Roast Pork or Chicken with Sage, Rosemary and Garlic

4 Tablespoons extra-virgine olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced or grated finely
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage
2 Teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
4 pounds pork rib roast (don't use the center cut - it will have no flavor and be dry)

12 ounces or 1 pound of dry flageolet beans, cooked, or small white beans, canned
1 large onion, or 2 medium
butter
3 large Yukon gold potatoes
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
pepper

For the meat, mix the first 4 ingredients and the salt and pepper, and rub them on the pork (you can use a large roasting chicken if you prefer). Put the meat in a roasting pan.

If you are cooking pork, cover the pan with foil and roast for 2 hours at 375 degrees. If using a chicken, do not cover with foil but use a vertical chicken roaster (sort of like a chicken chimney).

Fry the chopped onion in 2 Tablespoons of butter until golden, then add the drained beans, and the potatoes. Set aside.

After one hour of cooking the roast, remove the foil (if you are doing the pork) and place the cooked beans and the potatoes (peeled and cut in half), the bay leaf and parsley in the bottom of a roaster under the pork or chicken. Add 1-2 cups of chicken stock or water to the pan. Give the beans and potatoes a good stir, then roast for another 1-2 hours, until everything is cooked to your liking. Check from time to time and give the beans a stir. Add more stock if they are getting too dry. Salt the beans and potatoes to taste (it is best to salt beans after cooking so they don't become tough).

Remove the roast to a platter to slice it, and dish up the beans and potatoes into a bowl.

The drippings from the pork or chicken will season the beans and potatoes, relieving you of the disheartening task of making GF gravy. The beans will be so delicious you will wonder why you ever used to make gravy to begin with.

Notes: If you are not familiar with the fabulous flageolet beans of France, please see if you can obtain some. They can be pressure-cooked for 25 minutes and used in this recipe. If you don't use a pressure cooker, then soak them over night and cook as you would cook dry kidney beans. If you don't have access to flageolet beans, then use canned small white beans but it won't be as delicious.

It is best to grow your own fresh herbs for fall and winter cooking, but if you don't have fresh sage and rosemary then use half as much dry herbs. So, if the recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of fresh sage, use 1 and a half teaspoons of dry sage.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Gluten Free Homemade Pork Breakfast Sausage

2 egg whites
1 Tablespoon of GF dijon-style prepared mustard or other GF mustard
1 pound of pork rib roast (boneless) or boneless country-style ribs
1/4 cup of GF bread crumbs (GF rolls, or GF bread or any kind will do)
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons minced fresh sage
1 or 1.5 teaspoons of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Put everything in the food processor and process until smooth. Make into patties of the size you prefer and fry in 2 Tablespoons of hot oil for 3-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Use a non-stick pan.

These gluten free sausage patties are delicious and so much better than the store-bought sausage!

Note: if you don't have fresh sage then use 1 Tablespoon of dried sage. If you want to use turkey or chicken in place of the pork, you can. Turkey or chicken sausage made this way is quite good, not too dry, due to the egg whites and mustard.

If you are serving food to gluten-free friends, check carefully with the manufacturers, or on the reputable internet-based gluten free food lists, to make sure that all ingredients are gluten free. Or, ask your friends which brands are safe for them to eat.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca

Chicken with Peas and Shitake Mushrooms

4-6 slices of bacon
6-8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
3/4 cup dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes and drained
1 large onion, or 1 bunch of scallions, diced
3 cloves of garlic
2 -4 cups of chopped romaine lettuce (or other lettuce)
16 ounces of frozen peas
1/2 cup of GF broth, water or mushroom soaking liquid
2 teaspoons of GF ketchup
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Chop the bacon, saute it until crisp, drain away the grease and set the bacon aside. Fry the chicken in the same pan until golden, and put the chicken pieces into an oven-proof casserole. In the same pan where you fried the chicken, fry the onion until browned, then add the garlic, lettuce, peas, mushrooms, ketchup, sugar, salt, pepper, thyme and parsley. Add the broth or water, stir to get all the tasty bits of things that are stuck to the bottom of the pan mixed in with the vegetables, then put all of this material - the vegetables and the juices - on top of the chicken. Cover the casserole and bake for 25 minutes at 350.

This is very tasty served with jasmine rice. The recipe is based on one from Paula Peck in The Art of Good Cooking, which was published in 1961. The original recipe had much more fat, from chicken skin and a whole half a cup of butter which I have omitted here. Also, the original included soy sauce which is often not safe for the gluten-free community. I have updated the mushrooms to shitake mushrooms, but you could use regular button mushrooms without any diminution of flavor.

© Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca