Читать книгу The Intolerant Gourmet: Free-from Recipes for Everyone - Pippa Kendrick - Страница 7

Foods for you

While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by all the foods you can’t eat, it is far more helpful to concentrate on those you can. And the most important thing to begin with is to work out which of the staple foods you can eat and cook with in order to build up your intolerance-friendly storecupboard. Some will be familiar, while others may be new to you, but they’ll soon become old friends. I’ve listed a tried-and-tested range of intolerance-friendly basics over the next few pages. All the foods listed are high quality and 100 per cent natural, with no artificial flavours, chemicals or preservatives. They are all widely available from health-food shops and big supermarkets.

Dairy-free milks

The dairy-free milks listed below are the perfect substitute for cow’s milk in intolerance-friendly cooking. They are very useful in baking, and also create authentic-tasting custards and creams. You can make your own versions of the nut milks, but if you are buying them I recommend the varieties enriched with calcium, as every little helps!

Almond milk: a rich and creamy milk with a distinctive almond flavour, making it ideal for use in puddings and for pouring over cereal, especially granola or muesli. Most varieties come sweetened with agave syrup as it can be a little bitter without.

Hazelnut milk: a rich and creamy milk, with a distinct flavour of hazelnuts. Ideal for use in sweet baking and puddings.

Oat cream: a thicker, creamier version of oat milk, with added sugar and oil to emulsify it. It can be used in baking, to make ice cream and custards or simply to pour over puddings.

Oat milk: a creamy, savoury and ever-so-slightly grainy milk, this works very well in baking.

Quinoa milk: a thick milk with the distinctive flavour of quinoa.

Rice milk: a thin milk with a naturally sweet flavour. I use it on a daily basis, on cereal and as an accompaniment to tea and coffee. Rice milk heats well but will not froth or thicken when whisked.

Dairy-free fats and oils

There are a number of dairy-free margarines on the market, all varying in cookability and flavour. I recommend checking the ingredients carefully, buying only the trans-fat-free varieties. Vegetable oils, being naturally dairy-free, are ideal for intolerance-friendly cooking.

Coconut oil: often called coconut butter, this is a hard oil (it sets at room temperature) that melts easily and has a distinctive, creamy taste. It is popular in intolerance-friendly baking as it reacts in much the same way as ‘real’ butter would do. Recently, it has received a lot of good press for its health benefits.

Flaxseed oil: an intense and rich oil. It is best used in small amounts – as part of a dressing, for instance, or drizzled lightly for an added nutritious boost – and should never be heated.

Groundnut oil: a light and flavourless oil. I would recommend this for frying and roasting.

Olive oil: an essential for any storecupboard. Olive oil is ideal for all savoury cooking and dressings and can be used in baking. I like to use extra-virgin olive oil for dressings and drizzling over dishes just before serving.

Rapeseed oil: a perfect oil for use in sweet baking as it has a fruity and slightly nutty flavour. It is very healthy too, being low in saturated fat and rich in omega 3, 6 and 9 oils.

Sesame oil: a strong and pungent oil. Most suited to Asian cookery and best used sparingly.

Sunflower oil: a good all-rounder, this has a neutral taste that makes it suitable for baking, roasting and frying.

Egg Substitutes

Replacing eggs in intolerance-friendly cooking can be a daunting prospect. Fortunately, there are a number of good ‘egg replacers’ on the market. Consisting of natural starches and gums, they help to bind ingredients in baking, but without necessarily helping them to rise. For that reason I tend not to use an egg replacer in any recipe calling for more than two eggs, or I use it in combination with a little bicarbonate of soda. If you don’t want to use commercial egg substitutes, there are a couple of other options available to you.

Apple purée: can be used as an egg substitute when making cakes, although it should be noted that it adds a distinctly fruity flavour to the mixture. You can buy apple purée from most health-food shops or from the baby-foods aisle in your supermarket. You can also easily make your own. Peel and core two small Bramley apples, chop into 1cm/½in cubes and combine with 2 tablespoons of apple juice or water. Cook over a low heat for around 6 minutes or until soft and then purée until smooth in a food processor or using a hand-held blender. Once made, the apple sauce will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge. To replace one egg in a recipe, use 2 rounded tablespoons of apple purée and ½ teaspoon of baking powder, adding the baking powder to the flour and the apple purée to the fat.

Ground flaxseeds: also known as ground linseeds, flaxseeds work well as a binder in intolerance-friendly baking, although they can create a gummy centre to whatever you are making. These are best for use in cakes, brownies, pancakes and biscuits. To replace one egg, my general rule of thumb is to use 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds and ⅛ teaspoon of baking powder blended with 3 tablespoons of water.

Gluten-free flours

Naturally gluten-free flours are far more prevalent than you may realise; it is the mixing of them that affects how successful they are in baking. You can buy some excellent pre-mixed varieties, ideal for baking, but it’s worth experimenting with your own mixtures too.

Buckwheat flour: a strong and ‘earthy’ flour, traditionally used for making blinis and soba noodles.

Gram flour: also known as chickpea flour. This golden flour has a distinctive nutty flavour and is widely used in Indian cookery, mostly for poppadoms and bhajis. It is great for coating patties and potato cakes before frying them.

Ground rice: more coarsely ground than rice flour, this is ideal for using in puddings and cakes as it gives a wonderfully light and airy texture to any mixture.

Masa harina: also known as corn or maize flour (not to be confused with cornstarch – see ‘Baking Aids’). This delicious golden flour has been used for centuries to make naturally gluten-free tortillas and tamales. I recommend searching out a good-quality brand and experimenting with it; you’ll find it well worth the effort.

Potato flour: a pure, white flour (not to be confused with potato starch), ideal for use in thickening sauces or as part of a blend with rice and quinoa flour for baking.

Quinoa flour: this flour has a strong and particular taste, making it unsuitable for some dishes. When combined with potato and rice flour, however, it makes a very good bread flour.

Rice flour: available in both its brown and white forms. Used as base for sauces or in shortbread, it has a slightly grainy texture that renders it unsuitable for use on its own in baking except when blended with potato and quinoa flour.

Rye flour: while containing no wheat, this flour is not entirely gluten-free and so is unsuitable for anyone trying to avoid gluten in all its forms. If you can tolerate rye then this heavy, dense flour makes a great sourdough loaf. It has a strong and distinctive flavour, making it unsuitable for sweet dishes, however.

Gluten-free grains

There is a common misconception that all grains contain wheat, but this is not so. There are an abundance of delicious grains that can replace wheat in a whole range of dishes.

Basmati rice, white and brown: ideal for use as an accompaniment to numerous dishes. Clean in flavour, basmati has the advantage of being quick to cook. I use it to stuff peppers and squash, in pilaffs and even to make rice pudding.

Brown rice, short-grain: a wonderful wholefood and natural detoxifier. Rich and nutty in flavour, it can be used as an accompaniment to many dishes and in place of white rice in risotto, paella and salads.

Buckwheat: not in fact a grain but a plant related to rhubarb. With a strong and earthy flavour, it can be used to make salads, while its flour is traditionally used for making pancakes and noodles.

Maize: otherwise known as polenta or corn, maize is a substantial grain that can be cooked with water or stock to produce a thick and creamy paste, or left to chill and then cut into slices and fried. Naturally golden in colour, it has a slightly sweet flavour, making it useful for baking cakes.

Millet: a strong-tasting grain often used in soups. It cooks in much the same way as rice and so can be used in any recipe where you would normally use rice.

Oats: a wheat-free food, oats can be tolerated by some coeliacs and gluten intolerants. Although oats contain a protein similar to that of gluten, it is the way that they are processed that really affects their gluten content. You can buy pure oats (meaning uncontaminated) that have been milled in a gluten-free environment, making them suitable for most gluten-free diets. The best gauge is to trust your instincts, listen to your body and avoid them if you feel that they have a negative effect.

Quinoa: actually a fruit rather than a grain, this can be used in much the same way as you would rice. Quinoa is both delicious and a great source of protein – I can’t recommend it highly enough. With a slightly nutty texture, it benefits from the addition of stock or seasoning as it readily absorbs flavours.

Baking aids

All good baking requires some form of catalyst to help it leaven and cook well. With the removal of gluten, milk, butter and eggs from the list, it is really important that your remaining ingredients are up to the job! Using natural binders and thickeners is the way to go and there are lots of good-quality varieties on the market.

Arrowroot: a natural thickener. You can use it to thicken sauces and make glazes as it leaves a very clear sheen.

Baking powder: helps breads and cakes to rise. While generally gluten-free, it is always worth checking the label first – and to make certain that the brand you’re buying is aluminium-free too.

Bicarbonate of soda: a natural leavening agent activated when it comes into contact with warm liquids. It is an ideal addition to intolerance-friendly cakes.

Cornflour: also known as cornstarch and based on maize. It helps to thicken sauces and custards.

Xanthan gum: a plant gum that acts like the gluten found in wheat. Xanthan gum is the holy grail of allergy-friendly baking; it helps breads come together, pastry to roll and flatbreads to bend. It is the must-have staple of any allergy-friendly storecupboard.

Following the recipes

The recipes in this book are designed to work together – you can choose a selection of dishes from each section within one season and they will blend together to create a harmonious menu. When following the recipes, however, you’ll need to bear in mind that allergy- and intolerance-friendly ingredients often don’t work in the same way as their allergenic counterparts. For example, gluten-free flours are often far more absorbent than wheat flour and so require different quantities of liquids and fats to combine with them. Equally, using sunflower margarine as a replacement for butter is a useful and easy alternative, but margarine is simply a blend of vegetable oils and so when heated or over-whipped, its stability can change and affect the end result. When you cream the margarine and sugar in a baking recipe you should use a wooden spoon and lightly cream the mixture by hand, until incorporated. Beating the mixture too hard or for too long, and/or using an electric whisk, can cause the margarine to separate, which will result in an oily or ‘fried’ texture in your baking.

The particular blends of flours and the other substitutes (whether milk, egg or butter) that I use have been specifically chosen, from personal trial and error, to create the best possible results. For that reason I would always recommend that you use the ingredients suggested as I cannot guarantee the same success if you use your own substitutions. That being said, experimentation certainly helped me, and so if you want to adapt the recipes using your own choice of ingredients, then go right ahead. Just be aware that you may have to adapt other parts of the recipe too.

Cooking notes

Fan oven temperature: if you have a fan oven, please reduce the temperature given in the recipe by 20°C/70°F.

Stocks: if not using homemade, please refer to Products and Stockists for details of intolerance-friendly varieties of fresh stock, stock powder and stock cubes.

Teaspoon/tablespoon measures: 1 teaspoon = 5ml/½fl oz; 1 tablespoon = 15ml/½fl oz.