Legal Seafood - A GF Haven in Boston

Legal Seafood in Boston is one of the few restaurants in the country with a dedicated GF menu. Ask for it when you dine there. It is extensive and they take pains to prepare the seafood in a dedicated area, washing and preparing the plates separately to avoid cross contamination. Their fried calamari, rolled in chickpea flour, is fresh, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. They will serve GF bread in lieu of white rolls which are reminiscent in texture of buttermilk biscuits. They are made of rice and tapioca flours, seasoned with a hint of onion. Their salmon is cooked to perfection. The GF food is served by their managers as they take allergies very seriously. In addition, they pride themselves in the freshest fish off the boats and quality test their fish for mercury regularly. When dining there you don't have to second guess the health aspect of any of their products. I found myself dining there at 6 times in a quick 5 day stay!

Legal Seafood has to be applauded for such committment to their wheat intolerant patrons. Encouragement of restaurants like Legal Seafood brings an awareness to other restaurants of the spectrum of customers out there who want to dine out but are limited in a world of wheat. Though their desserts are mainly dairy, they are making a difference in the wheat world. When other restaurants would rather not both with the hassle of maintaining a separate area and taking meticulous care in the preparation of GF food, this restaurant shines above the rest.

Thank you, Legal Seafood!!

Chipas or Pao de Queijo - Cheese Bread - South America

I've served this savory bread several times to non GF friends and they all loved it. Also called pao de queijo in Brazil (cheese bread), pandebono in Colombia, chipas in Paraguary and Buenos Aires. It is served in roadside stands in much of South America for about a quarter. Best part is that it is naturally gluten free. Made of cassava or corn flour, filled with cheese, it is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

This recipe uses tapioca flour. I have substituted rice milk and rice cheese to make this recipe work. You can try different fillings. It is extremely easy and quick to make. Serve this out of the oven while warm, as it sits the consistency will change to be someone softer and lose it's crispiness.

Heat oven to 375.

Mix together 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup water and 1/3 cup rice milk in saucepan. Heat at high till liquid starts to boil. Remove from heat and add in 2 cups tapioca, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 clove finely chopped garlic. Let cool for 15 minutes. Dough will be slightly stringy and able to form a ball.

Mix in 2 beaten eggs and 1/2 cup rice or soy "cheese". Form into small 1.5 inch balls and place on an ungreased pan. Should make 12-15 depending on size. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden on the outside and moist on the inside.

New Product Substitute for Cream

I found a new product in Whole Foods which is quite exciting. MimicCreme is a non dairy, non junk food, substitute for cream. I have tried it in GF eclairs and as a filling for cakes and it worked out very nicely. The simplicity and wholesomeness of the ingredients is something worth mentioning. Made from almonds and cashew nuts, it gives a nice thick texture to those recipes for creamy mousse dessert cakes or simply as a replacement for heavy cream. With 0 grams of sugar and 1 carbohydrate, this product is amazing. If you've tried raw cheesecakes, many of them are nut based so it is not that unusual and actually works quite well. Thank you to the chefs who make these creative products possible!

GF Oven "Fried" Chicken

Here is a quick and easy, healthy alternative to fried chicken. Served with a salad served sprinkled with mandarin oranges and almonds, and a light dressing of olive oil, rice wine vinegar and agave, it is a staple at our house.

Wash and dry 4 chicken drumsticks.

In a plastic bag, mix together 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup brown rice flour. Add about 1/2 tsp salt and pepper. Add your favorite ground herbs to taste if desired.

Place chickens in bag and mix together till chicken is thoroughly coated.

Meanwhile heat an over to 375 degrees.

Lay chickens out on foil lined tray sprayed with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until chicken is crispy and well cooked.

GF Rice Pudding (Vegan)

Rice pudding with golden raisins and pistachios

Rice pudding is one of those comfort foods when made perfectly. It is easy, quick and this recipe does not require eggs or an oven. The secret is using the right rice. I have tried this recipe with basmati, glutinous, long grain but the perfect rice that seems to have the perfect starch consistency is a good medium grain short grain white rice. Made with creamy hemp milk (you can use rice milk) and agave. The sweetness of the raisins with the saltiness of the pistachios gives it a nice balance of salty sweet.

Start by boiling 1 cup water. (The normal proportions would be 2 water to 1 rice.). Add in
1/2 cup medium short grain white rice and a pinch of salt. Simmer on low for 15-20 minutes as you would when making regular rice.

Add 2 1/2 cups hemp or rice milk, 1/3 cup agave and cook on low for another 30 minutes. Pudding will be cooked when spoon stands up straight in the mix.

Add 1 tsp vanilla, 1//2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup golden raisins and 1/2 tsp pistachio nuts.

YUMMY! How easy is that!

All GF Flours are not Created Equal -Rice Flour

A friend of mine, new to the GF world, mentioned buying a quinoa bread that was totally inedible. Her whole family was convinced the bread was bad after one bite. I told her of a similar experience I had trying a GF bread touted as "the moistest gluten free bread on the market today". Its weight was a tip off as to what the texture was going to be like. Dense, heavy, pungent and crumbly, I was convinced it had gone bad in the shipping until I opened the sister loaf and it had similar unearthly characteristics. I immediately felt very sad for all the customers who buy this bread thinking that this is the gold standard of breads. That the sentence for being gluten free was a life with this bread and this is all there is out there. Rest assured it is not!

Filling your pantry with these wonderful alternatives is very exciting. GF recipe books abound on Amazon and after a few tries you will find your cookbook that will make the difference for you. These renegade authors and chefs, often take their professional traditional pastry training and after countless tries turn a wheat classic into a GF classic. We should applaud them for the hours of work and the failed experiments to get closer to baking perfection. So lets start our journey with flours and the myriad of choices out there.

This posting I'll start with rice flour, because it is readily available in many forms and each behave differently.

Rice Flour comes in many forms - white, extra fine white, brown, glutinous or sweet rice. Knowing what type to use and when is more science than art.

White Rice Flour is milled from polished white rice and is grainier than the other varieties of flour. It is best when mixed with other flours to make bread, cakes and cookies. When used alone can sometimes have a gritty texture.

Extra Fine White Rice Flour - Is a finer ground white rice flour with a soft powdery texture. I mix this flour with other flours when making finer cakes. Its consistency helps with with the gritty texture of white rice flour but when used solely can add a gummy texture to a cake.

Brown Rice Flour has similar properties to rice flour but has better nutritional value as it is milled from unpolished brown rice. Because it contains more oils, it is best kept refrigerated. It has a nutty taste and grainy texture. Again, this rice is best when mixed with other flours.

Glutinous or Sweet Rice is also known as sticky rice. It is very elastic when mixed with liquid. It is one of the most perfect gluten free flours widely used in Asia and is said to have been used in China for over 2000 years in both savory and sweet dishes. This type of rice can be milled or unmilled. Milled Rice is typically white and unmilled which contains the bran can be black or purple. The famous Japanese "mochi" which is a small round cake with typically a bean filling is wrapped with a sometimes white glutinous cover. Vietnamese cultures also use the flour to make the distinct "Banh" cakes (they also may use cassava or tapioca flours) filled with sweetened mung beans. Filipinos will make a version called "Palitaw" which is glutinous flour shaped flat and dipped in boiling water then rolled in sesame seeds, sugar and coconut flakes.

As you can see this variety of rice flours makes it a versatile alternative in GF baking. If you are looking for the traditional crumb of a Western made cake, you will be best using a combination of flours when using rice flour. Rice flour with potato and tapioca starches seem to be a good combination. Try a mix of 1 cup brown rice flour to a 1/3 cup potato starch and 4 tbsp tapioca starch to make a versatile GF flour mix in these proportions. You can make this mix in batches using it as needed when baking most of your cakes when replacing flour.