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Italian Peasant Soup…Winter Tummy Warmer

Yet more snow, high winds, and frigid cold….perfect soup weather.  Yeap, I have another soup to share: rib sticking winter fare – on my menu today. I’ve been making this recipe for a long time; it is a favorite for me.  This Italian Peasant soup hits the spot. chocolate heart cake 016 It is full of flavor but is fairly cheap to make: doesn’t have any meat or pricey ingredients.  If you use vegetable broth your soup can be vegetarian. It isn’t tricky either to throw together and it is naturally gluten free.

Do make sure your broth is safe; most of the brands out there are not suitable for use by anyone with celiac; they somehow seem to have some small measure of gluten in it rendering the soup uneatable for those of us with celiac disease.

I strongly suggest that you make your own beans from dried ones; much more flavor than canned already cooked beans, cheaper and really not much trouble.  Savoy cabbage, located right next to the usual green cabbage: it is a bit pricey than regular cabbage but the green crinkly leaves are a big part of the flavor appeal of this soup so get a small head for this recipe if at all possible.  Oh and, you really need the Arborio rice as it won’t be right with regular rice; Arborio rice soaks up liquid and is creamy with a different texture than long grain rice.  arborio rice

This recipe makes a lot of soup and is great leftover for lunch.

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Italian Peasant Soup

1 cup dried navy beans

2 quarts chicken broth

1 bay leaf

¼ cup EVOL

1 cup red onion, diced

1 cup carrot, diced

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley; flat leaf

1 lb Savoy cabbage

1 cup Arborio rice

1-2 tsp. sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper.

Directions

Soak 1 cup dried white beans in water to cover; I use the quick method; bring to boil, boil 2 minutes, let stand 60 minutes.  Rinse really well and clean the pot too.  Then return the beans to the washed pot and cover with fresh filtered water.  Cook beans with the bay leaf for 1-2 hours until tender but not mushy. Puree half the beans in a blender or food processor.  I have used either; both work.

In a big, heavy bottomed soup pot heat the olive oil, add the onion and carrot, stir a minute, add the garlic and stir a minute.

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Add the parsley. Cook 5-6 minutes.  Add the cabbage which you have diced fine.chocolate heart cake 010

Stir well for a minute or two, add 1 cup chicken broth. chocolate heart cake 011

Cover and cook 10 minutes.    Add the rest of the broth, bring to a bubble; add the pureed beans and whole beans.

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Cook 10 minutes, stir 2-3 times as it cooks.  Add the Arborio rice and cook 12-15 minutes; until tender but al dente. Stir it 3-4 times so the rice stays blended and doesn’t stick to the bottom and burn.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Let rest 15 minutes before serving. Serve with a drizzle of EVOL on top.  Great with a slice of hearty bread, gf of course!chocolate heart cake 016

Sandwich Bread Worth Baking

Gluten Free bread is not generally known for rising high in the pan.  Nor does it often taste good enough to enjoy once the first day has passed.  Worse yet, it is mostly terrible in sandwiches, all crumbly and messy. I have tried a few recipes and, especially in the sandwich bread area, nothing was worth mentioning much less putting in this blog.  Until I baked the sandwich bread from the How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, created by the America’s Test Kitchen team.  This cookbook promises “revolutionary techniques and groundbreaking recipes” right on the cover.  What I love about it is the discussion on how they came up with the final recipe; all the changes and reasons why things were added/subtracted or changed to create the best possible final result.  I guess it is the science teacher in me but those discussions are my favorite part of this book.

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A tall handsome loaf!

The bread recipes use one extra ingredient which put me off, I’m sort of getting tired of excessive ingredients and so many flour mixes after only two years of living gluten free.  Anyway, the ingredient is powdered psyllium husk.  The cookbook says psyllium husk powder is critical to building a stronger protein network that traps gas and steam, key to producing a taller loaf (pg171).  It took me a while but finally, I got a bag of it at Frey’s Better Foods right here in town, $6.75 in a twist tied baggie; bulk packaging lowers the price quite a bit from the commercially packaged versions.  It is a brown/gray powder.  Doesn’t look magical.  But apparently, it is!  My loaf rose and rose, to the top of my special tall sided 8 ½ x 4 inch pan.  And it stayed tall through the baking process, no shrinking or sagging either as it cooled.  It is found on page 171, classic sandwich bread.  I thought it tasted sort of like multigrain bread, not as white as I expected, which is fine by me.  The creating is typical of gf breads: mix the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl the wet ones, mix and beat well.  You do have to make up their flour mix: a blend of white and brown rice flours, potato starch, tapioca starch and non fat dry milk powder.  Not too fancy but yes, another big jar of flour mix to store somewhere…

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Cuts nice, lots of slices for sandwiches or toast.

Anyway, it was tall and handsome and sliced easily into individual slices to enjoy now and to freeze for later.  There are lots of other recipes in this book that I plan to try. If you are serious about gluten free baking this recipe and this book are well work a good look.  I am having a sandwich today for lunch and I am excited, bread that looks normal and holds together, no more crazy crumbling sandwiches!

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Still slightly warm, buttered and ready for my first taste!

Classic sandwich bread

2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees

2 large eggs, room temp

2 tbsp butter melted

3 cups plus 2 tbsp ATK flour mix (recipe below)

1 1/3 cup oat flour

½ cup non fat dry milk powder

3 tbsp powdered psyllium husk

2 tbsp. sugar

2 ¼ tsp. dry yeast

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt.

Directions:

Spray an 8 ½ by 4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Wisk the wet ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix all the dry ingredients in the large bowl of your stand mixer. Slowly pour in the wet ingredients, mixing slowly; scrape bowl sides down as you go; takes about a minute.  Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for 6 minutes, it should look very thick; sort of like a cookie dough. Glop it into the prepared pan, trying to fill the corners well. Then, smooth the top with your dampened fingers and spray with a bit of water.  Make a foil collar for your pan; if you have the tall pan like I do such a collar is not necessary.  The recipe says you can use a stapler to secure it around the pan. Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and let rise at room temp until doubled. I heated my oven to 100 degrees and turned it off – popped the bread in and this gave it a nice warm temperature as my kitchen’s room temp is much too chilly for bread dough.  It took about 55 minutes for mine to rise; recipe says an hour.

Spray the loaf lightly with water before popping into the oven to bake at 350 until golden and firm and it sounds hollow if you tap on it. Although how you can tap on a hot loaf of bread is sort of beyond me!  Try to remember to rotate it half way through the time, I forgot…. Mine was done at an hour and 15 minutes; recipe says 1 ½ hours.  Let cool in pan ten minutes, cool on wire rack for two hours before cutting.  So don’t be diving into this bread warm; not happening.  If you cut gf bread too soon it can collapse and or get gummy in texture.  I hate the gummies so I resist the temptation to cut early and so should you!  This makes good toast too and great gf crumbs.

Great Meal at Pearly Baker’s Alehouse

Oh how I would love a fancy supper out.  One that is safe for me (of course!!)  Last night I got my wish.  We went out for a belated birthday dinner (mine) in Easton.  I had heard comments about Pearly Bakers and wanted to explore them as an option.  Their very nice website menu has clearly noted gluten free options, not a lot of them but enough to make me feel comfortable that they might be doing the gf thing properly.  Still, you never know until you try. I did look at some other Easton eateries but no sign of gluten free choices so I went with a place that was making an effort for those of us who must eat gluten free.

outside pearly bakers

Out into the frigid night we went, to Easton’s Center Square.  No parking open on the circle but we parked in the garage around the corner, cost us 75 cents.  There is a front eating area which is reminiscent of a pub. Tall tables, lots of beer taps and a fairly noisy convivial atmosphere.  We ate in the formal dining room, my choice for a slightly quieter dining experience.  I had been there  for dinner many years ago when it was Charlies.  The dining room seems very different, new colors maybe?  I sat facing an old painting of a boat burning on the Delaware River at Easton in 1860 or so. Impressive.

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I was equally impressed with the menu, not lengthy which generally tells me the chef is not using a lot of frozen foods.  There were three gluten free entrée options as well as several sides and one appetizer safe for me. We passed on apps as I tend to get too full on them.  I chose the ginger teriyaki salmon but I requested several modifications.  I just wasn’t in the mood for fried rice or radish cuke salad.  There was mashed potatoes with the pork loin so I requested that for my starch choice and the caramelized Brussels sprouts were right up my alley so a request was made for that in combination with the salmon and potatoes.  Their willingness to alter an entree like that was a sign of a responsive chef.   They didn’t even charge me extra for making it as I desired.

We sat enjoying our drinks, I had the house pinot grigio which was quite tasty.  Joe had his favorite lager; not in the mood, apparently, to try one of their many interesting looking beers.  Our food came pretty rapidly; not too fast though; we had time to chat a bit and relax. He ate a roll.  I suffered from roll envy….

Then plates were delivered and I got over my envy because my entrée was awesome looking.  I totally forgot to take a picture in my eagerness to dive in.  It was a large oval of mashed potatoes with small roasty looking brussels sprouts sprinkled all around the potatoes and on top too. A decently sized fillet of salmon was plonked down on top of the mashed.   There were the peas and corn that came with the salmon as it was described on the menu and my fish was also sprinkled with slivers of red onions and cuke. I dug in, finding great flavor in my fish and really perfect mashed tatters. The salmon was of good quality and cooked to perfection.  I loved the veggies.  I know, it was a tad odd to have mashed with ginger teriyaki flavors, but it worked wonderfully; I scraped every bit off my dinner plate! I think they should add this combo to their gf choices.  My only request would be to maybe caramelize those sprouts just a tad more next time.

Joe had fish and chips; he loved it and the roll he ate beforehand.  He couldn’t finish it and had to take a doggie bag.  He claimed later that the potatoes wedges were his veggie but I say they were a starch.  I pointed out that I had all my veggies and one serving of starch.  He had the breading on his fish, his roll and his chips.  It was understandable that he felt that starch overload sleepiness that can come over me when I overdo the starch.  I didn’t and I felt full but awesome.  I gave him a taste of my salmon and I think he had entrée envy although he refrained from saying so out loud!

The atmosphere was festive and relaxed, the service was perfect; friendly helpful server and well timed food delivery. Most importantly the food was delicious. Memorably tasty and safe for me as a celiac.  That combination is tough to find here in the Lehigh Valley.  I know I will be returning to Pearly Bakers, maybe in the spring when we can enjoy a post meal stroll along the river.

Storage: I am Queen of Jars, Tupperware and Freezer Bags

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Where to put all those bags of freaky flours? So many kinds…made of grains I never even heard of before…so how to properly store them? I did some reading in various cookbooks and celiac informational books on this issue. Some need to go in the freezer; so I now have a long row of bags tucked in my freezer and a number of glass or heavy duty plastic canisters and jars about the kitchen. For sure you should freeze the brown rice flour because it has rice bran which spoils much faster than processed white rice. I have sweet brown rice flour which is in the freezer too. I also put my almond flour, coconut flour and teff flour in there as well. In the fridge I put the potato starch which apparently needs the cooler zone of a refrigerator. Some just need to be in a sealed jar; amaranth, white rice flour, quinoa flakes and tapioca flour. Be sure to label each item carefully as they look a lot alike. Cornstarch is already in a box…I am buying a lot of that these days….

And then there are the flour mixes. For my favorite new cookbook I created a bread flour mix canister and a brown rice flour mixture used for most everything else: two big jars. And I found a great recipe for baking powder biscuits. It has its own dry ingredient mix, was out of jars so it is in a freezer zip bag; won’t keep outside the freezer for long. Then there is the four flour mix which is basic to my new bread baking book, yet another sizable canister. And, you will need to carefully label each mixture; I like to put the name of the book it is from to help me remember exactly what recipes it is meant for. So I needed like 4 canisters for flour mixes I am using now and frankly there are several other mixes in the bread book that I want to try out… Oyy, where will I store all those jars?

When I bake a batch of cookies, they need to be placed in my big cookie jar as soon as they are completely cooled. I never used that cookie jar for its named purpose before but it is totally necessary for storing GF cookies if you want them to stay fresh tasting. To keep for more than 3-4 days: freeze them in a heavy duty plastic freezer bag. Same goes for muffins, yeast bread, quick breads and what ever else I bake. These GF baked goods do not keep as long as wheat breads and cookies. It is very convenient to pull out a cookie from the freezer and munch on it after school. And I love having some slices of sandwich bread in the freezer ready for making lunch in the morning. Always label the frozen stuff and date it -just makes things simpler in the long run.

The almond biscotti I made last week is still tasty. The basic nature of biscotti is that it is rather dry and I suspect this is why it keeps so well.  It is in a Tupperware which is great for storing biscotti.

I also have a bread bag; it is woven fabric and has a plastic bag liner. My sister gave it to me years ago. I love it as bread keeps for days in it; wheat bread kept twice as long in it as just plastic wrapped up breads. Well, no more wheat but I kept some GF Italian bread in it the other week for several days past when it should have gone bad and it was still yummy. You can buy one on the internet; check e-bay. It is worth every penny. I posted a photo of it with my cookie canister the other week.

Again, the moister the bread, the quicker it goes bad (mold!) so keep that in mind. I have a loaf of OJ bread stored in my fridge to lengthen its life. I often slice and freeze half of what I made soon after baking so nothing gets wasted…with just me eating them a lot would go bad before I could eat it. I read comments by people just wanting one GF cookie. Freeze a whole bunch and then you can munch them one at a time – actually good advice for any baker. Some cookies are really tasty still frozen; the crunchy texture and unexpected chilly bite is a great treat! Now….if I can just find the right spot to store all my flour mixes…..

Originally posted March/April 2013.  I reposted this because people new to gluten free baking are asking how to store their flours.

Safe GF Party/Dinner Tips

Not to scare anyone but if you are throwing a party and plan to serve delicious food to someone who is gluten free be sure to do a few things to ensure their safe eating. I should have posted this last week but it slipped my mind, probably due to an excess of cookie baking and gift wrapping….

These tips will give you a general idea on how to feed people and do it safely if you have a gluten free guest.   If your friends or family members pooh pah gluten free as exaggerated or made up; let them know: getting glutened for most celiacs is a lot like having that Norovirus; you are very ill for several days, you may spend many hours in the bathroom sick as a dog.  That sort of result doesn’t happen to me but I do get a severe burning pain in my right side and can have to spend 3-4 hours prone on the sofa feeling dreadful, almost comatose, and unable to read a book or even watch tv.  We celiacs are not exaggerating, we get really ill from even a tiny amount of wheat.  This sensitivity actually gets worse once you are gluten free for a few months.

Do you really want to know that your carelessness or cavalier attitude led to someone being sick for 3-10 days? I am sure you are vigorously shaking your head No.  So follow these steps and you will be sensitive to the needs of guests with this severe allergy.  Basic knowledge on best practices will give you the power to make safe and yummy food for your gluten free friends/family.

  1. Wash all the cooking and serving items from pots and pans to utensils so you are starting with safe equipment and serving dishes.  That includes counter tops and cutting boards.  Do not use a wooden board that you cut regular wheat based bread on to cut or serve gf food on.  Colanders for pasta are particularly problematic: I bring my own when friends make pasta for me as the gluten clings to all those tiny holes; very hard to get it all off and make your colander totally safe and gluten free.
  1. If you are serving GF and wheat foods on the same table please set them far away from each other and never put them on the same serving plate. You should probably put a label near each item so those eating gluten free will know what is safe. Safer yet is to have a separate GF table at your buffet.  Safest is to only serve gluten free food.
  1. Remember there are lots of foods that are naturally GF. Like fruit, block cheese (except blue cheese) and veggies including potatoes, yams and salads.  Shredded cheese can be iffy; sometimes wheat products are added to facilitate the pourability of the shredded cheese product.  If you make a dip be careful with prepared mixes as they often contain wheat. There are lots of crackers in the grocery store that are GF.   I love Nabisco’s brown rice and pepper ones and Crunchmaster’s crackers are excellent. You could serve just them and no one will be the wiser but your guest will thank you. When packaging says “seasonings’ that is suspect; look for the GF label.  Wegmans now puts on a nice G label that means gf.  Save the bag so your guest can inspect it if they are worried as to the safety of the crackers.crunchmaster crackersricethins white
  2. Most alcoholic beverages are safe except beers and wheat based vodka.  You can get GF beer for those who are GF and must have beer!  Hard cider and wine are naturally GF.
  3. Look for the letters Gf on the packaging to be sure. Sometimes the ingredients are naturally gluten free but the  product has been processed on the same equipment as wheat products.  If the label mentions the possibility of wheat in the product to to that sort of thing, don’t get it.  People with celiac disease can and often do get very ill due to foods contaminated with minute amounts of wheat from the processing on shared equipment.  Read the ingredient list for all prepared or snack foods. Some cheese curls are GF and some are not.  Ditto for tortilla chips. Be careful about rice mixtures as the seasoning packet often renders them unsafe.
  4. Seafood is a good choice except for imitation crab and seafood as they are wheat based.  I did hear that there will be some new imitation crab in logs like string cheese that is gf; not seen it yet.  You can buy GF crumbs for breading things including for putting in your homemade crab cakes. Ready-made crab cakes are not GF.
  1. Sweet rice flour makes excellent gravy, get it at a Chinese grocery store. I use the same proportion as any flour; just dissolve it in cold water before adding to a hot broth or blend with fat/butter before adding.
  1. Don’t put wheat croutons in the salad; serve them on the side for those who can eat them with a label that they are not gf. You can set out slivered almonds, walnuts or pumpkin seeds to add crunch for GF eaters.  Or make your own croutons from GF bread cut into cubes.
  1. Follow the recipe very closely if you bake a GF bread or dessert as they should not be altered if you want good results.
  1. There are GF cake mixes that can be whipped up just as easily as regular wheat based cakes. King Arthur’s is my favorite as it makes two layers and the flavor and textures are quite good. Most frosting recipes are GF so you can easily make a tasty dessert for not that much cash (as compared to buying a GF cake from a bakery) and you get the satisfaction of having made it yourself.cake mix
  1. Of course, you can make a pudding or serve fresh fruit. There are GF pie crusts out there so pie is certainly a yummy option. Wegmans has them and so does Fry’s Better Foods in Hellertown. I have used GF chocolate cookie ready-made crust for a quick and delightful pudding pie dessert, see that post from last winter.
  1. Be careful about candies and chocolates. Read the label before you put out that candy dish. Wheat abounds in a lot of them!
  1. Ice cream makes a great dessert but don’t serve cookie dough ice cream or any other flavor that has crumbled cookies or pretzels in it. Do it yourself Sundays are a great dessert idea.
  1. You could make those tasty soft dinner rolls I gave the recipe for recently or the brownies I also posted some ago. I made those rolls this week and a fellow who eats wheat all the time asked for my recipe; he said they were the best rolls he had ever eaten, wheat or not!
  2. I have posted several gf cookie recipes, each is great for serving as dessert at your party or to take to one so you have something safe to share.
  3. Most of your meal will likely be GF if you cook from scratch: it is the pre-made and packaged stuff that tends to have wheat in it so scratch cooking is safer and frankly tastier.
  4. Check on the internet or at the library for GF cookbooks to help you make delicious meals for GF friends and family.
  5. There are GF bakeries out there, one in Catasauqua, PA, also one in  Coopersburg and a vegan bakery in Bethlehem. Great for a hassle free gf dessert option. blondies Bakerstreet bakery
  6. Save all food labels/packaging in case your GF guest has a question or wants to view the ingredient list themselves. Not that unusual a request for anyone with celiac disease.

It is not the end of the world for we celiacs to have to cook and eat GF but it gets tiring to cook every meal and eating out is often problematic: nothing much safe to eat.  I always feel especially loved when someone cooks a homemade and safe dinner for me to enjoy.  So go ahead and try making a meal in the coming weeks for you know someone who can’t eat gluten.  You can do it and you will thrill them!