Tempura Pancakes

There are some things that can make you very excited when you have a wheat allergy.

Like The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen by Laura B. Russell.  It came out in August.

But doesn't all Asian food stay away from wheat?

No.  Wheat is usually an ingredient in soy sauce and although there is evidence that naturally-brewed soy sauce has no gluten by the time it reaches the end product (a lot of times, fermentation de-natures proteins like gluten), it may still depend on the brand of soy sauce. And when you know soy sauce may cause you problems, that makes a take-out Asian kitchen a pretty scary place.

I've had Chinese food three times since going wheat-free.  Once, they did not pay attention to my "no soy sauce" instruction on some take out (it was a place mid-way between my own home and where I eventually brought the food) and I had an allergic reaction either from that or something else (it was early on in this process).  Another time (the same place) they did listen to my order, and I either had an allergy attack or a panic attack of minor symptoms.  The last time, it was from a place in Wheeling, Illinois (halfway between my work and my home) called the Golden Chef where the wife of the chef is actually a nutritionist so they are pretty "up" on their stuff about food, and they actually have a gluten-free menu.  That experience was great.

It's not just the obvious "don't use soy sauce when making my dish".  Everything is fried in oil that is also used for wheat products, a lot of other sauces use wheat or soy sauce in some form, and a lot of places will have meats marinating in some form of soy-sauce-based marinade before it even makes it to a wok.  Too many possibilities for error for a lot of people to be comfortable with.

I was very, very excited when I heard this book was coming out.  And it has a picture of pot stickers on the cover.  Pot stickers are one of those things that I miss the most.

I do still cook Asian food in my own home.  A basic stir-fry with tamari (wheat-free soy sauce) is not hard to do.  Serve over plain steamed rice.  Ho hum.

This book has a few sections - Sauces, snacks, dumplings and pancakes, noodles, rice, veggies & tofu, seafood, poultry, meat, and drinks & sweets.  I made it as far as the pancakes before I was already changing around menu plans for the week to try the Shrimp Tempura Pancakes.

I love tempura.  But I will be the first to admit, it is a lot of work.  Gotta bring a few inches of oil to a boil, a lot of cleaning/chopping veg, dip, fry, drip, fry, and so on.

But apparently Thai people do it differently and treat it a bit more like a fritter.  In other words... mix up a batter, dump in your ingredients, and cook it more like pancakes.  I'm all for that.

The recipe in the book (yeah... you're going to have to buy it if you want it, sorry!) uses just shrimp and shredded sweet potato.  One of my favorites in tempura is broccoli, so I added about a half a head (and a leftover half stalk) of chopped broccoli in addition to some shrimp and the shredded sweet potato.  I did my shredding in a my Cuisinart - by all means, buy a bag of broccoli slaw if you are too lazy to grate all that and don't have a machine that does it for you.  Shredded carrot would also work well.

The batter is just rice flour, cornstarch, egg and soda water.  You mix that with the chopped shrimp and veggies.  I cooked mine in a skillet with a layer of oil at the bottom (I probably could have even used less oil than I did).  Flip carefully when they are golden on one side and continue to cook.  I served mine with some soy/rice vinegar/Sriracha dipping sauce.  And the only reason I stopped eating was to upload the photos and write this (one more pancake may disappear before the leftovers make it into the fridge).

That is shrimp, sweet potato, broccoli and green onion all in a tasty little cake.  And it is very, very tasty.

And also... being gluten-free... I do not feel bad eating something that is fried in my own home.  Fried food at most places (even french fries) is a no-no since they also cook wheat things in the same oil. I can't decide I want some french fries and pull into the nearest drive-thru.  I can't go "I feel like a doughnut this morning" and stop and pick one up. If I want something fried, I have to plan ahead an usually make it myself.

Next recipe for my to try in this book is the salt & pepper squid.  It has been one of those things I always wanted to try.... and now if I want to try it, I'll have to make it myself.  It may even get cooked for some "first afternoon of watching football" munchies this weekend.

Happy Gluten-Free-versary To Me

One year.

One year without (knowingly) having gluten.

And I expect those vegan-like superpowers (Scott Pilgrim!) to kick in any day now.  Aaaaaaany day now.

Last year was the last time I had homemade no-knead bread and cheese ravioli as my "last meal".

In a year, I have not ONCE eaten anything from a McDonald's, Burger King, Culvers, Taco Bell, White Castle, Panera Bread, Subway, KFC, Popeye's Chicken.  No gyros (the meat involves breadcrumbs).  No fast food fries (except Five Guys) since they are usually cooked in the same oil as wheat products.  For the first time in my life I've had to send food back to the kitchen uneaten because there was bread or pasta in there somewhere.  And as much as I tried to deny my problems were "just wheat" and not gluten, I've also figured out the problem IS gluten and I can only drink totally gluten-free beers.  No paczki were had by me this year.

For some people, yes, it is fad.  But no one does it 24-7 on a whim.  Trust me.

I still have to ask my mother in law to cook the stuffing outside the turkey this year.  I would guess for awhile still, I will dread a lot of parties and gatherings (outside the family) that have to do with food, because it means I have to bring my own (usually).  I'll continue to bow out of some work events and gatherings because there just won't be a single thing I can eat there.  I will continue to live in mortal fear of the shared kitchen area at work on mornings where someone brings in bagels (seriously... engineers are NOT a tidy lot and the breadcrumbs get EVERYWHERE).

But I have learned other things.  Good things.

I can now (thanks to a rice cooker) cook rice and make an awesome risotto.  I can make a gluten-free pie crust.  In home cooking, I can sub for most gluten-ingredients and stay happy.

It has very much been a love/hate year with food.  I'm trying to lean more back towards love.  And it will continue to be difficult, but hopefully, I'll come around.

Oldie but a Goodie.... Sunday Gravy.

That is a happy plate.

It's always happy plates when it is Sunday Gravy night.

I originally used a recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and since the first time I have probably gotten more lazy and just do this on the fly.  It always works.

Buy a package of bone-in country style pork ribs.  By some beef that looks good/is priced right (a small chuck roast, beef shanks, flank steak - whatever looks good at the market and is priced right.  Tonight, I used beef shanks 'cause they were on sale today).  Buy a package of good Italian sausage, and a couple bottles of your favorite spaghetti sauce.

Then look in your fridge.  Have mushrooms you need to use up?  Slice up those. Zucchini?  Also a good addition.

Yes, it is going to better if you brown up your meat (but if you are really lazy, you don't have to).  You can then dump all the meat and the sauce into the cooking vessel of your choice - either a slow cooker and let it simmer all day, or in a big oven-proof pot that you will bring up to a simmer and then put into a 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

At that time, you need to fish out all the meat, degrease the top of the sauce, and then shred up the meat (slice the sausage).  Then dump it back into the sauce.

The hubby like Pappardelle with his.  For me, I did some risotto in the slow cooker.  I'd rather have risotto than most gluten-free pastas, and I can have that going in a rice cooker on the countertop so I'm not juggling stovetop space.

And even if it burns a little on the bottom of your pot, it's all good.

And it makes enough to feed an army.  A good dish if you're having a bunch of hungry people over (We always have tons of leftovers).

When life hands you something unexpected.... pickle something.

So.  Pickle Party.

(No... not that kind of pickle party.  Get yer mind outta the gutter.)

And event of people pickling thing.  Because pickles are good.

Myself, I like "quick pickles".  Things that are not intended to go into jars and storage (I plan to overcome my fear - thank you, Chuck Jones cartoons for making me forever afraid of things like pressure cookers and canning) but you make and you consume quickly.

I did not come from a family where we pickled things.  I was a child of the 80's who grew up in suburban Chicago, and my grandmothers were more than happy to prove that they were more well off than their foremothers and they didn't have to pickle things... they could go to the grocery store and buy the stuff in cans that someone else prepared.  So my parents didn't really know how to pickle anything.  So I never really learned how to pickle or jar anything.

But I do like a quick pickle.  Something that you douse with vinegar and eat while it's still fairly fresh.

I'd planned to touch on some of my top favorites... marinated carrots, pickled cherries to serve with duck, quick pickled red onions for tacos, and Asian cucumber salad.  But then life happened.

I'd planned to do my shopping for that stuff on Sunday.  But late-ish on Saturday night we got a call that my father in law was being admitted to the ER - he wasn't sure if he was having chest pains or just heartburn, and then he started having trouble trying to stand and other things.  We high-tailed it over to the ER.

Thankfully, by the time we got there, they were already 99% sure it was just dehydration and they were pumping him with fluids.  Sure enough, he started to get better fairly quickly.  But he is over 60 and diabetic and when you are that, they are keeping you in the hospital overnight.  We all stuck around until after midnight when they assigned him a room and gave him some meds that were starting to make him sleepy.  We came home.  And of course, needed to chill a bit before heading to bed.

So that shopping planned for Sunday didn't happen.

Father in law is home, has had more test run and while they did find some minor things, there are no big issues, no issues with his heart, and life has resumed a somewhat normal pace.

So at least you get marinated carrots.

I basically use this recipe.  I made it way back when the magazine issue it was in first came out, to bring to a summer party, so the recipe always reminds me of summer (although with the ingredients, you can really make it any time of the year since carrots are pretty much always in season).  I usually bump up the vinegar and ALWAYS use red wine vinegar.  And "up to two days"?  I think it tastes the best after 2 days (and it usually doesn't last much longer than that - munching on this sure beats munching on bagged baby carrots). 

Tonight it got paired with some leftover baked beans and a BLT (I've learned to not toast my gluten-free bread for sandwiches, it tends to make it way too sandpaper-like on the roof of my mouth).

Nothing super fancy and no jars for my cupboard, but for something this easy, you can make it any time you want.

'Tis the season.....

... for ice cream.

Is there anyone who doesn't love ice cream on a hot summer day?

When I was a kid, it was the extra after-dinner treat to hop on the bike and ride to the nearby Baskin Robbins and get a cone, and then try to eat it before it all melted on you.

And there was always only one flavor for me... Chocolate Peanut Butter.  It don't get much better than chocolate ice cream with a ripple of peanut butter that runs thru it.

I did a recent freezer purge.  And of course, one of my first thoughts is "I can buy some ice cream 'cause I'll have someplace to put it!" 

But the amount of times I've reacted to things lately... every major brand of ice cream has some flavor that involves malt or has some type of cone, cake or brownie hunks in it.  My rule of thumb is to not by products that look like they are made on the same lines as anything else that contains wheat.  That leaves me with no choices when it comes to ice cream.

Hey, idiot, what about the TWO ice cream inserts you never remember to put in the freezer?

Oh yeah, those.

But even with the ice cream maker AND extra insert, actually making ice cream involves bowls and pans and measuring cups, etc., etc., etc. 

Or not.

After I flubbed my first batch of plain vanilla ice cream, I was on the web and stumbled upon recipe that don't require an ice cream maker.  But you have one, you just said so!  The whole reason I had a flubbed batch of ice cream was because I did not let my insert get cool enough, so my mixture never turned into ice cream in the freezer.  And it did happen to be an all-cream mixture, and I read that I could just whip that up to stiff peaks in the mixer, I could then just throw that in the freezer and in a longer wait than the ice cream maker (but no need for an ice cream maker) I would have ice cream.

And it worked.  Oh yeah.

A bit stiff, but still good.

For my next batch, I did actually let the insert properly freeze.  And I wanted my chocolate and peanut butter fix.  And I found some recipes that further simplified the ice cream making process... 2 main ingredients.  1 can of sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups of cream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 can sweetened condensed milk
6-7 oz melted dark or semi-sweet chocolate, slightly cooled (I like it very very choco-tastic)
1/2 cup melted peanut butter, slightly cooled

1. Beat the cream to soft peaks.
2. Add the condensed milk and cooled chocolate.  Mix to combine. 
3. If you are not using an ice cream maker, beat that stuff until it is stiff peaks, then place some in your freezing container and then add a layer of peanut butter, then more ice cream, then the peanut butter, etc.  When all the cream is in there, stick a knife in the container to give it all a few swirls. Freeze for 8 to 12 hours.
4. If you are using an ice cream maker, beat it to soft peaks and add that mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions for making ice cream.  When it is a nice soft ice cream, some in your freezing container and then add a layer of peanut butter, then more ice cream, then the peanut butter, etc. When all the cream is in there, stick a knife in the container to give it all a few swirls.  Freeze for 4-6 hours.

Little Miss Cross-Contamination Detector (And when "gluten-free" ain't so gluten-free)

It's a picture of me!  Little Miss Cross-Contamination Detector!  Complete with a typical hive breakout after I have ingested gluten!

Probably the most frustraiting thing about being gluten-free for medical reasons is having to find out, the hard way, when things are not really gluten-free.

In the past few weeks I've had allergic reactions (and as you can see by the picture, this means a fun breakout of hives all over) to canned beans, pine nuts, rice, and "gluten-free" soup.  All things that should be fine, but were not.

Cross-contamination.

It doesn't take much to impact someone who is sensative to those items.  We've all heard stories on the news about some people's reactions to peanut allergies that sadly, result in death.  It's not typical for celiacs or adult-onset wheat allergy folks like myself to have a reaction that drastic, but once you start saying the word "allergy" some people can get really scared about serving you anything.  Before our last trip to Vegas I was researching food options and I contacted one place that was on our bucket list for Vegas, Hot 'N' Juicy Crawfish.  I just wanted to know if they had any soy sauce or wheat in their seasoning and I gave a list of usual things that might cause a problem.  The email response I got?  "Maybe you better not eat here."

Thankfully I found the Las Vegas celiac group and someone there confirmed that really, the place was fine for anyone with problems with wheat.  And we did eat there, and I had no problems afterwards.

But a couple of weeks ago I met a friend for lunch and I ordered two things off their "gluten-free" menu - soup and a salad.  And when I ordered I did also mention I had a wheat allergy and asked if they could ask the kitchen staff to be careful.  I got my salad and started picking it apart, and promptly found a piece of pasta in the salad (they place has small tube pasta in some of their salads).  I brought it back to the servers, they apoligized, and then they brought me a fresh salad.  But I still ended up getting sick, and since then I've not been able to get a response from them if they use a dedicated pot for their "gluten-free" soup - I suspect they do not, and that was enough cross-contamination to have me in misery for a couple of days.

I understand the risks in eating out.  There are places that are usually fine - a bunless burger from Five Guys when you ask them to please put on new gloves before handling your burger, salads from Wendy's (all their croutons are in packages), my local Jimmy Johns will make me a sandwich on a clean surface and take all meats/cheeses from the bottom of the stack of meats so they aren't covered with crumbs.  I can eat at our local taco place if I get a tostada (whenever I go they are also usually heating bread for tortas on their flat-top grill which means even corn tortillas are out, and their toastadas are fried offsite by the tortilla makers in oil used only for tortilla chips and toastadas) and one of the meat options that is also not heated up on the grilltop.

Cross-contamination can also come early in the process... in the processing of raw ingredients.  That canister of cornmeal you have in the cabinet?  Guess what, it's not gluten-free.  They also process wheat flour, and it is enough to contaminate the cornmeal. I've pretty much given up on dried lentils since the ones I find always, ALWAYS, also have a grain of wheat in the bag.  One time I didn't look before I added them to a chili, and then a wheat grain bobbed to the surface.  I had to throw out 10 pounds of chili.

And a lot of places now will have a "No Gluten Ingredients Used" disclaimer on their product.  Which is NOT the same as gluten-free.  You can use the cornmeal from the example above - cornmeal on its own does not contain gluten - but if it is already cross-contaminated, you're going to have problems.  And I've come to learn that tricky statement usually always means it really does contain enough trace gluten to cause problems.

All that said... gluten-free is still not something to be totally scared of.  I do not maintain a wheat-free kitchen, or household.  I will cook and serve regular pasta to my husband, I keep fluffy white wheat bread on hand so he can have sandwiches and toast (I did have to give up the toaster to his wheat toast and if I want toast, it's broiler city for me), he'll eat fast food sandwiches.  If I have a sauce for the pasta, I'll put some aside so my hubby can serve himself from that dish (he's a smoosher of pasta sauce into his pasta and he always forgets and uses the spoon he's using to serve himself and then flops it right back into the container without thinking).  I try to keep a side of the sink clean so if he's had bread or pasta he can put his dishes right in there and they will be scrubbed before they go into the dishwasher.  If wheat bread was used in any form, the counters get wiped down when I am cleaning the kitchen.  There is no "X second rule" in our house - if it touches the ground, it goes in the garbage.  And I haven't had a problem in MONTHS from anything within my house (well, that wasn't a contaminated ingredient).

It's not that hard to at least make a good-effort to do gluten-free when you're not in a gluten-free environment.  It just takes some work.

Pie Party - Gluten-Free Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Anyone who has been on a diet misses pie.

And when the word "diet" no longer means "what I am doing temporarily to drop a few pounds" and it means "the dietary restrictions that I have to follow and can't 'cheat' on for the rest of my life", it may seem like you'll never be able to have a pie again.

Yes, I get irrationally (or maybe rationally) angry about all the talk of "The Gluten-Free Diet" as the next big weight loss diet.  It is not a weight loss diet.  It is dietary restrictions that you need to follow, and those things are very, very different.  A few break crumbs WILL make me sick.  (And as I often say, you never hear of anyone offering someone with a peanut allergy a scoop of peanut butter asking them to cheat a little, but it happens ALL the time when you say you're allergic to wheat).

It's been 10 months since I learned I can't have anything wheat.  And that includes pie.

I tried last Christmas to be normal and at least make some cookies and things to try and feel normal.  It was a horrible failure.

I bought the Culinary Institute of America's Gluten-Free Baking book, and I had a couple of successes and a couple of failures (I blame silicone pans).

Then I finally ran across Gluten-Free Girl and all the talk of ratios and how it plays into using non-wheat flours.

Well, duh. Of course.

Thank you, Shauna.  I can at least bake something again.

It makes so much sense, when you actually think about it.  The reason why white wheat flour works like it does is a magic ratio of elements.  And the 70/30 ratio of whole grain to starch.  My mix was brown rice flour and potato starch (I had both on hand in amounts needed to make the blend).

For the actual pie recipe, I was thinking of actually attempting a rolled dough.  But I still have yet to replace my rolling pin (used on flour items before, and gluten hides in wood) and really, I know the reality of any time I try to roll out ANYTHING.  It end up shaped more like Texas than a circle.

Well, you have the ratio and weights and a kitchen scale, dummy, why not just try it on your favorite crust recipe??

Again... duh.

My favorite pie crust recipe is actually a pressed (not rolled) tart crust recipe from an older version of the Fanny Farmer cookbook.  It is the recipe my mother has used for years to make pecan pie, and it was the recipe I used when I moved out and started making pies on my own.  When I decided to buy my own copy of the cookbook I sadly learned it was not the same in current editions of the cookbook (the first copy I bought went to my mother-in-law, and I thankfully found a used copy that was the edition I needed).

I've also adapted the recipe to make more dough, since I always seemed to be a little short on dough.

I know my recipe calls for a cup and a half of wheat flour, which translates to 210 g of flour.  Measured that out from my flour mix.

Threw that into the Cuisinart, and pulsed a few times to mix up the flour.

Then comes 9 T of cold butter.

After I pulsed that for about 30 seconds, I added 2 egg yolks and pulsed for about another 30 seconds.

Kinda looks like panko, doesn't it?

At that point, I started to add ice water until it all started to come together and look like a dough.

After it looks like a dough, you can flop the stuff right into your pie pan, no rolling needed, and press it into shape.

Since I was making this and adding cooked fillings, I docked the bottom of the crust.  Then I threw it in the fridge to chill for an hour.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the "just crust".  Although it took a little longer than the original recipe says, it looked like crust.  It smelled like crust.  It didn't crumble into pieces (and when I broke off a small piece just to taste, it tasted kinda like crust).

From there, it was time to work on the fillings.

What... everyone doesn't work off recipe notes on bright pink Post-It notes in their kitchen??  Well, since most of my recipes are digital. this is how I tend to work. 

Once I got the Black Bottom filling done, I sliced in two ripe bananas

When done, topped with the other filling, then put plastic wrap on top of it and put it in the fridge to chill.

Several hours later, I cut out a slice and topped it with whipped cream.

For the first time in over ten months, I've eaten a slice of pie.

And it was good.

Crust might be a little gritty.  My big issue with no-wheat flours is they all tend to be a little more gritty than soft wheat flour... don't know if more resting time for the dough would have helped that, but I do plan on trying that.

Gluten-Free Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Flour mix - 70% brown rice flour, 30% potato starch

Crust:
210 g flour mix
9 T butter
2 egg yolks
2-4 T cold water

Bake at 425 for 12-18 min  (original recipe called for 12 minutes, I cooked it for 18)

Filling:
1 T cornstarch
2 T sugar
2 T cocoa powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup milk
1 oz semi-sweet chocolate
-------
2 ripe bananas, sliced
-------
2 T cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 oz cream cheese, room temperature
-------
whipped cream

1. Mix the first five ingredients together and pour into a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  Add the semi-sweet chocolate and mix until melted.  Pour into prepared crust.
2. Top chocolate mixture with sliced bananas.
3. Mix the cornstarch through milk together, and same as above, pour into a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens.  Add 1/3 of the mixture to your cream cheese and beat together, then combine the two mixtures.  Pour on top of bananas.
4. Cover the pie with cling wrap and chill.  Top with whipped cream before serving.