Scallion Soda Bread (Gluten Free)

Happy St Patrick’s Day! or ‘Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!’

So a traditional Irish recipe is in order I think.  This soda bread is gluten free (of course) and flavoured with spring onions, or scallions as I keep being corrected. I didn’t have any buttermilk for this recipe so I’ve made my own version combining yoghurt and milk which works just as well and may even be a bit thriftier.

If you are looking for other Irish food inspiration then you could try these delicious gluten free potato farls here, otherwise…

Ingredients:

• 1lb of Doves Gluten Free White Bread Flour
• 2 eggs, topped up to 12fl oz with half yoghurt and half whole milk
• 6 spring onions scallion, sliced finely
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 oz of sugar
•  1 oz of bicarbonate soda
• 2 oz of butter

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees (fan) and oil a baking tray.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and rub in the butter. Add the spring onions and mix.   Whisk up the egg, yoghurt and milk mixture then stir into the dry ingredients.  Turn out the dough onto a well floured board, the mix will be quite sticky so be generous with your dusting.  Knead the mix for a couple of minutes then form in to a large ball and plop onto the oiled tray.  Cut a deep (over half way) cross through the centre, brush with milk and dust with flour.

Bake in the oven for about 30/40 minutes, until golden and hollow sounding when you knock its bottom.

Serve with butter, cheese and chutney for tea or toasted the next day for breakfast.

‘Tabhair dom an rud céanna mar atá ag an fhear ar an t-úrlar!’ – translations sourced here.

Mackerel Fish Cakes (gluten free)

In a continued attempt to be more frugal I’ve been delving deeper into my  store cupboard lately and this week I found the ubiquitous mackerel.  I remember that for some reason mackerel fillets tinned in tomato sauce are actually cheaper than their brine or oil contained counterparts so it makes sense to add a bit of tomato to you life.

Mackerel is one of those amazinge eye sight strenghtening super food type things which packs an excellent omega 3 punch and in tins has to be the most penny-pinching way to enjoy a bit of this tasty, oily fish.  Another benefit of using the tomato clad mackerel is the wicked (did I just say wicked?) pink the fish cakes go inside and the fuzzy feeling you get when you realised you’ve smuggled another of your 5 a day into your dinner.  If you don’t have this wonderous ingredient in your cupboard but do have a tin of tuna then you could try this instead, if not then, onwards, my friends, the recipe is closer than you think…

Makes about 6  fish cakes which serves 2 with salad or 3 for people with small bellies

Ingredients:

• 4/5 medium potatoes
• A tin of mackerel in tomato sauce (you can use the oil or brine ones but drain them first and don’t expect that nice shade of pink I was talking about)
• 4 spring onions, washed and chopped fairly finely
• Salt and pepper
• A handful or 2 of breadcrumbs (I always blend up any gf bread going stale and whack it in a big bag in the freezer)
• An egg
• 2 tablespoons of gluten free plain flour
• Oil for frying

Method:

Boil and mash the potatoes, leave to cool.   Break up the mackerel into the potatoes, toss in the tomato sauce, add the spring onions season and mix.  Form into burger shapes and chill in the fridge for a while until set.

Lay out your other ingredients on plates or shallow dishes, whip the egg slightly to combine.  Dip and roll the cakes first into flour, then egg, and then into the breadcrumbs.

Heat a large frying pan.  Add about 2 tablespoons of oil (more if you can stand it).  Once the oil is hot, fry the fish cakes until golden on each side then serve with salad, or whack in bun for a full on fishy carb fest.

Apple Crumble (Gluten Free)

I do love a good crumble, I can pretty much make a crumble mixture by eye these days but just for you I’ve measured out the quantities (I’m good to you aren’t I?).

Crumbles are the ultimate comfort food and served with custard can make many a grown man, or woman, weep with pleasure.  It’s a simple recipe and just as easy to make gluten free, if you aren’t a coeliac then just substitute gluten free flour for the ‘normal’ stuff.

I’ve made an apple one here because I’ve been popping down to my local market of late and getting the bargain of all bargains on big fat juicy Braeburns of 10 for a pound, can’t say fairer than that can you, but one can only eat so many apples a day in their raw form, so a crumble was in the offing from the moment those apples hit the bag.  You could use any fruit you like with this recipe, a bit of forced rhubarb would be nice or if you are making this at the end of the summer a few hedge picked blackberries in with the apples would go down a treat.  Right, enough waffling and onto the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz gluten free plain flour (I used Dove’s Farm)
• 2 oz of butter
• 1 1/2 oz of sugar
• 5 big apples
• a handful of sultanas
• 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• A squirt of agave syrup
• A baking dish about 25 cm long or whatever you;ve got

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees.  Peel and chop the apples roughly then stew in a pan with the sultanas, cinnamon, agave syrup and a splash of water until tender.  Pour apples into dish.  Rub the butter into the flour until you have crumbs.  Add the sugar and stir.  Then sprinkle the crumble mixture on top and shake to settle.  Bake in the oven for a bout 30/35 min until starting to turn a light golden and the apples bubbling up from the bottom.

Serve with custard, make your own if you can be bothered, it is much better that way but don’t feel guilty if you just peel open a tub from the cupboard. I didn’t…

Two Sausage Stew

This was a quick casserole type dish I knocked up in the week and have had subsequently for lunch and tonight’s dinner, it’s pretty straightforward to make and consists of mainly storecupboard and standard fridge contents.  The chorizo permeates through the whole dish and makes this a very moreish bowl of supper.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 6 gluten free sausages (I used those ones by that Irish guy Rankin but throw in your favourites), each chopped into six bitesize pieces
• About quarter of a ring of chorizo, chopped into small chunks
• 2/3 large handfuls of green lentils (I didn’t measure so think about the amount of people you are trying to feed and wing it)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 large carrot, quartered lengthways and chopped into fine chunks
• 1 stick of celery, split and chopped
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• A glass of red wine
• A big squirt of ketchup
• lots of fresh ground pepper

Method:

Fry off the sausages and chorizo in the bottom of a heavy pot until browned.  Soften the onions, celery and carrots in a bowl in the microwave then add with the garlic to the pot.  Fry for a minute or so then splosh in the red wine, let it reduce for a moment or so then add the tomatoes, ketchup and pepper.  Wash and then add the lentils and top up with about half to a can full of water.  Top with a lid and simmer for about 25 min or until lentils are tender.  Adjust the seasoning if necessary, I didn’t need to add any salt to this because the chorizo and sausages seemed to salt it enough so give it a taste and see.  Serve alone in a bowl or with crusty bread.