Gluten-free Gourmand

For this week's What Can I eat that's Gluten-free? I've hybridized two of my classic recipes: Forbidden Rice with Chicken and Roasted Vegetables . What you do is follow the recipe for the roasted vegetables but add the chicken to your baking sheet or cast-iron skillet. If you add some cherry tomatoes, too, they make a great sauce with all the other drippings. Cook the black rice as described in my post on Forbidden Rice and serve them together for an elegant, delicious, and simple plate. The rice takes about as long as the chicken and vegetables, so it's really easy! Come join us for the What Can I Eat that's Gluten-free? blog carnival over at the Gluten-free Homemaker.

Called forbidden because it was reserved for the exclusive use of emperors, this Chinese black rice is high in iron, fiber, and other nutrients. Its color turns a deep purple when cooked and the grain holds its form very nicely even when cooked too long. This rice also adds some glamor to an otherwise simple meal. The ingredients of this meal are purposely few in number. This is a dish suitable for a food elimination diet or a simple, nutritious bet elegant family meal. This economical meal is convenient to make because the rice and the chicken each take approximately thirty minutes, so if you start them together they are ready together. Ingredients: Four legs chicken 1 1/2 cup water 1 cup Forbidden Rice vegetable of choice olive oil salt Broiled Chicken: Rinse your chicken legs and pat dry. Rub with olive oil and salt. If you would like to use additional seasonings, apply them after cooking or they will burn. Place the chicken skin-side down on a roasting pan. Set in th...

Last month I wrote a post about basic gluten-free flours : their properties, their uses, their virtues, and their downsides. Here is the promised extension to that original post, which hopes to shed some light on some other more specialized GF grains. Amaranth flour (also known as Inca wheat or quihuicha): This flour behaves quite a bit like sorghum flour, and has a lot of flavor. It is a grain high in protein and very nutritious. A dough made with amaranth is very delicate, wet, and tricky to handle. I only use a small portion of this flour in my all-purpose mixes for the flavor it adds. Buckwheat flour : a close relation to rhubarb, this grain is in no way related to the wheat family. It is a very dark flour with a strong, distinctive and pleasant nutty flavor. The flour has a very fine grit, and can be used in making whole-grain products. It does not behave well on its own, producing very dry and brittle product unless it is mixed with other flours. I usually recommend s...