pad thai, a gluten free comfort food

Today is the first day of fall. In Vancouver, fall came knocking on our doors about 3 weeks ago.  Coolers temperatures, rain (oh, and more rain) and shorter days. Fall is here.

It is that time of year when soups, stews and comfort foods are craved. I have set one goal: to make Bouef Bourguignon. I need a free weekend and some crockery to make that goal a reality. I'm thinking Thanksgiving weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

I don't often think about comfort food. For dinner I make what I'm feeling (or whatever is in the fridge). There isn't something I crave - or at least I didn't think there was until last weekend. My Aunt called and said she was coming to town. I had just visited her in Kelowna, BC a few weeks before and we had a conversation about Pad Thai. I realised since then I had been craving it.  I knew she would appreciate it and decided to put it on the menu for Sunday dinner.  It was a big hit. While finishing her last bite she said, "this IS comfort food".

The recipe is from a photo copy from a book from a friend. I don't know which book - but I do know my friend got it in Thailand. Fairly, authentic but also really accessible for westerners.

Pad Thai, gluten free 

Sauce:

6-7 tbsp sweet thai chilli sauce

1 tsp paprika

1/4 cup fish sauce, gluten free

1/4 granulated sugar

8oz rice noodles (it is about half a pack of rice noodles)

1 package of tofu (medium firm)

Prawns or chicken (amount up to you)

2 garlic gloves

4 tbsps vegetable oil

4 green onions, chopped 

1 cup of bean sprouts

1/4 roasted peanuts, chopped (I just put them in my magic bullet and gave them a bit of a chop)

1 large egg

Lime

Cilantro

Combine the ingredients for the sauce. Let sit while you prepare the remainder of the ingredients. Boil a large pot of water. Once it comes to a full boil remove from heat and add the rice noodles. Let sit for 7 or so minutes. Test a noodle after 5 minutes. When just about cooked, drain the noodles. Wok fry the prawns with garlic and 1 to 2 tbsp of the sauce. Remove prawns and set asid. Do the same with the tofu and egg. (You can also cook everything together, however, I like to deconstruct the ingredients and then put it all together at the last minute so it doesn't become one big clumpy eggy mess.

Take remainder of the sauce and add to wok. Heat until it starts to bubble, add the rice noodles and toss until full coated, add the prawns, tofu and scrambled egg.

Add green onions and bean spouts. 

Serve with the roasted peanuts, cilantro and lime. 

four times the potato, salad

Do you ever look at a potato and think - wow that's a gorgeous starch? I do. Its strange, but once I realised I could no longer indulge in the wheat filled world, I started to see things differently. New eyes perhaps? The gluten haze had drifted away? The multi-use of a potato, the variety of ways quinoa can be utilized in meals and how rice can virtually be used in everything (chip, pasta, flour and even vinegar).

I digress...Back to the potato. There are truly so many varieties out there. The classic russet, the new, the red, the purple and of course the creme de la creme: the fingerling. I'm very lucky because at my local market they tend to have all of these. At once and in abundence. I purchased just over a handful of each and brought them home. Still not certain of how their fate would end.

 

A friend of mine, happened to call and invite me over to watch a game and I figured this would be a great chance to make something with these beauties. Knowing I was going to be watching sports I decided to try a modernized potato salad. It was a success and has been requested twice since. 

Hope you enjoy!

Roasted Potato Salad with Asparagus

Approximately 3 lbs of potatoes, sliced in half (I used red, white, yukon, purple and red and white fingerlings)

A large bunch of asparagus, chopped to about 3 inches long

Rosemary, fresh but if you don't have fresh - dried works

3 cloves of garlic

Salt & Pepper 

Turn oven to 400 degrees.

Toss potatoes with crushed garlic, rosemary, olive oil and s&p. Pour tossed potatoes onto cookie sheet and throw into the over for an hour. 

After45 minutes or so add the aspargus in for a quick cook. Everything looks nice and roasted, remove from oven and let cool.

Dressing:

1/4 cup of dijon mustard

1/4 cup pesto

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 tbsp white balsamic (if no white on hand use the orginal)

 s&p to taste

2 tbsp  freshly grated parmesan cheese

Take cooled potatoes and asparagus and toss with dressing in large bowl. Once the potatoes are nicely coated, sprinkle parm on top. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving if time permits.

'tis spot prawn season!

At work a few weeks ago I received one of our newsletter's. I don't tend to read this monthly addition but I felt really compelled to click and read. So click I did. With a quick brouse - I saw a header for a Spot Prawn Festival the Chefs Table Society puts on. I had to click. So click. I did. Such a happy girl was I… reading about the 4th Annual Spot Prawn Festival (held on Fisherman’s Wharf) and after watching the video, I decided I HAD to go. I had heard about it in previous years but never made the effort to walk outside of the Market interior to explore.

After checking the dates I decided to make the 5 minute venture outside of the invisible walls of Granville Island to Fisherman’s Wharf.

I went and stood in line and waited for the triumphant horn to blast it’s notice of arrival from the prawning expedition. I was lucky and happened to be one of the first 3 people in line. I heard later through friends that they sold out within a half hour.

I didn’t really know what to do with the prawns. For some reason I thought they wouldn’t be alive. It was kind of bizarre… walking with a pound and a half of live prawns flickering around in your bag was something very different.

Talk about fresh. I headed home and cooked them exactly how the fisherman instructed: boiled salted water, in for 1 – 2 minutes heads on.

This was an interesting experience. I can’t even kill a spider (I am that girl on the couch screaming- even when alone) so a squirming prawn pushed me to try something I am definitely not comfortable with: I cooked them and then pulled off their heads (this was really disgusting), cleaned them and shelled them.

I had beautiful pink prawns in front of me that only hours previously were out on the ocean floor. I stood there and decided to make spaghetti, gluten free and with stunning fresh spotted prawns.

Have I mentioned my new favourite pasta brand?

Spaghetti with Spotted Prawns

8 Spotted Prawns

1 can of whole tomatoes

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/2 sweet onion

Asparagus, chopped, about 1/2 cup

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Fresh parsley, 1 - 2 tbsps

Grape seed oil

Salt and Pepper

Put water onto boil - follow package directions.

Pour approximately 2 tbsps of the grape seed oil into a heated pan. Add sliced garlic and onion on a low-medium heat. Add salt and pepper to season. Cook until onions become transparent.

Open the can of tomatoes. Gently break them by hand and gradually added them to the onion mixture and add about ¼ to ½ cup of the tomato sauce from the can. Let cook until light boil happens. Add the asparagus and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add cooked spot prawns. The spotted prawns were huge and I chopped them because it just wanted like that – but you can add them whole or any way you want!

Add lemon zest and parsley.

Mix with pasta.

Serve and enjoy! I did and so did my friends who I shared it with.

a lightly curried chicken, with a tasty chutney!

I needed to do some reorganizing in the kitchen.  I was cleaning out my cupboard yesterday evening as it had become a hairy mess. Is hairy mess the right descriptor?  It looked like what I thought a hairy mess would be, well, regardless it was epically messy. Since my awareness of my gluten and wheat allergy I had apparently slowly added to my gluten free flour collection which had consumed the entire cupboard.

I tossed a few things, found the lime kafir leaves I swore I bought but couldn't find for the past 6 months and subsequently bought again 2 weeks ago and realised that I own 4 too many half packages of corn pasta. I also found a jar of mango chutney my friend Jen gave me for Christmas. When I say found, I wouldn't want anyone to think it was lost, but I had momentarily for, 3 months, not remembered about it.

I couldn't believe I hadn't tried it yet (I apologize Jen).  I took it out and after a few moments of putting it under hot tap water -- I opened it.

It was so fragrant and peaceful. How can a chutney taste peaceful? I would say, the all-spice. After a quick spoonful and jumping taste buds screaming for more, I decided, that my undecided dinner was decided. I have a favourite Curried Mussels dish and the chutney instantly made me think of it.  With no mussels available I pulled out the trusty chicken and took a look in the very clean cupboard for something to go with... 

Curry Chicken with Mango Chutney

Chicken Breasts

2      Tsp Curry Powder, more if you like it stronger

2      Tbsp Mango Chutney*

2      Tbsp Olive Oil

1      Can Coconut Milk

1      Chopped Shallot

1      Green Onion

1      Garlic Clove

* The chutney my lovely friend made had raisins in it. Which I love. If your chutney doesn't have raisins and you like raisins feel free to add them!

Turn oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl combine the curry powder and the coconut milk. Whisk until combined.

Heat pan and add olive oil. Add chicken and sear for 2 minutes on each side (make sure you get the sides of the chicken). Place on baking sheet and throw into the oven.

Turn to medium heat. Add the remaining olive oil and shallots. Cook until transparent add in the curry mixture. Reduce heat and allow the sauce to thicken. Add chicken, chutney and raisins if you want them. 

Top with green onions. I wish I had coconut to throw on top too - but alas the clean cupboard was dry of coconut.

Serve chicken over rice or potatoes or veggies and enjoy!

Source: Rouxbe Cooking School - Curried Mussels recipe adapted by me.

a citrus salad, on a rainy day

I've been sick for over a week and haven't done any baking or cooking. It's been chicken soup (sans the noodle), ginger ale and pho. Pretty soupalicious. Today was the first time I've been able to actually taste anything.  It has been pretty crazy in the city (with a small event called the Olympics), the sun has been out and downtown Vancouver has had an intensely patriotic spirit people have never seen before... Today I woke up and knew I had to go back to work after being off sick and the rain was pouring. After an exhausting walk to work I knew it would be a long day.


To brighten my spirits I thought that I would make my favourite Quinoa Citrus Salad for dinner. 



I was introduced to this salad back in high school. Before Quinoa was commonly known and pronounced properly and WAY before its nutritional info hit the Canadian Food Guide. I remember when I had to go to the local grocery store and ask 3 people before someone even knew where to find Quinoa. Over the years it's become more readily available and last week I was even able to find it at Costco (thanks to a colleague from work letting me know they sell it there). Not only is it sold in large quantities now it is made in a wheat free facility!   Jackpot.

Now that is a main stream grain.







I've added a few things to the recipe my friends mum gave me - it's pretty flexible and any seed or dried fruit would be tasty in this salad.

Citrus Quinoa Salad

1 cup Quinoa

¼cup Diced dried apricots

¼cup Diced dates

¼cup Dried cranberries

¼cup Sunflower seeds

½cup canned Mandarin oranges, halved

½cup Fresh strawberries, sliced

2 green onions; diced

1 tbsp Sesame oil

2 tbsp Granulated sugar

¼ tsp Coriander 

1 tbsp of the mandarin juice

1 Lime, zested

Juice of 1 lime (about 3 tablespoons)

Rinse quinoa under cold water in sieve. Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to boil. Stir in quinoa. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Let cool.


Dressing: in a small bowl combine sesame oil, sugar, coriander, zest of the lime, lime juice and mandarin juice.



Mix together remaining ingredients into the cooled quinoa. Add the dressing, toss and serve. If you want the dressing to marinade make 2 hours before serving. I personally love this the next day. I could eat it forever.
Serves 4.

miso chicken

Miso Chicken, GF

I thought for a month + I couldn't have anything soy or soy infused. Then I got over it and bought tamari.

I was out for dinner a while ago at Sandbar and I wanted everything that was with a Miso sauce. Maybe you just want what you can't have? I couldn't order it because it had the soy. The damn soy that everyone uses to flavour. Why can't our world just switch to gf tamari or braggs?

I decided to make it for myself. How else was I going to enjoy it?

I was watching a cooking school lesson on pan frying from Rouxbe on the weekend. I decided, albeit slightly overwhelming when it came to the water check, to try. I've never cooked anything by pan frying. I have always thought it was unhealthy and scared of burning. It turned out so moist and delicious. It didn't burn. The chicken had a gorgeous brown colour and I used only 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and I didn't feel like it was as unhealthy as I had expected.

I wish I had made more.

Chicken breast
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for pan frying
1 shallot
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 individual package of miso paste (ensure to read the ingredients state no wheat) made to package instructions. Usually 3/4 or 1 cup of hot water.
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce, gluten free
1 tsp sugar*
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar*
* Made to replace Mirin, which I have yet to find gluten free.

1/2 cup of water available to add if needed

Combine the miso water mixture, soy sauce and sesame oil.

The chicken:
Ensure chicken is dry by patting with paper towel.
Lightly season with salt and pepper
Pan fry chicken breast(s) - really this is a great way to learn and way easier to understand than having me explain. After cooking chicken, remove and let sit under a tinfoil tent.

I learnt a new word today. Sucs. I was watching the pan frying lesson and the instructor said "sucs". What? I watched and listened again... Sucs. I tried to google it: sooks, souks, soooks?

Nothing. I was so annoyed. I am not the best at spelling but come on! Google can't even help me. I went back to the website and did a bit of recipe investigation until I found this one. Sucs. Don't burn the freaking sucs.

Sucs is what is left in the frying pan after you pan fry. To make the miso sauce - I used the sucs of the pan left from cooking the chicken.

Chop the shallot and ginger and add to the pan after the chicken is removed and left to sit. Saute for 1 minute. Add the miso mixture. Allow to reduce. After tasting I added more water as I wanted it to be a bit more diluted. After reduction takes place, add the mirin like concoction and continue to simmer for a few more minutes.

Spoon miso sauce over chicken.

I served it with Yukon Gold Potatoes, Asparagus and Carrots!

Gluten free miso sauce deliciousness!