Category Archives: Tips

Simple Salmon Lunch.

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

For a protein-rich lunch for 2-3, simply place a piece of salmon fillet, weighing about 500g, skin side up in a roasting tray. Coat in olive oil, salt and pepper and add a few slices of lemon to the tray, if you like. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 180°C fan.

When the salmon is ready, peel off the skin and scrape of the grey flesh underneath (there’s nothing wrong with the grey buts, they just don’t look nice). Divide the salmon into rough, rustic portions. Pile onto plates with a fresh, green salad of Romaine lettuce, lambs lettuce and chives, dressed in extra virgin olive oil and a little Balsamic vinegar, for an early taste of spring.

Summer doesn't seem quite so far away when eating this simple and elegant lunch dish.

Summer doesn’t seem quite so far away when eating this simple and elegant lunch dish.

The Mighty Baked Potato.

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

For a perfect baked potato, simply pierce the skin all over the potato, rub with oil and salt and bake at 200°C or 180°C fan for at least an hour, but maybe 1hr 30 mins, depending on size.

Rub the skin in olive oil and plenty of salt to get the skin really crisp.

Why not rub the skin with a mix of oil and cumin, or cajun spice powder for a more exotc flavour. 

Then cut the potato down the centre and top with your favourite filling. I like leftover chilli con carne or bolognese sauce, but the best is chargrilled avocado and poached eggs.

What tops your?

What tops yours?

Another Gnocchi Dish…

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

This time I made gnocchi with meatballs made from gluten-free sausages that I bought from Waitrose.  It’s the first time I’d seen them in a supermarket, so I was pretty excited.  They’re really lovely actually, quite spicy and peppery and very meaty, although they don’t hold their shape so well when you cook them.

I simply fried off some sliced garlic and some cherry tomatoes in some olive oil.  Then I added little chunks of sausage that I’d cut up.  I also removed the sausage skin but only because it was coming off anyway; no need to bother doing this otherwise.  Once the little balls of sausage meat were cooked through, I added my cooked gluten-free gnocchi to the pan and added a little extra extra-virgin olive oil and some torn fresh basil.  It was so quick to do but it looked and tasted like I’d spent ages on it.  Yumbo-scrumbo.

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Gluten-free Gnocchi.

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

I’m really liking this gluten-free gnocchi that I found in my local butcher/deli.  Gnocchi is made with potato anyway, so there isn’t a huge difference in texture between this and normal gnocchi.

I used this gnocchi to make a quick lunch: I simply fried some garlic and four cherry tomatoes, halved, in a tablespoon of olive oil.  The tomatoes will soften and mush down to create a small amount of sauce.  Then I added about five prawns and some seasoning, frying on a low-medium heat until the prawns were cooked through and pink.  Once the gnocchi was cooked (this takes about 2 minutes) I added it to the prawns with some fresh basil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.  I cooked the gnocchi with the prawns and tomato sauce for 30 seconds before piling onto a plate.

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This is so fast and filling, and packed with fresh Italian flavours.  Enjoy!

Polenta.

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

Polenta is an excellent gluten-free alternative to bread crumbs; it has a lot more flavour, too.

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Try butterflying a chicken breast (or bashing it with a rolling pin until it’s evenly flattened) before coating it in lightly beaten egg.  Then mix a few handfuls of fine polenta with some finely grated Parmesan cheese and plenty of chopped parsley (you could whizz the cheese and parsley in a food processor and then mix with the polenta).  Use this cheesy crumb to coat the chicken, before frying in olive oil for about 4 minutes a side, depending on how thin your chicken is.  The result is crunchy and golden and perfect with a simple salad and boiled new potatoes.

“Safe” restaurants.

Posted by alicemwilkinson in Restaurants, Tips and tagged with , ,

Me and Sebastian have decided to go out to the cinema this afternoon and then for supper.  Obviously, I had to do some restaurant research.  What I’ve found, perhaps not surprisingly, is that chain restaurants are most likely (aside from, obviously dedicated gluten-free restaurants) to offer either gluten-free menus, options or allergy information pertaining to a wide variety of allergens.  The latter may sometimes be less useful than it sounds, especially when one is allergic to gluten: Byron, for example, lists almost all its dishes, from burgers to chips to dips , as containing gluten, except the “skinny burger”, which has no bun, and so has no gluten.  This begs the question, would all the burgers be gluten-free if I just asked for no bun? Or would the condiments, etc that come with the chicken burger or the chilli burger make it not gluten-free? Tricky.  I’d have to ask.  But the waiters may not know since it’s up to me, the customer and the coeliac, to check the allergy information online.  It is rather frustrating.

But, still, the fact that the information is there is reassuring.  Bill’s also has an allergens list; I am sadly restricted to about two things on the menu, but two is better than none I guess, and they’re both pretty yummy sounding things (grilled lamb with potato gratin or mushroom risotto).  The best are places like Carluccio’s, and Wahaca and Jamie’s Italian (if you can get the website to work properly) which all offer designated gluten-free menus, often as well as allergy information.

All this is very helpful and reassuring.  Obviously you can’t guarantee that, even if you ordered off the gluten-free menu, what you’re eating is completely gluten-free, but it’s probably as close to certain as you can get without cooking your food yourself.  And, as I don’t intend to become a hermit, bound to my kitchen forever for fear of wheat molecules, this will have to do!

Other Carbs.

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

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So I’ve been looking into alternative carbohydrates.  I love pasta and bread so cutting them out will be something of an ordeal but I’m trying to stay positive and remember that no pasta means more mash potato.  I never eat mash, but now I can eat it all the time (well, not all the time, obviously, but more than I used to).   Also, whilst I can never again have pasta or pizza (unless I have the gluten-free pastas or pizza bases which, I have been reliably told by a nutritionist, may as well be called “sugar that looks like pasta”) I can have risotto, one of my favourite things; really, all this just means that I will no longer be plagued with indecision when confronted with a menu over two pages long.  I’ll have so much free time! Maybe I’ll start a rock band.

There are so many alternatives to wheat that we coeliacs really have no reason at all to resort to the processed rubbish that is marketed as gluten-free bread is pasta.  That stuff is so far far removed from being bread it may as well have gills and live in the sea.  For example, there’s potatoes, of course, but also sweet potatoes, which are delicious mashed or cut into wedges and baked.  And they cook much faster than regular potatoes so perfect for a speedy baked spud.  And of course, there’s rice, loads of rice, countless kinds of rice.  I’ve got some brown rice here and some risotto rice (I’m having fish risotto tonight) but there’s wild rice, red rice, jasmine rice, long-grain rice, the list goes on and on.  There’s also lentils, which are perfect in curries and soups and puy lentils go really well with salmon.

Oats are tricky.  I’ve been told to steer clear but there are gluten-free oats out there that have been protected from wheat contamination so you can still have porridge in the morning if you trust what the back of the box says.

In addition there’s also quinoa, buckwheat, beans, so many kinds of beans which also count of protein so they’re perfect for staying fuller for longer (try a salad with tuna and cannellini or kidney beans for lunch).  Anyway, you get the point.  There is absolutely no need to settle for pasta or bread that tastes like sweet corn or sponge when there are so many other ways of eating filling, satisfying, gluten-free meals.