Posts filed under 'Gluten-Free'
These cheese crisps couldn’t be easier to make and are perfect for noshing. I highly recommend that you grate the Parmesan as opposed to purchasing the already grated variety. Parchment paper is also a necessity.
I served these alongside my curried apples. You can make some with almonds and some without for a little variety. They last for about 3 days in an air tight container, depending on the humidity where you live.
For 16 crisps
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
As pictured, make small slightly compact piles of grated cheese and then place some of the almonds on top. place in the oven and bake for 6 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
These are also delicious with soups and salads. Enjoy!
December 27th, 2010
With Christmas upon us, we will be signing off for a few days for celebrating, cooking and eating. We would like to wish you happy holidays full of merriment and treats. Thank you for following Flavorista and for sharing our posts, we appreciate the time you spend with us.
Photo by Patti Sundik
Chef John of Q’s restaurant in Boulder shared this recipe with Flavorista. He serves it with lamb loin. During the holiday season, this would also make a nice addition to any table or a great hostess gift. Cherry Central, in Michigan is a excellent resource for dried cherries.
Adjust the vinegar and sugar levels in this recipe to achieve a acidity/sweetness level that you like. A smoother texture can be achieved by chopping the cherries before simmering.
The addition of herbs or other flavoring ingredients can add additional complexity to the finished product. For instance, try adding a toasted, seeded, crushed ancho chile to the mixture at the beginning of the simmering process
Tart Cherry Compote
Yield is about 3 cups
2 cups tart dried cherries
2 cups pinot noir
1 Tbsp. mulling spices, wrapped in cheese cloth (optional)
1 cup Banyuls Vinegar or other good quality red wine vinegar
(Balsamic would be nice too only start with 1/2 a cup and add more if you desire.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. kosher salt or sea salt
1 Tbsp. coarse ground black pepper
3 fresh bay leaves
Reconstitute cherries with 2 cups boiled water. Combine cherries and liquid with the rest of the ingredients in a non-reactive sauce pan. Simmer slowly for about 20 minutes.
Remove the mulling spices and continue to cook until the fruit is very soft and the mixture is reduced and slightly syrupy for at least 25 minutes. Use at room temperature or hot.
December 25th, 2010
What I think might be the last of the Early Girls, small and perfect tomatoes, are in abundance – especially at Whole Foods Markets – but not for long.
I love these little gems. They are perfect for slow roasting and will last in your refrigerator for a few weeks. I add mine to stews and serve along side grilled fish for those last tastes of the late harvest season.
Roasted Tomato upside down tart with Boursin cheese.
The trick is to roast them low and SLOW! The results are a deep, rich tomato flavor with a caramelized like sweetness. Enjoy!
Slow Roasted Early Girls
Ingredients: As many Early Girls as you like. I used about 5 lbs.
Salt and Pepper
Some Good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVVO)
Heat the oven to 250 degrees. If you have a convection option, use it. Slice the tomatoes in half and lay on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle just a bit of oil over the tomatoes. All told I think I used about a 1/2 cup on a full large jelly roll pan.
Place in the oven and leave them alone for 2 to 3 hours. I store my in a container with the juices accumulated from the bottom of the pan. If you have a vacuum sealer with the storage containers, you can keep these for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
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Use slow roasted tomatoes in tarts like the one pictured which was made by The Traveling Chef, Kirk Warner in Michigan featured in these photos by flavorista Tracey.
Another great use of slow roasted tomatoes is Tori Ritchie’s recipe from Bon Appetit.
October 14th, 2010
I’ve been hankering to make this chicken from Michael Chiarello’s Casual Cooking for a while now. A call from a friend shopping at Marshall’s (who knows that this Flavorista loves Le Creuset) alerting me to a sale on their blue oval casseroles, cinched it for my dinner plans.
Not one to follow a recipe exactly, I added a few personal touches, including some slow roasted fresh tomatoes. The flavors went together beautifully and I am proud to say that EVERYONE in the family loved the chicken prepared this way. The kids ate theirs over egg noodles with heaps of the sauce. We enjoyed the tender chicken with a big piece of focaccia.
Slow Roasted Chicken a la Michael Chiarello
I used a really nice Chilean Pinot Noir that I had left over from a large party.
2 cups onions, diced
1 cup each diced carrots and celery
2 bay leaves
2 cups red wine
(Pinot Noir worked very well. Next time, I’m going to try a rosé.)
4 cloves whole garlic, peeled
4 cups crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 whole chicken (approximately 4 lbs)
1/2 cup minced basil
1/4 cup minced parsley
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Heat a large casserole, like an oval Le Creuset, and coat the bottom with olive oil.
Add the onions and cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the carrots, celery and bay leaves. Cook for about 15 minutes. Add the wine and scrap up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, tomatoes, salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. Stir to incorporate.
Place the chicken breast side down into the the sauce. Ladle a bit of the sauce on top. Remove from the stove and place into the over uncovered. Cook for about 2 hours, basting the top of the chicken with some of the sauce from time to time.
After about 2 hours, stir in the chopped herbs then return to the oven for another 10 minutes. If serving over egg noodles, use this time to make them.
For serving: flip the chicken over in the pot. You will be able to easily remove the skin. The meat should easily pull off using a fork. Ladle the sauce over the noodles then top with chicken shreds. Garnish with fresh Parmesan cheese and some slow roasted tomatoes.
For Slow Roasted Tomatoes:
Slice large cherry tomatoes in half. Place them on a parchment lined pan. Sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper and drizzle a bit of EVVO on them. Place into a 225 degree oven. If you have convection, use that. Let them bake for 3 hours or until they are shriveled around the edges.
September 17th, 2010
My brother-in-law, Pat, has quite a green thumb. He brought some beautiful rainbow chard for dinner the other night. Enjoy this with dish with any entree, I served it with a Savory Roulade.
Ingredients:
2 bunches rainbow chard
olive oil
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced ( a mandoline makes this easy)
1 cup currants, re-hydrated in 2/3 cup boiling water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup pine nuts, toasted (slivered almonds also work well)
salt and pepper to taste
Using Maldon’s Smoked Salt Flakes as a finishing touch is highly recommended.
Procedure:
Remove the leaves from the stems. Chop the stems and the leaves but keep them separated. Clean the chard throughly.
Heat a large skillet and cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of olive oil. Add the onions. Cook until they are golden. Add the chard stems and a bit of the current re-hydrating water.
Once the stems start to soften, add the chopped chard leaves. Once they begin to wilt add the currants with the remaining water. Now add the minced garlic. Once the leaves are wilted and cooked through, remove from heat and place onto a warmed platter. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the pine nuts or almonds.
September 15th, 2010
We got our tomatoes in late this year but the harvest promises a good yield – especially on leaves. One of my favorite fragrances is that of the leaf of the tomato plant.
While at the Harold McGee Lectures series at the French Culinary Institute in November of 2009, I was given print outs of many of the Curious Cook columns Mr. McGee writes for the New York Times. One of the many wonderful articles was about tomato leaves in cooking. Now, yes it is thought that they are poisonous, but it turns out that this has never actually been proven. To read the article click here.
I will freeze a few leaves too and see if in the heart of winter I can evoke some summer aromas into my tomato sauce. I tried putting tomato leaves in jarred pasta sauce and also in homemade. The results were nice. Overall the Paul Bertolli recipe wins.
To try that recipe click here. You can also put a few of your leaves into pesto. For Harold McGee’s procedure for this click here.
September 2nd, 2010
While this is not a quick recipe, it is certainly an old favorite from the original Greens cookbook by "vegetarianista" Deborah Madison. This is a perfect vegetarian dinner, especially for a large group on a warm summer night.
Basically this roulade is a flat, filled souffle. You can fill it with anything you like, but I feel that less is more with a roulade.
This one was filled with drained ricotta cheese and pesto and the topped with a very simple salsa of fresh vine ripened tomatoes, some fresh chopped garlic and basil, a little EVVO and salt and pepper. Served alongside chard (stay tuned for recipe) and Israeli couscous with peas, our group of 12 had plenty to feast on.
For the Roulade:
10 eggs at room temperature
5 cups of milk
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup flour
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put a few dabs of butter on the pan to help anchor the paper in. Lightly butter and flour the paper, knocking off any excess flour.
Separate the yolks and the whites; lighty beat the yolks and set them aside. Heat the milk and make the roux by melting the butter, add the flour, and, stirring cook for 1 to 2 minutes over medium heat until the roux is lightly colored.
Add the heated milk, and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly; then remove from the heat and season with 1 teaspoon salt and the nutmeg. Gradually whisk some of the hot mixture into the yolks to warm them; then return to the pan and combine with the rest of the roux.
In a large bowl, whisk or beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until smooth firm peaks form. Stir about a quarter of the whites and half the grated cheese and the milk-egg yolk mixture; then gently fold in the rest of the whites. Pour the whole mixture onto the baking sheet, spread it to fill all the comers, and sprinkle rest of the cheese over the surface. Bake until the top is nicely browned and puffed, about 15 minutes.
Remove the souffle from the oven and let it cool. Carefully turn it out onto a large flat cutting board, with a tea towel on it, by turning over the pan. Remove the paper. It is now ready to be filled and rolled.
Filling: If you’d like an extra punch of basil, scatter a few whole leaves over the ricotta mixture before rolling the roulade.
1 lb. tub plus 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1 cup prepared pesto (or Marcela Hazan’s tried and true pesto)
salt and pepper to taste
Place the drained ricotta into a bowl and stir in the pesto. Season with salt and pepper.
Assembling the Roulade:
With the long side of the roulade facing you, spread the ricotta/pesto mixture across 2/3 of the roulade. Using the towel gently guide the the roulade into a log form. If possible, take the whole cutting board and place it into your refrigerator and let the roulade sit for about 20 minutes.
Otherwise, you can cut the roulade in half and place it on to 2 smaller plates and refrigerate. You can assemble the salsa a this point. Remove the roulade from the refrigerator and slice into 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange on a serving platter or directly onto your dinner plates, top with the salsa and enjoy!
August 30th, 2010
Perfect for an August dinner, grilled veggies and crispy coleslaw are sure to please. Portobello mushrooms are meaty and easy to grill. The key is to make sure they are properly marinated. I think 24 hours is perfect but 8 hours is the minimum.
The coleslaw recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated. The key here is to salt the cabbage and let sit in a colander for 1 to 4 hours. It makes a huge difference. I really enjoyed this recipe as it is not heavily laden with mayonnaise and is quite refreshing just as coleslaw should be.
Marinade for Vegetable Skewers
Makes 1 Cup, enough for 4 skewers
4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup EVOO
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp. thyme
Whisk all ingredients together. You can use any vegetables you want.
I like the combination of yellow squash, red onion, portobelllo mushrooms, red bell peppers and green bell peppers. Marinate the mushrooms for at least 8 hours or as long as overnight. Place a colander over a bowl. Drain the mushrooms reserving the marinade.
Transfer the marinade to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Marinate the remaining vegetables and marinate for 1 hour, at room temperature. Drain the vegetables
Skewer the marinated vegetables with the portobello mushrooms. Grill the skwers over medium to low heat for 5 minutes per side.
Buttermilk Coleslaw adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
1 pound cabbage, shredded and salted
(see instructions for salting below) with 1 tsp salt
2 medium carrots, shredded
1 fennel bulb, shredded
5 Tbsp. minced chives or 3 green onions, chopped fine
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cider vinegar
2 shallots, minced (or 2 Tbsp. freeze-dried)
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
Garnish
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves, rough chop or just whole leaves
To salt the cabbage, toss the cabbage and salt together in a colander. Set the colander over a bowl or in a sink and let it drain for 1 to 4 hours. Wrap the cabbage in a large kitchen towel and dry slightly. Place into a large mixing bowl and add the carrots, fennel, chives and shallots. Save the parsley until just before serving.
Mix together the remaining ingredients to make the dressing, whisk them well and pour over the vegetables. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes so that it gets nice and cold.
Just before serving, add the parsley and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Coleslaw will be good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
August 9th, 2010
Wolfgang Puck immortalized this recipe; it is an easy no-cook dinner for any hot and steamy summer night. I bought a rotisserie chicken and pulled the meat off. The dressing takes seconds and you can use many vegetable combinations: Shredded carrots, slivered Napa cabbage, snow peas, edamame, romaine lettuce and cucumbers are all great choices.
I had on hand some beautiful yellow tomatoes, an English cucumber, some scallions and cilantro. The heat comes from the dry mustard but it doesn’t linger long.
Chinese Mustard Vinaigrette à la Wolfgang Puck
2 tsp. dry Chinese or English mustard
2 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup peanut oil
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
Place the dry mustard, garlic and ginger in a small mixing bowl. Add the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Whisk in the oils.
Assemble your salad in a large bowl, topping with the shredded chicken meat and then sprinkle the sesame seeds all over. Pour on the dressing and toss well.
July 30th, 2010
A few weeks back, we were invited to participate in a recipe contest using Tasteful Selections baby potatoes. Being a lover of the spud, I couldn’t refuse! Aren’t they the cutest potatoes you have ever seen?
My intention was to come up with a quick cooking dinner that could be served al fresco with some good vino. I am happy to report success: Tender potatoes in a spicy, smoky sauce studded with thick slices of chorizo all in one pot.
The thick and hearty tomato sauce is seasoned with smoked paprika, aromatic garlic and sliced onions. You could use any of the potato varieties for this dish, I really liked the look of the red on red.
We enjoyed the meal on its own but you could certainly add some corn on the cob, a simple cheese plate and/or some fresh summer fruit for dessert.
One Pan Spicy Potatoes with Chorizo
Serves 5
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb. chorizo, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, about 3 cloves
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper, more to taste
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, more to taste
1 (28-oz.) pkg. Tasteful Selections Ruby Sensation Potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. thinly sliced chives or finely chopped parsley (optional garnish)
Add the olive oil to a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. When hot, add the chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes until nicely browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chorizo to a plate.
Add the garlic, onion, jalapeno, crushed red pepper, paprika, and salt to the pot, cook and stir until quite fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the potatoes and stir well to coat them with the seasonings.
Add the diced tomatoes and the crushed tomatoes. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Add the chorizo back to the pot and stir well, vent the lid and cook for an additional 10 – 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the sauce is somewhat thickened.
Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl. If using, garnish the dish with chives or parsley. Serve hot or warm.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmjFT11moAY
July 28th, 2010
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