Homemade almond icing

By gretta | Published: April 6, 2012

 The stuff at the supermarket is pretty much glucose syrup and fake almond essence, hardly organic although we do enjoy it’s lolly like qualities. This year we are going to master true almond icing, otherwise known as marzipan, a delight of European centuries, with Margaret Fulton and Delia Smith taking the class…

To make a thick layer of marzipan for a large cake – Combine 6 cups of sifted icing sugar and 700gm ground almonds in a large bowl, then stir in the 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup lemon juice. You can add almond essence and brandy or sweet sherry at this point also. Mix to get a firm paste that can be rolled out, adding more icing sugar or liquid as required.

To dress the cake – Dust a working surface with icing sugar and roll the paste into a piece that will fit over your cake. You can do this in stages ie top first and then sides or you can try for the whole cake like a tablecloth (although I am not sure that Delia would approve). Nigel brushes his cake with marmalade or apricot jam to get the marzipan to stick whereas Delia recommends egg white (I used marmalade). You can turn your brushed cake upside down onto your rolled out icing rather than trying to get your rolled out icing up to your cake which certainly sounds sensible. Delia recommends pressing and smoothing your joins with a palate knife and then a rolling pin. General consensus is to leave your almond icing to dry for about a week before the next layer of white royal icing.

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easy fresh zucchini pickle

By gretta | Published: February 15, 2012

Zucchini are the hero of the summer garden, producing prolifically for months on end, to the point where you have to harvest every day to prevent them all turning into marrows. This recipe is bound to satisfy even the grumpiest man – salty, vinegary and ever so slightly crispy zucchini to eat with cheese, cold meats and fresh bread. And it is damn easy. 5 minutes of your day. Believe it or not…

Thinly slice 3 medium zucchini (if you have a variety of colours and shapes all the better) and a decent sized white onion and toss in a colander with 2 tablespoons of sea salt. Cover, place over a bowl to catch the liquid and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours, overnight is ideal, the idea being to draw as much of the liquid as possible out of your zucchini. Once drained pack your zucchini and onion into a clean jar, layering in some additional flavours along the way such as sprigs of dill, thinly sliced chilli, 1/2 tablespoon of mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp fennel seeds… The final step is to heat 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (organic and living please) with 1/3 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved and pour hot into your jar ensuring your veges are well covered (make sure there are no air bubbles by giving everything a good poke and prod). This is a fresh pickle that needs to be kept in the fridge, it will be good for a week or two (and longer depending on your constitution of your gut!). As you can imagine the quantities can easily be adjusted to accommodate your crop or appetite, its all pretty straightforward.

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a good gluten free dairy free christmas cake

By gretta | Published: December 7, 2011

I have been making this cake for about 10 years and every year I kinda adlib so the fact that there is a recipe going down for the record is quite a milestone. I usually make 2 huge batches, producing about a dozen cakes that I then give away as Christmas presents but I have scaled down the quantities to make one big square Christmas cake (like Mum and Grandma always used to bake and serve as small tall rectangles topped with marzipan and white icing, yum).

In a large saucepan place in the following order:

  • 300gm coconut oil (I use Chantals organic deoderised which I get from the warehouse in 4lt pails)
  • 1.5kg mixed fruit (this year I used equal quantities sultanas, raisins, currents, sliced figs, sliced apricots, chopped prunes & cranberries but I wish I had added good quality glace cherries cause Im not sure we ever grow out of those)
  • 120gm chopped dates
  • 1 cup sugar (I use Rapadura which gives the cake a rich mellow flavour, the original recipe requires dark muscavado, you could just use organic raw)
  • zest and juice of 4 oranges + 1/2 cup water

Place on low heat stirring gently every now and then until everything has amalgamated nicely and your fruit is juicy and moist. Remove from the heat and leave to cool (but don’t put it in the fridge as will congeal beyond stirability).

Meanwhile sift together your dry ingredients into a bowl:

  • 4 1/2 cups of gluten free flour (this year I used Besty’s Baking Mix but in previous years I have used a ratio 1 1/2 cups soy flour to 3 cups rice flour)
  • 6 tsp gluten free baking powder
  • 2 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp allspice

Lightly whisk 4 large eggs (or 5-6 small ones) and mix well into your pot of cooled fruit. Next gently mix your bowl of dry ingredients into your pot of cooled fruit, one cup at a time. Finally gently fold in the finishing touches until barely combined:

  • 1 cup of slivered almonds (or other nuts in whichever state as you so choose, I think Nigel Slater uses whole roasted hazelnuts in his)
  • 100gm candied mixed peel
  • 100gm drained ginger
  • 1/3 cup of bitter marmalade

Bake in a greased and lined tin at 160C for about 2 hours, maybe longer. Use a skewer to test doneness. If you find your cake is browning on the top you could use the wet newspaper trick but not something I have tried for fear of setting the oven on fire. I have never bothered icing my cakes, they are delicious and rich as they are and no icing makes them appropriate for eating any time of the day. We have been known to live on the Christmas cake for a week or so. My friends husband loves his with big slabs of blue cheese which I can confirm is delicious and which obviously leaves icing obsolete. This year, however, inspired by the picture of the fluffy frosted Christmas cake in Nigel Slaters Kitchen Diaries and yearning for the icing I so love on my mothers cake, I am going to trim a monster for the silly season. Homemade marzipan as thick as your finger and snowdrift icing like Nigel’s mum used to make for him.

Cricky! Nearly forgot the essential ingredient, BRANDY!!! Once upon a time this would be sloshed into the mix early on instead of water and then liberally poured into the cooked cold cake through millions of small skewer holes. These days it does not make an appearance in our house hense the omission but by all means do not deny yourself!!!!

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easy banana and coconut muffins

By gretta | Published: October 5, 2011

Sick of the sight of the hideously brown bananas on the bench, I whipped these muffins up before breakfast. Much to the pleasure of my son who got to take a piping hot muffin to school for morning tea and my daughter who climbed up to the bench and helped herself. The recipe is adapted from a banana loaf recipe and the result was delicious.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease your muffin tin. Sift 1 1/2cups gluten free flour (I use Besty’s Flour Mix), 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt. In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar and 2 tsp vanilla essence together, then add 1/4 cup olive or other oil, 3 mashed bananas (the riper the better) and 4 tbsp of rice or soy milk. Beat well and then gently mix into dry ingredients with 1 cup of coconut. Finally, gently fold through nuts, berries or chocolate as suits your fancy and your pantry, a cup or two will do it nicely. Spoon mix into prepared muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Will make 8-10 good sized muffins or 12 smaller ones.

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nutritious and delicious chestnut pancakes

By gretta | Published: October 4, 2011

These pancakes, found in Ariana Bundy’s fabulous book “Sweet Alternative”, have become a hit in our house. They take a little more time to prepare and require a couple of unusual ingredients but the effort is worthwhile. They are light and fluffy and nutty tasting, almost savory, and perfect with fried banana and bacon.  Chestnut flour is commonly used in Asia and we have a producer here in New Zealand, Golden Fields, milling high quality chestnut flour which is available in 500gm packs for about $13 from any good organic or whole foods store. The chestnut is high in carbohydrate, has no gluten and contains the right amount of proteins for a balanced diet, including all nine essential amino-acids. Its protein is comparable to that of an egg.

Sift 3/4 cup buckwheat flour, 1/4 cup tapioca flour and 1/2 cup of chestnut flour into a bowl with 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. We often substitute the buckwheat and tapioca flour with a cup of Besty’s Baking Mix that we always have on hand. Separate 3 eggs. Whisk egg yolks with 1 cup of rice or soy milk, 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. Add flours and blend into smooth batter. Add more milk if you like thinner pancakes, up to 1/2 cup.

Whisk the egg whites with the pince of salt until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the batter. Cook pancakes to the size you like them, turning as soon as the top starts to bubble and the sides become golden. Serve immediately! (I hate it when pancakes are left to sit around)

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a simple, satisfying mushroom soup

By gretta | Published: September 30, 2011

It is great to finally have an easy and reliable mushroom recipe that serves as a very satisfying lunch. This recipe was procured from Heidi Swanson and does not involve any of the butter and cream or blending and straining that other mushroom soup recipes often call for and is perfect for those with both dietary and time limitation. I have had an enormous container of expensive (french!) dried forest mushrooms for at least a year and hardly used until I found this recipe. Now I make a habit of adding a good handful of soaked dried mushrooms to the fresh field mushrooms for a little extra diversity of flavour but it is just as good without.

In your largest, widest soup pot heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in 500gm mushrooms, chopped into bite sized pieces, and season with salt and pepper. Cook stirring a couple times along the way, until the mushrooms release their liquid and they are deeply browned. About 8 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the pan, set aside on a plate.

Using the same pot, heat another tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Stir in 2 finely chopped onions, ideally a red and a brown, and cook until tender, a few minutes. Stir 2 tablespoons of the tamari (gluten free soy sauce), 1 1/2 cups cooked pearl barley or rice, and then 5-6 cups vegetable or chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat a bit. Add the mushrooms and cook another 10 minutes or so. Stir in 1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil (if you have it) and taste. You might want to add another tablespoon or so of tamari, particularly if your broth wasn’t very salty. And you might want to add more toasted sesame oil a few drops at a time. Just keep tweaking until everything balances out for you. Serve sprinkled with lots of chopped chives.

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chocolate crinkle cookies

By gretta | Published: August 7, 2011

I am so pleased with these cookies. They are gluten, dairy and egg free and easy peasy with a crunch on the outside with an inside a little bit like chocolate brownie. And they look good ! How many recipes do you have to try to get a good one!?! The recipe is straight from the very clever Elizabeth Gordon’s book Allergy-Free Desserts. Every recipe in this book is gluten/dairy/egg/soy and nut free and she relies alot on ground flax seeds to bring body and bind to her recipes. I am not having any luck with her cakes but some of her biscuits and other treats are great.

  • In a small bowl combine 6 tbsp water and 2 tbsp ground flaxseed meal and allow to thicken for 3-5 minutes.
  • In  a large bowl whisk together 1 1/2 c Betsy’s or other gluten-free baking mix, 2/3 c best quality cocoa, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum.
  • With an electric mixer cream 1 c softened coconut or palm oil shortening with 3/4 c brown sugar and 3/4 c granulated sugar. When well mixed add 1 tsp vanilla extract and the thickened flax seed mixture and beat until fluffy.
  • Mix in dry ingredients until a well combined cookie dough.
  • Roll into balls and coat in icing sugar before placing on baking tray lines with baking paper. Place 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
  • Bake 180 for 14 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer look wet. Leaving in for longer will result in crunchier cookies…

These cookies are quite sweet and perfect with a glass of soy milk, something I know the Americans do all the time and which I finally get.

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gluten free chocolate & coconut cake

By gretta | Published: June 5, 2011

I was asked to make cupcakes for a 60th birthday recently and this was one of 3 cake recipes I used for the occasion and my favorite. A spongy chocolatey cake with chewy coconut texture, most impressively good. Again, an adaptation of an Ariana Bundy recipe. She uses a sweet mochi flour called Mochiki as well as a cup of chopped dried sour cherries which both sound delectable but were certainly not to be found in my pantry or the local food store.

Melt 1 cup coconut butter or oil with 1 cup good quality chopped dark chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Remember it is always best to resist stirring the melting chocolate until it is pretty much there for risk of fudging it. In another bowl sift 1 cup betsy’s baking mix or other gluten free baking flour, 1/2 tsp xanthan gum, pinch of salt and 1 tsp baking powder. Add  2/3 cup fine coconut. In a third bowl whisk 6 eggs, 1&3/4 cups unrefined golden caster sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract until blended and add the chocolate mixture. Stir to mix ingredients and then add the flour mixture and blend in with a spoon until smooth. Pour into 23 or 25cm tin lined with baking paper ad bake at 160 degrees for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

The cake photographed was prepared for another birthday celebration, 2 cakes each split through the middle and stacked with quince paste sandwiched between but any jam would have done the trick. The brief was to feed a crowd and I figured that this would look the part.

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easy banana loaf

By gretta | Published: June 5, 2011

Oooh this was good! Whipped up in no time at all and sure to warm the heart of the most staunch and resolute of the anti-gluten free brigade. Adapted from the ever faithful archives of Ariana Bundy, I added sultanas, walnuts and chocolate chunks but you could do as you pleased…
Sift  2 cups besty’s baking flour or other gluten free baking mix, 1 tsp xanthan gum, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg if you have it. In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs,  2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 cup demerara sugar (if you have it, if not ordinary organic sugar will do, I think I used Rapadura). I mixed this with a beater but you could just give it a good whisk. Add 1/4 cup light olive or sunflower oil, 3 mashed bananas and 4 tbsp soy or rice milk and mix well. Make a little well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add your banana mixture and then a little of what you fancy. I added sultana’s, chopped walnuts and chocolate chunks which was pretty damn good albeit on the sweet side. Mix everything up with a wooden spoon and stop stirring as soon as everything is mixed in. Bake in a decent size loaf tin at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes up clean.

Bundy cooks this loaf with a topping made up of 2 tbsp flour, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1/2 brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 finely chopped nuts mixed between the fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs and patted on before it goes into the oven. This would be a nice touch but I didn’t bother and did not miss it.
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quince paste

By gretta | Published: June 5, 2011

My favorite quince moment came last year with the first fruits of our labour planting fruit trees, one solitary quince!! I cooked it up into a paste that came out like toffee. We ate it with Tom’s wild venison carpaccio, and how good did we feel? Follows is a tried and true quince paste recipe that I found in an ABC magazine and that will come out looking something like the photo above, more or less solid like depending on how long you leave it to cook -

2kg of quince, peeled and cored and cut into even chunks, place in a heavy based saucepan with 1 cup of water and juice of 1 lemon. Cook, covered, until tender, drain and puree in a food processor. Return puree to saucepan and add 1.5kg of sugar and cook down over low heat stirring every 10 minutes to avoid sticking. Continue cooking until thick and dark and leaves side of saucepan when stirred.

I love watching the colour of the quince change from the yellow of the raw to fruit to the deep shape of crimson once cooked. I realise writing this that I got my toffee consistency last year because I did not blend my mix when I added my sugar. Same principles apply for poaching quinces, boil first in water and add sugar once tender and cook until deep crimson, but when poaching you will add you add alot less sugar. Melaina always reminds me of the quince brandy I made for the MIA opening many years ago, more like spirited syrup and delicious….

Look out for the dreaded brown spot when you purchase quinces, looking ok on the outside but for a few brownish spots but when you get them home and cut them open the inside is brown and worthless.

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