The Gluten Free Blog

Woman & Home Feel Good Food magazine – Eating Smart edition

It’s not always easy to eat a tasty and varied diet if you have some kind of allergy or special food needs. If you’re like me, you stick to a few favourite meals that you have every week.

So we were thrilled when a copy of the food magazine Feel Good Food dropped on to the doormat here at Gluten Free Towers.

Published by the brilliant people over at Woman & Home, this edition of Feel Good Food magazine is packed to the rafters with mouth-watering gluten free recipes including speedy seeded flatbreads, pear and chocolate cake, and scrummy looking cupcakes. You can also find more recipes from the team on the gluten free recipes section of their website. Read the rest of this entry »

Hot on the heels of Genius, Warbutons, the UK’s leading independent baker, have launched their own gluten free bread. And Gluten Free Blog was lucky enough to be invited along to the recent launch breakfast, at London’s Covent Garden Hotel, hosted by the celebrity chef and gluten free expert Phil Vickery.

Warbutons Gluten Free range

What did we eat? Well, it was an early start. So we tucked into tiny slices of toast topped with salmon and egg, bacon butties, sausage sarnies and toasted teacakes. And, as you’d expect, it was all quite delicious.

Warbutons decided to build their first gluten free and wheat free bakery in March 2010, in response to customers’ requests for a tasty, gluten free range. “We’ve thrown ourselves into this project with the same passion and care we show for all our products” says Jonathan Warbuton, Chairman of the family-run company. “The whole team is really pleased with the results and it’s our hope that you will be too!”

Phil Vickery is working with Warbutons to launch the new range and as you know, we’re fans of Mr V here at Gluten Free Blog. So it was great to meet the man himself and talk all things gluten free cooking. We also chatted about salad cream and crisp sandwiches, which both of us used to enjoy as kids!

Our goodie bag included Phil’s latest book, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Baking, which we can’t wait to tuck into. And our bag also had a white loaf, brown loaf and a packet of tea cakes which were tested on the guys as soon as we got back to the office. And all got a thumbs-up.

Warbutons Gluten Free Bread

So what’s in the Warbutons gluten free range? So far sliced white and sliced brown in 400g and 600g sizes; sub rolls in white and brown; crumpets; and fruity teacakes which are all available in all UK grocery stores.

One of the gripes, I guess, is the price. The 600g loaf retails at £2.89, the sub rolls at £1.99 and the crumpets and teacakes at £2.19. At the time of writing the small loaf (400g) is on special offer in Asda for £2 although it normally retails for £2.49. And yet the same size loaf of ‘normal’ Warburtons bread costs a measly 67p. Hmmmmm. If Warbutons really want those with coeliac disease not to “miss out on this tasty daily staple” we’d really like to see their prices come down a bit.

Read the follow up post here. Warbutons gluten free bread – falling apart?

Phil Vickery

UK chef Phil Vickery has been appointed Food Ambassador for Coeliac UK.

Phil Vickery has been involved with Coeliac UK for a few years now helping to promote awareness of coeliac disease and trying to get catering establishments to offer gluten free options on their menus. Last year Phil wrote a book in association with Coeliac UK called Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking (read our review). The book has sold over 70,000 copies!

Phil said: “I am very honoured to accept the role as Coeliac UK’s Food Ambassador and to continue to support the work of the Charity. I’m passionate about improving knowledge in the food industry and the necessity for more gluten free cooking as more and more people are diagnosed. Since embarking on the cookbook I have learnt so much and it is essential that chefs understand the importance of having gluten free recipes. I am therefore delighted to be judging this year’s competition and urge chefs of all experience to enter.”

Phil’s role also includes judging the Gluten-Free Chef of the Year competition. Last year’s competition was judged by Raymond Blanc. The competition, in association with the Institute of Hospitality and the Craft Guild of Chefs, is open to professional chefs over the age of 23. There is a separate award, Up and Coming Gluten-free Chef of the Year, for catering college students and trainee chefs under 23. All entrants have to design recipes for a three course gluten free menu.  If shortlisted they are then required to recreate the menu for four people in a 90 minute live cook off.

Entries must be received by Friday 15 October 2010 with the cook off starting week commencing 8 November 2010.

We will let you know the winner later in the year.

Santa was kind enough to bring me Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking this Christmas; and it is seriously good!

Phil Vickery (aka as Mr Fern Britton) is a Michelin starred chef who regularly appears on UK daytime TV and writes a weekly column for a Sunday supplement.

So when it comes to food for the whole family, Phil really knows his stuff.

His latest book has a huge range of recipe ideas. Chapters include Comfort; Outdoors; Snacks & Quick Food; Vegetarian; and Parties and Entertaining. As well as a host of recipes for Cakes, Pastries, Biscuits and Desserts. And this is what I like about this book: there’s a nice balance between every day healthy options and sweet treats. A particular favourite of mine is Millionaire’s Shortbread with Bramley Apple Dip. Delicious.

Other recipes include healthy breakfast drinks such as carrot, ginger, celery, beetroot and apple juice; guaranteed to get you going in the morning and a fave of Fern’s, apparently.

Or how about breakfast fruit seed bars made with sunflower seeds, blueberries and gluten free porridge oats. These are so easy to make and perfect for the lunch box or as an on-the-go snack.

The snacks chapter includes onion bhajis with mango and mint yogurt, and marinated smoked salmon with picked ginger. A really easy supper dish to make is borlotti bean, chilli and pine nut bake made with gluten free pasta. This is a really quick meal to prepare on a cold winter’s night.

Talking of tasty comfort foods, the chestnut and roasted onion bread is another recipe that’s quick and easy to do (and fool-proof!). As is the lemon and leek risotto and curry pilaf with cashews.

Phil’s book also includes a list of foods that are naturally gluten free. As well as a handy guide to ‘foods and drinks that may include gluten without you realising it’. These include flavoured crisps, malted milk drinks, mustard products, Bombay mix, stock cubes and seasoning mixes.

A superbly presented book, Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking has lots of coloured photographs and an introduction to each recipe from Phil. Worth getting. Especially for the shortbread.

This recipe is taken from Seriously Good! Gluten-Free Cooking by Phil Vickery.

What a lovely combination: sweet, creamy, chocolate matched with the tartness of the Bramley apple dip. It’s just superb!

For the base:

• 150g brown rice flour
• 55g caster sugar
• 115g unsalted butter
• Oil or butter for greasing

For the filling:

• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g soft dark brown sugar
• 397g tin of condensed milk

For the topping:

• 200g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
• 55g white chocolate, broken into pieces

For the dip:

• 4 large Bramley apples, peeled and cored
• 150g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

Grease and line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment. To make the base, mix the flour and sugar together and then rub into the butter until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Press this mixture very lightly and evenly into the tin and bake for about 15 – 20 minutes or until pale golden.

To make the filling, place the butter and sugar in a large non-stick frying pan and stir over a medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. To make a golden caramel, add the condensed milk, stirring continuously, until the first bubble appear on the surface. Remove from the heat as soon as it comes to the boil. Spread the caramel evenly over the shortbread base and the cool and chill for about 30 minutes.

Place the apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon and orange zest and juice in a medium pan and cook down until the apples are cooked. Place the milk and white chocolate in two separate heatproof bowls. Place the bowls over two pans of barely simmering water to melt the chocolate.

Pour the melted milk chocolate over the cooled caramel, smoothing to the edges. Quickly pour over the white chocolate and gently swirl to create a marbled effect. Allow to set. When the chocolate has set, cut the shortbread into squares and serve with the dip.