Gluten-free Gourmand

I love Mexican food.  I've been to Mexico so many times it's hard to count.  One of my favorite Mexican dishes is the Chile Relleno, or stuffed chile, but now when I go to restaurants I usually can't have it.  Even though it's mostly chile, egg, and cheese, it's usually not made gluten-free.  A little bit of flour is used in the egg batter to hold it together. I'm having my sister and her family over for Cinco de Mayo, and this hand-down her favorite Mexican dish.  She and her family are vegetarian, and this dish is one of the few Mexican dishes that is both satisfying and meatless.  I decided to wow her with my new chile relleno recipe that I've adapted to be gluten free.  I'm hoping it's just like the traditional chile relleno we used to have in Mexico. Recipe for Gluten-free Chile Relleno This recipe makes 2-3 chiles rellenos.  Double, or triple it as necessary for more servings.  The recipe makes plenty of sauce and batter for two...

To my faithful readers who have been patient with me, I'll finally explain why I took a long break from blogging. My grandfather recently died and my life has been in a bit of a frenzy with work, love, family, and a funeral. In memory of my grandfather, who loved this tomato sauce recipe so much, I am going to share with you my version of my grandmother's spaghetti sauce. My grandmother usually used a mixture of stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato puree from a can to make this. However, I have multitudes of fresh tomatoes from my garden to use for this. I have adapted the recipe to call for fresh tomatoes, which was probably the origin of the recipe anyway. You can use a food mill (pictured right) or tomatoes concasse as explained in my gazpacho recipe to make this. For ideal texture, use both. I chose to essentially juice my tomatoes this time, since most of my harvest was made up of small tomatoes which don't produce much flesh after skinning and de-...

Today was one of those glorious days. I woke up to sun and a blue sky, but when I stepped out to go to the farmer's market the sky turned black. It dumped rain for hours. I never made it to the farmer's market. Around 3:30 the rain came with renewed vigor. The sky was again dark as though the sun were going down. Then, all of a sudden, it was sunny and warm. I made pesto. I started taking out my garden once it warmed up today. My basil had never done as well as I wished, but there was enough of it today to make one last batch of my favorite sauce. I never measure anything for this recipe, but if it's your first time making it, or you just like measuring things, you can start with this recipe: 2 C fresh basil from your garden 1/3 C pine nuts or walnuts 1 clove garlic 1/4 C grated Parmesan (if you can't do dairy, I've subbed pancetta to get that full flavor, or a little bit of dry gluten-free bread for texture) 1/3 C extra-virgin olive oil 1/4-1/2 tsp ...

I'm going to classify my Eggplant Parmesan (Eggplant Parmigiano) Recipe as kind of traditional and sort of easy. Here are the ways that I make this fairly labor-intensive dish easier: 1) I don't salt or otherwise prep the eggplant in any way. I just buy a fresh, firm-fleshed one and slice it just before battering. 2) I don't use bread crumbs; I just use flour. I was surprised to learn that this is how Italians do it. 3) I use jarred tomato sauce. Classico is my favorite. If I have frozen leftovers, I use some of my own marinara sauce. 4) I don't mix anything for the cheese filling. I just use mozzerella, usually fresh. My former roommate who is from Naples made this for me once, and her boyfriend at the time (now her husband) also made me a gluten-free version. Both came out rather well. Paolo made his with rice flour, which was very crispy and light. For some reason I've found that gluten-free flour mixes don't work very well for deep-fryin...

Making your own chocolate sauce for dipping or for putting on your ice cream is very simple. It only requires a few ingredients: chocolate, cocoa powder, butter, and cream. Because I don't always like doing things the easy way, however, I'm going to give you a recipe that includes one more ingredient: chiles. As my readers may know by now, I love Mexican food. Chilies with chocolate is one of my favorite combinations from Mexican cuisine. I have made chocolate sauce many times before, but when my cooking partner Alex suggested one time that we make it with chilies I was really excited. The first time we tried it with some roasted ancho chilies. It gave a good flavor, but what we were looking for was a distict bite. To up the ante, the second time we tried it Alex procured some ghost chilies, supposedly the spiciest chile in the world. They looked like dried habaneros. Pick your chile by how you want the end result to come out, and keep in mind that the chile flavor w...

I had never made my own tempura before creating this recipe.  However, I wasn't afraid to try it gluten-free.  This tempura recipe didn't come out looking like a typical all-over breading, but instead resulted in an ultra-light batter and a surprisingly tasty vegetable dish.   For a vegan version, see this recipe on I Am Gluten Free, which was my inspiration for creating a tempura recipe of my own. Dipping Sauce Recipe: Tempura is usually served with a simple dipping sauce. Combine: equal parts (GF) soy sauce and water a dash of rice vinegar a dash of mirin (optional) a bit of sugar Gluten-free Tempura Recipe: Cut in to pieces 1/4 inch thick: 4-5 assorted vegetables Pat the vegetables dry. Heat in a large skillet: 3/4 inch to 2 inches oil I used mostly olive oil with some sesame oil. You will know that the oil is the right temperature when a little bit of batter dropped in it only sinks halfway to the bottom, then immediately floa...

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...

Now what you have all been waiting for: the recipe for the polenta that I served with the braised rabbit in my previous post. Unlike rabbit, polenta is completely vegan. At its simplest, it's made from just corn meal and water. This recipe uses vegetable stock and onions to give it a savory, hearty flavor. This dish can be served as a main course and topped with a tomato sauce, a white sauce, or cheese. Here I have it as a side dish, and it is tasty enough to be served plain. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan heat: 3 cups vegetable stock In a large skillet, heat on medium low: 2-4 Tbsp olive oil Chop into small pieces, then add to the heated oil: 1/2 onion Sautee the onions for about five minutes, then add the vegetable stock to the skillet. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together until smooth: 2 cups warm water 1 1/2 cup yellow corn meal Slowly add the corn mixture to the stock-and-onion liquid on the stove, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Simmer for 10 minut...

Today I would like to write an ode to the New Cascadia Traditional tart. I have gained five pounds since this gluten-free bakery kiosk opened in NW Portland not far from where I work. Am I complaining? No - I am still overwhelmed and delighted to go somewhere and be able to eat anything they sell. Their tart looks like something out of the case of a french patisserie, and the taste does not dissappoint. It has a buttery tart crust that is similar to the pastry shell of their galette. It is filled with a custard cream and topped with fruit, in this case apricot and blueberry. The fruit is in turn topped with a simple clear glaze typical of french-style tarts. The only variation from a tart you'd buy in Paris is the crust, which does not have the light flakiness that a true french pastry has. The New Cascadia crusts are a bit heavier and have a little bit of a whole-grain feel to them, but still have a buttery rich quality I love. While I have experienced this tart when ...