A Gluten-Free Day

I always associate prawns with summer; they are somewhat cooling and don’t require all that much cooking.

My absolute favourite prawn dish would be spaghetti with chilli and garlic flavoured prawns. Since I do like the taste of brown rice pasta, I have been making this dish so many times this summer that I have lost count already.

The best part with this is that it requires only 10 minutes of cooking time; therefore it is ready when the spaghetti is done. I also usually have the ingredients at home, so I can make this whenever I feel like it. Everything is also easily adjustable, you can substitute the prawns with some tofu for example and using some fresh herbs would also be a nice adjustment. I used some dried oregano in the recipe – it has a stronger taste than fresh oregano – since I think that almost everyone has dried oregano at home almost all the time? You can substitute the cherry tomatoes with some canned tomatoes too, although fresh summery cherry tomatoes do have a nice sweet taste to them, especially if they are organic.

Gluten-free spaghetti with prawns

Serves 2 as a main meal

-1 cup peeled and cooked prawns

-1 tbls olive oil and 1 tbls butter

-1 tsp dried red chilli flakes, this amount will make for a very hot dish, so reduce the amount if you would like a milder taste

-2 minced garlic cloves

-salt according to taste, I use 1 tsp and I do like a lot of salt in my foods

-enough cherry tomatoes to cover the pan

-2 tsp oregano

Start cooking the spaghetti.

Take a pan and place it on medium heat. Add one tablespoon butter and one tablespoon of olive oil on the pan. Mince the garlic and fry it for a small while on the pan, one minute is usually enough.

Using minced garlic produces a different flavour than pressed garlic.

Add the chilli flakes to the pan and fry them for about half a minute. Take the prawns and place them on the pan just so that they warm up and soak some of the flavoured of the pan. Place them on a plate and set aside.

Half the tomatoes and place them on the pan; press them slightly so that the juices run out of them. Sprinkle the oregano on them. They are done when they turn soft.

The spaghetti should be done by now so drain it. I usually add one tablespoon of butter to the spaghetti at this time for extra flavour.

Take the prawns and mix them with the tomatoes on the pan, scrape the bottom of the pan a bit so that you get the flavours from it.

Pour the spaghetti on to the pan and mix everything together.

I wanted to try steaming the rice rolls I made in this post. You can also see detailed information on how to use rice paper in that post.

It turned out really well and I will be steaming rice rolls in the future too; the texture is somewhat chewy and the filling stays deliciously moist. I was a bit worried that they would not hold together while steaming, but they did hold together nicely.

Steamed rice rolls with a thai flavoured prawn filling

Makes approximately 8 rice paper rolls

-rice paper

-1 cup shelled, cooked and minced prawns

- 2 egg whites

-1 minced spring onion

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp thai seven spice

- 2 minced kaffir lime leaves

Separate the egg whites and whip them until they are white and foamy. Mince the spring onion and kaffir lime leaves.

Mix everything together and start rolling the rice rolls. You can see how they are rolled from here.

Line the bottom of a bamboo steamer with some baking paper.

Steam the rice rolls for approximately 10 minutes.

Serve these with some sweet chilli sauce for example.

On a side note I will be leaving for a summer holiday which will last until the end of August; posting will continue when I get back.

My sister kindly promised to moderate any comments since I will not have access to a computer most of my holiday. For this reason I will also not be able to answer e-mails during this time.

I wish everyone a nice and hot (not too hot) August.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Tags: dairyfree

Tiramisu made gluten-free has been something of a dream to me for ages; I have seen gluten-free ladyfingers in the store, but they are laden with chemicals and made with starches so I have just left them sitting on the shelves. I did realize though that I could try making tiramisu with a regular sponge and so I finally tried it - the experiment was successful and I was very pleased with how it turned out.

I made this with Baileys since that is my favourite with anything that has coffee in it, but you could try replacing it with Rhum, Kahlua, Marsala of course or just about anything. I would also recommend trying a lemon tiramisu sometime, it is really good.

Also, I cut corners with my tiramisu - making it faster - but you could make it slower and in a more traditional way.

I used my own gluten-free sponge recipe for the sponge and it worked well. Using potato flour in it makes the sponge very soft, but you could use just quinoa flour for a harder sponge, it does not taste as good as with potato flour though.

I usually whisk the egg yolks and the sugar together without adding any alcohol to the mixture and I do not use a bain-marie to make it. You could add some Baileys to this of course to make the flavour stronger in the cake.

Using whipped cream is optional, I use it sometimes, but it can easily be left out.

Tiramisu should really be made just the way you like it and according to your preference; in Finland for example many people use quark to make it - our love for quark really seems to shine through in so many of the foods made in Finland.

When using a sponge and not real ladyfingers, you need to be careful with the moisture; this is why I for example need only one cup of strong coffee mixed with Baileys. I would be using more moisture for ladyfingers. The sponge does get very moist easily and the longer it sits, the moister it becomes because the mascarpone mixture will add more moistness to it. So try to keep this in mind when making this.

I usually bake the sponge in the same dish where I will be making the tiramisu, so that I can just cut it in half and use it. You could make one on a sheet pan for example and then cut it so that it resembles ladyfingers.

Gluten-free tiramisu recipe

Serves 4-6, this takes only something like 15 minutes to make if you have the sponge ready. This recipe is suitable for a sponge made with 4 eggs.

-3/4 cup or 1,8 dl strong coffee (instant is fine, and use espresso if you have it, some dark roast coffee works well too)

-1/4 cup or 0,6 dl Baileys (or something else you like)

-2 eggs

-1/4 or 0,6 dl cup caster sugar

-250 grams or 0,8 cup mascarpone

-100 ml or 0,4 cup cream

-1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the coffee with the Baileys and leave it to sit.

Separate the eggs and then whisk the yolks and the sugar together, add the vanilla to it too.

Add the mascarpone to the mixture and mix everything together.

Whip the cream and add to the mixture.

Whip the egg whites until they are foamy and white. Then fold them gently into the mixture.

Take one layer of the sponge and moisten it with the coffee and then place half of the mascarpone mixture on to it. Add the remaining layer of the sponge on top of the mascarpone mixture and moisten this one too with coffee. Place the rest of the mascarpone on top of the sponge and dust with some cocoa.

Ideally this should sit in the fridge for some hours, but I think that it is edible straight away.

Take the separated egg yolks and add them to a bowl with the sugar.

Whip them until they are yellow and creamy. Then add the mascarpone.

Whip the cream if you are using it and add it to the mixture.

Whip the egg whites and add them, they should be foamy and white like in the picture. Fold them in gently.

Cut the sponge in half and start adding the coffee to it. Remember to careful with the moisture so that it does not become too moist. You can spoon it, but using a brush makes it easier to adjust the moisture.

Sorry about the baking dish being so dirty, but in my defense I will state that it is very old and also that I am too lazy to clean it up with anything else than a regular dishwasher.

Spoon half of the mascarpone on top of it.

Repeat with the other half of the sponge and then dust it with some cocoa.

This is what it will look like, you can see the different layers.

This is my entry to Hay, Hay it’s Donna Day, hosted by Addicted Sweet Tooth.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I have not been feeling like making a food post this week since I am a bit stressed out.

The reason for my stress and maybe grief is the shy hedgehog in the above photos; he does not like to be photographed and so those are the only photos I have of him.

I call him Jorma the hedgehog.

Jorma has been living underneath our patio for the summer and we have grown fond of him during this time. This Wednesday evening I was on our patio, writing like I usually do when the weather is good, and I saw Jorma emerging from some bushes, he walked in a funny way and so I took him to examine what was wrong with him.

What I noticed was that his other back leg was there no more - it had been cut off by something. Jorma did not seem to be in a shock so I placed him in a box and left him with some water and meat.

The next day I phoned the local animal shelter and also a friend who takes care of wildlife that has been injured. She then phoned a veterinarian she knows and luckily this vet agreed on taking Jorma for an examination yesterday evening.

Now, at the moment, I am waiting for some information on the condition of Jorma. I do know that hedgehogs can survive with just three legs, but if the leg is infected and the infection has spread to the bone he will be put to sleep.

I do not know why I have felt so strongly about this whole ordeal, it is not like I would not be used to seeing injured animals since I worked at an animal shelter for many years. I just wish for him to heal so that he can be set free once again.

When I did a post about food photography I regretted the fact that I did not write anything about composition and DOF which means depth of field in photos. I will take this opportunity to write something about them since I am not going to make any food posts this week.

I think that there are some easy things which you can do with the composition in food photos to make them look better, it is of course a matter of personal taste in the end, but this is what I like to do.

With bowls I don’t like to photograph the whole bowl because just taking a picture of the other half makes for a better looking photo in my opinion. Like this.

The whole bowl with chillies, this picture has also not been edited, except for some RAW editing:

Only half of the bowl in the photo, this has been edited with Corel; I have used a hard light layer with the opacity of 30, removed some noise and used unsharp mask. The result is maybe too bright, but I like it that way.

The same thing with a deep plate.

The whole plate does not look very good; imagine some soup in it for example. This photo has also been edited in RAW only.

Only half of the plate looks better and you can see that I have used Corel. One layer of hard light and some unsharp mask.

The same thing with a shallow plate.

And once again I think that only half of the plate showing looks better.

As for rectangular or square shapes I don’t like to take pictures like this one with lemons.

All of these lemon pictures have been edited with Corel using hard light layers, unsharp mask and noise reduction.

This is what I usually do: I turn one of the edges towards me like this.

This is another style that looks ok, I think.

Another thing which makes for good looking food photos in my opinion is to take a very close shot of the food; it usually makes you just want to grab the food and eat it, pictures of larger things or many plates and dishes do not have the same effect - usually that is of course - there are always exceptions.

Round objects, like cakes etc, are very hard to photograph as a whole at least I find it hard, so I use the same technique as with the round plates; the easiest thing being to shoot only half of the cake, or pie.

By adjusting the depth of field, you adjust the portion of the photo that is sharp, if it is for example 2.8 then only a very small portion of the photo will be sharp, when you increase it you will have a larger part of the photo appear sharp. As you adjust the DOF, you will also need to adjust the shutter speed.

It seems to be that many like to use a small value making only a small portion of the food appear sharp, I find this to be boring, although I do it myself too.

Some examples:

In this photo the Av (aperture) is 2.8 and I focused on the vine of the tomato in the front, the Tv (shutter speed) is 1/30, the ISO is 100.

In this one I increased the aperture, it is now 5.6 and the shutter speed is 1/13.

This one has an aperture of 11 and the shutter speed is 1/5. You can see that a lot more tomatoes appear sharp in this photo than in the first one.

Maybe it comes down to personal taste, but I think that an aperture of 5.6 worked best?

Lastly the amount of contrast in food photos makes a big difference, adding contrast to food photos does sometimes make the food look a bit ugly and not very appealing. On the other hand a very small amount of contrast gives photos a bit of a dreamlike quality and calmness.

I myself like using very little contrast, and I mean I like to use, not that I do use, since in my photos you will see some contrast. There is something very appealing about photos with very little contrast.

These two pictures have only been edited in RAW and the first one has very much contrast and the other one very little so that you can see the difference.

Very little contrast.

Very much contrast.

I don’t think I will be posting much else about food photography or photography in general. I did enjoy taking these pictures and writing this though, it gave me a chance to reflect on what I have learned and what I like in photos.

What it comes down to is personal taste in the end and I think it is best to trust your own eyes with photos - taking the kind of photos that appeal to you.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Tags: photography

A pavlova is a naturally gluten-free cake made with some meringue and filled with whipped cream along with berries or fruit. I did not want to make a post about regular pavlovas so I made some mini pavlovas filled with balsamic strawberries and whipped cream mixed with mascarpone cheese.

These taste fairly light and they are something that I would recommend having after a heavy meal or in some hot weather. Some sparkling wine or champagne would compliment these cakes nicely, if you feel like it.

Once again I would advice that everyone adjusts this recipe according to their own taste, use just whipped cream for example and just the kind of fruit you like, you could also adjust this to be dairyfree with some whipped coconut cream for example- I myself absolutely love balsamic strawberries and mascarpone so that is what I will be using. I had a combination of balsamic strawberries along with mascarpone at a restaurant a long time ago; me and my sister both had the same the dessert and we went on and on talking about the dessert for the rest of the evening - it is really so ridiculously tasty.

Easy and fast Mini Pavlovas recipe

Serves 4-6 people

-2,5 dl or 1 cup caster sugar

-4 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 125 C or 257 F.

Mix the egg whites with a hand held mixer on medium speed until they become a bit fluffy. Add 1/4 cup sugar and mix for one minute, then add another 1/4 cup sugar and mix for one minute. Keep doing this until you have added the whole cup of sugar.

Mix the meringue on full speed until it is hard, white and shiny.

Spoon the meringue on to some baking paper forming small nests. Bake the meringue nests for 1 1/2 hours.

More detailed Mini Pavlovas recipe

Serves 4-6 people

-4 egg whites

-2,5 dl or 1 cup caster sugar

-2 tsp cornstarch

- 1 tsp vinegar

Preheat the oven to 125 C or 257 F. This is very important since you can not leave the meringue waiting for the oven to be hot enough.

Make sure your eggs are room temperature; this is also of the utter most importance when making this.

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. It is important not to get any water on the egg whites and also no yolk should be present. If you happen to get some yolk into the egg whites you can take some kitchen paper and put that on the yolk part and it will get sucked into the paper and your meringue will not be ruined.

Place the egg whites into a bowl that is dry and made out of glass or steel, if you use a plastic one it might have some fat stuck to it and that will ruin the meringue.

Beat the egg whites with a hand held mixer or by hand, but then you would need to make sure that your whisk is round and made out of steel so that it captures enough air into the meringue.

When the egg whites have turned foamy measure half of the sugar and pour it into the bowl slowly, mixing everything at high speed at the same time. It helps if you have someone helping you out in the kitchen at this time, but this can be done alone too, it’s just a bit harder that way.

Measure the other half of the sugar and mix it together with the cornstarch. Pour them into the bowl once again mixing at the same time.

Beat everything together until you have a shiny and hard mixture.

Lastly mix in the vinegar. Now you can make the traditional meringue test and hold the bowl over your head and see if anything falls on your head; it’s done if nothing falls.

Line a baking tray with baking paper and spoon the meringue on to the baking tray, make small circles with the spoon and make the edges rise higher than the middle of the cake making a small nest in the middle. If you are making a big pavlova then draw a circle on to the baking paper and spoon the meringue on to the baking tray using the circle as help and form a big round meringue cake; you will need to make the nest in the middle with the bigger version too. You can lift the meringue with a spoon around the edges to make it look fluffier.

If you are aiming for a more professional looking pavlova you will need a round tipped piping tube and using that you can pipe the meringue into a perfect circle. I myself don’t mind if mine look like they were hand made.

Bake the mini pavlovas for 1 1/2 hours. Let them cool before taking them of the baking tray.

Fill them with your choice of filling and remember to fill them just before serving, they are not as good as they should be if you leave them to wait.

This is how I separate egg whites; I crack the egg open onto my hand.

I let the egg whites drop away from the yolk which is on my hand.

The yolk usually remains nicely without any trouble, I find this to be the easiest way in which to separate egg yolks.

The finished meringue should look like this after you have added the vinegar to it; it is shiny and very white.

Test the meringue by turning it upside down, it’s done of it sticks. I prefer to not test it above my head.

Spoon the meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Make small nests by spooning the meringue higher on the sides.

Balsamic strawberries

- 1 cup diced strawberries

- 1 tbls balsamic vinegar, it is fine to use the cheaper variety

- 2 tbls honey or 2 heaping tbls sugar

Mix everything together and let it sit for 1 hour. Add some freshly ground black pepper if you feel like it.

Whipped cream with mascarpone

-1 part whipped cream

-1 part mascarpone cheese, something like Philadelphia is fine too

- sugar and vanilla extract according to taste

Whip the cream until it is light and fluffy and then mix in the cheese, sugar and vanilla extract.

Another naturally gluten-free dessert which also very easy, and takes less than 10 minutes to make, is some cream quark with berries or fruit.

Quark

- 500 grams quark

-2,5 dl or 1 cup cream

- 2 cups chopped fruit or berries

- 1 dl or 0,4 cup sugar, you can also use honey or something like stevia

-2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the cream and then fold in the berries, sugar, vanilla and quark.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Tags: baking, meringue

I think that there are different variations of meatballs in almost every culture - some ground meat which has something starchy added to it, maybe to make it cheaper, meat has been something of a luxury in the past. As for now it is one of the staples in many peoples diet, especially with families; it is easy, convenient and still cheaper than many other foods. It was most definitely a staple in our home when I was growing up; I can still remember the kind of meatballs my grandparents made, the kind my parents made and even the kind all my other relatives made just because it was always a food that tasted good and made me look forward to dinner.

When I think of meatballs the first thing that comes to mind is the kind which was made by my dad, not Italian style meatballs with milk soaked bread or anything like that, just some Scandinavian style meatballs with creme fraiche or sour cream, maybe it is the Slavic influence raising its head there, I always add something sour to foods and I prefer using sour dairy in some form, much like my parents. Something like creme fraiche or smetana does give a nice taste to meat though.

I have not been eating many meatballs now that I am gluten-free, but I have found that quinoa flour works well with them. Quinoa flour was the first and thus far the only flour I have tried using in meatballs, I have not felt the need to use something else since it works so well. I would say that you can use quinoa flour in your favourite meatball recipe instead of regular flour and it should work out well, I’m not totally sure since it might depend a lot on the recipe, but my own experiments have been successful using quinoa.

This recipe revolves around ground lamb meat; I have access to some local organic lamb and so I tend to use a lot of it, but it’s not the only reason why I wanted to post this particular recipe. The main reason was that this is a bit different from regular meatballs and totally delicious, some variety and twist added to everyday foods never hurt anyone.

I adapted this from Nigella’s aromatic lamb meatballs recipe.

Gluten-free lamb meatballs

-500 grams ground lamb meat

- 1 egg

- 2 tbls olive oil

-2 heaping tbls quinoa flour

- 2 chopped spring onions, or one small yellow onion

- 1 finely minced garlic clove

the spices

- 1 tsp cinnamon

-1 tsp coarse salt (this is a lot of salt, add just 1/2 tsp if you don’t want to use this much salt)

- 1 tsp cumin

- 1 tsp coriander/ some fresh coriander

-1 tsp all spice

Grind the spices and mix everything together. Let it sit for approximately one hour in the fridge. Heat the oven to 200 C or 400 F and depending on their size let them bake for 20-30 minutes.

Grind all of the spices; you’ll need to use coarse salt (sea salt) so that the spices will break more easily.

Put all the ingredients in to a bowl, I chop my onions coarsely since I don’t mind them looking like that and they will soften in the oven.

Mix everything together with your hands and then leave it to sit in the fridge for one hour.

Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.

Line a baking tray with some baking paper and roll the meatballs; if they stick to your hands use some water on your hands.

Let them bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on their size.

You can of course use a frying pan with these too, but I use an oven since it’s easiest that way.

I like to eat these with some baba ganoush, or rice, or some seasoned Greek yogurt, actually I like these with almost anything - not with something sweet though.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Tags: dairyfree, meat, quinoa flour