New Hudson Valley Gluten-Free Social & Dining Group

Hi everyone -

I want to let folks know that there is a new social and dining group in the Hudson Valley (New York) for people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance as well as anyone on a gluten-free diet for health reasons. Its focus is on social activities rather than being a traditional format support group, so the group will be doing things like eating at different area restaurants that serve gluten-free food, going hiking, having cooking demonstrations, and going on field trips.

To see more information about the group please visit the Mid-Hudson Valley Gluten-Free Outings Meetup Group.

The first meeting will be at an Indian restaurant in New Paltz on November 15, 2007. For more information see the above link.

Any help that you can give in spreading the word about this would be much appreciated! if you know people in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie, New Paltz, Albany, Newburgh, Kingston, Beacon, etc... Please let them know about this.

Thanks! Hope to see some of you there.

Gluten-Free Apple-Quince Pie

I got some e-mails asking me about the pie pictured in the post on my Pecan-Quinoa Streusel Crumble Topping. That's an apple-quince pie! I would have posted the recipe sooner if I hadn't been gallavanting around New York City with a bunch of gay Jews this weekend. Have you ever cooked with quince? It's a hard autumn fruit that looks like a hard and somewhat lumpy cross between an apple and a pear. It tastes unpleasantly astringent when raw but is delicious when cooked down with plenty of sweetener (agave nectar, in my case), and has a flavor that is fragrant, mild and apple-y. The texture is firmer and more grainy than an apple, which makes it stand up well to a long cooking time. Apples and quinces are lovely together. Quinces take much longer to cook than apples, so cooking them together results in an apple-quince "sauce" with a wonderful consistency - The apples will nearly dissolve into sauce while the quince retains just enough of its firmness to give the filling a good bite and appearance. I discovered later that I used unripe quinces, so keep an eye out for yellow quinces rather than the green ones I used, and they will take less time to cook.


The pie was fantastic, if not entirely photogenic. I used the Natural Feast Gluten-Free Frozen Pie Shells again. As I mentioned in this post they are gluten-free, vegan, kosher (pareve) and free of refined sweeteners. They are also free of soy and nuts. They're no replacement for a homemade crust, but they work well in a pinch. Since they come in packages of two, I had one left after making that delicious apple-raspberry pie, so I used the remaining one for this pie. This recipe calls for a pre-baked crust - If you use the Natural Feast crust, follow the directions on the package for baking it without a filling, but cut the baking time in half, then remove the crust from the oven and fill it with the fruit filling. Once you fill it, put a piece of tin foil underneath and fold the edges up so it creates a loose partial tent around the pie, with the top open. This will keep the edges from burning.


You will likely have some leftover filling, but that's intentional on my part. I think the filling is just too good to only be inside one little pie. Eat the leftovers cold, like applesauce - Or mix with yogurt. Better yet, put them in ramekins, sprinkle with leftover crumble topping, and bake in the oven or toaster oven until the topping has browned slightly. An easy breakfast or dessert. Who needs a crust, really?



APPLE-QUINCE PIE

[Gluten-Free / Pareve / Soy-Free / Vegan ]

5 quinces
8 granny smith apples
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice mix*
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup apple cider
1 cup agave nectar, sugar or honey
2 Tbsp sweet rice flour**
1 Tbsp margarine (or butter) cut into small pieces
1 recipe Pecan-Quinoa Streusel Crumble Topping

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Peel apples and quinces, core them and cut them in thin slices - You can use an apple slicer for the apples, but make sure the quince is cut as thin as possible. Add all ingredients to a large pot, and bring to a boil. Cover the pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the fruit is tender (about 20-30 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Pour the fruit mixture from the pot into a mixing bowl, and slowly sift in the sweet rice flour, making sure to mix it in evenly so there are no lumps.

Pour fruit mixture into a partially pre-baked pie crust. Use your fingers to crumble the streusel topping across the entire top of the pie. Arrange small pieces of margarine across the top, and bake for 20-20 minutes, or until the topping is golden-brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

*You can buy pumpkin pie spice mix from any spice company, or make your own.

**Sweet rice flour is not the same as white rice or brown rice flour, which are not good thickeners. You can find it at most Asian markets as well as some health food stores. It is sometimes called sticky rice flour, glutinous rice flour (yes, it's gluten-free!) or oriental rice flour. You can buy it online here.

Flourless Streusel Crumble Topping with No Refined Sugar

It took me a while to find a gluten-free crumble topping that doesn't use oats and has a texture and appearance that I like. I guess I'm picky about my crumbles. When I finally got this recipe right, I was pleased as punch. Now I can actually convince myself that pie is health food! This crumble topping is especially for those of us who choose to avoid refined sugar, which is the backbone of the crumble toppings usually used on top of fruit crisps, pies and some bar cookies. I created this crumble topping as a healthier, whole grain alternative, free of cane sugar and full of crumbly texture and sweet, nutty flavor. I hope it will help somebody out there transform some plain old fruit or a topless pie (ha!) into something truly worthy of oohs and aahs.

Though certified gluten-free oats are now available, they are hard to find in local stores and are very expensive. There are also celiacs who cannot digest even these certified oats. So some of us still have the need for a gluten-free crumble topping that is made with alternative ingredients. This recipe relies on the versatility of pecans and the oat-like texture and outstanding nutritional profile of Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes for its texture. I buy quinoa flakes locally for around $3 per package. I hear there are other companies besides Ancient Harvest that make quinoa flakes, but this is the only brand I've found in stores here and I'm quite happy with it as a baking ingredient and a hot cereal for chilly mornings.

I have tried this recipe with both honey and agave nectar, and honey creates a much better crumb and holds the sweetness better when the crumble is baked. However, if you need to make this strictly vegan, agave nectar will certainly do the job.

Feel free to use butter (as if you needed my permission!) I've called for non-hydrogenated margarine only because I often like to make my pies pareve so that I can eat them at both meat and dairy meals. I would definitely choose butter if I didn't need this versatility, because butter makes everything better. My good buddy L of A Question Mark taught me that. Using butter would also make this recipe soy-free.

I have a tupperware of leftover crumble in my refrigerator after using it to top a pie I made the other day. I can't wait to go to the farmer's market to buy whatever's in season to transform into a delicious fruit crisp.

PECAN-QUINOA STREUSEL CRUMBLE TOPPING

[ Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free / Pareve / Vegan ]

1 cup pecans
3 Tbsp non-hydrogenated vegetable margarine (such as Earth Balance), softened slightly
3/4 cup quinoa flakes
3 to 4 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
Pinch of salt

In a food processor with blade attachment, process pecans until they are in nearly uniform small chunks (see picture below). If you have a plastic blade or mixer attachment, attach it and add the rest of the ingredients. If you only have a metal blade, pulse ingredients as slowly and minimally as possible. Process only until ingredients are well combined and form a uniform, crumbly mixture. Use your fingers to crumble it into small pieces over the top of a pie, fruit crisp, muffins, or other baked good. Place dish into a preheated oven at 400 F. Bake until the crumble topping is browned but not burnt (watch carefully to make sure the top doesn't char), approximately 20 minutes.

Here's what the pecans should look like before you add the other ingredients:

Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Pie. Apple Raspberry Pie.

I love pie. I've never met a pie I didn't love, though sadly some pies just don't love me back.

This is a vegan gluten-free apple-raspberry pie with a crumble topping, made with no refined sugar and all local fruit. It was improvisational, and I didn't write the recipe down - I mixed up apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh raspberries, a little Earth Balance margarine, agave nectar and some lemon juice and a little cornstarch (or was it arrowroot starch or sweet rice flour?) for the filling. I will post the delicious whole-grain crumb topping recipe one of these days, I promise. It turned out deliciously. I have another frozen gluten-free pie crust in my freezer just waiting to be turned into another pie, so a recipe should be forthcoming in the next week or so.

The pie crust is this one, which I bought at my local Hannaford:

If you don't have a Hannaford near you, you can buy it from Gluten-Free Mall. They come in packages of two, and are vegan, kosher, gluten-free and free of refined sugar. Though my homemade pie crusts are better, these frozen guys are pretty darn decent and so very, very convenient.

Yum.

Gluten-Free Challah (Pareve / Dairy-Free): Version 1.0

Oh, my friends, this is the craziest of crazy times, this 4 week period of one Jewish holy day after another! A veritable Jewish spiritual marathon, really, and it's not over yet- Sukkot is nearly upon us and Simchat Torah is right around the corner. The cooking I've been doing has been under time constraints not to mention religious ones - The food has been wonderful and well-appreciated, but there's been little time for photographing and blogging. This fabulous insanity will continue for a while yet.

But you know, it's okay. There is some grace to be found in all this, and some joy in cooking for the sake of cooking rather than for the sake of blogging. And what better way to spend my cooking energy and celebrate the approach of autumn than on preparing a multi-course feast for friends and family on erev Rosh Hashanah? The Rosh Hashanah menu included a terrific beef tzimmes (basically my vegetarian tzimmes with big, tender chunks of beef cooked into it); Roasted Butternut Squash, Marcona Almond and Pomegranate Salad which is a spectacular celebration of fall; the Lacy Potato Kugel I've been making at every holiday since I fell in love with it; steamed green beans tossed with lemon oil; a pareve gluten-free Honey Cake drizzled with local honey and topped with slivers of toasted almonds; and ginger-poached pears (recipe forthcoming) which truly surprised me by stealing the show. Oh, and P.S. I also made gluten-free challah!

I based this recipe roughly upon Sara Nussbaum's gluten-free challah recipe, which Ellen posted her version of a while back. Is this the perfect gluten-free challah, that Jewish celiac equivalent of a holy grail which tastes just like what you remember from your childhood? No, it's not perfect - It's a work in progress. But is it delicious? Oh yes, it most certainly is. It turned out more challah-like than I expected, and it was delicious dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah and made into the loveliest challah French toast in the days that followed.

To get the most challah-like texture without gluten, you need to have a dough with a high liquid content, which would be more like a batter than a dough and thus unable to be handled. This is why most gluten-free challah recipes can't be braided. Most gluten-free recipes that I've seen which create braid-able doughs use dough conditioners that are not easily available / kosher. Making a bread pareve further impacts the moisture. So, in order to make a bread I could shape into something vaguely resembling a traditional shape, I used far less liquid than your usual GF bread recipe would call for. The result is a dough that can be (very carefully) handled, perhaps even braided by a very skilled and well-greased hand - But this also resulted in a bread that was quite a bit less moist than what I'm used to. It was absolutely wonderful when it was still warm out of the oven, but after it cooled completely, I found it needed some light toasting to restore its texture.

I created it in a pull-apart challah style. You can see Bureka Boy's photographs of what a gluten-y pull-apart challah looks like here. It's obvious from my photos that the pull-apart idea didn't really work with this dough, but that forming the challah from balls of dough helped give the top of the bread the bumpy shape that looks similar to how braided round challahs appear. If you don't care how your challah looks, skip that step and just pour the dough into the cake pan at once, smooth the top, glaze it, and bake it.

I considered not sharing this recipe until I improved upon it, but I realized there is no reason to not let you in on my process. The journey that a recipe goes through as it is perfected is often a long one, and I will keep you posted as I improve upon this recipe in the coming months.

It was so nice to get to eat challah along with everyone else on Rosh Hashanah this year. It made me feel downright almost normal. (Yes, even weirdos can occasionally feel normal.)



GLUTEN-FREE CHALLAH

[ Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free / Soy-Free /
Vegetarian / Pareve ]

1 package active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups cornstarch
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup plus 3 Tbsp tapioca starch
1/4 cup Vance's Foods DariFree Original Powder (or other powdered non-dairy milk substitute)
1 Tbsp guar gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp dry potato flakes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
4 eggs + 1 extra egg yolk (at room temperature)
1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp water, for glaze
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
Poppy or sesame seeds (optional)
Baking spray / vegetable oil spray (non-dairy)

Turn oven on 200 F for 10 minutes, then turn oven off. Mix yeast and sugar with warm water in a small bowl. Cover with tin foil, and place in the oven for 10 minutes or until the top becomes bubbly.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine cornstarch, white and brown rice flours, tapioca starch, guar gum, salt, baking powder, powdered non-dairy milk and potato flakes. Add yeast mixture, oil, honey and eggs (except for reserved egg glaze). Blend thoroughly on high speed. If you are adding raisins, fold them in with the mixer set to a low setting until they are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.

Grease an 8- or 9-inch round cake pan (preferably silicone). Spray baking spray all over the palms of your hands, and place a ball of dough of about 3" diameter in the center of the cake pan. Continue to roll dough into balls, placing them in concentric circles around the center ball until they reach the edge of the cake pan. Do not pack them in too tightly, they should touch each other but some spaces should be visible. The dough is very sticky, so you will need to spray oil on your hands frequently in order to be able to handle the dough and roll it into balls (if you get too much dough sticking to your hands, wash them off, dry them, and re-oil them).

Using a pastry brush, brush half of the egg glaze over the top of the dough. Cover with a dish cloth and place in oven, which should still be warm but should not be on. Allow to rise for 1 hour. It should rise to the top of the cake pan or higher.

Remove the pan from the oven, and set oven to 350 F. Remove the towel from the pan, and brush the remaining egg glaze on the dough. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds, if desired. Return pan to oven, uncovered. Bake for 20 minutes, then cover with foil and bake for another 25 minutes.

Allow bread to cool slightly before transferring it to a cooling rack. Eat while warm, or slice and toast it. Will keep for up to a week at room temperature in a ziploc storage bag, or you can slice and freeze it for longer storage.

Bad news about Chebe products - They are no longer kosher certified

Though I don't usually post about this type of issue on this blog, I am so disappointed about this news that I want to pass the word on to others who may be affected. I just received a response to an e-mail inquiry from Chebe products. All of their products that were manufactured after April 2007 are no longer kosher certified. This means that several of the recipes on my blog, such as my knishes and Jamaican-style spicy turkey patties, are no longer kosher for people who care about their food products being hechshered. This is a real loss for those of us who are gluten-free and keep kosher. I am working on creating a homemade Chebe replacement that will work in these recipes, and perhaps even be an improvement. In the meantime I urge people to encourage Chebe to re-certify their wonderfully versatile gluten-free products by e-mailing, writing, or calling them. You can find their contact information here.

Gluten-Free Rosh Hashanah Recipe Roundup 2007

In the spirit of my Gluten-Free Passover Roundup 2007, I thought I'd put together a Rosh Hashanah version. Rosh Hashanah doesn't have any of the food restrictions of Passover, so this holiday doesn't leave most of us in the same kind of panic over finding gluten-free foods to eat. Yet menu planning is always a challenge, especially when cooking for guests, as many of us do this time of year. I hope this will help a bit. Here are some ideas, from my blog and other websites, of foods for your holiday table. You'll notice an emphasis on sweet foods, leeks, carrots, honey, round-shaped foods, etc. Here is an article about Rosh Hashanah food customs, if you're curious.

GLUTEN-FREE
ROSH HASHANAH RECIPES

Codes:

P = Parve (no dairy, no meat)
M = Meat (fleischig)
D = Dairy (milchig)
V = Vegan (no meat, fish, eggs or dairy)
VG = Vegetarian dishes containing dairy or eggs

SNACKS & HORS D'OEUVRES
Sugar & Spice Pecans (P, VG)
Vegetarian Chopped Liver (P, V)
Fig & Pomegranate Tapenade (P, V)

SOUPS & APPETIZERS
Isaiah's Victorious Vegetable Stock (P/D, V/VG)
Sephardic Leek Soup (M)
Hot Beet Borscht (P, V)
Butternut Squash Soup (P, V)
Potato Kneidlach (P, VG)
Gluten-Free Mock Matzo Balls (P, VG)
Beat, Bean and Apple Salad (P, V)
Roasted Butternut Squash, Marcona Almond & Pomegranate Salad (P/D, V/VG)

MAIN DISHES
Beef Tzimmes with Butternut Squash (M)
Apple-Glazed BBQ Chicken (M)
Whole Fish Emeril-Style (P)
Gluten-Free Blintzes (D/P, VG)
Chicken with Pomegranate Glaze & Fresh Mint (M)
Prassokoftedes (Potato-Leek Fritters) (P, VG)
Gluten-Free Knishes (D, VG)
Southwestern Tsimmes Stuffed in Chiles (P, V with Honey)
Leg of Lamb with Pomegranate (M)
Tzimmes (P, V with honey)
Herb-Stuffed Trout with Vegetable Kabobs (P)
Rolled Cabbage (M)
Poached Fish with Pomegranate Sauce (P)
Chicken with Fresh Figs (M)
Sweet Brisket (M)
Parsnip & Carrot Confetti Latkes (P, VG)
Roasted Squash with Potatoes (D, VG)
Pomegranate Tofu (P, V)
Jewish Grandma's Best Beef Brisket (M)

SIDE DISHES
Noodle Kugel (P, V with honey, dairy option)
Winter Squash with Caramelized Onions (P, V)
Fried Leeks with Tarragon Vinegar (P, VG)
Carrot Leek and Apple Bake (D, VG)
Honeyed Nahit (Chickpeas) (M)
Pomegranate Glazed Green Beans & Portobellos
Sephardic Black Eyed Peas (P, V)
Sweet Potato and Spiced Apple Casserole (D, VG)
Holy Carrots (D, VG)
Algerian Green Beans with Almonds (P, V)
Gluten-Free Kasha Varnishkes (M)
Carrot Souffle (P, VG)
Caramelized Butternut Squash (D, VG)
Lacy Potato Kugel (P, VG)
Zucchini with Currants and Almonds (P, V)

BREAD
Gluten-Free Challah I (D, VG)
Gluten-Free Challah II (D, VG)
Rosemary and Olive Sweet Potato Bread (P, VG)

DESSERT
Gluten-Free Honey Cake (Version 2.0)(P)
Gluten-Free Honey Cake (Version 1.0) (D)
Honey & Ginger Cake (D, VG)
Baked Apples (D, VG)
Fig-Bar Cookies (D, VG)
Fruit Compote (P, V)
Bosc Pears with Pomegranate Glaze (P, V)
Pomegranate Tapioca (P, V)
Spiced Dates with Mascarpone Cheese (D, VG)
Pumpkin Creme Brulee (D, VG),
Candy Apples (P, V)
Apple Crisp (D, VG)

BEVERAGES
Mulled Fall Fruit Cider (P, V)
Pomegranate Martini (P, V)
Tej (Ethiopian Honey Wine) (P, V with honey)


L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu!

[Apples & honey image is from imgmag]

Gluten-Free Honey Cake for Rosh Hashanah: Version 2.0

My first recipe for Gluten-Free Honey Cake (Version 1.0) was the second recipe I ever posted to this blog. In honor of how far my own culinary journey has evolved since starting this blog nearly a year ago, and to celebrate my boundless love for Rosh Hashanah fare, I have revamped my gluten-free, wheat-free honey cake recipe. Though quite delicious, my last recipe used Pamela's Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix, which doesn't have a reliable hechsher, and was dairy and therefore useless for most festive Jewish New Year meals, which feature meat. This new and improved Honey Cake 2.0 is pareve (non-dairy) and doesn't use a mix. It is every bit as delightful in its orange-tinted honey flavor and moist texture, but it lends itself better to the traditional Rosh Hashanah dinner table.

The mini-cakes pictured were baked in adorable little individual silicone fluted cake pans that I found at the dollar store in New Paltz. However, I have made this recipe in a 9" round cake pan and a standard-sized bread loaf pan, and had terrific success both times. I have posted the approximate baking times for several sizes, so you can use whatever baking gear you have on hand. I really do recommend the miniature individual cake pans, the resulting cakelets are so cute and so easily embellished with fruit or nuts placed in the hollow center. You can try a miniature silicone bundt pan like this or miniature fluted cake pans like this. I don't normally use silicone for baking, however the high amount of honey in this recipe leads to edges getting burnt extremely quickly, so I've found that to keep the outside of the cake golden and tender, avoiding burning and crispyness, silicone is best. Nonstick metal cake pans or bread tins are the second best choice, or use parchment paper to line a regular metal pan.

I recommend using a rich, flavorful honey for this recipe, especially for the "glaze". Honey alone is a flavorful and moist enough topping for my taste, but you can also try sifting powdered sugar over the cake/s, or try any recipe for a bundt cake glaze. Boiling down some honey mixed with orange juice and orange zest would make a glaze perfectly complementary to the flavors in this cake.

I hope this cake recipe brings some sweetness to your new year. L'shanah tovah!




GLUTEN-FREE ROSH HASHANAH HONEY CAKE (Version 2.0)

[ Gluten-Free / Soy-Free / Nut-Free Option /
Dairy-Free / Pareve ]

3 cups Carol's Flour Blend
3/4 cup turbinado sugar or white sugar
2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 /4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 cup honey
1 cup orange juice

Optional: Honey, toasted almond slivers, pecan pieces and/or powdered sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). Cover the bottom of a 9" circular baking pan with parchment paper, then spray the inside of the pan lightly with dairy-free baking spray. If making miniature cakes using silicone mini-bundt or mini-fluted cake pans, place pans on a baking sheet and spray lightly with baking spray. Well-greased loaf pans may also be used.

Stir together flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and sugar in a medium bowl.

Separate the eggs. In one large mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, honey, oil, applesauce, orange juice and orange zest. In a separate medium bowl, beat egg whites with an electric beater until they form stiff peaks.

Using a whisk or hand beater, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. When thoroughly combined, fold the egg whites carefully into the batter, stirring very gently just until the ingredients are fully combined.

Immediately pour batter into pan/s and bake for approximately 20 minutes (for miniature cakes), 40 minutes (for round cakes) or 45-50 minutes (for loaves), or until a toothpick inserted into the cake's center comes out with just a few crumbs on it. Watch cakes carefully to make sure that the edges do not burn. Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool before carefully removing from pan/s and placing onto a cooling rack. For bundt and fluted pans, once the cakes are cool you can use a sharp serrated bread knife to gently remove the domed "bottoms" of the cakes (the side facing up when you baked them) so that they pretty cake "tops" can sit flat on a plate, if you wish.

Immediately before serving, fill bundt/fluted cake centers with nuts or fruit (if applicable) and sift powdered sugar over them or drizzle cake/s with additional honey.