500 gluten-free dishes

It would seem like Carol Beckerman has cooked just about every dish under the sun! Having truly mastered breakfasts with her previous book containing no less than 500 breakfast dishes, she has now turned her attention to gluten free cooking for her new book 500 gluten-free dishes, "the only compendium of gluten-free dishes you'll ever need".

Carol brings to her book a wealth of experience from her time running the kitchen for a traditional English pub, catering to large events and recently cooking baking for local restaurants. 500 gluten-free dishes has a recipe to suit any occasion or taste with vibrant colour photos for every recipe. If the 500 options weren't enough, there are also companion pages with variations to try out for every recipe. As a special treat, I made this chocolate and cherry roulade for dessert last night. It was delicious and very decadent.



Treats aside, as I look through the book, I notice how so many of the recipes are for the familiar sort of foods that I would regularly want to eat, yet bursting with a vibrant array of flavours from Carol's broad and extensive cooking experience. These are nice foods that I want to cook, yet they're simple enough that I don't feel the need to wait for a special occasion to do so.

500 gluten-free dishes contains the following sections:

• breakfast dishes
• appetizers and starters
• breads
• main meals
• side dishes
• desserts

It is available from bookstores at a RRP of $24.99.
You can also buy 500 Gluten-free Dishes online from Fishpond.co.nz*

*By purchasing from Fishpond via this link, you are supporting Gluten Free Land.

Posted by Rory on Oct 7th, 2012 under Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook

The Family-friendly Gluten-free cookbook

When New Zealander Sarah King's first two young children were diagnosed with coeliac, she quickly realized that keeping them happily fed on a budget would require some fresh thinking in the kitchen. Drawing on her experience running her own catering business, Sarah focussed on creating scrumptious gluten free alternatives for her family. Sarah now shares her best recipes as a first time author in her new book The Family-friendly Gluten-free Cookbook.

Some of our site visitors may already know Sarah and her husband Mitch as the owners of the popular gluten free grocer in Auckland. Sarah also has a long history of catering to the crowds at the farmer's market where she was able to test and refine the recipes in her book until they were indistinguishable from their gluten-containing counterparts. Sarah says that preparation is the key to successful gluten free baking, with all her recipes written with quick and easy methods so that anyone can achieve great results.

New Holland Publishers kindly sent me a copy, so I tried out some of the recipes myself an can attest to the simple approach that Sarah has taken - the instructions are clear and descriptive with ingredients listed in exactly the order that you need them, ensuring great results. Most of the recipes come with a gorgeous full page colour photo by Devin Hart, allowing the reader to flick through and choose from one of the mouth watering options. Sarah does an excellent job of creating colourful, flavour-rich foods with simple ingredients that don't take all day to prepare.

Here are just some of the recipes:

• Mediterranean Vegetable Tart
• Bacon and Corn Muffins
• Garlic Bread
• Homestyle Chicken Pie
• Lemon Meringue Pie
• White Chocolate and Orange Biscotti
• Chocolate Brownies
• Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
• Self-saucing Chocolate Pudding
• Baked New York Style Cheesecake

There is also a range of helpful information in The Family-friendly Gluten-free Cookbook on living gluten free, how to avoid contamination in your kitchen, living gluten free on a budget as well as a great set of ideas for children's lunch boxes. Written by a kiwi, the book is well suited to New Zealand tastes and uses low cost ingredients that are readily available locally.

I look forward to lots more baking from this excellent book. In the mean time, here are some of the delicious savoury scones that I made yesterday:



The Family-friendly Gluten-free cookbook can be purchased online from Fishpond.co.nz* or from all good bookstores (RRP $39.99).

*By purchasing from Fishpond via this link, you are supporting Gluten Free Land.

Posted by Rory on Sep 18th, 2012 under Cookbooks | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook

Finding gluten free food on the go

I am very excited to announce that last weekend I released Gluten Free Land Mobile Edition!!

GFL Mobile allows those of you with a smartphone to search for places that sell gluten free food near to your current location. It's very easy to use, just type glutenfreeland.co.nz into your mobile web browser e.g. Safari on iPhone or "Browser" on Android and you will be automagically redirected to our mobile website.

Remember, our mobile homepage and all pages on the full website (when viewed on a mobile device) have links at the top right that allow you to easily switch between the mobile and full versions.

In future we hope to add more mobile friendly features but in the mean time, give it a go and be sure to let us know if you have any difficulties or ideas for improvement.



One final tip: If you use an iPhone, clicking on the map button will launch your native Google Maps application. The Gluten Free Land Mobile webpage will still remain open in your browser in the background. To get back, press the home button on the front of your iPhone and then click on Safari.

See also: Gluten Free Land Mobile on iPhone

Posted by Rory on May 6th, 2012 under Gluten Free Land | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook

Spicy gluten

I was a bit shocked yesterday to discover that one of the spices I'd been using from time to time contains wheat. I am pretty good at checking labels before purchasing something new and, perhaps because of this, I tend to get complacent with things that are in my cupboard.

I was most surprised to discover that the (Gregg's) curry powder I'd been using from time to time contained wheat!

Like I said, this is a product I'd used and bought before so wouldn't normally look at the label. I was fairly shocked and went through all our spices, only to find that the (Gregg's) mixed spice that I had used in this Christmas cake and these hot cross buns also contains wheat! I doubt there's enough gluten in these products to have caused me any grief (I did have some unexplained reactions around Christmas and easter but think they are more likely due to something else).

While on the topic of Gregg's I also recently noticed rather surprisingly that their jelly mixes contain wheat. On the bright side though, many of their spice mixes such as their excellent garlic and herb salt which used to contain wheat flour have changed to rice flour over the last couple years which is fantastic.

This is just another example of what is becoming a fairly repetitive reminder to myself and others to check labels as products change and can surprise you pleasantly or otherwise!

Posted by Rory on Sep 11th, 2011 under Gluten In Unexpected Places | Permalink | Comments(1) | Tweet | Facebook

Gluten Free Flaky Pastry!

I've always thought it would be fantastic to be able to buy pre-made gluten free puff pastry. I once made some using Orgran Pastry Mix and it turned out fantastically. But it did take an afternoon of alternating between chilling the pastry in the freezer and rolling in the butter. Bakeries such as the totally gluten free bakery sell ready made shortcrust pastry which saves having to make your own for pie bases, but ready made puff pastry has remained elusive, until now that is…

Pavilion have come to the rescue with a new frozen gluten free flaky pastry (and shortcrust and sweet varieties) available at Pak 'n Save and no doubt all supermarkets in the near future. Using their pastry is as simple as removing from the freezer an hour in advance to thaw and then it is ready to use. I found the timing to be pretty spot on, despite it being fairly critical, the pastry starting off hard to roll and becoming a little sticky as I finished. This is the pie I created with the Pavilion Flaky Pastry on top (brushed with egg for lovely golden brown finish).

I created my own pastry for the base which was rather poor in comparison. Here is a slice of the flaky pastry topped pie (left) along with a potato top pie that I made using the shortcrust pastry as a base (right).



I have not tried the sweet pastry yet but so far can totally recommend* Pavilion's shortcrust and flaky pastry. Look out for them in your supermarket freezer i.e. near the frozen vege, fries or pre cooked meals.

*Genuine personal recommendation. (Gluten Free Land did not receive anything for writing this and the author purchased the products described).

Posted by Rory on Aug 15th, 2011 under New Zealand Gluten Free | Permalink | Comments(0) | Tweet | Facebook