valentine pomegranate heart tarts

This month Kelly at The Spunky Coconut is hosting Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free and in honor of Valentine's day this month's theme is Sweets For Your Sweetheart. I really wanted to make something very special for the Trainer and myself so I asked him to think about what he might want. His answer was "that thing you made when we were first dating."

Very helpful, sweetheart. I can barely remember what I made last month, let alone two and a half years ago. So I decided that I wanted to make something pink and shaped like a heart. The Trainer agreed to pomegranate and I was off. I borrowed a silicon mold with 8 little hearts from S and decided to make tarts.

I wanted to make something like a pomegranate cheesecake so I did some research and brainstorming. Last night I tried my grand experiment and came up with these pomegranate heart tarts for my valentine. This is by no means a finished recipe, but I present it now, and I will continue to work on it for a future, more polished, offering.

Today, the Trainer and I slept in, all the way until 7:30 and headed to separate gyms. I worked out, he worked and we met up to see Coraline at one of our local theaters, followed by lunch at one of our old haunts, a Colombian restaurant on Roosevelt Avenue. When we got home we shared two of these and decided that they were very satisfying. The Trainer didn't even realize that they were made from yogurt (although he was in the kitchen the whole time I was making them last night).

Pomegranate Yogurt Tart makes 8 small heart shaped tarts

Crust:
3oz (1 cup) blanched almond meal
1 egg white
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil, other vegetable oil or butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1 cup thick yogurt
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 300°F. In a small bowl mix the almond meal, egg white, honey, oil and salt. Mix until a thick, pasty dough forms and there are no clumps left. Using a small spoon or your finger, press the dough into tart forms, filling in any holes, the layer of dough does not have to be to thick, since it will puff up a little as it bakes. Bake for 12-18 minutes, until edges are golden and no raw areas are apparent.

In a small dish bloom gelatin in the water. In small sauce pan gently heat the yogurt. Slowly whisk in the pomegranate molasses and honey until everything is blended. Keeping the heat low, whisk in the bloomed gelatin until it is all dissolved. Pour yogurt into cooled tart shells and place in the refrigerator over night to set.

go ahead honey, it's gluten free! lucky foods

This month Heather at Life Gluten Free is hosting a new years lucky food edition of "Go ahead honey, it's gluten free". She wants us to prepare foods that are traditionally thought to bring luck in the year to come.

Now, when it comes to religious holidays and Western observances the Trainer and I are conscientious abstainers. We will be joining my parents and extended family on Thursday, but we will light the candles, bring in the evergreen bough and serve our lucky food today, on the shortest day of the year. The Winter Solstice.

Every native culture recognizes the winter solstice. Many Northern cultures display evergreens and burn lights to welcome back the sun and symbolize the eternal life of the sun. In the Trainer's country the Quechua, like their Inca forbears, are celebrating the inti rayme, a harvest festival celebrating the longest day of the year.

In ancient Rome both the Saturnalia and the festival of Sol Invictus fell on or near the shortest day of the year. They celebrated with a day or more of feasting and social role reversals. Decorating homes and cities with lights and evergreens. Customary gifts of good luck were dates, figs and nuts and the feast often centered around a stuffed suckling pig. The Romans were very fond of stuffing things, so this year we've prepared stuffed figs and dates.

Fructus Troianum*
Stuffed Fruits

1/2c. almonds
1/2tsp almond extract
1/2tsp cinnamon
20 dates
1/2c. walnuts
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
15 figs
water

Soak the almonds and walnuts for several hours and then rinse well. In a blender, grind the almonds, almond extract and cinnamon, adding water a tablespoon at a time until a paste forms. Slice dates on one side only, remove pit at fill with almond paste. Make a paste with the walnuts in the same way. Steam the figs over boiling water for 5-6 minutes to plump them. Cut the stems from the figs and cut a cross in the top half to open them. Fill figs with walnut paste. If you want the fruit a little dryer heat the oven to 350° then turn it off and place the fruit inside for several hours.

*This is a whole other story, but the Romans believed that they were descended from Aeneas, a prince of Troy and a group of Torjan who escaped to Italy after the war. Romans called stuffed suckling pig porcum troianum as a reference to the Trojan Horse.

go head honey...it's gluten free! veal scaloppini

A vandal, or as I prefer to think, a guerrilla artist, has put electrical tape 'Hitler' mustaches on all the advertisements around Time Square. A man in suite weaves by on a kick scooter with a tennis racket around his neck. Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore. Or, in my case, Ann Arbor, MI.

Which is good because this month 'Go ahead honey, it's gluten free!' is being hosted by Nooshin at For The Love of Food and she choose Foods From Our Childhood as our theme. She wanted us to recreate something special from our childhood. Something that makes us feel warm and fuzzy and think of home.

We always had a home cooked meal (or 'planned overs') but when I think back I can only remember a few of Mom's stand-bys. I have already made her chicken soup, and I make Nonna's pasta sauce all the time. Grilled chicken is, frankly, fairly boring, and though I haven't had a comforting pot roast or stew in a while these I wanted to dig deeper. I wanted to fix a truly special meal from my childhood. A special occasion meal.

Mom had a meal that she prepared she prepared once or twice a year, if that. A recipe that she learned from her Nonnie, my great-grandmother and namesake. Another family recipes passed down from the Old World. We had veal scaloppini for Christmas, and for my birthday when I asked for it.

I remember going to the butcher in Kerry Town, still surrounded by the original red brick paving, the old world feel of the shop. The butcher there was the only one who cut the veal thinly enough to please Mom. I loved the whole process of visiting the butcher, working in the kitchen with Mom: mixing the milk and egg, dipping the veal in the bread crumbs, and the crisp golden crust on the veal, the whole event, not just the meal, was a special occasion for me.

Once, when the Trainer and I were first dating and I lived in Brooklyn I made this for him with gluten free bread crumbs, egg and milk and he really liked it. My challenge this time was to try to replicate the flavor with out the standard bread crumbs. So, with my thinking cap on, I served the Trainer his second plate of veal scaloppini and it tasted just the way I hoped.

Veal Scaloppini

1 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup blanched almond meal
1 Lb veal scaloppini
2 egg whites
salt
olive oil
lemon wedges

Quickly grind pine nuts in a blender until they form a course meal, being careful not to over grind and create a 'butter'. Mix ground pine nuts and almond meal in a shallow bowl or deep plate. I a second bowl quickly beat eggs whites. Line a baking sheet with brown paper and paper towel. Heat a large skillet and pour in enough olive oil to well coat the bottom. While oil is heating prepare the veal: dip each piece of veal first in the egg whites and then into the nut meal, making sure both sides are coated. Lay veal in a single layer in the skillet. Cook on on side until golden brown and then flip. When first batch of veal is cooked lay it on the paper towel in the prepared baking sheet. Add more olive oil to pan as needed and cook the remaining veal

Serve with a squeeze of lemon

If you have a problem with nuts, use gluten free bread crumbs. If you can't do eggs, use egg replacement for two eggs.

go head honey...it's gluten free! october indigenous foods round-up

Welcome! Please step into my kitchen, well, my virtual kitchen at any rate, and join me for a fantastic feast of indigenous foods from across the country and around the world.

I am thrilled to have hosted October's edition on "Go Ahead Honey...It's Gluten Free!", the theme for which I selected indigenous foods. I hoped to stretch all your imaginations and test your knowledge, and I was properly impressed. Although Canadian Thanksgiving is past, and American Thanksgiving is later this month (and I'm not sure if you folks across the pond have a Thanksgiving), I would like to take a moment now to give thanks for this wonderful gluten free blogging community we are all a part of.

Let us begin with a toast to health and friendship with Naomi's sloe, apple and rose syllabub. A beautifully pink take on an old English favorite made from sloe gin, fresh apple juice, rose water and yogurt. All from the English country side.

Whilst we all chatter and get our bearings, we can snack on Rachel's roasted sunchokes, which, if I'm not mistaken were grown in her very own upstate New York garden. A simple dish that, I understand, is best shared amongst good friends.

Once we've all taken our seats around the table we can start with the soup. Kelly brought us on of the New Worlds favorites whipped up into a warming potato soup. To add a little color to the table Heather has presented us with a vibrant butternut squash soup. Don't be shy, have a bowl of each.

For the main course we have a dish that has traveled far. A quinessential Australian dish, made from the animal that Australia is famous for. Jacqui got creative and made some semi free-form kangaroo meat pies. Lauren mixed foods that are indigenous to the place she lives as well as the state she grew up in. All of the ingredients for her hazelnut apple wild rice salad were locally grown as well. The other New Yorker in the group, myself, made grilled venison and a new England fall fruit egg bake from the fruits that grow on the east coast of the United States.

I hope you all wore your stretchy pants, and if you didn't you ought to know better than to wear those skinny jeans to such a gathering of good foodie friends. The dessert is yet to come. Acorns are abundant in California and were a staples food source for the natives there. Sea whipped up a batch of acorn muffins in tribute to those who roamed California before her.

And for our dessert tour de force, Heather created a mesquite corn cake. Corn was a staple native to Colorado and much of America and mesquite was used by the natives for food, fuel, shelter and more before Europeans introduced wheat and refinded sugars.

Now that we've all eaten our fill, I'll pack you each off with a selection of delicious leftovers to share with your families. Thank you all so much for participating, I am so pleased that you did. I am given to understand the November's "Go Ahead Honey...It's Gluten Free!" is being hosted here, so be sure to check it out for November's theme.

Thank you all again, and especially Naomi, our fearless founder.

go ahead honey... it's gluten free! indigenous foods

venison* and a new england fall fruit egg bake

When I proposed indigenous foods for this month's "Go Ahead Honey... It's Gluten Free!" I was thinking of all the wonderful New World foods that the Americas have to offer. I wanted to encourage research into what food stuff are native to an area. I wanted to have an idea of what people were preparing here 600 years ago. Before the arrival of the Dutch and English what were the natives of Manhattan Island and New England harvesting and storing for the winter.

Corn, fruits, berries, game and seafood I discovered. Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and cranberries to name a few that we still enjoy. Others are lost to history or only found wild in the woods.

On the New England coast fish were a staple and shellfish abound. The clambake is a tradition adopted from the natives. At thanksgiving every school child hears the story of Squanto, the native who taught the newcomers to plant each seed with a fish to fertilize it.

In the wooded areas game was plentiful. I expect anything that could be caught could be eaten. I must confess I had a desire to cook venison when I formulated this month's theme.

The natives of this area dried fruits, berries and nuts for the winter, to be eaten along with smoked meats, stews and pemican.

After dutiful research and a thorough brain wracking my New England Fall Fruit Egg Bake was born. Mixing squash, apples and New England's fall favorite: cranberries. An experiment with good ingredients that turned out wonderfully, great as a side, elevenses or even dessert. In the spirit of authenticity, I attempted to dry my own cranberries with partial success, not having a dehydrator at my disposal.

New England Fall Fruit Egg Bake

1- apple, sliced
1/4- baked squash, about 1/2 cup
1/4- cup dried unsweetened cranberries
1- tbsp dark honey
6- eggs or egg whites
Sea salt
Butter, oil or fat to grease skillet

•Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease cast iron skillet, pie pan or baking dish

•Arrange apple slices to cover the bottom of the dish.

•Sprinkle dried cranberries over apple slices.

•In a blender, whiz the squash, eggs and a liberal pinch of sea salt.

•Slowly pour egg mixture over apples and cranberries

•Bake for 30 minutes or until firm.

While the torte was in the oven I managed to trip the circuit in my electrically challenged apartment when I started to heat my electric grill to cook the venison. The frittata had to finish cooking itself in the preheated oven, but after a trip down to the basement, flashlight in hand, the power was restored and I was able to finish cooking the meal.

The venison was simple to cook, 4 minutes in my grill at 400 F was just rare enough for me. The sweet frittata was a perfect compliment to the flavorful, hearty meat.

*Those of you who are squeamish, please turn away, but I must get this out of my system. Yes! Yes, I had Bambi for dinner, he was delicious, and I make no apologies!


Sent from my iPhone

'Go ahead honey, it's gluten free!' - October: Indigenous Foods

Noami has been kind enough to hand the reins over to me for October's 'Go ahead honey, it's gluten free!'. We had discussed several ideas for October, but I'm going to surprise her with this one. Last month, we all made slow food with local ingredients.

As the weather gets colder, I gravitate towards the comfort foods of my childhood. Slow cooked soups and stews and the Italian favorites that my mother learned while tied to her Nonnie's apron strings. When I think of those warm, filling dishes it's the tart tomatoes that really make my moth water.

I love tomatoes! Nothing compares on a warm summer day to tomatoes, fresh from the vine, with fresh basil. Nothing says 'Italian' (at least to Americans) like tomato sauce: on pizza, pasta, lasagna. As well has tomatoes have been incorporated into Italian, and many other, dishes it remains that they are a New World Food. So are potatoes and some types of rice.

Now that the world is our grocery store we're exposed to so many styles, types and flavors of food. For those of us who are gluten free it introduces a world of gluten free grains from all over the world. Maize from the Americas, quinoa from the Andes and teff from Africa, to name just a few.

I buy locally grown produce, meat and dairy whenever I can but as I perused the selections at whole foods I began to wonder which of the animals we eat are indigenous to the Americas, and my area in particular . The ancestors of the cattle we are familiar with are from Africa, but bovines exist all over the world. Sheep were domesticated during prehistory in the Fertile Crescent but they thrive all over the world, in South America and Australia. In South America cuyes (or guinea pigs) were domesticated for food.

Traditional or regional dishes and flavors sprang from indigenous foods. As humanity has traversed the globe, these tastes have travelled with us. Wherever we settle we strive to recreate the foods we know. As I walked through the local markets I saw locally grown produce whose origins are not local and I began to wonder just where some of these foods and ingredients came form.

I want to challenge myself, and you, to really be aware of what foods are indigenous to my region and country and to try to create something with those native foods.

So, for this month's 'Go ahead honey, it's gluten free!' I am pleased to present Indigenous Foods. The deadline for entries is November 1st, when I will be posting a round up of all your recipes. Simply post your indigenous food recipe, with a link back to this page, and send me the link to your post along with a picture of your food. Please send submissions to: deliciouslygf [at] gmail [dot] com.

I can't wait to see what's native to your area!

Slow Food For Fall

I'm a few days late for Naomi's Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free event, but maybe she'll let me slide under the wire. This month's theme is slow food. The slowest food I can think of is my mother's turkey soup. Every Thanksgiving, except one, Mom roasted a huge turkey for our family of three, or four while Nonna was with us. I'm talking 20 pounds, in the oven ALL day, big kinda turkey.

After everyone ate turkey for several days Mom would cut the remaining meat from the bones and boil the bones in her huge soup pot. Th pot stayed on the stove for several days, simmering away. After two days of simmering the bones she removed them from the stock and placed the pot outside on the deck to cool. The next morning Mom skimmed the fat from the surface and began freezing bags or turkey stock.

We always had a big pot of turkey soup made from the last of the Thanksgiving bird, and homemade turkey soup was Mom's answer to all of winters sniffs, sniffles and dark days. Her soups were always peppery sharp and hearty. She added chunks of roast turkey or chicken, onions, carrots, celery, lots of garlic and pepper. Rice got fat soaking up the stock and fresh grated parmesan and pecorino topped these love filled bowls she placed before us.

If that's not slow food, I don't know what is.

I have neither the tools, space, or kitchen time to cook this the way Mom did. Maybe one day I'll have a kitchen of my own, but until then, I can always make Mom's feel better soup like this.

1 bone-in chicken breast, with or without skin

2 white onions

6 cloves garlic

3 stalks celery

1 bunch parsley

1 huge carrot

3 bay leaves

olive oil

fresh ground pepper

kosher salt

In a large soup pot, stock pot slow cooker place the rinsed chicken, 1 onion, 3 smashed cloves of garlic, 1 stalk of celery, 1/2 the parsley and bay leaves. Simmer for at least three hours.

Allow stock to cool, then remove chicken, onion, garlic, celery, parsley and bay leaves. Discard the vegetables.

In a large bowl or on a plate, pick all the chicken meat from the bones, shredding it into small pieces.

Chill the stock and skim the congealed fat from the surface if desired.

Chop the remaining vegetables. Heat a skillet with olive oil and begin sauteing the garlic and onions on low heat. When they are translucent and the carrots and let them sweat, covered, until they are slightly crisper than you would like. Add the celery and continue cooking until the celery is cooked.

Return the chicken and vegetables to the stock, add remainder of the parsley, chopped, and season with salt and fresh ground pepper.

If you can eat rice or grains, add any cooked rice or grain of your choice and serve.

* Mom always cooked the rice separately and added it only at the very end, into each bowl separately. If we stored the leftover soup and rice together, by the next night the rice had soaked up all the liquid and it no longer resembled soup.

**I always loved to add lots of fresh cheese to the left overs, I guess that was me making my very first risotto.