Gluten-Free People

This time of year my favorite pie to bake (and eat)  is a crumb-topped apple pie, so I have put together a delicious gluten-free version:

I prefer to use a glass deep dish pie plate for my pies, but you can use whatever kind you like.  If you are using a dark metal, it will tend to burn the crust before the filling is cooked.

Crust:

1 cup butter

1 cup almond flour

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup tapioca starch

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix the butter and the flours and starches together.  Beat in the eggs and add the water, sugar and cinnamon.  Pat it into the pie plate and chill well in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Filling:

3 pounds of granny smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced.

1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

(you will want to adjust the sugar and cinnamon to taste.  I often add more.)

Peel, core and slice the apples.  Mix in the sugar and cinnamon, then adjust according to your taste.  If the apples are particularly juicy you will want to add 2 tablespoons corn, potato or tapioca starch to the mixture. 

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup almond flour

1/2 cup cold butter

Cut the three ingredients together with a pastry cutter or two knifes, or use the food processor by doing it in very short 1-2 second bursts until the mixture is crumbly and resembles small peas.  DO NOT over mix or use your hands.  The butter will melt and ruin the topping.

Remove chilled crust from the refrigerator and fill it with the apples.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  Top should be nicely browned and apples will be slightly firm.

Enjoy!

My achilis heal.  And now my nemisis. 

In a moment of weakness, one I can confidently say won’t be repeated, I gave in and ate not one, but two everything bagels with cream cheese.  What can I say in defense of my momentary lapse of reason?  I am an New York Jew afterall.  Isn’t it in my blood?  And to add insult to injury I ate crepes later in the day.  But my gut, my nerves and my joints are paying for what my tastebuds could not resist yesterday and I have learned a valuable lesson; no food out there tastes good enough to put myself through this again.  Not even bagels.

So now I am in working on developing the perfect bagel recipe.  I want them dense on the inside with a chewy outside, just like their glutenous counter parts.  I will post the recipe as soon as I am met with success.

Prior to my momentary lapse of reason, I did convert my mother’s macaroni and cheese recipe successfully into a gluten free recipe that no one can tell is gluten free.  In doing this I discovered, rather happily I must say, that a rue can successfully be made from butter and potato flour (not starch).  It acts just like its glutenous counter part when mixed with butter, including browning and developing a fine flavor of its own.  When milk is added to make the white sauce, it thickens just as it should.  This opens a lot more creative doors for me.

So, here is my mom’s yummy macaroni and cheese recipe and my favorite comfort food.  Feel free to play with the types of cheese and additions you might like. 

Ingredients:

1 10 ounce package Glutino gluten free elbow macaroni (or another brand of your choice)

3 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons potato flour

2 cups milk (real milk works best, but you can substitute any other kind you like)

2 1/2 cups grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar, but you can use any harder cheeses you like)

Directions:

Cook the pasta until al dente.  Rinse, drain and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, make a rue by melting the butter over medium heat, then mixing the potato flour in.  Allow it to cook for about a minute while stirring it.  Don’t let it burn.

Using a whisk, stir the milk into the rue and cook until it is thickened (for me this happened instantly, so I cooked it for another 2 minutes before adding the cheese).  Stir the cheese in and continue to stir until it has melted completely. 

Mix the macaroni into the cheese sauce and pour it into a greased (I like to grease mine with butter) baking pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Since first publishing this recipe I have modified it and made it even better! -

Wow!  It didn’t take long for me to convert this recipe.  I expected this to take a little work, but it came out perfect the first time. 

Usually I won’t use recipes that require mixes, but the recipe the restaurant uses has a mix as a componant and I wanted this to taste like the original, so I found a gluten-free product to replace their mix.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do (and all of the customers at our gluten-free cafe).

Ingredients

• 1 16 ounce bag of frozen sweet corn (don’t get the cheap stuff) divided in two equal portions, mostly defrosted
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 8 ounce container sour cream or plain unsweetened yogurt
• 1 stick butter, melted and cooled
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup sugar or maple syrup – optional
• 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Corn Bread Mix

 Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Place 1/2 of the corn in either a blender or a food processor along with the cream and sour cream.  Blend or process until the corn is pureed well.

Pour into a bowl and add the butter, eggs and sugar (optional) and mix well.  Add the cornbread mix and stir until just mixed.

Pour into a greased (with unsalted butter) 3-qt. baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until the top is well browned and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

So I took my first trip to a major grocery store as a non-gluten eater and decided to spend some time wandering the isles and really taking in what living without gluten means.  When you look, I mean really look, it is amazing how many products contain gluten.  Then you have the products that don’t contain gluten, but are made in the same facility as glutenous products, so they can’t be labeled gluten-free.  By the time you are done, 95% of the store is off limits.  Even as a cook, it’s a major reality adjustment.

The day after my trip to the store I decided to go out for lunch with my husband.  I don’t generally consume alcohol, but once in a while I like a cold beer (about once every year or so), so I ordered one and as soon as the words came out of my mouth I realized I couldn’t have beer.  It’s made with barley and wheat and not gluten-free.  Oh dear, even harder than I thought.  But I can live without beer.

Then tonight my husband and I went to our favorite BBQ restaurant in Safety Harbor, FL called “Brady’s Backyard BBQ”.  These guys make seriously incredible ribs.  There’s no smoke line because they are smoked all the way through.  Just the best ribs ever!  So we place our usual standing order of a rack with two sides of corn bread pudding and again I realize yet something else I have to give up, only I eat this stuff a lot because it tastes so incredible.  My husband, being the caring and considerate man he is, changes his corn bread order to green beans and spares me the pain of watching him eat the corn bread pudding while I drool on myself.  This side dish is so incredible that even though it causes physical pain to eat gluten, I actually considered doing it anyway. 

Unbelievably delicious! This will be my first conversion.

The purpose of this blog is to help people with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance enjoy what they eat.  If you don’t know what gluten is, it is a mix of two proteins which is found in some grass-related grains including wheat, barley and rye. 

As a self-taught chef with 20 years experience, my goal is to take all of those comfort foods and favorite recipes and convert them to gluten-free recipes.  But not just any gluten-free recipes, recipes that would make your grandmother proud. 

For now recipes will be in writing.  But as soon as I can find a place to start shooting there will be a weekly program which will air here and on youtube.  And I’m not just taking my favorite recipes and converting them so we can all enjoy them, I’m converting YOUR favorites, too.  So start sending me your glutenous recipes and let me make them over into something that can make even a gluten eater’s mouth water!