Gluten-free Gourmand

I may have found a new favorite dish.  My cooking partner and I were looking at the photos from the Coq au Vin shoot and we both decided to make this dish again for dinner tonight.  We were going to do a roasted chicken, but somehow that didn't seem adequate after seeing these photos.  If you are looking for a creative new dish for a holiday meal that doesn't involve roasting a turkey but will still impress, this is the dish for you.  You can serve this Coq au Vin with any number of sides: rice, pasta, or bread, or as pictured with baked potato and braised greens.  Tonight I may make it with a bread stuffing . Coq au Vin is a delicious traditional French recipe that is easy to make gluten free.  It's basically a chicken stew with a wine-based gravy.  In this recipe I have thickened the gravy with quite a bit of gluten-free flour to make a nice, glossy sauce.  I use my No.1 All-Purpose Flour , which is excellent for making any kind of gravy, in p...

Portland has been unusually dry this summer.  For weeks I've been dreading the day the beautiful weather would end.  It's been one of those eternal summers that makes me feel like warm, beautiful weather would be my privilege forever.  Now I see that tomorrow it's going to rain, and I'm surprisingly happy about it.  Endless summer takes its toll: the ground is dry and hard, there have been wild fires all over the state, and the air is thick with smoky haze.  It's time for this state and this city to get renewed.  The coming week of rain will be like a spa vacation for Oregon. Today was probably my last big harvest day at my garden.  I finally had to rip up the last of the sunflowers and the squash plant that kept on giving like it would never die.  I picked some carrots, and the ones left behind will be happy about the rain when it comes.  I still have lots of tomatoes on the vine, and I picked those that looked full-size.  I have...

This is a recipe inspired by my garden.  In the late summer, I often have an excess of tomatoes.  I created this recipe to make use of them, and it turned out better than I imagined.  All the flavors compete with each other to make a beautiful late summer meal with a Spanish influence. Ingredients: Olive oil 1 whole chicken, cut in 8 pieces 1/2 onion 10 oz. GF beer 1-2 lbs tomatoes 1 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp pepper salt to taste 1/2 Valencia orange, cut in wedges fresh basil to taste pitted black olives and juice Recipe: In a dutch oven or large non-aluminum pot, brown the chicken pieces on each side in olive oil.  Remove the chicken and set aside.  Brown the onions and remove them.  Add the beer to the pot and scrape up the brownings with a wooden spoon.  Reduce the beer to the desired thickness for the sauce. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Add the tomatoes, orange, salt, pepper, basil, olives with juice and cumin to t...