Reload

Millet, you are one thirsty grain! My new favourite weekend breakfast, and a brilliant substitute for anyone on the fence about oats. Toasted slightly to lend a wonderully smoked, nutty flavour, and then simmered in a 3:1 ratio of liquid to grains. I certainly don't have the patience to keep a mindful eye on the stove top for half an hour on a week day; it's amazing enough that I (aim to) make it out for three 5K runs at 6:00 a.m during the week. But I take the time over the weekend as it's effectively filling after a long run, being high in energy and iron. I'm probably not hydrating properly if the millet is drinking up more than I am.

Next step: brewing with millet!

Americana

A 12 mould mini doughnut tray has proved to be investment of the season! There is a bit of a production line feel to making mini doughnuts: dispense, bake, butter, roll in sugar, repeat. Take 1 was gluten-free cider doughnuts using reduced cloudy, pressed apple juice. The recipe used generated a staggering 4 dozen mini-doughnuts so they were unleashed onto colleagues and quite a hit. It'll be an asset for the fundraising.

#Glutenfree cider doughnuts

While my appetite for savoury, spicy, and aromatic foods trounces my sweet tooth, attempt two will be to make something without cinnamon to cater to the odd few who have an aversion to the spice. Vanilla buttermilk with a frosting of some sort, I'm thinking, which in turn means I'm thinking of icing sugar on every imagineable surface.

The half to the whole

With the Ealing Half Marathon under my belt, I feel confident about the 26.2 mile run in Brighton. The Ealing Half was such good fun, with tremendous local support and a jaunt through quaint, somewhat rural bits of London like Perivale Park that I never quite realised were there. I ran the half at an arguably safe pace in light of the fact that it was much hotter than anyone could have hoped for but it's fun to look at the GPS data and see that the sign near the 2-mile mark before Aston Road warning of zombies behind me and safety ahead well and truly gave me a boost.

Having run the half and been quoted as uttering "I could do that again", I concede that I am aware that running a full marathon is not just a matter of adding a multiplier. The inevitable, infamous "wall" when your body is depleted of stored energy, for one, is an obstacle to prepare for, both physically and mentally. I do think the fact that I regularly consume as much as a bear going into hibernation is a good start. I've had the vague objective of hitting an average pace of 9 minute miles since I started running. I currently sit at about 10 minutes on long runs. I have been advised that focusing on the distance itself rather than time should be my motivation as a first timer so the pacing is more of a long term goal. My username holds no relation to pacing, but rather an obscure sci-fi reference and nod to a comment my sister made one night playing Rock Band. The fact that I can now use it as a drive to live up to my own name, as a runner as well as a nerd, is all the better.

Brighton Marathon 2015

I will officially be running the Brighton Marathon for Coeliac UK in 2015! A cause quite obviously dear to me, I will be raising funds to help Coeliac UK conduct research into this auto-immune disease and raise awareness in the community, food manufacturing industry, grocery stores, and commercial kitchens across the UK. In the two years since my diagnosis, I have seen impressive and reassuring developments in the manufacturing industry, with better labelling amd availability in shops but I do think there is room for improvement in the way of awareness in commercial kitchens and restaurants, which is part of what Coealiac UK strive to do.

Running the Brighton Marathon by the sea will be a great challenge. It will be nice to have a fonder memory of Brighton than the time a seagull knicked my ice cream; a right ninja it was, but I'd let my guard down. Brighton also has a wealth of gluten-free restaurants I am eager to try, and having recently watched Nick Cave's biopic 20,000 Days on Earth, in which Brighton features prominently, I have a comforting, albeit unconventional, soundtrack for the broadening training regime. On the calmer front, more gluten-free baking is on the horizon for fundraising ventures. If you'd like to donate, please do click through; you have my thanks in the form of words, sentiment and gluten-free baking samples if you so choose - provided you're within commuting distance of London, or Montreal over Christmas!

Halloween 2014

Another Halloween, another late night, science fiction picture show and a warm-up pumpkin carving session before we rocked London in Rocky Horror fancy dress. A solid 3 hour carving session. Pumpkin acquired from the new fruit and veg stand outside Canada Water station with a few pieces of fruit thrown in for free to sample. I'll be back. But that's another franchise altogether.

Life of Pie

Pie remains my pinnacle, the epitome of dessert perfection. Step aside, queen of puddings, the wildcard of a versatile pie crust can trump all.

Two of my happiest kitchen memories involve baking pies with friends. One a late night sweet potato pie in Helsinki, the other, a daytime venture to make a gluten-free lemon meringue pie in Berlin.

The sweet potato pie night was made even longer by the fact that we had forgotten to actually turn on the oven to bake the potatoes, but it is otherwise, the most foolproof recipe imagineable; 3 large baked sweet potatoes and most of a tin of sweetened condensed milk combined to the viscosity of a thick pudding, with cinnamon and nutmeg to taste for the filling, poured into a blind baked shell and baked until set and just starting to catch colour. On occasion I've also incorporated pumpkin into the potato mixture to make it a fitting addition to any Thanksgiving spread.

Gluten-Free Lemon Meringue Pie: (Stiff) peaked perfection

A good test of determination lay in the lemon meringue pie venture in that we whipped the egg whites by hand, given that the recipe we tweeked to render gluten-free was called something along the lines of "Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie" and we were certain no Grandma we know would cop out and use an electric mixer. I'm convinced years of playing Mario Party proved their worth in our display of endurance with repetitive motion. Now to hone in the fine motor skills by practicing with some Minecraft.

Knotted

Finally! A recipe that requires no real additional or unconventional steps to satisfyingly render gluten-free. That being said, it's time-consuming for something that incorporates only 3 core ingredients and a hint of seasoning.

Nevertheless I have fond memories of making gnocchi with my family; three generations, packed into a kitchen, covered in flour, rolling small bits of potato dough off the prongs of a fork, memories of my mother yelling at me for rolling them too vigourously onto the floor and/or eating them raw. Happy memories, I promise you.


Armed with her sound advice of using baking potatoes, I purchased a small gnocchi board; a ridged paddle of wood off which you roll the morcels of dough to get that ridged top on each little dumpling. It's less awkward to maneouver than a fork and while I feel the purchase is justified in its authenticity, having been procured at an Italian village street market for a mere €3, a fork would still suffice, and frankly be easier to clean. Any old gnocchi recipe, bake (don't boil!) the starchiest potatoes you can find, and substitute any all purpose gluten-free flour - one with a rice component for best results.

Add this one to the list of foods that Brits have trouble pronouncing. Hearing them butcher "mille-feuille" is also comical. Seeing them attempt to spell it, on the other hand, is shameful.

Carrot Believe I've Done It Again

What do you get when you accidentally order x bags of carrots instead of x carrots? Gluten-free carrot cake surely!

I could have made a dozen cakes...

It's not the first time such a miscalculation has happened, shamefully, but we do cook dinner at home most nights so they will most certainly be consumed. One thing I've learned from all this baking malarkey is that my preference for working with dough over batter has tipped heavily in favour of the former. Like a combination of my being able to read a bread dough better than a batter, the resilience of dough itself, and the satisfaction of working with my hands. And at least baking a cake gives the gluten-free self-raising flour a purpose in life.

Hole in One

Gluten-Free Bagels

My proudest baking endeavour to date: gluten-free bagels. Attempted and nailed No Gluten, No Problem's recipe, substituting the artisan flour with Doves Farm Gluten Free Bread Flour and still opting for the extra xanthan gum. I nearly omitted the second egg white in the initial dough but thankfully Paul came in to the kitchen and pointed out that I evidently suck at counting to two. I added the second egg-white before the divide and shape, which made everything alarmingly slick but once incorporated it was fine. Crisis averted. The recipe provided some excellent tips, namely proving in a hot, damp oven, and the pre-boil flash baking; steps that might be tempting to curtail but I'm convinced they add to the authenticity of these bagels. That being said, nothing will ever beat a Montreal bagel in my heart and if I could recreate that perfectly circumferential contour, I'd be immensely pleased with myself as texture and crust of these bad boys are otherwise damn near perfect, even as a gluten-free bagel.

Next time, let's try doubling the batch. While the effort was well worth it even for just four, it seems silly not to make more when I know they will turn out and be eaten. Half the process is allowing them to rise and bake so it's enough down time to read a few chapters, and admittedly not clean the kitchen. File this one under 'Repeat'.

Word on the Mill

Our last night in Villa Minozzo happened to include a dinner in the town square, organised by a local football squad, featuring polenta, another Italian staple, effectively just cormeal boiled into a porridge-like consistency, which, when given time to set, makes for a wonderful accompaniment to stews; an outstanding alternative to pasta or mash. I was able to go behind the scenes and talk to the chefs preparing the polenta in massive vats and they assured me the mill that processes the polenta grains is separate from any wheat mill so there was little to no risk of cross contamination. I opted for more prosciutto as a side and I couldn't have been happier in a bath of champagne.

Most of the locals turn up for the al fresco wining and dining experience in the town square, as they do for any opportunity to enjoy summer nights, live music, and a bout of gossip.

Polenta in the town square

Training Plan

1. A dry September. Between softball, Italy, 1955 Hill Valley, and Amsterdam, August, you were a blast.

2. Three weekday morning/evening 5k runs per week.

3. One big run each weekend.

4. Salads and/or jacket potatoes for lunch at work to avoid being glutenized. They're generally good with labelling allergens but might as well eat healthy anyhow.

Such is my September training plan for the Ealing Half Marathon Am applying for a spot in the London Marathon through Coeliac UK. The prospect of the running and fundraising combined is quite daunting and I expect the competition for the 5 available spots to be tough but am up for the challenge.

Tempura Zucchini Blossoms

A fantastic treat, particularly common in Italy at the height of summer. Picked from the ends of zucchinis/courgettes and their plants, zucchini flowers can often be found at markets and stores selling fresh produce but they don't keep very long so should be purchased closed, then washed and cooked within a day of being picked.

By whisking equal parts DS' gluten-free flour mix with some strong sparkling water (the more carbonation, the lighter the batter will be) and a dash of salt and pepper, we had a perfect tempura batter. The batter should cling to the blossoms and drip off any excess so add more liquid to lower viscosity if need be. Over-whisking will deflate the batter so no need to over work it and any small lumps will simply cling to the blossoms and fry up to give an extra crunch anyway. The rice flour component of the mix definitely added to the crisp texture illustrating how gluten-free can sometimes trump the more conventional wheat flour. A couple of minutes deep-frying til golden and there we have my new favourite thing.

Dry the River

Tucked away amidst the fresh mountain springs, Ristorante delle Fonti is backdropped by the Fonti di Poiano in the province of Reggio Emilia. I have fond memories of summer days at the spring, which feeds the Fiume Secchia ("dry river").

The restaurant itself is a gem. The gnocco fritto is admittedly not gluten-free but based on feedback from others in the party, it was tasty and wonderfully light. As per usual in Italy, the waiting staff were able to advise on alternate options (though I did make a dent in the prosciutto, salami, and cheese boards that accompanied the fried dough) and I opted for some chicken/veg brochettes and salad. More Lambrusco and a few aperitifs later, I was pleasantly full and sitting in the dark night of the valley under the cascade of the Perseids meteor shower.

Rare Catch

Wednesdays at Oliver's Fish and Chips in Belsize Park is gluten-free night. They use dedicated fryers so as to ensure there is no great risk of cross contamination and any fish on the menu can be battered with their special flour blend. Dining on fish and chips in style, the sides on offer are wonderfully varied so as to feel like a proper meal, though they do delivery and take-away as well, meaning no one has to miss the Great British Bake Off.

A rare catch: gluten-free fish and chips

The batter itself gave a beautiful, golden crust, both flaky and crispy - a texture not always easy to recreate sans gluten. If only they did their dessert fritters in said batter as well. It was two years before I properly longed for battered fish but despite it not being a staple of my diet (will I be approved for British citizenship?) I will definitely find my way round to Oliver's again.

Hyper Trolley

Senza Glutine!

The drive from Bologna through to Reggio Emilia takes us past the Ipercoop in Modena which houses a massive gluten-free aisle. Considering I was staying in a small village north of Tuscany for a week, I was't sure how often I would come across such a treasure-trove so the shopping cart was loaded. In went two breads (a plain white loaf and a country style loaf - both quite passable), gnocchi, and savoiardi biscuits for tiramisu (a cracking find), all by DS. The gnocchi were surprisigly good, as good as store-bought gnocchi get anyway, though as with all gluten-free pasta, I would recommend adding a drizzle of olive oil to the boiling water to help prevent clumpage.

Happiness is potatoes.

The Coop also carry their own line of gluten-free items of which their Frollini Classici (effectively delicate butter biscuits, wonderful with tea and coffee) were my favourite. The shop also stocked the Fantastic Delite rice crackers from Australia, a great Japanese inspired snack. All around a good shopping experience. Updates to follow once we put the Savoiardi biscuits to the test in a toramisu.

Stocked on stems and stalks

Stumbled upon a wonderful little nursery and organic food shop in New Cross Gate called Dig Thie Nursery. They offer a wonderful selection of seeds and seedlings, big on variety if small in numbers. They stock assorted flavours of 9bars (a great seed bar that is my go-to snack on the run) and some gluten-free products I hadn't seen elsewhere. Doves Farm Stem Ginger biscuits were acquired alongside parsley and Greek basil plants. Fresh produce, assorted food cupboard essentials and a wonderul cactus named George (who was not for sale) make this a great stop for anyone who commutes via New Cross Gate, whih I admittedly do not bit I will happily make the trip to visit again.

Tesco have been upping their game in the Free From aisle and have added quite a few more flours to the mix; something I pounced on when taking advantage of their latest 4 for 3 offer on free-from items, ongoing until August 24th. The variety truly allows for a wonderful amount of flexibility and creativity in the kitchen. Udi's have really grabbed hold of the gluten-free market and seem to be overtaking Dietary Specials in quantifiable shelf space though the DS Ciabatta Rolls still get my vote for the ideal burger bun.

I am now well equipped to tackle the next ambitious (perhaps overly so) project: homemade gluten-free bagels.

Starting lineup: Udi's, Doves Farm and 9bar

Cannelle et maudits raisins

There has been a small bag of raisins tucked away in my cupboard for a while. It was even moved over from the cupboard in the last flat. They go untouched as I resent the little frakkers with their ridged, dry exterior and unbearably chewy and unrefreshing flesh, often turning up uninvited or, worse yet, unannounced in salads or braised red cabbage or carrot cake (as if the latter is not sweet and moist enough!). But I had to use them. And I hold firm that the only marginally tolerable manifestation of the suckers is in cinnamon raisin bread, where the strength of the spice somewhat masks the monstrosities.

Out came the Bob's Red Mill sorghum flour (my new favourite gluten free weapon) to top up the standard gluten free white bread flour and within minutes, I had a sweet dough rising. I even squeezed in a 5 mile run (and vacuumed the flat) for good measure during the first prove. Dough rising, a process equal parts beautiful and mundane.

The patience paid off.

Gluten-free cinnamon and dastardly raisin rolls

Allergy & Free From Show 2014 (Kensington Olympia)

Bob Moore of Bob's Red Mill Flours

• Met up with a lovely and insightful gluten-free blogger based in Berlin and spoke with some wonderfully innovative promoters and suppliers. The folks at CELIA Lager, promoting their Czech beer, very patiently explained their process of de-glutenising barley malt. Quite carbonated but it certainly makes for a good gluten-free summer beer.
• Met the man behind (and face on) Bob's Red Mill Flours - a company long known for its range of flours but also commendable for its practice of processing and packaging their flours in a quality controlled gluten-free environment. Purchased some sorghum flour and trusty tapioca flour. 

  

  Scott Farms Sweet Potato Chips

• Scott Farms Sweet Potato Chips were hands down my favourite acquisition of the day. Wonderfully simple in concept but masterfully executed.
• Greens Gluten Free Beers were another great exhibitor with an abundance of flavours to sample but unfortunately not purchase on the spot. The IPA and Dry Hopped Lager were pretty good and have now inspired me to discuss further with some home-brewer friends about brewing a batch of gluten-free beer. Enter sorghum!

Next year: bring more hands.

Meze

I'm now making my own hummus; my local Tesco will certainly notice a drop in sales of their own variety. Al'fez Tahini is listed as 'free from' too, which is a bonus in a day and age when even certain teas are listed as possibly containing wheat (I'm looking at you, Tetley). So far, experimentation has yielded just a particularly edgy hummus with a kick of chili and paprika and another with more garlic than any standard recipe might call for. Next up, caramelised onion.

Loafing Around

Fresh bread in the house is a beautiful thing. I received a Panasonic SD-2501 bread maker for Christmas and while it is quite an elephant of a machine on our kitchen counter, it works wonderfully, is both safe and quiet, and makes a rather amazing gluten-free loaf of bread in a self-contained system with little mess, unless you're a complete a monster and manage to wreak havoc in the kitchen in the 5 minutes of prep time.

Panasonic SD-2501 in gluten-free mode

Following the included tips on which order to put in the ingredients is key though it might seem counterintuitive to those who have baked bread before; water, salt, sugar, and fats (including eggs) are added before your flour blend and yeast is added last to ensure it doesn't kill the yeast prematurely. The gluten-free setting handles everything from kneading to letting it rise and the baking all within just under 2 hours. Sneaking a peak at the kneading process reveals a much runnier dough than you might expect for bread, almost alarmingly so but such is the nature of the beast. I don't think it ever really takes shape into a typical ball of dough, which is why I'm thankful for not having to clean up the mess that would ensue were I to make it by hand on as regular a basis. About a half hour before it's done baking, that glorious smell thwacks your olfactory senses. And so continues our lives dictated by the beeping of electronic devices. Take it out, resist the urge to hug and devour it, and let it cool.

10-12 slices of gluten-free happiness

A kitchen thermometer is a good means of testing that the bread is cooked through (100 C in the middle). Said thermometer also proved as a good indication that our bedroom was either very poorly insulated or haunted given that it was about 12 degrees cooler than in the lounge.

A good serated bread knife is also a prime investment. A dull blade will only assault what is already a weak crumb structure.

I tend to use the standard recipe included in the Panasonic user guide, though will modify it slightly depending on the size of my eggs and my desire to go out on a whim and experiment. If I'm running low on the bread flour (or if Tesco decide that they'll give me gluten-free apple pies rather than substituting it with something sensible, like other flours, when out of stock) I'll use a combination of other gluten-free flours I tend to have on hand; plain, self-raising, rice and/or tapioca and add a bit of xanthan gum to make up for any potential lack thereof.

330mL water
2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I only put a full 3 if my eggs are on the smaller side)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (Aspall do a gluten-free line)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
450g Doves Farm Gluten Free Bread Flour
2 teaspoons yeast

O! hole-y goodness

A midnight shop at Tesco Extra, a wander down their ever expanding Free From aisle, and lo and behold three new flavours of Udi's Gluten Free Bagels bringing the range to a selection of six. That's Plain, Savoury, and (the ever elusive) Cinnamon & Raisin now joined by Multi Seeded, Chocolate Chip, and Sundried Tomato; all proudly gluten and dairy free. This latter will be key for kookaberries's visit from Berlin as her lactose intolerance combined with vegetarianism and my gluten intolerance will make for quite the 'free-from' weekend.

Udi's GF bagel selection at Tesco

Udi's website doesn't even list the three newcomers so perhaps Tesco is testing the line. I am hoping to see a classic sesame seed bagel join the lineup before long as Montréal bagels remain, three years on, one of the most missed elements from home.

Grate Cooking

The last time I flew home to Montreal, my parents were wary as to what they would feed me if not the staples of my diet the first 25 years of my life (pasta, bread, and beer). The weather was fantastic so twist of a nozzle, up went the flames and the barbecue presented me with what I quickly learned was one of the most reliable ways to cook gluten-free.

Gluten-free Barbecuing

Back to London, and we invested in a charcoal BBQ, which, while admittedly more finicky and time consuming than a gas one, lends a wonderful smoky taste and smell to whatever we happen to be grilling the hell out of. A whole meal came out of the first BBQ session, chicken brochettes (cubed peppers, onion and mango), slathered in paprika and a bit of a honey mustard glaze and to the flames/ashen charcoal they go. Jacket potatoes wrapped in foil rested directly on the coals and to make the most of the hot grilling space (a small rectangle is much more ergonomically sensible than a round grill) we threw on a package of my favourite Heck gluten-free sausages for good measure, thinking there might be a few left over for breakfast. We thought wrong. It was bloody fantastic.


 Now to brainstorm ideas for barbecued desserts.

Jackpot Mainland Europe

Finding an expansive and well-stocked shop of gluten free items both new and familiar is bliss.

The Vitalia health food store in Alexanderplatz S-Bahn station in Berlin is a right gold mine of gluten free food. Thanks to my friend kookaberries, whom I was going to visit in Berlin, who in turn linked me to the wonderful Gluten Frei Berlin blog, this little gem of a shop did not go overlooked. Stocking a very wide range of Dr Schär products - who are the parent company of the Dietary Specials brand in the UK - I quickly regretted traveling with only hand luggage as I could have easily stocked a suitcase of goodies to bring home. I was quite impressed with their variety of frozen goods, breads and flours in such a compact location; the latter, in particular an all-purpose flour blend by Schär, was used to create a luscious lemon meringue pie.

Imagine my sheer excitement when 2 months later I find the same range and diversity of products in Italy, everywhere from a positively massive gluten-free aisle at the Coop megastore in Modena to the tiny local grocery store in a town of 1000 people. From Barilla's own gluten free pasta range (oh how I've missed your assorted shapes!) to Schär's special Savoiardi biscuits, with which I will attempt to create a Tiramisu.

Without

It's taken months but after several food related breakdowns, the acquisition of a bread maker, and reassuring trips to Barcelona, Berlin and northern Italy, I am finally much more comfortable eating out and more importantly am properly enjoying food again.

The mere thought of even venting my frustrations the last few months was mentally exhausting.

Italy, I was surprised to discover and very pleased to report, was so very Coeliac friendly, with more shelf space devoted to gluten-free items than any grocery store I've been to in the U.K./ North America and all restaurant staff I encountered being very knowledgable and accomodating of the gluten intolerance. I was floored but very grateful considering the difficulty I often have with restaurants in the U.K. where I am not impeded by a language barrier. It is obvious that the Italian health ministry has been very proactive about raising awarenss. While alternatives in small Italian restaurants might be minimal, restaurant staff were always able to provide assortments of grilled meat (if they are made aware of an intolerance, they will not coat these in flour, which is a staple of Italian cooking) with side salad and a lovely risottos when available, which they were able to guarantee were gluten free.

We ate at Ristorante Pizzeria la Pentolaccia on Via Caduti del Gatta a number of times; if you happen to be driving through the Reggio Emilia region, I would highly recommend it. Absolutely lovely and amazing value.

The fact that my even my grandmother understood and took the time to buy gluten free flour, pasta and adjust some of her tried and tested recipes in anticipation of my arrival was a blessing and I left feeling well and properly full and loved as anyone should feel after a trip to Italy.

Now that I am feeling less daunted by all this, I will conquer whatever other obstacles are impeding my sense of fullfilment in life. This shall include tackling languages that have played a somewhat significant part in my life but that I have yet to master: Italian and C++.

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