Feed-a-Cold "Cream" of Mushroom Soup

It's weird the things you crave when you're not feeling well. Those Campbell's soups were never something I looked forward to eating, and they normally remind me of being a time rushed student who had yet to learn how to cook, but when I'm ill they are what signifies comfort and "get well" food.

This recipe is for the thermomix. I'm sorry. I'm too fried to work out what I would normally do on a hob.  I think you could use a store brought almond milk or soy milk and use it in place of the water. Basically, I'm making the almond milk at the same time as cooking the soup here.

Ingredients:
1 pack of chestnut mushrooms (these have a better flavour than white.)
Half a large onion, quartered
1/4 cup of almonds, rinsed.
3 cloves garlic (I'm SICK! Also, mushrooms can take extra garlic)
1 chicken stock cube
2 potatoes, chopped
500 ml boiled water
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of rosemary
Sprinkle of Thyme

Method:
1) Pulse the onion and garlic a few times to chop.
2) Add the mushrooms and pulse a few times too.
3) tip everything out into a bowl and reserve.
4) add the almonds to the thermomix bowl, and grind on 9 for 30 seconds.
5) add the onion, garlic, mushrooms back to the bowl. Add the stock cube, chopped potatoes, and boiled water. Add herbs, and set to 2 minutes on 100c. After the two minutes are up, cook for 13 minutes on 90c.
6) Blend on speed 8 (start at 4 and work slowly up to 8) for 30 seconds and serve

This comes out looking exactly like the Campbell's soup (maybe a little bit more brown) and quite thick, but you can dilute to taste by adding a bit more non-dairy milk. It tastes just as I remember cream of mushroom soup, although it's been so long, so I'll need someone else to verify.

Home Made Coffee Liqure

Ok, so there's the official list of what's safe for coeliacs to drink, and then there's all the real life experiences (read the comments below the article) that make that list as clear as mud. That's what's good about the Internet though, because at least you can read the comments and reader feedback and come to your own conclusions. Without that feedback, I'd feel like a (n even more) giant freak.

Speaking for myself, I used to have a big problem with wines, which I originally thought was due to milk protein (to which I'm allergic) being used as a clearing agent, but since buying some certified vegan wines (casien free) wine and still reacting, I guess it can also mean that there may indeed have been gluten used to clear the wine as the dude in the wine store says is often the case. I haven't found any co-op wines with gluten in them, however to get an idea of which wines types or regions might do this.

I also react to caramel colouring (an E number, which has nothing to do with the food, and is often wheat derived in Europe) and have discovered that despite what most barmen have been told, that most dark or amber coloured liqueur is almost certain to have have some of this additive added to the final product to pretty it up for consumers.

Case in point: Jose Cuervo 100% agave Tequila in amber leaves me in an uncomfortable rash for days, while the clear (and cheaper) version of this 100% agave distillation leaves me bouncy with good memories of the night before. Same story with Bacardi white vs gold. Same gluten free alcohol base, different colour, different outcomes.

While I'm happy and relived to have found what works for me, I miss variety, and I really miss after dinner liqueurs.

But guess what? Some liqueurs are super easy to make!

The following recipe required no speciality shopping and comes out tasting exactly like Tia Maria, but I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that it will improve with the recommended 2 weeks of maturing (I don't know how, but I can hope, right?). It has a strong coffee kick, so if I was going to shop for ingredients it might be worth buying decaf, or mixing decaf and regular instant coffee 50%-50%.

I was a little concerned that Bacardi wasn't strong enough as the original recipe called for 100% proof alcohol, so am thinking that if I don't like how the final product is in two weeks I might hunt out this 100% proof white rum or a 100% potato based vodka for future ventures.

Preparation Time:
It takes about 15 minutes on the hob (although I used my thermomix so I wouldn't need to watch it), about 30 minutes to cool (I left the kitchen window open with the jug on the sink) and then pour into suitably large empty bottle. I recommend keeping some used wine bottles around, as the near empty 700ml bottle of Bacardi I had wasn't big enough and I wound up filling up an empty mini ouzo bottle and a jam jar.

Coffee Liqueur

• 300 grams unbleached caster sugar (that's what I had, you can use white regular sugar)
• 100 grams brown sugar. (I want my liqueur dark brown and sticky)
• 475 ml water
• 15 grams instant coffee granules (a little under 100ml in a measuring jug. Consider using decaf!)
• 15 ml vanilla extract (I used Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Extract, but look for one that has no colouring added, and ideally, which lists it's ingredients as "vanilla extract" and "alcohol"). 
• 475 ml white Bacardi. You can use this equivalent of vodka for a taste like Kahula if you prefer. 

Method:

1. Combine sugar and water and slowly bring to boil, stirring well. (Note: in a thermomix this took forever to happen even at 100C. I had to hit 'Varoma' before it finally boiled) 
2. Let it simmer for ten minutes (in the thermomix, I switched it back to 100C which steamed more than simmered, on speed 1) and mix from time to time. Now let cool, which will take a while. 
3. Add the coffee granules and the vanilla extract, then the Bacardi and fill into an empty bottle. I used a measuring jug to pour into an empty 700ml Bacardi bottle, but still needed more room! 
4. Close bottle(s) (and in my case, jam jar) tightly and keep in a cool dark place for 2 weeks. 

Coffee not your thing?
Try your hand at making lemoncello or coconut liqueur just as easily as above (although I will swap Bacardi in place of vodka, and forget the brandy in the coconut liqueur, as I can't find one without the dreaded colourant.)

Mixed Game Cacciatore

Cacciatore is usually made with chicken but since I understand it's name to mean "hunter" I decided mixed game was fine. They were selling 2 packs of mixed game for £6 at Tesco which seemed pretty good value for something that had never seen the inside of a barn, I figured. If using chicken try and get it with skin on as it adds so much flavour.

For a meatless version of this, think of things you'd "gather". I'd use a combination of wild and brown mushrooms, a bell pepper, and my seasonal fave - the chestnut, but go all out in caramelising the onions. It'll take around 30 minutes on medium to low heat but the flavour is so worth it.

I'm using a slow cooker for this since it's the weekend and I have time and don't want to be jumping up to check the dinner, but this can be cooked in a lidded pot in the oven at 200C for 40 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 2 packs of mixed diced game - around 500g (or chicken legs, breast, wings - whatever you have to hand.)
• gluten free flour, for dredging the meat.
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• a spring of thyme (I bought a bunch of the fresh stuff last week so it's appearing everywhere, but you can use whatever herbs you prefer, really)
• a sprinkle of oregano
• salt and pepper to season
• 100 ml red wine
• half a chicken stock cube
• a glug of white sherry (I found one that hadn't been cleared using milk at the local Co-op. The Co-op is the only place in the UK that lists all ingredients in their own-brand alcohols.)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

First, coat the meat in a little flour and leave to soak up the juices. In a frying pan on medium heat, gently caramelise the onions for 10 minutes. Put the onions aside. In the same pan, brown the meat gently, add seasoning and tip into the slow cooker. Add the tomatoes to the slow cooker. In the frying pan, pour the red wine into the pan and scrap down the pan with a wooden spoon to remove any burnt on bits. Add to slow cooker.  Add the herbs, haled stock cube, sherry and brown sugar, then leave to cook for 2 hours on high or 4 on low.

Serve over, what else? Pasta.

Turkey and Chestnut Meatloaf

The thing about eating seasonally is you actually look forward to the changing seasons for the change of flavours, and in winter, chestnuts are one of the seasonal perks I look forward to.

Preparing Chestnuts: You can buy then fresh or dried. If buying dried, you'll need to soak them for 12 hours to hydrate and then cook for another hour and a half. If buying fresh, slit the chestnuts at the top and boil for 20 minutes. You can also heat fresh chestnuts in the oven for 20 minutes, but they can explode (well, pop) or burn if you're not careful, so for me, boiling is best, and I like to do the boiling in the slow cooker to prevent boiling them dry and/or a super steamy kitchen. In a slowcooker, they take and hour and a half for fresh chestnuts and two hours and a half for dried chestnuts (on high). They'll start to crumble a bit as you peel them, but that works out pretty well for this recipe. Once done boiling rinse under cold water but return to the emptied warm crockpot to keep warm. Chestnuts get more difficult to peel as they cool.

The Ingredients:

• 500g of Turkey mince
• 100g ground chestnuts
• 90g gluten free breadcrumbs (I used Organ, which I found at Uhuru whole foods in Oxford)
• 1 egg
• 1 leek, or onion, chopped.
• a good glug of olive oil
• a few sprigs of thyme
• salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C. Rub a little olive oil into a roasting tin and place in oven so the oil gets hot. 

Fry the leek or onion gently to slightly caramelise. 4-5 minutes. Put Aside. Pulse chestnuts in a food processor to chop, but don't let them get to breadcrumb size. 2-3 pulses should do it. In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs, chestnuts, seasoning, thyme and raw mince and the egg and mix together. Bring the roasting try out from the oven and press the turkey mixture into the roasting tin. You don't want it to be too flat, just compressed so it holds together well. Top off with a little more herbs and put in oven for around 30 minutes. It should be nice and brown on top without looking too dry. 

We served this with some roasted root veggies -beetroot and parsnip- and a side of mashed potato. We had enough for a generous lunch the next day and plus little more for snack.

I Crave Chocolate

My immune system smells allergens like a shark smells blood in water. One of the knock on effects of this is that I can't eat chocolate.

I don't mean my home made hot chocolate or coca infused brownies, cakes or mousses. The crunchy bar stuff. The stuff that's always got soya lecithin included as an ingredient, or "may contain traces of.." the things that put me in so much pain I might as well imagine someone hitting me fully in the face with a frying pan the moment I pick up the bar. Talk about aversion therapy. I was lucky enough to find a brand of dairy free, gluten free chocolate that did not include soya, but which "might include traces of soya". I figured my soya allergy wasn't so pronounced to be affected by such tiny amounts yet so bought it, but by the third day I was reaching for the antihistamines immediately after and was wheezing in an unmistakable true-food allergy fashion.

I gave the rest of the bar to Mr Umami, even though 70% dark cocoa isn't his thing; he's more of a swiss chocolate type. Me, I prefer the "crack" of chocolate, at 70% or 80% - a single square leaves me my nerves tingling and my tongue satisfied, but my preference is probably because this way my chocolate -the mythical bar that's that's allergen free- would last longer than one sitting.

So I was really happy when Quirky Cooking posted up this recipe for "almost raw" chocolate. This is because, like the author (Jo), I also have a thermomix. It's one of the smartest investments I ever made once I had confirmed that food was the source of my health problems. I had also bought chocolate moulds earlier this year but my plans at making chocolate stagnated. Her recipe for the thermomix seemed extremely do-able, no adaptations needed.

I found cocoa nibs at amazon.co.uk along with cocoa butter. JOY! You'll notice amazon also stocks ground cocoa powder by the same company, but one thing I've learned about my storm trooper immune system is that if something isn't milled in a dedicated gluten, dairy and soy free factory, then I'll react. One particle in 500 may be enough to fit the gluten and wheat free criteria by E.U law, but try explaining that to my white blood cells. Really, find a way, and I'll be more than happy to go nuts in the free from section again. That's one of the reasons I shelled out for my Thermomix, and why I prefer to buy things whole and grind them myself if I don't know for certain where they've been milled. I've had to throw out a lot of expensive "naturally gluten free" flours (coconut, chickpea, buckwheat, quinoa, corn) because my skin was able to tell me they weren't gluten free enough. I've since learned to rinse rice and other gluten free grains a few times before using, and to soak dried fruit and nuts to get rid of any "other" particles.

So. Chocolate. 100% home made, no traces of anything.

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Next Day Pheasant Pie

Yesterday's Slow Cooked Pheasant recipe yielded massive dinners for Mr Umami and myself and hearty lunches for us both the following day. Making bigger dinners and then taking leftovers to work is my top tip to save hassle in the morning or anxiety over finding anything suitable for an allergy diet in the perimeter of the workplace. I like to pack the leftovers up the night before to give myself one less thing to try and squeeze in the morning. 

Pies are versatile: use whatever leftover meat you have to hand, add some vegetable fillers (carrot, swedes, parsnip, celery, leeks, etc), and some 'meaty' fillers: mushrooms, chestnuts, beans, fried bacon or other bits of leftover meats, or even potato if the cuboard is bare. Optional: an 'accent' such as: prunes, figs, apple, currants, apricot.

Then top with pastry. 

Tips for Working with Gluten Free Pastry

This will need to be chilled for a minimum of thirty minutes. If in doubt, make it a little dryer than you think you'll need and it'll be easier to work with. If your kitchen is on the warm side (like my closet sized one is) consider taking the pastry and a smooth chopping board lined with clingfilm into the living room (or any other cool room) to roll it out. Warm pastry will tear a lot. 

And if it tears, just patch it up! It's home-made, after all.

I don't line my pies with an underlayer of pastry as it seems a lavish use of expensive flour and dairy free butter substitute - and just because I'm gluten free doesn't mean I don't still need to watch my cholesterol - but if you'd like to do so, please double up the amount of pastry dough below.

Gluten Free Pastry:

• 190 g gluten free flour (I use Doves Gluten Free White Bread Flour with Xantham gum already added)
• 90 g dairy free spread (I use Pure Dairy Free Sunflower spread)
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1 tablespoon of water.
• clingfilm

If using a bowl and spoon, chop butter up into cubes, and rub into the dough until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the whisked egg and mix with a spoon until it just begins to come together. Tip out of the bowl onto a smooth surface and roll into a smooth ball and wrap in clingfilm, then leave in fridge to harden.

If using a food processor: add flour and butter and pulse a few times until the mix achieves that breadcrumb texture. Add the egg and blend for a few seconds. My thermomix found the mixture too hard for the blades to keep whirring after a few secs, and it has a strong motor, so I wouldn't push it on a lesser powered food processor. Just blend for a few seconds and then stop, tip out into a bowl and form into a ball by hand, cover in clingfilm and then leave to harden.

For the Pie filling:

• Leftover pheasant meat, stripped from carcass.
• 1 Large carrot, diced
• 1 Parsnip, diced
• 1 baking apple
• 1 leek
• olive oil
• 100ml of chicken stock
• thyme
• 1 egg (whisked), for brushing on the pastry.

Method:
Fry up the leeks on a gentle heat - the idea is to caramalise them a little rather than kill them- and then add the carrots and parsnips to soften a little. Tip all into the pie dish.

Take the pastry ball out from the fridge. I have a silicone mat that I like to roll out my pastry on as it's non-stick, but you can use a sheet of clingfilm under and over the pastry ball. I find gluten free pastry tears more easily than regular type pastry so once I have it rolled out to the shape I like I pick up my silicone sheet, flip it over onto the pie dish and carefully separate it from the silicone sheet with a dining knife. 

Press the pastry over the sides of the baking dish, then brush with whisked egg and bake in a pre heated oven at 200C for half an hour until the pastry is puffed up and golden.

Slow cooker Pheasant, and Next Day Pheasant Pie

One of the reasons I love game is because its had a chance to live it's wild life just as it was meant to. In my opinion, this trumps any organic, free ranged meat that's been carefully fed a pre-made mix of whatever at scheduled times. The other reason I like game is because we don't cut down forests locally or rainforests abroad in order to feed and keep them. As far as eating meat goes, it's win win (except for the game, that is).

The downside of game, is that because it's not kept in a tiny cage and killed as it approaches puberty, it'll be a bit tougher to cook, but this can be dealt with beautifully in the slow cooker. If you're buying from a market, The Cottage Small holder gives excellent advice on choosing game (and a great recipe for pheasant) but I order mine through Able and Cole when it's in season, so I wasn't the one choosing the bird. 

Tenderising the bird (overnight): 

The way I deal with a larger bird is to marinate it overnight with a mix of cider vinegar, olive oil and salt (plus whatever herbs I'm planning of using) to begin tenderising the meat, then putting it in the slow cooker the next day with a good glug of wine and let the slow cooker get to work. This might seem like a hassle, but the convince of ordering most of the weeks groceries while in my bathrobe in a few minutes on a Saturday morning (the veg box is scheduled weekly, all I do is check the next weeks contents and add a few extras to the box to compliment it -usually some kind of meat and gluten free pasta or some risotto rice) and then having it brought to my doorstep greatly outweighs the time and effort of wandering around a supermarket, so chucking a little tenderiser over the bird the night before is an acceptable trade off for me. 

Substitutions: This recipe uses what we had in our veg box that week. You can substitute cavolo nero with cabbage or kale. If using cabbage, you can add this to the slow cooker an hour before serving to soften it up, if using cavolo nero or kale, add half an hour before serving, or stir fry in a frying pan (1-2 minutes) and add at the last minute. I think cavolo nero and kale are best when not be completely wilted. If you don't have leeks, shallots or onions would be fine.
You can cook this in a conventional oven in a lidded pot for an hour and a half on 140C if three hours is too long.

Ingredients:

• 1 pheasant. If large, marinated overnight as above.
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 3-4 rashers of bacon, diced. 
• 2 garlic cloves (I love garlic! You can use one if you prefer)
• 3 tomatoes, chopped (these were in our veg box that week, right at the end of tomato season, but you can use half a can of tinned otherwise)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• a splash of balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 glass of red wine 
• 200ml of chicken stock.
• salt and pepper
• Rosemary
• Sage (or hebs of your choice)
• A good handful of cavolo nero. It will shrink to less than half it's volume so don't afraid to use more than you can possible image you'll need. Tear the leaves off from the stalks, discard the stalks, then chop the leaves roughly. 

Method:

1. Fry up the bacon and add to slow cooker
2. Turn the heat up high and add the copped tomatoes and a table spoon of olive oil until tomatoes get soft and and and start to melt. Turn down heat to medium and add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. Stir a little and turn down heat for a minute of so. Add to slow cooker.
3. add the chopped leeks to the bottom of the slow cooker
4. Rub a little olive oil, salt and herbs on the pheasant and add pheasant to the slow cooker.
5. Add carrots, seasoning, herbs, then the glass of wine, stock and the tablespoon of tomato puree (into the liquid). Don't worry if the liquid doesn't seem to cover the bird (it won't), what we're using here is the heat inside the slow cooker to replicate a pot roast in the oven, but using less energy.
6. set slow cooker to 'high' and leave to cook for three hours
7. Before serving, stir fry the cavolo nero with a little olive oil and add to the pot on serving.

We ate this with mashed potato and it was gorgeous. Even more so as my train had been delayed and I was starving. (thanks once again to Mr Umammi for taking instructions by email and cooking for me!).

Tomorrow, I'll write up how to make the leftover into a pie.

Falafil with 'Persian' rice.

Confession: I have no actual clue how Persians do their rice, but I'm reading a memoir about an American-Persian girl's return to Iran and whenever they talk about food is sounds both delicious and decadent. My rice is just saffron and cardamom rice with toasted pine nuts and some cinnamon sprinkled on top. I figure adding the cinnamon takes the rice outside out Arabian territory. Of course I could have looked a recipe up but I'm only writing up what I cooked on the fly last night, when looking things up was the last thing on my mind.

A note on chickpea preparation: you can buy these canned (it's a good idea to have a can handy for disorganised days), or you can buy them dried they'll be much more economical. What I do is either leave them to soak in the morning and then boil for ten minutes (this is necessary to kill the enzyme that causes gas) or text Mr Umami to do a 'quick soak' ready for when I come in (otherwise I'd have to wait an hour, and I just can't see that happening). A 'quick soak' goes like this: boil for ten minutes then let the chickpeas soak for an hour in the hot water. Then change water and boil again for 10 minutes. The secret is to do twice the amount needed and keep the rest in rinsed out jars, water and some salt in the fridge so they're ready for next time!

Note on falafil preparation: will need a blender! If all you have is a hand blender, use that to mash up the chickpeas and mix the rest in by hand. It's be a lot more chunky, but that's ok.

How to make Falafil:
1 cup soaked, boiled chickpeas.
50g doves gluten free flour
1 teaspoon cumin
2 garlic gloves (I like my falafil garlicky! If you don't, use 1 clove)
1 teaspoon coriander (I use Barts ready made coriander paster)
1 egg or egg replacer (I use Organs No Egg to save on cholesterol and so I can hopefully delay developing an egg allergy)
Oil for frying. I use Bertollie extra light olive oil for baking and frying.

First put the chickpeas in the blender and pulse until it's a chunky meal, along the lines of buckwheat texture. Then add all other ingredients and blend until just mixed. I used a falafil maker to shape the falafil, but you can spoon out the mixture into little balls then flatten into chunky disks.  Fry for about 2 minutes each side or until golden. I like to put mine in a heated oven for about ten minutes on temp 200 to make sure the middle part is done because I don't deep fry them.

For the Faux Persian Rice:
half a cup white rice
2 cardamom pods, cracked
a good pinch saffron
cinnamon, to sprinkle after.
Pine nuts

Rinse rice three times, then put in pot with twice the volume of water, the cardimom and saffron. Bring to boil then simmer ten minutes. when time is up and the rice is done, take off the heat and let the rice settle.
Using a frying pan, toast the pine nuts a little so they brown. I use the same pan as I've used to fry the falafil so it's still got some oil in it at this point. Spoon out the rice into mounds and top with the pine nuts, then sprinkle with cinnamon.

To serve: I like my falafil with tahini paste and some lemon juice over them. Tahini paste is a great source of calcium and omega threes (oh, and it's yummy) so don't hesitate to add some to your pantry.

Sweetcorn Chili Fritters with Home Made Salsa

We're in sweetcorn season for sure now! The weekly veg box seems full of them, and yet we're still getting a reassuring amount of tomatoes too. That's what I love about autumn and seasonal food.

I thought I was running out of sweetcorn steam until I came across this recipe and added just a pinch of red and green chillies and a few inches of leeks to give a little more flavour. If you don't tolerate heat well, just use the original recipe as it's perfect. The home-made salsa is a perfect accompaniment, and we served it with some Spanish style potatoes: simply peel, dice, and boil them before drizzling a little extra virgin olive oil and a good sprinkle of paprika. It's a kind of Latin/Spanish fusion but I like it. I've also substituted half the amount of flour for chickpea flour for extra protein. If you buy chickpea flour from an ethnic shop (it's called gram flour of channa flour) please be aware that it may not be packed in a gluten free facility. Some coeliacs will be fine with this level of contamination, others won't be. It's also possible that you start out being ok with it and find over time that you do eventually need to switch to certified gluten free flours.

Sweetcorn Chili Fritters:
Serves 4
Time: 20-25 minutes.

• 50g Doves gluten free plain white flour
• 50g Doves gram flour (chickpea flour)
• 1 tbsp gluten free baking powder, or make your own.
• Seasoning
• Medium egg (or you could use a gluten free egg replacer like Organ No Egg)
• 150ml non dairy milk (I used Rice Dream, fortified with calcium)
• 2 kernels from 2 ears sweetcorn, boiled for ten minutes and drained. 
• (optional) 1 small green chilli, chopped finely
  
• (optional) 1 inch of a red chilli, more if you can handle the heat! Chopped finely as above. You can use a sweet pepper instead if you prefer. Just chop it finely.
• (optional) 2 inches of a medium thickness leek, chopped finely.

  1. In a frying pan gently brown the chopped leeks, green pepper and red chilli on a medium heat. About 3-4 minutes should be ok.
   2. Mix the flour, baking powder and seasoning into a large bowl, add the egg and gradually beat in 150ml milk to form a smooth batter. It'll be quite thick. 
   2. Add the leeks, chilli and sweetcorn kernels to the batter add to the batter mix.
   3. In a frying pan, add a good glug of light olive oil (I like Bertoli extra light. You could use extra olive oil but it froms free radicals at high heat, which isn't so healthy). Once hot, use a ladel or large spoon to fry spoonful of mixture for about 2 mins each side until golden and crisp on each side. They'll puff up a little bit likes scotch pancakes so don't worry if at first it looks very lumpy.
   4. Serve the sweetcorn fritters with a salsa and spanish style potatoes or brown rice.

Here's the recipe I used for the raw salsa. It's lovely!

Sweet potato and Sweetcorn Soup

Serves 4
Time: 15 minutes in thermomix or 20 + prep on the hob

a good glub of extra virgin olive oil
1.5 large sweet potatoes, skinned and cubed
1 ear sweetcorn, kernels removed.
half an onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped.
1 thick inch of fresh ginger, chopped fine.
chicken stock cube
quarter teaspoon of nutmeg
20 grams chickpeas (soaked and boiled). I had these leftover from another recipe. You can omit them if you like but I think it adds protein and thickness.
Non-dairy milk of choice, to add creaminess later

I did all of this in the thermomix, as I came home much later than usual due to a bad combination of work insanity, trains and buse tardiness + traffic woes.  I'll put how I would do this on the hob at the end but you'll need an immersion blender (hand blender) for the final mixing and it'll take longer: about 20 minutes on the hob.

In the thermomix the whole thing took 15 minutes from getting out the ingredients to the table, and on days like yesterday when I'm tired, stressed and starving, that's a lifesaver.

Thermomix recipe:
1) Onions garlic and ginger went into thermomix at speed spoon, temp 100 C, 2 minutes.
2) Cubed sweet potato and sweetcorn, stock cube, chickpeas, nutmeg and 500ml of boiled water go in, speed 1, temp 100, 12 minutes.
3) When time is up, blend at speed 5 for thirty minutes. It'll be a smooth, very thick consistancy.
4) I like to put the soup into bowls first then add the non dairy milk to the desired consistancy. I also added a dash of cyane pepper for some kick on top.

Hob Recipe:
Fry the onions, garlic and ginger on medium heat for 2 minutes, then transfer to a pot. Add all the other ingredients, bring it to boil then put on medium simmer for 20 minutes with lid slightly off.  Take the soup off the hob and let it cool a little before blending with an immersion blender and add milk substitute as desirred.

Cauliflower Fritters & Lentil Rice with Hot Sauce

This will take about 40 mins, maybe more to prepare.

• 1 cauliflower, core removed and broken into florets
• 100 g breadcrumbs
• mixed herbs
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 90 ml vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 onion
• rice
• lentils
• teaspoon nutmeg
• beef stock

For the sauce:

• one clove garlic, crushed 
• one hot chile pepper, cleaned and chopped
• can crushed tomatoes 
• one-half cup water
• two tablespoons vinegar 
• teaspoon cumin 

Serve along with brown rice & brown (or green) lentils: rinse the brown rice in a large pot of plastic bowl three times, then put aside into an empty cooking pot. Measure out a slightly less than equal mount of lentils and rinse the same way,before adding to the rice. The idea is to wash the rice and lentils separably so you can better see if there are any stray bits of other grain (wheat etc) that have found their way into the package. Boil the rice and lentils with the beef stock. 

Chop the onion into 1 inch pieces (in other words, not too finely) and fry until caramelised, then set aside. 

The brown rice and lentils will both take 30-40 mins to cook, so factor that in before beginning the fritters. When the rice is done, add a pinch or two of nutmeg and mix, then stir in the caramelised onions.

Sauce: 

Prepare sauce while lentils and rice are cooking: Heat oil in large skillet or frying pan. Sauté garlic and/or chile pepper for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, water, vinegar, cumin and salt. Cook on high heat for a few minutes, then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes until sauce is thick and velvety. Set aside. 

The fritters (can be done alongside the sauce)

Par-boil the cauliflower in salty water (5 mins should be ok) and then drain. In a bowl, mix together the. Dip the cauliflower in the eggs, then coat in the breadcrumb & herb mixture. Heat the oil in a pan and lightly fry until golden. 

Trini Curried Pumpkin & Lentil Rice

For Mr Umami's post footie dinner on Sundays, something easy to digest but not too light is the aim. Since our veg box this week had an acorn squash, which I discovered really lasts (recipe for Morrocan lamb tagine with pumpkin coming!) I thought this Caribbean inspired recipe from Trini Gourmet was as close to perfect as possible!

Please do check out her blog for her variety of dishes. Plus, she's Kosher, so no shellfish in sight! Yay!

Here's all I've done differently:
Add equal amount of brown lentils as brown rice, wash both 4 times really well. I leave them to soak in a little cold water while I start of the pumpkins. I didn't have curry powder so I ground up allspice (3-4 balls) in the pestle with the same amount of curry leaves and 2 teaspoons of gram masala powder. Instead of pimento peppers I used one peri peri pepper. I used a beef stock cube to the water to give everything some more flavour and chucked in some cabbage to use it up.

Slow Cooker Chicken Moqueca (Brazil)

A real Brazilian Moqueca should be seafood based, with prawns, fish and clam juice in the broth. If you can eat these things, you might want to try this recipe from the food network, otherwise, I've adapted this Chicken version for the slow cooker, since it's a bank holiday and I'm too tired to be watching the oven.

Allergy Free fish-sauce substitute: a great tip I learned from Elizabeth Gordon, who tweets under the name Allergyfreelife is to use Umi plums in place of anchovies. It just so happens that Umi Plum Seasoning can be found in the oriental food section or in specialist ethnic shops, and can replace fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce in recipes. A few drops does the job!


Time: two hours on high or 4 on low.
Ingredients:

• 650g chicken legs, or chicken thighs. You could use breast if you really want to, but in this economic climate I think legs and thighs work brilliantly for stews.
• Half a can of coconut milk.
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 lime, or lime juice.
• 1 table spoon lemon juice and 1 cider vinegar, or half a cup of white wine, and reduce to half in the frying pan.
• 2 table spoons canned tomato.
• 1 table spoon tomato paste.
• 1 teaspoon fresh coriander + 1 table spoon dried (the dried stuff is milder tasting. I didn't want this meal to be totally coriander-y, but if you like add two teaspoon fresh)
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 tablespoons sugar.
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped fine
• half an onion, chopped fine
• an inch of fresh ginger, chopped fine.
• 1 peri-peri pepper (optional, if you like heat)
• 2 bay leaves
• freshly grated black pepper
• 1 red sweet pepper
• 2 plantains.

Method:

Fry up the onions and garlic, add the ginger and tip into slow cooker. Brown the chicken, then add to the slow cooker too. Add all other ingredients except the plantain* (see note below) and sweet pepper. 

Switch the slow cooker on high, and leave for half the cooking time (1 hour if using high, 2 hours if using low). Then slice the red pepper into thin stripes and dice the plantain into 1 inch rounds and add both to the slow cooker. You could add them sooner, but they'll get mushy, so I like to add them just an hour before serving since the broth should be bubbling by then. Add lime juice, taste and add more brown sugar if necessary and serve with rice.

Edited: * If your plantains are extra firm, add them at the very beginning, at the bottom of the slow cooker so they get soft and sweet.

'Charmed' Leeks

I ♥ my dyslexia sometimes. I mis-read this recipe for creamed leeks and got really excited at the idea of finding a "power of three" leek recipe (presumably you need your two sisters to hold hands with you and read the recipe aloud for it to work? What was I was expecting?!), but since I don't use cream I decided that 'charmed' is actually a better word for this adaptation after all. Mr Umami - who is not allergy prone and loves dairy- loved this recipe so it passes the no allergy taste test. If you're not soy intolerant, you can use shop bought soya cream instead. For people with nut allergies, you can use hemp cream, the recipe for which is linked below.

Notes: If using cashew cream, cashews should be soaked before blending. I like to measure them out and soak them in the morning so they are ready when I come home.

Time: 15 minutes prep + half hour baking.
Quantity: serves four
Ingredients:

• 40 g Pure Dairy Free sunflower spread,
• 4 leeks, finely sliced
• 5 spring onions, chopped
• 5 sprigs thyme,
• 1 cup hemp cream or cashew cream + 1 tablespoon apple cider viengar and 2 tea spoon lemon juice + pinch of salt, I find that dairy cream has a slightly acid taste that is missing from soy and nut creams, so this help replicate that.
• 1 pack bacon
• Sprinkle of gluten free breadcrumbs (optional)

Instructions:
Chop up spring onions and leeks (I include the green tops) and place with butter in either a frying pan on medium heat to soften (5-10 mins) or in thermomix at 100C speed 2 for 10 mins. Chop up and fry bacon separately, then combine leeks and bacon in a baking dish and pour over the cashew or nut cream. Top with gluten free breadcrumbs, if using and bake for 20 minutes and then switch to grill and cook combo for the last ten to brown the breadcrumbs.

We had this with polenta and it was perfect.

Slow Cooker Pork and cabbage

I'm not a big cabbage fan but this comes out sweet and peppery, with no cabbage taste!

Time: 4 hours.
Portions: 4 portions.

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg pork shoulder or escalopes
• 1 rounded tsp black peppercorns, crushed with a pestle
• 1 tbsp sage leaves
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions , chopped
• 1.5kg red cabbage , finely shredded
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
• Apple juice + 1 table spoon apple cider vinegar (we used apple juice, and the cabbage gave the liquid plenty of red color)
• Dried apricots, a handfull.
• 2 table spoons brown sugar.

Instructions:

1. Pour a little olive oil on bottom of slow cooker, line with the chopped onions and carrot.
2. Brown the pork in a frying pan. 
3. Put all ingredients into slow cooker on top of the onions and carrots and pour in liquid. 
4. switch slow cooker on "high" for 4 hours.

We loved this, although the pepper was a little strong for Mr Umami. This goes really well with rice or polenta. If you have chestnuts this would go well too. 

Butternut Squash Risotto

In the first days of my allergy cooking life, I was overwhelmed by how many cooking cheats were no longer permissible for those weeknight evenings when the train is late. So many sauces and pre-made foods were now off limits, and cooking dinner went from something that was done in 30 minutes flat into an hour chore or longer. I needed tools.

The first thing I got was a bigger slow cooker and timer plug, but when I heard of the Thermomix I knew it was the answer I was looking for and started saving up for it. I got it last November and it's been a life saver on so many occasions since. The ability to make my own almond or rice milk, grind my own millet or qinoa flour is hugely reassuring  (not to mention cheaper) on days when I can't get down to the only health food store that sells the brands that do not contain some additive or other that I'm allergic to, and on lazy nights or days when I haven't had time or organisation to prep the slow cooker I can make soups, risottos or stews in that thirty minute mark. 

So, here are two versions of the same recipe, one for slow cooker -if you have two hours before eating time or an accommodating hubs/kid/housemate to prep it- and one for the thermomix for when you don't. 

A Note on wine: I've made both these recipes sans white wine, as I need to check the ingredient list to be sure they are casein free. In the UK there's only the co-op that lists their wine ingredients and sometimes I prefer to drink it at dinner than cook with it. Wine can be made using gluten, casein and milk indigents, and even blood and seafood, so don't let anyone tell you it's "in your head" if you think you're feeling poorly after drinking even expensive or organic wine.

Important: Always rinse rice thoroughly before using. Rice -and any naturally gluten free ingredient like millet, lentils, polenta, etc- can be packed in warehouses alongside barley, cous cous, nuts and bulgar wheat to name just a few allergens. If cooking for someone with allergies, place rice in a large bowl, fill with cool water, swirl around with your hand thoroughly to completely dislodge any residue then drain. Repeat at least twice then drain and leave to dry a bit in a fine colander or mesh strainer that's not been used for 'normal' (gluten containing) flour: the flour gets caught in between the cross hairs of the mesh.

A) Slow cooker recipe

Notes and Credits: Adapted from original recipe at Words to Eat By. 

Time: 2 hours.

Portion: 4 portions or two very generous ones!

Ingredients:

• 2 tea spoons dried sage leaves.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 small onions, chopped fine.
• 1 cup well washed arborio rice
• 3.5 cups vegetable or chicken stock (or mix of both), 1 table spoon lemon juice and 1 of apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups peeled, seeded, and ½” cubed butternut squash
• kernels from 1 corn—link on how to remove them from cob 
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• salt & pepper

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onions until translucent and softened (3-5 minutes), add the rinsed and drained rice (it's ok if it's still a bit wet) and cook for a minute or two, stirring to coat each grain with oil, until the rice starts to pop a little in the pan (2-3 minutes should do it). Add the lemon juice, vinegar and half a cup of stock and cook until almost completely absorbed, another 5-6 minutes. Scrape contents of pan into the slow cooker, add the stock and cubed squash & corn, stir, cover, and cook on high for 2-2 ½ hours. 

Check after two hours; the liquid  should will be mostly absorbed while still having a rather "stew"ish texture and the rice will be al dente.  Stir to break up the squash, seson with salt and pepper and maybe a dash more lemon juice, switch slow cooker off and leave for five minutes for the rice to aborb the rest of the liquid.

B) Thermomix Recipe:

Credits: Adapted from original recipe on UK Thermomix.
Portions: as before.
Time: a little over 20 mins.
Ingredients:

• 2 tea spoons dried sage leaves.
• 30 olive oil
• 2 small onions, peeled
• 300 g butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, cut into 3 cm chunks
• 250 well washed risotto rice
• kernels from 1 corn—link on how to remove them from cob 
• 540 g stock, or water with stock cube (chicken is best, or mix chicken and vegetable if not enough)
• 1 table spoons of lemon juice, 1 table spoon of apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 30 g butter plus enough to fry the sage leaves

1. Make up the stock
2. Add the oil, onions, and pumpkin or squash and chop 5 to 6 seconds/Speed 5 . The pumpkin should be in small pieces, not minced.
3. Cook 8 minutes/100°C/Speed 1.
4. Add the rice, lemon juice, vinegar, half the sage leaves and 40g of stock and cook 2 minutes/100°C/Speed Spoon/Reverse Blade direction.
5. Add the corn and rest of stock and cook 12 minutes/100°C/Speed Spoon/Reverse Blade direction.
6. Meanwhile fry the sage leaves gently in a knob of butter until crisp.
7. Add the 30g butter and cook  2 minutes/100°C/ Speed Spoon/Reverse Blade direction.
8. Check the rice for “doneness” and if necessary cook another minute, or if too dry add some more stock or water. It should be quite ‘soupy’ at this stage as it absorbs the liquid as it settles.
9. Turn into a bowl, add the seasoning to taste.  Mix and serve immediately with the fried sage leaves on top.

This comes out quite sweet and very comforting. We ate ours with jammon on the side. This would also be nice with chicken or porcini mushrooms. 

Raw Hemp Cream Recipe

I favour hemp milk because of the essential fatty acids (omegas 3,6 and 9) and for it's high protein content compared to rice milk. Nut milks also share this benefit (especially almond milk) but I don't like to eat nuts too often in case I develop an allergy to that too. 'Try and keep things varied' is my best advice if you know that you're allergy prone, and don't over-consume any superfoods or supplements thinking 'more' will make you healthier. It seems many diet books today support mulitple portions a day of either a certain food (soy, acai berry, hemp), food group (protein, fibre) or supplement (fish oil, co-enzyme Q10). It sells because it's simple and catchy, but healthy it is not.
For myself, I tend to alternate between home-made hemp milk, sunflower seed milk, Quirky Cooking's Rice-Almond milk and commercially bought Rice Dream with Calcium.

Notes and credits: I've adapted the recipe from Brynna's Vegan Feast for the thermomix, and to make a smaller quantity since 3 cups seemed like a lot for most of my needs and raw milk doesn't last long in the fridge. I'm on the lookout for a non-raw version so there may be updates to this that involve cooking times.

Yield: 1.5 cups

• 1.5 cups boiled water
• 1/4 cup shelled hemp seeds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• pinch of salt

Equipment:

• Thermomix or high power blender
• Nut milk bag. I get these from Chinese grocery shop 3 to a pound!
• 1 jug

Place the shelled hemp seeds in the blender, and blend on speed 8 for about 2 minutes, then speed 9 for 2 minutes. Add Sugar and salt and blend on speed 4 until dissolved. Open the lid of the thermomix or blender and allow the mixture to cool a little, then place the milk bag into the jug and pour the milk into the milk to strain.

See also: Bryanna's blog: Vegan Kitchen Fest for cool things to do with hemp milk.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Irish Soda Bread

The BBC website used to have a great recipe for this staple, which seems to have since disappeared. I hate when this happens, and I also hate when I know I have this most basic gluten free recipe somewhere in my library of recipe books but can't find it. So I went to the experts.

Notes and credits: The recipe below is adapted from 'Soda bread as it's really made in Ireland' with inspiration for modifications taken from Karina, Gluten Free Goddess. She uses her own flour mix and two eggs, while I use Doves Gluten free flour and a mix of egg, ground flax seeds and no oil to cut down on cholesterol. A no egg version can be made by doubling the amount of flax seeds and adding a dash more liquid. I will try the oil and cutting down on milk next time as I think mine took too long in the oven due to the mixture being too "wet", although the final product looks and tastes perfect.

Time: It took about 50-55 minutes I think before it was ready to eat. I'd say preparation took about 10.

Oven temp: 220 degrees C. Switch it on now before you read on.

Things to know before you start: Don't spend too long getting this dough into the oven. Once the milk is added to the flour the bicarb will start to raise, so if you stop halfway to watch the video at the bottom, or answer the phone, you'll wind up with something quite airy and cakey instead of dense and rustic. If you're unsure how the dough should look, scroll down and load the youtube video now.

Dry Ingredients:

• 450g Doves Gluten Free White Bread Flour
• 3 teaspoons sugar (don't panic! The bread won't be sweet: this is to compensate for the extra bicarb)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds. This substitutes an egg and adds fibre. 

Wet Ingredients:

• 300 ml dairy free milk (I used Quirky Cooking's Rice-Almond Milk Recipe for the thermomix)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - this gives the milk a more buttermilk style taste.
• 1 egg.
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (light, if possible)

First, preheat oven to 220 degrees C. It's important that it's reached the correct temperature before the bread goes in.

Then, combine the dry ingredients first, then whisk the egg in a separate bowl and add it to the flour mixture. Add the apple cider to the milk and add this a little at a time and blend the mixture with a spoon. Doves Flour mixture absorbs more fluid than regular flour, so if you're using a different flour mix, use less and rely on the look of the dough to guide you. What you're aiming for is a mixture that's not quite as dry as to leave the sides of the bowl totally clean (like a scone mix would be), but not sticky either and definitely not sloppy like a normal bread mix. Here's showing you what the final mix should look like from the Irish Soda Bread as it's Made in Ireland page, because they rock!

Once that's done, flour the surface of your baking sheet and flour your hand too then tip out the dough and form into a smooth dome. Sprinkle the surface with more flour, then use a sharp knife to cut a cross figure across the top of the loaf. Not too deep. (again, see video. I will upload pics one day -hangs head in shame)

My oven isn't fan assisted and took around 40 minutes too cook. The bread should look golden brown.

See Also: This recipe from La Tartine Gourmande, which uses quinoa, millet and sweet rice flour, all of which can be made in the Thermomix. This would be more nutritious and higher in fibre, but the flour won't be as fine.