Croquetas

150gms arborio rice
300gms cold water
1/2 a vegetable stock cube
20gms fresh chopped parsley
20gms grated parmesan
1 small onion finely chopped
140gms rice milk
10gms pure cornflour
1/2 cup gluten free savoury biscuits (processed to a fine crumb)

1. Place rice, stock cube and water in a microwave proof bowl.
   
2. Set on high for 10 minutes. Stop after 8 minutes and stir thoroughly.
   
3. Finish cooking and set aside.
4. Saute onion in a non stick pan until caramelised, turn off heat and add parsley, stir to wilt parsley.
   
5. Add rice, combine and set aside.
6. In a microwave safe bowl, place milk, cornflour and cheese. Cook on high for one minute, take out and stir. Cook for a further minute. At this time the sauce should be thick.
   
7. Pour sauce over the rice mix and combine. Set aside to cool.
8. Form rice mix into balls and roll in crumbs.
9. Deep fry until golden brown and serve with salad.
   

Albóndigas Vegetarianas - Vegetarian "Meatballs"

I was watching MasterChef yesterday and thinking that there aren't many vegetarian dishes on the show. I was contemplating how I would survive on a show such as that one, and realised that I probably couldn't survive on it very long.

There was one vegetarian girl on the show last year and she was quickly outed. From what I've seen there are no vegetarians on the show at all this year.

Anyway so I got to thinking about vegetarian cooking in general and all these ingredients came into mind and I decided to make these.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6)
500gms firm tofu (I used Pureland Organic Tofu)
1 small bunch of chives
1/4 cup chopped parsley
100gms fresh shitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons of potato flour
1 clove of garlic (minced)
1 egg
salt to taste
Olive Oil

For the sauce
1 750ml Provista Sugo Classica
2 medium onions sliced
4 baby red capsicums sliced
1 tbs dried thyme
1 medium green chili sliced
3 bay leaves
2 cups of water
salt to taste
Parmesan cheese to serve.

To make the albondigas

1. Saute mushrooms in olive oil, then set aside to cool.
2. Chop half of the tofu and set aside. Put the other half in the food processor.
3. Add chopped chives, garlic, parsley, egg, flour and salt. Process to a paste.
4. Add mushrooms and process, make sure that mushrooms are still in pieces.
5. Add chopped tofu and process, leaving chunks of tofu.
6. Form into balls and set aside.

To make the sauce

1. Saute onion and capsicums in a heavy pan until collapsed.
2. Add sugo and water and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add salt to taste, chopped chili, bay leaves and thyme.
4. Slowly and carefully add the albondigas into the sauce (do no stir).
5. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, serve with brown rice and sprinkle with chopped parsley or Parmesan cheese.
   

1. 
   

Alfajores de Maizena (Gluten Free)

Alfajores de Maizena are small soft shortbread type cookies which are joined together with "dulce de leche" (thick caramel). Their sides are covered in dessicated coconut.

These are a favourite snack in Uruguay, Argentina & Chile. Some of the ones you can buy ready made, are covered in chocolate. The ones made in Chile have a much harder cookie, but are still assembled the same way.

Maizena is cornflour, and the main ingredient in this recipe.

I just love these!!

I saw some at my mum's yesterday but because of their wheat content I was not able to eat them. They have a small amount of wheat flour in them.

So I went shopping and bought 100% corn cornflour, I found a recipe which I converted into gluten free by replacing the wheat flour with rice flour and potato flour. I also replaced the cognac and lemon rind.

Now I can eat these to my heat's content (although in reality my heart would be much happier if I were eating broccoli instead!!)

Ingredients
200gms low salt margarine (you can use softened unsalted butter)
150gms caster sugar (superfine sugar)
3 egg yolks
300gms pure cornflour
125gms rice flour
75gms potato flour
2tsp gluten free baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp lemon extract

To assemble
200gms dulce de leche (Nestle Top'n'Fill works really well)
80gms dessicated coconut

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 165 degrees celcius (fan forced)
2. Sift flours and baking powder together, set aside.
3. Cream margarine, sugar, extracts and yolks with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Fold in dry ingredients until it all comes together.
5. Place dough on a large piece of baking paper, and knead lightly.
6. Roll dough out to about 1/2 a cm between two pieces of baking paper.
7. Remove top sheet of baking paper, and cut with a round cutter.
8. Place on a cookie sheet at least 2 cms apart from eachother, and bake for 15 minutes.
9. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
10. Place enough caramel on the bottom of a cookie to cover it, and gently press another cookie to it so that some caramel comes out of the sides.
11. Spread the squeezed out caramel all over the sides of the cookies, and then roll that part through the dessicated coconut.
12. Eat accompanied with a cup of tea or coffee. YUM!!!

Coconut Creme Caramel

As I mentioned in my previous posting, I'm experimenting with recipes. Hubby doesn't deal well with dairy products, so this one was "kinda" done for him.

I say "kinda" cause it was also done for me ;) hahahaha

Who wouldn't love creme caramel made with coconut milk. Well I suppose all those people that just plain don' t like cream caramel and those that detest coconut. HEATHENS!!!!

2 x 400ml cans of coconut milk

6 large eggs

100gms caster sugar (superfine sugar)

2 tsp vanilla extract (I used homemade)

1 tsp lemon extract (I used homemade)

Caramel
200gms caster sugar

20gms water

Coconut Chocolate Mousse Cake

In the last couple of years, to my dismay and disappointment, I have discovered that wheat is not my friend. I tried to fight it, but I lost.

I have bought a few books on gluten free cooking, as I just love to cook but haven't tried many recipes yet. Wheat based products, cakes, breads, pastas, are just my absolute favourite. Isn't life just cruel??

Anyway I have decided to start experimenting a little more with gluten free cooking.

I am also vegetarian, which makes it even more difficult as a lot of gluten free recipes use gelatine. :(

Anyway here is my first experiment.

Cake base is a modified version of this cake found here. I changed the flour to make it gluten free and modified the process slightly.

http://jeenaskitchen.blogspot.com/2007/08/coconut-sponge-cake-fat-free.html

Cake Base
Ingredients
100gms Plain Gluten Free Flour
4 eggs
50gms white sugar
60 gms brown sugar
60gms dessicated coconut
2tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift coconut, flour, soda and tartar and set aside.
3. Place sugars, vanilla and eggs in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer for 5 minutes until the mixture is doubled and is light and fluffy.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients and pour batter into a greased 9 inch removable base tin.
5. Bake for 40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the pan.

Chocolate Mousse
I used this recipe from Jill Harris (Vegan Chocolate Mousse)

Ingredients
510gms silken tofu
420gms dark chocolate (I used 70% Lindt)
100gms maple syrup

Method

1. Blend tofu in a food processor until it is very smooth.
2. Chop chocolate into small pieces and melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts, being careful not to burn it.
3. Once chocolate is fully melted add syrup and mix thoroughly.
4. Add chocolate mix to the tofu in the processor and blend until thoroughly mixed and very smooth.

Raspberry Topping
Ingredients
300gms raspberry puree
80gms sugar
20gms potato flour
40gms water

Method

1. Mix potato flour with the water, and add it to a pan with the raspberry puree and sugar.
2. Cook on slow heat until mixture thickens.
3. Set aside to cool

Assembling Cake

Cut cake in half. Place one layer of cake on the base of a pan, and pour mousse over it. Smooth mousse and place left over layer of cake. Press it down to make sure it sticks together.
Pour raspberry sauce over the top, smooth over and place in the fridge.
Allow it to set overnight.

NOTES: This cake was fully consumed at work the following day. There was mixed feedback. Generally it was good, but the mousse was very rich and firm. I loved the mousse, but indeed it was very rich, i think an extra 100 gms of tofu wouldn't go astray. I also think that making it with milk chocolate instead of the 70% I used would make it a lot less rich.

I personally loved the raspberry topping, as I thought it really cut through the richness of the mousse. Some of the taste testers commented that they preferred to have the mousse with the cake on the base, and the topping with the cake on the top. Each to their own I say :)

Next experiment should be a white chocolate mousse cake :) YUMMY YUMMY!!!

Pear and Maple Syrup Triangles

This super easy dessert can be made with homemade puff pastry or ready made pastry from the supermarket. If you're in Australia, the brands of puff pastry that I recommend are, first "Pastry Chef" from Aldi, and second the "Black & Gold" brand from IGA. I find that these brands are so much flakier and light than any other brand. The IGA "Black & Gold" had been my favorite for years until I recently discovered the brand from Aldi.

Ingredients
1.5 ready made puff pastry sheets
1 large pear
1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
6 large strawberries, washed
6 tablespoons of creamy vanilla yogurt

1. Peel the pear, cut it into fours and remove the core. Slice very thinly.
2. Place the pear in a small bowl and pour the maple syrup over it, mix well and set aside.
3. Cut the whole sheet of puff pastry into four squares, and the half into two.
4. Remove the pear from the syrup and divide into 6.
   
5. Place filling in the center of each square and fold in half, pressing the edges with a fork to seal.
6. Place on a cookie tray lined with baking paper, and brush any remaining maple syrup (from the bowl) over the triangles.
7. Bake till they are nicely colored.
8. Serve drizzled with a tablespoon of vanilla yogurt and decorate with a sliced strawberry.

Serves 6

Roasted Veggie Bake with Lettuce, Apple & Walnut Salad

Veggie Bake (serves 6)
1 large eggplant
1 large zucchini
400gms Jap pumpkin

1 large onion chopped finely
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of fresh thyme (finely chopped)
2 tbs vegetable oil
800gm of canned tomatoes (blended)

500gms firm tofu (or 500gms low fat ricotta)
3 tablespoons dry chives
salt & pepper to taste

50gms baby spinach leaves

1. Slice the eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin very finely, spread out each vegetable on a baking tray lined with baking paper (to prevent sticking) and brush lightly with olive oil (or spray with cooking spray. Cook on a hot oven until they are tender. Set aside
2. Chop onion and garlic finely and saute in the olive oil some vegetable oil. When they are see through and starting to caramelise, add the can of tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes, add thyme and salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. Place tofu, dry chives and salt & pepper into a food process, and blend until it resembles a cream cheese. (if using Ricotta, just blend until the chives are mixed through the cheese)
   
4. Spoon some of the cooked sauce on the bottom of a baking tray and layer with eggplant, followed by some zucchini. Place the whole lot of tofu (or ricotta) on top of the zucchini, flatten it out, and then continue to layer that with pumpkin, followed by spinach leaves. Spoon more sauce on top of the spinach leaves, then place the remainder of the eggplant, and finish off with some more sauce.
5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
6. Serve with salad

Salad
3/4 of a butter lettuce
50gms spinach
1 fuji apple
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 carrot
Dressing
1 tablespoon dijonnaise
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tsp brown sugar

1. Tear the lettuce roughly and place in a bowl with the washed spinach.
2. Peel the carrot and cut into thin batons.
3. Peel apple, remove core, and cut into quarters. Slice each quarter into small pieces.
4. Mix dressing, and pour over the lettuce. Mix in other vegetables and walnuts.
5. Serve immediately.
   

Breakfast Stack

A few weeks ago hubby and I delivered a wedding cake in the morning to a venue near the city. Afterward we went to the Veggie Bar for brunch. One of the things Boone had was a breakfast stack. It looked simple enough, so I decided to try it out. So here it is. It was delicious. The hash browns I made were a little thick according to hubby, the ones at Veggie Bar were the type they use at McDonald's, and mine were homemade. I think if they were thinner they'd be crunchier, but I liked them like this.

Breakfast Stack (Serves 3)
Hash Browns (recipe below)
Mock Hollandaise (recipe below)
3 free range eggs (poached)
1 large tomato (cut into thick slices)
3 large flat mushrooms (stalk removed)
120gms Baby Spinach Leaves
Vegetable oil to cook

1. Make hash browns and hollandaise as per recipe below and set aside.
   
2. Cook mushrooms on a little bit of vegetable oil, these take a while to cook so I'd suggest cooking them first and setting them aside while you prepare the other ingredients (keep warm)
3. Poach your eggs.
   
4. Cook tomato on a non stick pan and a little vegetable oil
5. Sautee spinach leaves
6. Assemble by putting the hash brown on the bottom, follow with the tomato, then the mushroom, spinach and then the egg. Pour some of the sauce over the top. Serve warm
   

Hash Brown
420gms (15oz) Potato (cut into small squares)
40gms (1oz) Potato Flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
Vegetable/Olive oil for frying

1. Cook the chopped potatoes and set aside to cool. I put mine in the microwave for 10 minutes and they were done. I left the skins on because they were very clean and the extra nutrition never goes astray ;)
2. Add the potato flour and mix it through thoroughly through the potatoes. Press the mix into an egg mold on a chopping board. Move the mold to ensure it is not stuck on the bottom and unmold. The hash brown should come out intact. I used larger molds, used for crumpets. This mix made 3 hash browns in the larger mold.
3. Cook on a non stick pan with a little vegetable or olive oil until they are nicely colored and crunchy.
   

Mock Hollandaise
10gms Arrowroot
15gms Potato Flour
1 egg yolk (optional)
2tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup rice milk (soy or dairy is ok too)
1/4 tsp tumeric
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan until thoroughly mix.
2. Cook on a low heat until sauce thickens. Add water if the sauce is too thick.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
   
4. Pour over stack.

Three Cheese Pasta & Spinach Bake

Ingredients
450gms cooked pasta (tubes or spirals are great for this, I used gluten free pasta, for a gluten free dish)
350gms ricotta
120gms grated Tasty cheese
85gms grated Parmesan cheese
250gm packet of finely chopped spinach (defrosted and drained, ends up being about 120gms of spinach)
6 large eggs (lightly beaten)
salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Place pasta, cheeses, spinach, salt, pepper and eggs in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly ensuring that the pasta does not break up too much.
3. Grease a deep non stick pan and pour mixture into the pan.
4. Bake for 40 minutes.

Bean, Potato & Caramelised Onion Salad
Ingredients
260gms boiled potato cubes
190gms cooked flat beans
2 large onions sliced
1/4 red capsicum
1/2 yellow capsicum
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbs sugar

Method

1. Place balsamic vinegar in a small pot with the sugar. Bring to the boil, and then lower to a simmer. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool. It will have a syrupy consistency.
   
2. Cook beans in boiling water, I like mine to be a little crunchy. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a fry pan and cook onions until they are caramelised. Set aside.
4. Grill capsicums and remove skin, slice thinly and set aside.
5. Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss together. Serve with vinegar reduction.
   

Pasta Frola con Dulce De Batata - Sweet Potato Tart

Pasta Frola is a tart made traditionally with quince jam. It is very common in Uruguay and Argentina. In Uruguay we also have bastardised this tart and make it with other types of jams.

We have many so called jams in Uruguay, which are so different to what is regarded as a jam in Australia. We have milk jam, tomato jam, sweet potato jam, quince jam, pumpkin jam.

Milk jam is basically a thick rich caramel which we use for many of our desserts. It is a staple in our celebration cakes which normally consist of a sponge or butter cake filled with dulce de leche (milk jam) , Chantilly cream, and sometimes pieces of peach. Mostly these cakes are covered in a beautiful cooked soft meringue.

We eat dulce de leche on bread or on our lovely "tortas fritas" (which I will blog about another time). It is delicious on creme caramel and we also use it to fill these tarts. YUMMY. But I digress, today is not about Dulce de leche.

The texture and consistency of the quince, sweet potato and pumpkin jams is very similar. They are more like thick pastes which can be cut into slices, and eaten on bread or with cheese. They are all very different in flavour but all so delicious. All of these can be used as a filling for this tart. The traditional filling for a "Pasta Frola" as previously mentioned is the quince jam or "Dulce de Membrillo".

Yesterday my mum gave me a tin of "Dulce de Batata", or sweet potato jam. I love it!! I guess it must be an acquired taste, neither mum or dad are big fans of it, but they will eat it if they must.

Today we had lunch at mum and dad's. Mum made stuffed capsicums and a pasta sauce. I brought home made egg fettuccine and a Pasta Frola which I made with the sweet potato jam.

The recipe for the Pasta Frola that I used is an old family recipe that we have had for over 30 years, and possibly my mum has had since before I was born. It came from a little booklet which came with our "Royal" which is the brand of Uruguayan baking powder.
Anyway here is the recipe for the tart

Pasta Frola
125gms softened butter
100gms white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
240gms plain flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp salt
Filling
300gms Quince Jam (please note that I did not use quince, i used sweet potato)
2 Tbs water(for softening the jam)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
   
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Add egg & yolk one at a time beating well after each addition.
4. Mix in lemon rind
5. Add flour, baking powder and salt (sifted together) to the first mix, forming a soft dough. Do not over knead or the dough will become tough.
6. Roll out 2/3 of the dough and place it in a 23cm tart pan.
7. Spread the filling over the dough and use the remaining pastry to decorate the top of the tart by cutting out strips of dough and placing it in a lattice pattern on top.
8. Bake at 180 for 30 minutes.

I sometimes make the recipe with margarine instead of butter, I did so today. For the filling as I specified before I used the sweet potato, I just used a whole tin like the ones pictured above, and placed the contents into the food processor. This made it really easy to get a really smooth filling.

This dough is also lovely to make cookies with, and it's also the same recipe I used for these Lime Meringue Tarts which are gluten free

It is very easy to convert this recipe to gluten free, you just swap the flour and baking powder for Orgran Gluten Free Self Raising Flour.
The recipe for the lime curd is here http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Lime-Curd-L2437.html