Tag: gluten-free

Side dishes

Carrot salad

Jenny

carrot salad

During the many years I lived in France, carrot salad was something of a staple. I never actually made it myself, but would pick up a barquette de carottes rapées at the charcuterie on my local market street along with some cold cuts to serve as a weekend lunch that was more about shopping than cooking. The carrot salad was something I liked and enjoyed but never got terribly excited about.

Then one day my friend L brought a homemade carrot salad to a BBQ at a mutual friend’s house. Now, L is an amazing, professionally-trained cook, so I was quite surprised she would bring along something so ordinary. Until I tasted her salad, which was fresh and flavorful and incredibly moreish, with just the slightest kick of spice. Naturally I hounded her for the recipe.

I now make carrot salad very regularly, and not just because the nearest French charcuterie is a Eurostar ride away. It’s a lovely accompaniment to grilled fish or lamb chops, and the recipe can easily be scaled up to feed a crowd. Or to ensure leftovers.

Carrot salad (adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters)

750 g carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon salt

a small pinch of cayenne pepper (more if you like it hot)

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

4 tablespoons of your best olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

Serves about four people.

Peel and grate the carrots – I use the grater disk of my food processor for this but you could also use a box grater or mandolin. If the carrots appear watery I like to drain them in a colander for about 15 minutes, but feel free to skip this step.

Crush the garlic into a bowl and add the salt. Mash together, then add the cayenne pepper, vinegar and olive oil and whisk well.

Toss the dressing with the grated carrots and taste. If it is at all bland or dry, add a pinch of salt or a drizzle of olive oil. Add the chopped coriander leaves and toss just before serving.

Dessert

Raspberry sorbet

Jenny

sorbet

What a difference a few weeks makes.

After one of the coldest, wettest springs on record, London is now having what the papers call a “heatwave” – or what I prefer to think of as some rather nice weather. It has been wonderful to switch into summer eating mode, with light al fresco meals of salads and simple grilled meat and fish.

On a hot summer night I can’t imagine a better way to round off a meal than with a refreshing homemade fruit sorbet. Sweet, tangy raspberry sorbet is my absolute favorite.

Although there are various methods of making sorbet without an ice cream maker, if you are planning on making sorbet regularly it is well worth picking up a basic ice cream maker. In my opinion, sorbet really is one of those foods that are worth the effort to make at home. Homemade sorbet bursts with flavor in a way that store-bought sorbet rarely does. Unless you live in Italy, perhaps…

I’ve had several different ice cream makers over the years and my favorite is this Philips model.

Here’s to summer!

Raspberry sorbet

250 caster sugar

250 ml boiling water

600g fresh raspberries

1 lemon

Makes approximately one liter of sorbet, enough for 4-6 people.

Start by making a sugar syrup: put the caster sugar in a bowl, add the boiling water and stir well until the sugar has dissolved. Put to one side to cool.

Put the berries in a food processor or blender, reserving a few berries for garnish if you like. Add the sugar syrup and blend well.

Place a fine sieve over a bowl and pour the raspberry pulp into the sieve. Strain well, rubbing the pulp through the sieve with a spoon until only the seeds remain in the sieve. Discard the seeds.

Juice and strain the lemon and add to the raspberry puree. Mix well, then chill the mixture in the refrigerator for at least one hour.

Switch on your ice cream machine and pour in the fruit mixture. Churn until the sorbet is firm enough to serve, about 25 minutes.

Serve immediately topped with a few berries or freeze in a plastic container.

Meat and poultry

Sticky oven-baked Asian spare ribs

Jenny

ribs

It’s official – we’ve had the coldest spring in 50 years here in the UK. So we haven’t exactly been firing up the barbecue on a regular basis. In fact, I think we have cooked outside exactly twice this year.

Instead, I’ve been making these oven-baked ribs quite regularly. They are satisfyingly sticky and caramelized, and are a big hit with the younger generation.

I use tamari soy sauce in this recipe, which is a gluten free, darker and more concentrated type of soy sauce. (Regular soy sauce typically contains wheat.) While I am not a fan of soy milk and other soya-based substitution products, I have no issue with soya-based condiments such as tamari sauce or miso, so long as they are well tolerated. Unfortunately some individuals with dairy or gluten intolerance find they are also intolerant to soy. Soy is not allowed on the GAPS diet, but if you are following a gluten free or GFCF diet and are not intolerant to soy, then tamari sauce is most definitely your friend.

Sticky oven-baked Asian spare ribs (adapted from a Bill Granger recipe in Waitrose magazine)

1.5 kg pork spare ribs

200 ml orange juice

60 ml tamari soy sauce

4 tablespoons honey

4 star anise

Serves 4-6

Preheat your oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.

Combine the orange juice, tamari sauce, honey and star anise in a roasting tray and mix well. Add the spare ribs and give it all a good stir before covering with tin foil. Bake for around two hours.

Increase the heat to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Remove the tin foil and cook for another 45 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the ribs are well-browned.

Meat and poultry

Slow-roasted duck legs

Jenny

duck legs

I enjoy making – and eating – a proper French confit de canard. Maybe I’ll even blog about it someday. These slow-roasted duck legs are a sort of faux version. They are lighter than the real thing, but still very rich and satisfying. They are less time-consuming to prepare, though still not exactly fast food. I often make them in winter as a mid-week treat for my family, but I also served some last week on a lovely spring evening with just a fresh green salad on the side.

Whatever you do, make sure to save the vast quantities of rendered fat you will drain off during the cooking. You can use the rendered fat for all kinds of roasting and frying. My favorite use is for roasting chicken – simply rub a tablespoon or two of rendered duck fat all over the bird, sprinkle with sea salt, and be prepared for an amazingly moist roast chicken with fantastically crispy skin.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First try these lovely slow-roasted duck legs.

Slow-roasted duck legs (adapted from Simply Recipes)

1 duck leg per person

sea salt

Take the duck legs out of the refrigerator and arrange in a single layer in a roasting tin. Using a sharp knife, skewer or scissors, pierce the skin of each leg all over, in at least 10-12 places. (This will help the fat to render and will make the skin crispy.) Sprinkle liberally with sea salt. Leave the legs to rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Without preheating the oven, put the roasting tin in the oven. Put the heat on to 150C°/300°F/gas mark 2 and cook for 2 and 1/2 hours. Drain the rendered fat into a bowl every 30 minutes or so.

Then increase the heat to 190C°/375°F/gas mark 5 and cook for another 20 minutes or until the skin is fully crispy.

Serve immediately. Any leftovers are nice shredded and added to a salad. Refrigerate the rendered fat and use within a week to cook vegetables or roast chicken.