Baked Brisket - gluten free

This is an easy way to cook a beef brisket - no fuss no muss, and no gluten.

For a 2 1/2-3 pound brisket of beef

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Quarter 2 peeled spanish onions and place them on the bottom of a dutch oven. Put the brisket on top of the onions, fat side up.

Sprinkle with 1 envelope of gluten-free onion soup mix *, then mix the following and pour on top:

1 cup gluten free tomato ketchup
1 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar

Cover the dutch oven and bake for 3+ hours, until done. The meat should be very tender. You can then cool and chill the dish, and then remove the fat. After removing the accumulated fat, you can slice the meat, return it to the dish, heat and serve.

* To make a substitute for a package of onion soup mix, follow the copycat instructions available on the internet. For example, Food.com has 2 such recipes: http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-liptons-onion-soup-mix-24952 and http://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-lipton-onion-soup-mix-153788. Make sure to verify that the beef bouillon you use in making the copycat version is gluten free.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Baked Chicken with Pineapple

This easy recipe for chicken thighs can be accomplished in a toaster oven, or any other oven. You can also cook the recipe on a grill, but that is not necessary. Any toaster oven will do.

For 4 chicken thighs, to serve 2 people:

Using a sharp knife, slash 4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on) through the skin - 2 slashes per thigh. This will allow the spice flavors to penetrate the meat.

Mix the following rub:
1 clove chopped garlic
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dry sage
1/2 teaspoon dry marjoram
1 Tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Smear the spice mixture on the 4 chicken thighs. Transfer to a foil lined baking pan (small one that will fit your oven), and bake at 350-375 degrees for 1/2 hour.

Add, 1/4 of a fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced. Raise the heat in the oven to 450-475 degrees and back and additional 10 minutes. Serve with gluten free buttermilk biscuits and chianti (Italian dry red wine.)

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

This excellent flourless chocolate cake is a variation of a recipe that is most often attributed to Marcy Goldman's A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking. The glaze suggested here is not from the original recipe.

The quality of the finished cake is entirely dependent on the quality of the chocolate that is chosen - take great care to choose an excellent chocolate.

Cake ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes, baked fresh and peeled - 2 or so
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 ounces good-quality gluten free semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt

Chocolate Glaze ingredients


1/4 cup water, 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1 Tablespoon corn syrup

4 ounces bittersweet gluten free chocolate, broken up

1 Tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch springform pan with baking parchment. To line the pan, first trace the bottom of the pan on a sheet of parchment paper, making a circle, then cut out the circle. Next, measure the height of the pan, and cut a strip of parchment paper that is that wide by 14 and a half inches long. Grease the pan, then line with the parchments paper, putting the circle on the bottom and the strip on the side. If you like, you can line the bottom and then clamp on the sides, trapping the circle of paper with the sides.

Cake batter instructions:


In a food processor, cream the butter with the 1/3 cup sugar until light. Blend in the egg yolks until light, then the mashed sweet potatoes, vanilla, and cooled chocolate. Mix until smooth.

In a large bowl, use clean beaters to whip the egg whites gently until they are a bit foamy. You can use a hand-crank-style manual rotary egg beater to do this - it is easy, and great exercise! Then add in the salt and whip harder to make meringue, sprinkling in the last two tablespoons of sugar to form stiff and shiny (but not dry) peaks. With this amount of sugar, you could also dump all the sugar in at once - it won't make much difference.

Fold the cooled sweet potato/chocolate mixture into the egg whites gradually, keeping the mixture light and airy - don't beat it now or you will lose all the air you have beaten in to the egg whites. The air trapped in the egg whites is what is going to make the cake rise in the oven.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, shake the pan briefly to settle it, and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes (that is what the first version of this recipe said, but that was not correct - it took over 70 minutes). Depending on your oven, you will need to check the cake starting at 40 minutes, but leave yourself an extra half hour in case the baking takes longer. When the cake rises high and looks dry, and slightly cracked on top, it is done cooking - if it doesn't look like this, give it more time. The middle should be soft but firm - a toothpick tests almost dry. The cake will have risen really high, but it will fall as it cools. Don't worry about it though.

Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then place the cake (in its pan) on a wire rack. Refrigerate completely to cool - overnight seems reasonable. At this point, the cake can be removed from the pan and frozen for up to a month (haven't tried that). Even if serving it the same day, chill the cake for two hours before finishing it with the glaze. This is a dense cake which holds the heat.

Glaze instructions:

In a pot, mix water, sugar and corn syrup and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Off the heat add the chocolate (bittersweet is best). Stir until completely melted, then stir in the butter which will make it shinier.

Remove the cake from the pan, leaving the top side up. Do not try to flip it over. Put the cake on a serving plate. There will be a slight indentation where the cake has fallen in the middle. The final cake will have shrunk down from its lofty height that it was in the oven - maybe it will be 2 inches high. Pour the glaze into the indentation of the cake and, using a spatula, even out the glaze and urge it along to ooze attractively over the edges in places.

The cake is excellent served with whipped cream, and it seems like it would be pretty good if you used bittersweet instead of semisweet in the cake part too as well as the icing.

Make sure ALL your ingredients are gluten free. If you are making this for a gluten free friend, take care that there is no stray wheat flour in your sugar canister, transferred there during previous baking adventures.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Roasted Vegetable Soup

This recipe from Gf-Zing! is perfect for a cold fall day when eggplants and tomatoes are still plentiful at the local farmers’ market.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On a large cookie sheet with a rim, place

1 eggplant, halved the long way, cut side up
3 medium to large tomatoes, stem end removed
1 onion, peeled and halved
6 cloves of garlic, peeled

Brush all the vegetables with olive oil. Roast for 45 minutes.

Scoop the eggplant flesh in to a large pot. Discard the eggplant skin. Add the rest of the roasted vegetables and 4 cups of gluten free chicken stock, and 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.

Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the vegetable and stock mixture for 45 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender or by transferring the soup to a foo processor or blender.

Season to taste with salt, black pepper, and a small amount of sugar if needed.

Serve the soup with crumbled goat cheese or cheddar to sprinkle on top.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free.


© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Steamer Clams with Instant Polenta

If you can get your hands on some steamer clams from Maine, and a gallon of sea water, and a package of gluten free instant polenta - the kind that cooks in 3 minutes because it is really "pre-cooked," then you can make a really special treat.

Scrub the clams, discarding any that are dead. Pour the cold, fresh sea water in a large pot, sprinkle with about 1/4 pound of instant polenta and stir. Add the live clams. Let sit for about 8 hours. You will notice that as they are left undisturbed the clams will extend their neck-like parts and start spitting out sand and grit, replacing the sand and grit in their stomachs with instant polenta! That means that when you cook them they will have an automatic polenta stuffing.

Steam the clams using a very small amount of tap water in the bottom of a large covered pot. Heat them on high until they are fully cooked - 10 to 20 minutes. They should all be opened up. Serve with melted butter with a little fresh garlic grated in to it for flavor.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Susie's Cheesecake

Sue Carnase, of the Bronx, New York, made the best cheesecake ever. It was tested many times in double-blind taste tests and it always came out at the top of the rankings. Here is her recipe, in her own words, with a slight modification that will make the recipe gluten free.

"In a large bowl cream together 1 pound each of cream cheese, softened, and ricotta and one cup sugar and beat in 4 large eggs at room temperatures, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 1/2 stick (2 ounces) butter melted and cooled, 3 tablespoons each of gluten free flour mix* and cornstarch, and 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon rind, beat mixture well until well combined. Fold in 2 cups sour cream, pour batter in ungreased 9 inch springform pan and bake the cake in the middle of a preheated moderately slow oven (325) for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

The cake will be soft in the center. TURN OFF THE HEAT (DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN DOOR.) Let the cake stand in the oven for 2 hours. Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack and chill it loosely covered for at least 4 hours. Remove the sides of pan and transfer cake to a plate. You can freeze it at this point. Remove from the freezer the day before use and refrigerate.

HINTS: Cheesecakes often crack while baking and some rise high and later fall, but these are not matters of concern. Cheesecakes do not take kindly to sudden changes in temperature. SO DO NOT OPEN OVEN DOOR DURING THE BAKING.

I find it much easier to cream the cheeses by putting them through the Cuisinart."

*original recipe called for wheat flour

Further notes from GF-Zing!: The batter will fill most of the pan and during the baking the cake will rise to the very top of the pan or higher. Do NOT use a smaller pan than called for in the recipe. Full fat ricotta makes a nice cake. We use Friendship brand sour cream because its only ingredients are milk, cream and enzymes. We line the bottom of the spring form pan with parchment paper to make transferring the cake to a plate a little easier.

Susie's Shopping List for Cheesecake:

1 pound cream cheese

1 pound ricotta

Sugar

4 large eggs

Butter

GF Flour

Cornstarch

Vanilla

Sour Cream

1 lemon

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Corn and Bacon Risotto

This gluten free risotto is delicious, using fresh corn, New England apple-smoked bacon and New England Hard Cider.

4 strips of apple wood smoked bacon, chopped and cooked in a pan or the microwave
5 cups homemade chicken stock (gluten free)
1/4-1/2 cup New England hard apple cider (like a dry white wine)
4 TB olive oil
2 TB butter
2 large shallots, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
Kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn
2 inch slice of a log of fresh goat cheese (even better, from a log of marinated fresh goat cheese)
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Heat the chicken stock in a glass measure in the microwave until the temperature of hot coffee.

In a large non-stick skillet (12 inches is good), melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the shallots and onions and cook while stirring, until browned slightly. Add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Cook until it becomes slightly more opaque. Deglaze the pan with the cider. Add the stock about 1/3 cup at a time, stirring all the while over a low heat, for 10 minutes. When 10 minutes is up, you will still have stock left.

Add the corn and bacon to the rice mixture and continue adding the stock a little bit at a time and stirring, until all the stock is used up (about 10 more minutes). If the rice is cooked al dente, you are done; if not, add some more stock and cook further.

When the rice is al dente, add the goat cheese and the parmesan cheese and stir to completely mix. You may add chooped parsley, salt and the pepper to taste at this point. Serve immediately, with New England Hard Cider to drink.

Make sure that all your ingredients are gluten free!


© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Gf-Zing! - a new home...

Welcome to the new home of Gf-Zing,
celebrating flavor in the gluten-free world since 2005

Microwave Chicken Wings

We acquired a new microwave oven and have been playing around with it - a new way to save energy resources while cooking.

For 1.5-2 pounds of chicken wings, mix the following sauce in a large bowl:

1/4 cup gluten free orange marmalade

1 tablespoon honey

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 1/2 of a lime)

black pepper

Remove the wing tips from the wings, and cut each wing in to two pieces at the joint. Mix the sauce with the chicken wings. Place the wings and sauce in a glass pie plate (in a single layer) and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Microwave for 10 minutes. Remove plastic wrap and microwave for 5-10 more minutes, until cooked through. Preheat a broiler and broil the wings for 4-5 minutes to crisp up the skin.

If your microwave has an automatic sensor, follow the instructions for cooking chicken parts, remove the plastic wrap half way through the cooking time. When the wings are done, broil as above.

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Curried Tofu "Meatballs"

These gluten free "meatballs" from Gf-Zing! have the texture of gnocchi. The cream-based curry sauce is delicious with sweet potato fries.

Mix the following with your hands:

1 block (1 pound) firm tofu

1 egg

1 cup minced scallion (both the white and green)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons potato starch (katakuriko)

6-8 tablespoons sweet brown rice flour - this is like mochiko or sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour even though it does not contain gluten) - it is made from sweet brown rice

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon curry powder (make your own using Rebecca Reilly's recipe from Gluten Free Baking)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all these ingredients and as you mix you will notice that the liquid is taken up by the flours. Add sweet brown rice flour as needed to reach a consistency where "meatballs" can be formed. Make walnut sized balls.

Fry the balls in 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until they are golden. Remove the balls to a plate. To the oil remaining in the pan, add

2 tablespoons curry powder and fry briefly. Add

1 1/2 cups of New England hard cider (this is like white wine - it is not sweet).

Reduce the wine to 1/3 cup. Add the tofu balls back to the pan and add

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups chicken stock

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The sauce will thicken as the balls absorb the stock. Check from time to time and stir.

When cooked, serve with sweet potato fries.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Sweet Potato Fries

Serve these awesome baked fries with any dish that has a curry sauce.

For every 2 pounds of sweet potatoes, place the following in a large bowl:

2 teaspoons of Kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon of table salt)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

2-4 TB olive oil

Cut peeled sweet potato in to french fry size - make 1/2 inch slices crosswise, then cut each slice in to 1/2 inch slices. Mix these fries with the oil and spices to distribute evenly. Place the spiced fries on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer. Do not use a silpat mat because the baking temperature exceeds the tolerance of silpat.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Bake the fries on the top shelf for 15 minutes, stir, then bake an additional 5 minutes. Do not worry if some fries are slightly blackened. The flavor will be awesome.

Serve with any dish that has a rich curry sauce, or as an accompaniment to meat dishes.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Rich Lamb and Cornish Game Hen Curry

Try this excellent curry - you won't be sorry!

Fry one onion, chopped, in 2 Tablespoons of oil until browned. Add 2 lamb shanks and brown them as well. De-glaze the pan with 1 cup of New England Hard Cider.

In to a pressure cooker, put:

1 can of coconut milk

2 Tablespoons of gluten free thai red curry paste

1 stalk of lemon grass, the white part at the root end only, chopped

2 Tablespoons of fresh ginger, chopped

Add the lamb shank mixture to the coconut milk mixture. Close the pressure cooker and bring up the pressure. Pressure cook for 10 minutes, then let the pressure drop on its own. Lamb shanks take a long time to cook. This pressure-cooking step will give the lamb a head start, ensuring that eventually the lamb gets nice and tender.

Carefully transfer the hot lamb shanks in their curry sauce in to a casserole that has a lid. To this mixture, add

1 Cornish Game Hen

1 mango, peeled seeded and cut in to chunks (an under-ripe mango is perfect for this purpose.)

Braise the dish, covered, in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours, until the lamb is tender. Skim off any fat that has accumulated. Season with salt if needed.

Serve with Jasmine rice topped with plenty of fresh chopped cilantro, and fresh ground sea salt.

Note: If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can cook everything except the game hen and mango for 1-1 1/2 hours and then add the game hen and mango and bake for an additional hour and a half.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Preserving Fresh Ginger

It is easy to keep fresh ginger available at all times. Get some really nice looking fresh ginger, peel it, cut it in chunks, and put the chunks in a nice jar that can be closed tightly. Pour in some vodka to cover the ginger completely. This ginger will keep for a very long time and you can take it out of the vodka as needed, chop it up and use it in curries or stir-fries.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Preserving Fresh Ginger

It is easy to keep fresh ginger available at all times. Get some really nice looking fresh ginger, peel it, cut it in chunks, and put the chunks in a nice jar that can be closed tightly. Pour in some vodka to cover the ginger completely. This ginger will keep for a very long time and you can take it out of the vodka as needed, chop it up and use it in curries or stir-fries.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Blueberry Pie sweetened with Maple Syrup

You can make a fine blueberry pie using dark maple syrup as a sweetener instead of granulated sugar. This pie is refreshingly fruity and not as sweet as the more common sugar-sweetened pie.

Here are the general rules:

for 5-6 cups of Maine wild blueberries, add the following in a large bowl:

1 cup of pure maple syrup

2 Tablespoons of cornstarch

3 Tablespoons of flavorless tapioca starch (Authentic Foods offers a tapioca starch) or 1/4 cup instant granulated tapioca. If you use instant granulated tapioca, let the whole mixture sit for 15 minutes before constructing the pie.

1/8 teaspoon salt

3-4 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to offset the maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Use a 2-crust recipe for pie crust, and use a 9 or 10 inch glass pie dish. If you use a larger pie dish, the pie will have less depth, and if you use a smaller pie dish then the pie will be more "heaped up." Line the pie dish with 1 piece of crust pastry, fill with the blueberry mixture, top with the second crust. Sprinkle the top crust with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour. If the blueberries are frozen, the pie may need a few extra minutes. Cool the pie on a rack before cutting.

Use all gluten-free ingredients!

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Homemade Hot Cocoa MIx

Hot cocoa mix from GfZing! is easy to make at home. Here's how to make an instant cocoa mix that will spice up your breakfast. Make sure that each individual component of the mixture is gluten free - the cocoa, the spices etc.

In a jar that holds 750 ml, place:

* 3/4 cup sugar (or the equivalent sweetening amount of a gluten free sugar substitute)
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional to add spiciness - you can grind up one dried cayenne pepper and add that)
* 1/4 cup finely ground skinned almonds (optional - this adds a gritty texture)
* 3.2 ounces of nonfat powdered dry milk (the amount to make one quart)

Shake this mixture up until it is completely homogeneous.

Use 3-4 Tablespoons of the mixture with 1 mug of hot water to make your cocoa.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca