We’ve got an entire month between chocolate-covered-holidays! Time to clean up our act a bit. These days there’s a huge surge in gluten-free living. So many people have an aversion to gluten, and the symptoms so awful, that even normal folks are tapping in. Even my Mom’s into it, and she’s got some crazy, self imposed, diet restrictions. Sugar-free, Lactose-free, Gluten-free…I don’t know what she actually eats?! Gluten-free, like most specialty diet items, means ‘very-expensive’ and ‘hard-to-find’. More recently, they’ve become easier to find, but wow $8.00 for a little box of flour. Geez. I’m so glad I can still tolerate regular flour. Last year, I saw a tiny article in my Food&Wine magazine from chef Silvana Nardone… and her version of Gluten-free flour to be made up and used like a standard all purpose. Great! I sent the recipe over to my Mom and she immediately set about making, and using it. She loves it ! And since I care, I’ll share it with you too.
You’re welcome.
Gluten Free Flour
(11 cups worth!)
Step 1:
Gather together these slightly pricey items. Now, if you’re gluten intolerant, you probably already stock the little gems.
6 Cups White Rice Flour
3 Cups Tapioca Flour (aka: Tapioca Starch)
1 1/2 Cups Potato Starch
2 Tbl Xanthan Gum
1 Tbl Salt
Combine in a large bowl. Whisk together. Store in a large, air-tight container for up to a year.
I cut this in half, because I have so many kinds of flour – I was running out of space! At one time, I had the calculations of what it would cost to make this and it was much cheaper than the pre-mix from the stores and online. Although, that was then, and that note is missing from my file. I’m simply too lazy to figure out what that big bottle of Xanthan Gum cost per tablespoon. Ugh – Trust me, this will save you money. Speaking of saving money, I’ll have to give a shout-out to my favorite online health food site, www.vitacost.com Super good prices, free shipping deals, not to mention fast shipping too. My stuff always arrives at least three days before it’s supposed to. In fact, I think I’ll make that cookie recipe printed on their box…and make it gluten-free, of course.
I’ll be posting some recipes soon that’ll include this new favorite, of my mother’s. She even ‘feeds’ it to her sourdough starter! Gluten-free sourdough? Really? OK, if you say so.
So be healthy – another chocolate covered holiday is right around the corner!
I was cleaning out my photo file, cause it’s that time of year…from closets, to camera…I’m cleanin’ it up. I ran across this shot and remembered that I’d forgotten all about making it a post. Not really a recipe, an ingredient. So, here it is.
Special meals here usually involve massive pieces of meat on a slow roast. That’s just how I roll. Turkey…rib roast…haaaammmm. All of which require spices and herbs to make their lusciousness sing. I confess, I have an entire cabinet devoted to these botanical wonders. I know I have at least 5 kinds of salt. I’ve been known to make an entire meal to use just one new spice I’ve found. I also enjoy mixing them up at will. It used to be, that the grocery store had a section of little tins (yes, I remember them) a few feet wide and if it wasn’t there, you didn’t need it. Not to say that there weren’t any ’spice shops’ – there have been spice shops since pepper was currency! It’s just that the average cook (in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania) got by with the basics and really didn’t look beyond. The world has changed. Have you seen the spice section lately? It must be half an isle! Although, like the pickle display, it’s full of repeats and pre-mixed concoctions. Expensive ones at that! It’s really hard for me to buy a $4.00 rub when I know what’s in it and can do it at home (so, I don’t). One of my favorite mixes is Herbes de Provence. Hmmm – it just sounds like a vacation doesn’t it.
That gem used to be on my ‘Big City’ shopping list because I could only get it from Williams-Sonoma in the little French crock dispenser and it is wonderful! I’ll let you guess at the price. I will tell you that a compound butter made with it was the key to a fabulous Thanksgiving bird. The little crock without a seal made sure I’d have to replace it often. Later, I started storing it in baby food jars – with the rubber seal, best re-use ever! This product came FROM FRANCE, so I trust it’s authenticity. This year at Thanksgiving, I forgot to check my stash before heading south and it failed to make the list. Oops. I pulled out the crocks ingredient list and kept it on the ‘local list’. Nowhere was Savory to be found…nowhere. Savory isn’t an adjective, it’s a cousin to mint and a main ingredient in Herbes de Provence. Don’t tell the grocery-store-spice-mix-kings that, if there was even a bottle of Herbed de Provence on the shelf, most of them didn’t include savory OR lavender – gasp! What’s more French than lavender! Oh, I get it – we’ll just leave it out because it’s expensive and they’ll never miss it. After a while it becomes an Americanized mix of rosemary, oregano,…Oh, no – not in this camp. I scoured the labels and found a McCormick variety that seemed close, and it had Savory, but no fennel or lavender. That’s ok, I do. Yes, I have lavender in my craft cabinet for scented oils and soaps – same thing. Check your health food store bulk section for a good price. In fact, check them for all kinds of odd spices. I dumped out the bottle into a bowl, added in a pinch of fennel seed, and lavender (about a teaspoon each) mixed it up and put it back in the bottle. No, it didn’t all fit. The extra was added into the compound butter. What’s that? Well, it’s room temp butter mixed with herbs or spices, mashed together and let sit for the flavors to meld. I add a little pressed garlic to mine for meats. OMG – so good! You’re allowed to use it on your morning toast too, or a bagel – gasp, no I meant croissant.
Have I mentioned that herbs and spices are fat free. Spice up your dull diet foods to bring them back to life. Don’t be confined to the store mixes.
Get your herbs together and lets make a Compound Butter – this is unbelievably simple. If you’ve never done it, it’s one of those head-slap, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that things!
I add in a touch of raw garlic for use with meats. Careful, a little garlic goes a l o n g way!
That’s it – Compound Butter. Put it in a special little jar, or butter keeper.
Since we’re talking chicken here,…or Thanksgiving or Easter…here’s a super easy and super tasty chicken. Soooo simple. Soooo good. Don’t believe me – YouTube Thomas Keller and he’ll tell you how a simple chicken is one of his favorites – and he’s the King of Complicated Food!
Step 1:
Set out a chicken to ‘temper’ it. That means let warm to almost room temp – no, you’re NOT gonna die. Like any mass of meat, it should start warm (meaning, not fresh from the fridge cold) so that it cooks evenly. Yes, Organic chickens taste better. Sorry, they just do. But, for this demo, I’ve got my fave Perdue roaster (slightly bigger than a fryer, bigger breast, and less cooperative wings – as the video will prove). It looked great and was on sale. I just can’t say no.
Step 2:
Preheat that oven to 450deg and roll that video. There’s just too much typing. I don’t truss my birds, sorry, I’m lucky to tie my shoes. So I’ll show you what I do with those drumsticks.
Step 3:
One bird in a pan – yes, you can use a skillet. I said it wasn’t fancy. Don’t even cover it. Get that bird in the hot box for about an hour. It’ll be golden brown delicious!!! If you coated the skin liberally with salt, it’ll be crusty…mmmm.
Finale:
See, no fancy pan or twine, or anything. Those wings stayed in place, and aren’t burnt. The drummies tore thru their bindings, mainly because I fuzted with them for the video, but still evenly golden. Simply good. That skin is crunchy and herby, the guys will love it ! My dieting friends and I will be removing that layer of chicken rind to reveal a moist and tender meat underneath. It holds in the juices because you roasted it with the skin on. It’ll be yummy because the butter helped the herbs soak into the meat – not just in the skin you just pulled off.
Plate it:
Now, carefully, cut that bird into sections and put on a platter. Way easier without that wishbone, weird, huh. Wow – now, if you don’t care about the fat in the pan, make a gravy. Or, even back this up, and set the bird on top of a layer of veggies. Just a coarse chop of some carrots, celery and onion – you know, the usual suspects. Then you can serve them along side the bird. But that’s too much fat for me. So, I’ll separate the fat off and make a pan sauce we can all enjoy a bit of.
Compound Butter is your new friend – and yes, it’s regular butter. Just don’t eat a ton of it and you won’t weigh a ton 😉
Be adventurous – be thrifty – be healthy.
(Whew – all that over one photo! What can you find in your old files?)
Everyone loves sweets, ok – most everyone. I’ve found that ladies love chocolate, yours truly included, and men tend to like barks and toffees. Hmm, tough chewy things that contain nuts…not going to even try an explain it. Over the holidays I came across, and made, a toffee that was very different than what I was used to seeing. Toffees are labor intensive treats that usually involve a technique that is only shared between the recipe keeper and their relatives or appointed subordinates. Sure they’ll tell you what’s in it and then giggle as you ruin pounds of sugar and butter, along with assorted band-aids for caramel burnt fingers. You’ll spend hours trying to figure out just how to get that certain texture. Only to find that you can’t because you live in Florida – the land of humidity! (water and sugar are NOT always BFF’s) But they knew that.
Not so fast. I still need to find a way to make something that pleases everyone. This little chocolate covered wonder is crunchy by means of an unusual ingredient – Matzo. Matzo are crackers much like saltines, but are thinner and come in very flat sheets the size of the box. Typically, they’re found in the Ethnic Food section of the store with the other Jewish specialties. Speaking of Jewish, this recipe comes by way of Chef Andrew Zimmern. Yes, the guy who eats everything! Turns out, when he’s not eating fried grasshoppers in Indonesia, he’s coming up with other really good things and has shared this through the Food & Wine site. Since Mr. Zimmern happens to be Jewish he knew all about the crunchy qualities of matzo and was kind enough to share this little tidbit with the rest of us. Yumm!
Matzo Toffee
2 Sticks of butter
5 pieces of Matzo (I used the lightly salted version)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Cups Chocolate Chips – good quality!
1 Cup Almonds, Pecans toasted
Sea Salt
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350deg. Get a large shallow pan or dish about 15 x 17, I used my cookie sheet. Line it with foil and brush it with butter. Line it again with parchment and brush it with butter also. This sounds odd, but it makes it much easier to deal with later. Just be happy you won’t have to wash the cookie sheet afterward.
Step 2: Melt the butter (I used this to brush on the pan and then added the brown sugar), and the brown sugar. Over med/low heat, stir or whisk continuously until it comes together into a toffee (about 5 min – see Step 4). In the meantime, use another cookie sheet and pop them into that heated oven for a couple min. to get the nuts toasted. Remember, if you can smell them, they’re burnt.
Step 3: Now, break out that matzo. I didn’t even know what matzo was. It’s basically a saltine, only thinner and more dense. I can see how this will work now, and I wouldn’t substitute. Line the pan with it, breaking it when necessary.
Step 4: Here’s your toffee. Mmmm, smells so good!
Step 5: Now pour the toffee over the matzo sheets and smooth out with a silicon spatula (no sticking). Pop it into the oven for 5 min or so, until it’s bubbling. Keep an eye on it.
Step 6: Get that hot pan out and sprinkle on the chocolate chips. The toffee is like sugar napalm – don’t touch it! The chips will be melty in no time. Then smooth them out.
Step 7: Sprinkle on the nuts. Go and find that flaky sea salt you’ve got hiding somewhere. This stuff is so good, and can be found at both health food, gourmet stores, and online. Careful, a little goes a long way. When you sprinkle it on do it from high over the pan and it will land more sparsely. We’re not covering pretzels here.
Step 8: Let the whole thing set now. Since I’m in Florida, it’s like 80deg in my kitchen so I parked it in the fridge. It doesn’t take long to set. Get it out and break it up. The double lining makes it slide out and isn’t a sticky mess to deal with. Fold it over it break it up so the chocolate doesn’t melt with your hands.
Finale: This is awesome! Salt and toffee and chocolate – why, yes please! The matzo is still crunchy with all that sticky mess and it holds it all together. If you use good chocolate (don’t be afraid to spend a bit for Valhrona or Guittard) this is a treat you can feel confident to give away as a gift.
Enjoy – When I made these at Christmas, I packaged them up and gave them as gifts to the neighbors, lovely AND tasty for both the gentleman and lady of the house. I’m sure there’s a chocolate covered holiday coming up sometime soon that you’ll need to set out something unusual and that pleases everyone.
(Thank you for the recipe, Mr. Zimmern – but you can keep the fried grasshoppers)