Gorgeous gluten-free grub: Lemon strawberry muffins on Sunday

Monday, March 21, 2011

Lemon strawberry muffins on Sunday

With my sister and nephew in town from Wagga Wagga and Canberra, and my brother's family over from Botany, I cooked up a batch of lemon strawberry muffins on Sunday morning.

The recipe was from Jody Vassallo's Wheat and Gluten Free book, which is endorsed by Coeliac Society of Australia.

I also made a batch of mixed berry muffins from a gluten-free packet mix. The general consensus was that the lemon strawberry muffins were far superior to the packet mix ones. While the packet mix was very quick and easy, you were left with a bicarb soda taste in your mouth after eating them.

The lemon strawberry muffins were a big hit with the family, so I will be making them again. Here is Jody Vassallo's recipe:

Lemon Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients: 300g strawberries, hulled, 300g gluten-free self-raising flour, 170g caster sugar, 30g baby rice cereal, 3 teaspoons lemon zest, 375g skim or no-fat milk, 2 eggs lightly beaten, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius. Line a 12 x 1 third cup capacity muffin pan with muffin cases.

2. Roughly chop half the strawberries. Cut the remaining strawberries in half and set aside.

3. Sift the flour into a bowl, stir in the sugar, rice cereal, chopped strawberries and lemon zest and make a well in the centre. Whisk together the milk, eggs and oil, pour into the well and gently mix with a metal spoon until the ingredients are just combined.

4. Divide the batter among the muffin cases. Press the reserved strawberries into the tops of the muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and risen. Turn out on to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12.

4 comments:

Jenny PMarch 22, 2011 at 12:21 AM
So when are we coming for afternoon tea? They look DELICIOUS!
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ThereseMarch 22, 2011 at 3:15 AM
It's the final cricket weekend this Saturday and Sunday Jen - the grand final - so will have to organise a time after that.
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FionaMarch 22, 2011 at 2:33 PM
I have found the same thing with gluten-free packet mixes. It's very disappointing to go to the trouble of baking and then get the funny bi-carb after taste! Let me know when the afternoon tea is on ;-)
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ThereseMarch 24, 2011 at 5:53 PM
When I looked on the packet Fi there were millions of ingredients including addictives and preservatives etc etc - so think I will give the packet mixes a miss from now on. Stay tuned for the afternoon tea date.
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What I am cooking

On the menu at the unveiling
The night Sister Wendy popped by to unveil our artwork, I made two types of rice paper rolls - Prawn and avocado and tandoori chicken. I can't remember where I got the recipe for the prawn and avocado rolls but the tandoori chicken ones came from Wheat & Gluten Free by Jody Vassallo and Dianne Boyle. While they are a bit fiddly to make, and by the end I felt a bit like I had repetitive strain injury, they were both delicious. Here are the recipes.

Tandoori chicken rolls
Ingredients: 150g dried rice vermicelli, 325 g gluten-free Greek style yoghurt, 3 tablespoons gluten-free tandoori paste (Patak's is GF), 750g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces, 24 small rice paper rounds, 16 cm in diameter, 24 fresh mint leaves, 3 tablespoons gluten-free mango chutney.
Method: 1. Put the vermicelli into a bowl, cover with boiling water and allow to stand for 10 minutes or until the noodles are soft. Drain and cut into short lengths.
2. Combine 260 g of the yoghurt and the tandoori paste in a bowl. Add the chicken and mix to combine. Spread the chicken out on a foil-lined baking tray. Cook under a grill preheated to high, turning a couple of times, for 5-10 minutes or until tender.
3. Soak a rice paper round in lukewarm water (I added a bit of boiling water to help along) until soft and place on a clean, dry tea towel. Top with 2 teaspoons of the noodles and 2 pieces of chicken. Dip a mint leaf in the remaining yoghurt and place on top of the chicken, followed by a small spoonful of mango chutney. Roll up to enclose the filling. Cover with damp absorbent paper while you prepare the remaining rolls. Serve with extra chutney.
Prawn and avocado rolls
Ingredients: about 30 baby prawns, one avocado, two limes, mint leaves (roughly chopped) and coriander (chopped leaves only).
Method: Prepare rice paper rounds as in above recipe. Place a couple of prawns and sliced avocado on the rice paper. Add a squeeze of lime over the avocado (it adds to the flavour and stops the avocado from going brown), followed by some chopped mint and coriander. Roll up to enclose the filling.

Stephanie Alexander's Bolognese Sauce
Stephanie's bolognese (pertaining to Bologna in Italy as opposed to bolognaise) made by Bruce for the first time was a hit at the artwork unveiling. It is from her book, The Cook's Companion, the Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen. Bruce reckoned the inclusion of pancetta gave it the edge. As we had a big group we quadrupled the ingredients. The only thing we left out was the two teaspoons of plain flour. I suppose we could have used gluten-free plain flour but in my experience very rarely do dishes like bolognese or bolognaise need flour. So here is the recipe.
Ingredients: 1 onion, finely chopped, 1 stick celery, finely sliced, 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 400 g minced beef or veal, 100 g pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, chopped, half cup of dry white wine, salt (I don't think it needs salt), freshly ground black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, 2 cups of veal or chicken stock or tomato juice (we used chicken stock), 4 ripe tomatoes or 1 x 400 g can peeled tomatoes in juice, pureed (we used the can variety although couldn't get pureed and remember to check the can as some can tomatoes have thickener in them), 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 large sprig thyme, 1 bay leaf.
Method: Saute onion, celery and garlic in oil in a large saucepan until softened. Add minced meat and pancetta and fry until meat breaks up into small lumps. Add wine, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Mix well, then increase heat and boil to evaporate liquid. Add stock, tomato, tomato paste and herbs. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring from time to time. Taste for seasoning.

My sister gave me Seriously Good! Gluten-free Cooking by English chef Phil Vickery for Christmas. In March this year Coeliac UK announced that Phil was their new Food Ambassador. The book is full of delicious-looking recipes. The first one we (or I should say Bruce) tried recently was Phil's Slow-cooked Indian Lamb Korma, which is on page 81 of the book. With six tablespoons of double cream, the dish is quite rich. But it's also very flavoursome with lots of herbs and spices including ground coriander, hot chilli powder, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamons, garlic and ginger. A hearty meal for a cold winter's day or night.

Jody Vassallo's Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake
I have made this cake about seven times now and it is always a hit as the hazelnut meal makes it a little bit different from all those flourless chocolate cakes out there in cookbook land. It appears in Jody Vassallo's cookbook Wheat & Gluten Free, which is sponsored by The Coeliac Society of Australia Inc. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients: 250g dark cooking chocolate, chopped, 2 tablespoons milk, 120g hazelnut meal, 125g caster sugar, 6 eggs, separated.
Method: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 20cm spring form tin with baking paper. Put the chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Stir over medium heat until the chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool slightly. Put the chocolate mixture, hazelnut meal, sugar and egg yolks into a bowl and mix to combine. Whisk the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and spoon into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until firm. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Serve with fresh berries. Serves 8.