pie. Many Kilwin's ice creams have no gluten ingredients, you can see a list of ingredients and an allergen list at most stores.

Thanksgiving Dinner, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:14:00 +0000

This year was a small Thanksgiving for us, only about 8 people. But, we didn't use that as an excuse to make less food...

Ingredients:

Turkey and derivatives:

Brine

Apple Cider

Cranberry juice

Water

Rosemary

Thyme

Sage

Sea salt (~10tbs)

Black pepper

White pepper

Red pepper

Paprika

Stuffing

Whole Foods Gluten Free Sandwich Bread (toasted and cubed)
Onion
Celery
Green pepper
Dad's spice mix (found on Chicken, The Phantom Menace post)
White wine
Pecan halves
Craisins (raisins made from cranberries)

Gravy

Gluten Free Flour (we used Bob's Red Mill all purpose mix)
Vegetable oil (just a little to brown the flour in)
Turkey drippings, strained and separated
Milk
Salt & Pepper (lots, just keep adding until it tastes right to you)

Side of Fruit

Pineapple
Grapes
Cantaloupe

Side Salad

Lettuce
Carrot shavings
Red Peppers
Artichoke Hearts
Tomatoes
Various dressings

Green beans

Green beans
Chicken Broth
Salt
Pepper

Steamed Vegetables

Cauliflower
Carrots
Broccoli
Butter
Garlic Salt

Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes
Milk
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberries
Sugar
Water

Procedure:

Turkey:

This year, I brined the turkey overnight. The brine consisted of about a gallon or so of liquid, split roughly between apple cider, cranberry juice, and water. To that I added lots of sea salt, spices, and fresh herbs. The brine simmered for about an hour and a half, long enough to infuse the herb flavors into the liquid, caramelize the sugars in the juices, and boil off some of the water. I removed the giblets and rinsed the turkey well (I also had to cut off some fat and some of the giblets that were left in the cavity - the bird had been butchered in haste). I placed the turkey in a huge ziplok bag made for brining turkeys and added the cooled brine. This went in the fridge for about 15 hours, roughly an hour per pound.

The morning of Thanksgiving, we took the turkey out of the brine, rinsed it briefly, and rubbed it with oil. Then, we stuffed and trussed it and baked it at 325 until the internal temperature was 185 (about an hour for every 3 pounds). Because we forgot to move the rack to the very bottom, the turkey started blackening early. We covered it lightly with foil. It looks pretty black in these pictures, but was not actually burned. I'm not sure if the brining makes the skin blacken faster than normal, it may.

Stuffing:

My dad has gotten gluten free stuffing down pat. We just use Whole Foods Gluten Free Sandwich bread, toasted and cut into cubes. Another GF bread would be fine, but I would stay away from anything with oily or hard seeds (flax, poppy, etc), or large amounts of bean flour (too much flavor that doesn't really go with stuffing) - the closer to white bread you can get, the better - you want to soak up flavor with the bread, not add too much. To start the stuffing, caramelize onions, celery, and green pepper with a little oil or butter and seasonings to your taste (we used my dad's general spice mix, found here). Use a little white wine or other liquid to de-glaze the pan when it's almost ready. Mix the vegetables with the bread cubes, pecan halves, and lots of melted butter. It should be a moist, butter mix. This goes into the turkey to become extremely delicious. Some people prefer to make stuffing on the stove top. I don't buy into that, but you could probably get good results that way, just using turkey drippings to add flavor instead of baking in the turkey. I can see doing that so you can make more than you can fit in a turkey.

Gravy:

We usually make a white gravy. You start by browning some GF flour with a little oil, making an unappetizing brown goo. Add some turkey drippings, strained and separated. Just keep mixing slowly and all the clumps of flour will go away. Add some milk slowly, while stirring. Add salt and pepper, until it tastes the way you like it. You can add more drippings or milk as needed to get the balance right.

Mashed Potatoes:

You should know how to make these. Boil lots of peeled potatoes. Drain. Mash with milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Steamed Vegetables:

My mom makes this all the time, easy and delicious. Cover a large plate with a head of cauliflower, surround it with some cut up broccoli and carrots, pour some melted butter over it, sprinkle on some garlic salt, cover with saran wrap, and microwave for about 10-15 minutes, until everything is nice and soft.

Cranberry Sauce:

Cranberry sauce is very easy to make, and much better than the canned stuff. Just boil cranberries in sugar water until it tastes like cranberry sauce. I don't remember the ratio of sugar and water, but I think its about equal amounts - bags of cranberries have the recipe on them.

Other sides:

The other sides were just a tossed salad, some cut up fresh fruit, and green beans simmered in chicken broth.

Resulting Deliciousness:

This Thanksgiving turned out very well. The turkey was extremely flavorful, the brine worked just how I wanted it to. The dark meat took on the flavor especially well, maybe because it has a larger skin surface area - to - meat ratio than white meat, or maybe because it is a little fattier and more flavorful to start with. The stuffing turned out as good as it always does. I think the GF bread, being higher in fat than normal bread, actually makes a better stuffing than any wheat-based bread stuffing I've ever had. All of the sides turned out great, as always. Next year (and at Christmas), I think I want to venture out to some new sides.

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Summary

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:53:00 +0000

This Thanksgiving was a blur of cooking, eating, and napping - in other words, a perfect vacation. I'm breaking all of the recipes up into several posts. Check back over the next day or two as I add them. For now, here is a list of what we made and a few teaser pictures! I'll make these links to the recipes once I get them written up. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey (brined!)

Gluten Free Stuffing

Gravy
Salad

Steamed Veggies

Green Beans

Cranberry Sauce

Fruit

Thanksgiving Desert

Pumpkin Pie
Apple Cranberry Pie
Whipped Cream
Ice cream

Day After Thanksgiving Breakfast

Cornstarch Crepes

Day After Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey Gumbo

Chicken Stew with Bombadil

noreply@blogger.com (iHateWheat) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:05:00 +0000

Bombadil was back in town, along with some other friends, so I made some stew for everyone. It turned out pretty decent, but the Bombadil show definitely stole the night.

Ingredients:

Ground Chicken
Celery
Onion
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Quinoa
Carrots
Cauliflower
Black Beans
Roasted Red Pepper
Chicken Stock
Apple Cider
Cane Sugar
Celery Salt
Garlic Salt
Black Pepper
White Pepper
Red Pepper
Paprika
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Cloves

Procedure:

To make this, I used the basic procedure for any stew: throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and hope for the best. I browned the chicken with the onions and celery in a separate pan, and roasted a red pepper on a burner, but other than that, everything just went in the pot and simmered for about an hour and a half.

Resulting Deliciousness:

I give this about a B-. It was definitely tasty, and healthy, and the flavors were decently layered and went together well. However, I was a little disappointed with the combination of textures. It would have been better to cut the potatoes and cauliflower smaller. If I was less lazy, it would have been really good to steam the cauliflower separately, put it in a blender with some butter or olive oil, then add it to the stew. That would have smoothed things out and thickened the broth nicely. Also, I burnt it a little. I noticed quick and didn't stir up the burnt stuff on the bottom, so it wasn't ruined and most people couldn't tell. All in all, it was good, and gave me some good ideas, but fell a little short of the bar I set for myself.