Category Archives: Recipe

Salmon and Lentils.

Posted by alicemwilkinson in Recipe and tagged with , , , ,

I’ve started cooking with lentils quite a lot lately.  In the interest of speed, I’ve been using pre-cooked lentils from a can (you can also get fancy puy lentils in sachets) which makes life really easy.  I always think of lentils as one of those ingredients that belong in dishes that have been cooked for a very long time, slowly; delicious, French bistro style dishes that I have neither the time nor the inclination to make myself (though I’m more than happy to eat them).  But canned lentils mean that you can have the flavours and experience of a slow-cooked stew almost instantly.  And lentils are perfect as part of a gluten-free diet: high in protein and low in fat they are both filling and comforting, and, despite the bad press they get, they can be really delicious.

Bored of my typical accompaniments to salmon and desperate for something that felt a bit carby (I am really starting to crave bread and spaghetti and pastry and cake…) I settled on lentils for supper.  My mum makes the best lentil dish, with red wine and balsamic vinegar, but I couldn’t remember how to make it, and I wanted something a bit lighter to go with my simply roasted salmon.

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I started by dicing a carrot, two celery sticks, a white onion, garlic and half a fresh chilli.  Then I sauteed the veg in a casserole pan until they had started to soften.  Once I’d done that I added a generous splash of white wine and let the alcohol bubble off a little before adding two cans of drained and rinsed green lentils.  I added enough chicken stock to just cover the lentils, then brought the dish to the boil and simmered for about 15 minutes.  Finally, I added a whole bag of baby spinach: I put a lid on the pan and let the steam from the lentils wilt the spinach leaves.  One final stir and a check for seasoning and my supper was ready.  I served the lentils with some salmon, which I bought from my fishmonger (roasted for about 13 minutes at 180ºC fan) but the lentils would go nicely with lots of other kinds of fish, like monkfish or trout.

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This dish was simple and quick and definitely not dull!  Lump me in the the lentil-bashing vegetarians if you want to (although I certainly won’t be having nut roast for Christmas) but I think lentils may well be the rising stars of my coeliac suppers.

Lunchtime Tuna Salad.

Posted by alicemwilkinson in Recipe and tagged with , , , , , , ,

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One of the issues with being coeliac, I’ve found, is what to do for a work day lunch.  Before I was diagnosed I wouldn’t even think about my lunch until I was about to make it; I’d just make some scrambled eggs on toast or some mashed avocado on toast or whatever on toast.  But, no more.  Now, every evening I must plan what I’m going to bring to work for lunch the next day.  Although I work in a cafe, I can’t risk making my food there because we prepare a lot of sandwiches and, or course, I do a lot of baking, so the risk of contaminating my food with wheat flour or bread would be too high.  Usually I bring in leftovers, which is simple enough, but what about those days when you’ve gone out for supper, got a takeaway or been to a friend’s house?  Whatever it is has to be filling, and keep me full for a while (being a hungry coeliac in a sandwich shop is a little like being lost at sea… water, water everywhere…) and I believe I’ve got just the thing: a simple, healthy, tuna and bean salad.

I started with some really nice canned tuna, not the kind that smells like cat food, and some cannellini beans, although you could use any kind of canned bean you like (butter beans, flageolet, kidney beans, etc).  After that it was really a matter of what I could find in the fridge that would be appropriate: I had some green beans, which I cut into thirds and boiled for about 3 minutes before draining and running under cold water, and some spring onions, a tomato and some cucumber.  I chopped up all the veg and mixed it up with the beans and tuna.  Finally, I added some chopped parsley, some defrosted peas, salt, pepper, garlic olive oil, lemon juice and a sprinkle of mixed seeds.  Job done.

This literally took me ten minutes.  And it made loads so now I have lunch for three days, easily, unless my boyfriend gets his hands on it.  That’s the other great thing about this sort of gluten-free cooking: it doesn’t feel gluten-free, like a gluten-free sandwich or gluten-free pasta would, so everyone in the house can enjoy it.  It is delicious, healthy and also happens not to contain wheat.  It certainly ticks all my boxes!

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