The Gluten Free Blog

This recipe is taken from The Wheat and Dairy Free Cookbook by Terence Stamp & Elizabeth Buxton.

Buckwheat is used extensively in Russian cuisine. Buckwheat contains more than 13 per cent protein and has a high amino acid content. Toasted and cooked like this it adds a nutty taste to any dish. Halloumi is a traditional white, semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese.

• 1 halloumi cheese
• A little all-purpose wheat-free flour for dusting

For the Kasha Salad:

• Buckwheat – 225 g (8 oz)
• Olive oil – 4 tbsp
• Water – 1 litre (1¾ pint)
• Mint, finely chopped – 55 g (2 oz)
• Flat parsley, chopped – 55 g (2 oz)
• Finely sliced spring onion/scallion – 4 tbsp
• Cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced – 300 g (10½ oz)
• Lemon juice – 4 tbsp
• Black pepper
• Pumpkin seeds – 75 g (3 oz)

Rinse the buckwheat in plenty of cold running water. Drain thoroughly. Put half the olive oil in a saucepan, add the buckwheat and fry, stirring until toasted and golden. Be careful not to burn. Pour in the water, cover and simmer gently until all the liquid is absorbed. Turn off the heat and leave to stand, covered, for 5 minutes. If there is sediment on the grains, rinse again under running water.

Put the remaining ingredients except the pumpkin seeds in a bowl and mix well. Leave to stand.

Heat a heavy non-stick frying pan/skillet. Do not add any oil. When hot put in the pumpkin seeds and shake over a high heat until the seeds start to ‘pop’. Remove from the pan and put on a plate. Sprinkle these over the kasha salad just before serving.

Slice the cheese lengthways to a thickness of about 1 cm/½ in, dust with a little flour and dry-fry in a non-stick pan until the cheese is a rich caramel brown. Serve with the kasha salad.

Serves 4 as a main meal

iPhone apps – don’t you just love ‘em. Well as you might expect there are quite a few iPhone apps out there for gluten free living.

Below are a few gluten free iPhone apps that stood out for me. I haven’t included any recipe apps as there are so many gluten free recipes on the web already. The apps I have listed are ones that offer something a little different. These apps are available on the UK iTunes store. Some will be available on other iTunes stores I’m sure.

• Gluten Free Restaurant Cards from CeliacTravel.com (Free) – This little app provides information for restaurant staff about the restrictions for those on a gluten free diet. Not that impressive you might say. But this app offers this information in over 40 languages, making it far easier for you to dine out when abroad. The CeliacTravel.com website provides printable versions of the cards so they can be taken right into the kitchen, so avoiding possible corruption of your message on the way to the kitchen.
• CeliacFeed (Free) – This app is provided by CeliacFeed.com. It helps people with celiac disease find gluten free products and restaurants in their city. Users can share their recommendations directly from their iPhone and the app uses the iPhone’s GPS to locate restaurants near you. The app is very limited at the moment but I like the idea. All it needs is more users to download it and start recommending their favourite places for it to become a really useful addition to the global gluten free community.
• GlutenFreeNYC (£1.79) – Gluten free in NYC? Then this app is for you. Over a dozen restaurants with gluten free menus and over 40 restaurants that accommodate gluten free requests. Plus you can browse through different types of cuisine and meal types to discover their suitability. Not very useful you might think. Unless of course you’re in New York City. But visit the website and vote on where you want the app to focus on next. You never know. It might be your city!

Take a look at all the ‘gluten free’ iPhone apps available on the iTunes store. Let’s hope some more start appearing soon!

Santa was kind enough to bring me Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking this Christmas; and it is seriously good!

Phil Vickery (aka as Mr Fern Britton) is a Michelin starred chef who regularly appears on UK daytime TV and writes a weekly column for a Sunday supplement.

So when it comes to food for the whole family, Phil really knows his stuff.

His latest book has a huge range of recipe ideas. Chapters include Comfort; Outdoors; Snacks & Quick Food; Vegetarian; and Parties and Entertaining. As well as a host of recipes for Cakes, Pastries, Biscuits and Desserts. And this is what I like about this book: there’s a nice balance between every day healthy options and sweet treats. A particular favourite of mine is Millionaire’s Shortbread with Bramley Apple Dip. Delicious.

Other recipes include healthy breakfast drinks such as carrot, ginger, celery, beetroot and apple juice; guaranteed to get you going in the morning and a fave of Fern’s, apparently.

Or how about breakfast fruit seed bars made with sunflower seeds, blueberries and gluten free porridge oats. These are so easy to make and perfect for the lunch box or as an on-the-go snack.

The snacks chapter includes onion bhajis with mango and mint yogurt, and marinated smoked salmon with picked ginger. A really easy supper dish to make is borlotti bean, chilli and pine nut bake made with gluten free pasta. This is a really quick meal to prepare on a cold winter’s night.

Talking of tasty comfort foods, the chestnut and roasted onion bread is another recipe that’s quick and easy to do (and fool-proof!). As is the lemon and leek risotto and curry pilaf with cashews.

Phil’s book also includes a list of foods that are naturally gluten free. As well as a handy guide to ‘foods and drinks that may include gluten without you realising it’. These include flavoured crisps, malted milk drinks, mustard products, Bombay mix, stock cubes and seasoning mixes.

A superbly presented book, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking has lots of coloured photographs and an introduction to each recipe from Phil. Worth getting. Especially for the shortbread.