food allergies

Strawberry Glace Pie…..Simply Stunning

Okay people, It is at the height of local strawberry season.   This dessert is so lick-your-fingers yummy  that I don’t want you to miss it and have to wait until next May/June to enjoy this strawberry classic.  The local produce store on Main Street here in Hellertown has local berries as does Bechdolt’s Orchard. Or try a farmer’s market for fresh flavorful local berries. If you can make a crust and stir the strawberry goop you can make this.

If you are one of my wheat loving friends; make what ever basic crust you like.  The filling is naturally gluten free.

My mom loves this pie and frankly so does our entire family.  Mom never put the cream cheese on the bottom but I like it as it keeps the crust from getting soggy and adds a delicate counter point to the sweetness of the filling.

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It is not a great summer if you don’t indulge in this dessert at least once!

Angie’s GF Strawberry Glace Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Directions:

Spray 9 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Roll out pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in pie pan, centered.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.  Prick it in a dozen places with a fork to keep it from blowing up bubbles. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 12-15 minutes until the crust is light brown.  Cool at least 30 minutes before filling.

Glaze:

1 cup mashed very ripe strawberries (I sort through the berries and use only the ripest ones for this part.)

2/3-3/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp cornstarch

½ cup water

Mix sugar and cornstarch in 1 qt heavy bottomed sauce pan, stir in water and mashed strawberries.  Cook on medium heat until it boils, stirring constantly.  If it seems too thick, add up to half a cup more water.  It needs to be thin enough to cling to your berries.  Boil and stir one minute.  Let cool at least 20-30 minutes or until close to room temperature.

Filling:

3-4 ounces of light cream cheese, room temperature

4-5 cups fresh strawberries, hulled

Line the bottom of the cooled pie shell with the cream cheese, spread it as evenly as possible. I use ½ an 8 ounce package.  Place berries in a big bowl.  Pour the glaze over top and gently mix.  Pour the goopy berries into the pie shell.  I like to pick the nicest ones for the top of it.

Chill 2-3 hours before serving.  Make some real whipped cream, the fake stuff will not do for this pie; 1 cup heavy cream whipped with an electric mixer or a whisk until soft peaks, I like to chill the bowl and beaters a few minutes as it helps the cream whip faster.  Then add 2-3 tbsp powdered sugar and ½ to 1 tsp. vanilla.  Beat just a bit longer, until nearly stiff peaks.  Slice the pie and top each piece with the whipped cream.  Dive in!  You won’t be disappointed.

Brown Rice Flour Mix– for crust
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Cheese Filled Fried Zucchini Blossoms….Yes Flowers Fried With Cheese!

Zucchini season is here.  The blossoms, at least, are plentiful and I am expecting many zucchini in a few days.  While no squash are ready to pick I was thinking about the blossoms.  I used to make stuffed blossoms with beer batter.  I hadn’t tried to make them GF yet.  Why not tonight.

I looked up my recipe in the Joy of Cooking; the batter recipe that is.  I was surprised to see it said flour or rice flour.  So I said, why not! No need for a fancy flour blend. I used plain white rice flour in my batter.

I usually use Monterey Jack cheese to fill them but in a pinch some extra sharp cheddar made do.  Or whatever cheese floats your boat; can use almost anything that is not too dry or is runny.

There was some GF Redbridge beer chilling in my fridge. So I cracked a beer and whipped up the batter.  It is supposed to sit for 3 hours, I left it go for about one hour.  I drank the rest of the beer with supper! Why not?

No need to deep fry in a quart of oil, I fried mine in a non stick pan with a good coating of light olive oil.  I like to turn them twice; resulting in a sort of three sided fritter. They are best consumed right away the same day they are made, eaten warm with a sprinkle of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice.  My two and a half year old grandson ate one and seemed to enjoy it!  They have a mild squash taste but I think the beer batter is the predominate flavor. My GF version was pretty much identical to the old wheat version and they tasted fantastic! I ate 4 of them and had to restrain myself from any more….

Squash Fritters with Cheese Filling

Ingredients

1 egg

2/3 cup white rice flour

Sprinkle sea salt, a few grinds of fresh pepper

1 ½ tsp light olive oil plus more for frying

3 ounces GF beer; I measure it midway between ½ and 2/3 cup

Approx 1 inch chunk of cheddar cheese cut into small rectangles

¼ a fresh lemon

Separate the egg and put the yolk in a medium bowl, ditto for the white.  Add the oil, salt, pepper and white rice flour to the yolk.  Then add the beer.  Stir well, cover with plastic wrap and let stand an hour or two.  Beat that reserved egg white until fairly stiff. Add to the batter and stir gently but thoroughly. It will loose some loft but don’t over beat; should be thick and rather puffy in texture.

Slit open the side of each squash blossom and break off the pollen stamen.  Insert a 1 inch by ½ inch chunk of cheddar cheese.

Heat a 10 inch non-stick skillet; add about 2 or 3 tbsp light olive oil.  Take 2-3 blossoms and gently roll in the batter making sure the cheese doesn’t fall out.  Lightly lay them in the hot olive oil and fry until golden, turn twice; about 5 or 6 minutes total. Do not keep turning; maximum of two turns.  Lay on a couple paper towels to absorb any excess oil.  Plate, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

They are a lovely appetizer. I made 9 of them; that was how many blossoms I had; the batter should do at least 12 to 15 of them.  Even the bit of stem will taste good so don’t worry if you have ½ inch or so of stem.  The blossoms are best if you pick them yourself that day. I did notice that Lehigh Valley Produce had squash blossoms for sale last week so they are the first place I suggest you look for some if you don’t have access to a few squash plants.  I have even used pumpkin or butternut squash blossoms in the past; they taste fine

Do try them; a real conversation starter, not that hard to make and really delicious.

Pavlova, You Will Be Drooling For Some!

My sister Elaine makes this dessert all the time. It is a specialty of hers. I think it is her go to company dessert when nothing else comes to mind. When she first described it I was not impressed. I wasn’t even looking forward to it at our family dinner party she throws every summer when I come up to visit. So I was surprised when I bit into my slice of it. Clearly this is a case of the results being far more than a simple sum of the ingredients. It is light, sweet, airy, fruity and basically melted in my mouth. I have had it at her house one other time and have made it a few times myself. It is easy to construct and it can be varied in the fruit topping.

The old school classic topping is fresh passion fruit. Elaine mostly serves it with sliced fresh strawberries, perfection! It is decent with blueberries too. I once used a mixture of ripe summer fruits; peach, nectarine, blueberries, mango and kiwi. That was really memorable. Ripe local strawberries would be super tasty too. Go with what is ripe and flavorful when you are shopping for fruit. I used blueberries and strawberries for the Fourth of July but you decide what works for you. No canned fruit though, only fresh will do.

My sister got the recipe from Food network – a 1999 recipe. It is naturally GF so no one will ask where the wheat is! Don’t leave out the red wine vinegar; totally necessary.

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Slice today; sorry it is on a paper plate but it  was luscious!

Pavlova

Ingredients:

1/2 cup egg whites at room temp (about 4-5 eggs)

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2 T light brown sugar packed or white sugar

1 pt. fresh strawberries for top, sliced and 1 cup fresh blueberries

or 3-4 oz fresh raspberries and half a pint of blueberries

or 2 sliced ripe peaches and some raspberries or blueberries

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whip the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in a clean, dry bowl until foamy. Add the granulated sugar, cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla and continue whipping until stiff, smooth and glossy, about 7-8 minutes more.

On a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit a sheet pan, use a pencil to draw or trace a 9 inch circle in diameter. Line the sheet pan with the parchment, pencil side down (you should be able to see the circle). Spoon the egg whites in the circle, using the back of the spoon to smooth the top and sides of the disk. Make it high rather than wide; it will settle after baking. Bake in the center of the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake until the meringue has puffed up and slightly cracked on the top and the surface is highly browned to the color of a latte coffee, about 45 minutes more. Turn off the oven, prop open the oven door, and let it cool in the oven at least 30 minutes, to room temperature. This ensures a gradual cooling, which protects the delicate meringue.

Whip the cream and brown sugar (sometimes I use white sugar) until stiff. spoon it in the center of the cooled pavlova and spread out to within 1/2 inch of the edge, arrange the slices of strawberry in the middle. Sprinkle the blueberries around the edge of the strawberries. To serve, slice into wedges with a serrated knife.

Yeah, I know that was a corny title but I couldn’t resist using it….  So make a pavlova and make everyone happy; it is beautiful to look at and even better to eat. Happy Fourth of July peoples!

Blueberry Smush Delish!

There are times when nothing but ice cream will do.  After a long tiring day and not much in my tummy I ate an omelet for supper.  It was pretty tasty but I had seen this article on ice cream blends in a food magazine at the library and was craving to try one. There were more than a dozen mixtures pictured, all based on vanilla ice cream and fruit and at least one or two other ingredients like a sauce and cookies/nuts.

There was one combination I was sure I had all the ingredients, ice cream, bananas, nutella sauce and cornflakes.  Seemingly simple with clean, clear flavors.  Upon some reflection I decided to replace the banana with some fresh blueberries I had purchased at a farm stand. Bananas seemed too bland and I adore blueberries with ice cream.

I put two small scoops nutella of ice cream in a cereal bowl, about a quarter cup of blueberries, a spoonful of nutella sauce and I dumped the cornflakes over it all.  Maybe ¼ cup of them.  I didn’t measure any of it.  I let the dish stand 2 or 3 minutes to allow the ice cream to soften.  Then using a spoon I blended the goop partially together before diving my spoon deep into it to try and get some of all four ingredients.

OMG, it was freaking crazy tasty.  The nutella sauce which is toasted ground up hazelnuts and chocolate/cocoa was wicked good against the other flavors. The corn flakes gave a nice crunch and the blueberries were bursts of fruity yumminess.  blueberry smush

I would say that this dessert is more than the sum of its parts. I was skeptical about cornflakes in ice cream but they worked well and didn’t get soggy.  The nutella was the star of the dish as far as my taste buds were concerned.  I could barely stop long enough to take this photograph as I suddenly knew I had to share this revelation with you my readers!

Now I need to go back and write down some of those other blends.  One had pureed peaches with bourbon and smoked almonds.  Oh, I think I must try that smushed up treat and soon!

 

Big Bites BBQ in Quakertown is Awesome!

If you are craving some tasty barbecued pork or brisket and can’t decide where to go, head South to Quakertown along Route 309 below the 663 junction.  On the left you will find Big Bites BBQ in a small strip mall.   bigbites I read about it on FaceBook and had to give it a whirl.  I had been feeling the need for all the yummy goodness of BBQ and couldn’t imagine where I would find barbecued meat safe for me to eat.  I didn’t have to look any further; this place is run by a family with three members who have celiac or another wheat allergy.  So they definitely know how to cook and serve GF foods.

You can get regular wheat buns there which are tasty according to my man.  But they order their GF burger buns directly from Udi’s in Colorado to get them as fresh as possible.  All the bbq and the fixings are made gluten free. Safe, safe safe!

On my first visit I ordered a brisket sandwich as well as smoky baked beans, coleslaw and some GF cornbread that came with a small cup of honey butter. It was all delicious. There was a lot of meat in that sandwich and it was tender to say the least.  I added extra bbq sauce from a squeeze bottle on the table.  The slaw was some of the best I have ever eaten in a restaurant.  My dish of baked beans was indeed smoky with great flavor including some shredded pork. And the corn bread was lovely; tender, flavorful and sweet after I poured on some of the BigBites special butter.

Joe had a fat juicy pulled pork sandwich and the same sides as me.  He polished it all off and didn’t have a single negative comment.  I know he was glad I could relax and eat without worrying about food safety.  He took home a second sandwich for lunch the next day.

The service was pretty fast and the owner came over to check and see how we liked our meal.  BigBites only has counter service with maybe 8-9 tables for customers to chow down at.  As we ate people came in to pick up orders, turns out get takeout to eat at home is a popular option.  There is a cooler full of ice tea and other drinks to have with your meal.  The small restaurant is comfortable and cozy if not fancy.

I wrote this October 2013 but have eaten there 3-4 times since then.  I tend to get the same thing, the half a bbq’d chicken platter which includes a quarter rack of ribs and two sides.  The chicken is so tender and smokey I had hardly bear not to have it every visit. We took some friends with us last time and they loved the barbecue too!

I am longing to go back and try some more of the menu including a bbq parfait that a friend says is awesome.  It is not a huge menu but for someone who loves barbecue and all the sides, it is exactly the right size!