Book of Yum

Pesto Grilled Veggie Pizza- one on Chebe crust (front) and the other slice (back) on Carol’s crust…
Last weekend Dh and I hosted the monthly potluck for our Celiac Bay Area group. I had sent out a call for food matching a “spring mediterranean” theme, and we ended up with an absolutely amazing feast. Just goes to show, this whole gluten-intolerance thing can inspire some serious creativity in the kitchen! For appetizers we had Bruschetta made on Mariposa Bakerires GF DF NF Baguette, Caponata on the same bruschetta toast, Dolma (Stuffed Grape AND Stuffed Cabbage Leaves with veg and non-veg versions). We also had a lovely salad, and then… the main course dishes! We had TONS of pizza. I guess when gluten-free folks like myself think mediterranean, we can’t help but think PIZZA! One thing about our group that keeps things interesting is that we aren’t all JUST gluten-free. We also have folks with other allergies to things like beans, dairy, eggs, and even nuts. So, I always try to make a little extra effort so everyone can eat as many things as possible. With that in mind, I modified the heck out of a flatbread recipe by Bette Hagman to make an olive flatbread with no DAIRY, no SOY, no EGGS, and no NUTS. I also made some special pizzas using Carol Fenster’s awesome pizza recipe (a staple in my house for the last ten years at least, I swear!) with no allergens that were also just plain YUMMY! I made two kinds of “pesto” pizzas- one for our super-complex-allergy member out of slow roasted tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and high quality olive oil with NO NUTS whatsoever, and then a variation on my usual dairy-free basil pesto pizzas. Then I topped both with various home grilled veggies as the spirit moved me. I also made some variations with cheese because it DOES add a little extra flavor oomph— but I do think that pizza doesn’t need it to be scrumptious. Other members brought non-veg cheese pizzas, and another brought a moroccan orange non-veg dish, and a vegetarian ratatouille. We had one special guest- Dana from Gluten-free Gourmet, a baker who has recently started selling her gluten-free products at the Saratoga Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. Dana brought a shrimp-cheese pizza and a delicious carrot cake with cheese frosting to share with us for dessert. Non-GF DH thoroughly enjoyed it- although I think for him, it was all about the frosting. I thought it was an excellent treat as well, and just wish Saratoga wasn’t so far away! (You can see the photo of Dana’s treat on the left.) Speaking of dessert, one talented member actually brought Fresh Orange Slices with Honey and Cinnamon as well as Turkish Delight, a.k.a. Lokum. I made No-refined-sugar, dairy-free, soy-free Coconut Lemon Bars. (I’ll be sharing the recipe soon.) For beverages we had a variety of wines and Dugh, a very intriguing Fizzy Yogurt Drink. (Really! fizzy! Think a salty lassi with bubbles.) It was an amazing feast.

And now- for the recipes! One of the most interesting recipes that I made for this potluck was a totally allergen-free sundried tomato pizza. As you may know, I have been happily using Carol Fenster’s pizza recipe, available at her Savory Palate web site and in many of her books, for a very long time. I have developed some special tricks for working with the dough over the years that I really wanted to share it with you, but since I don’t publish recipes by gluten-free cookbook authors without permisison, I emailed Carol Fenster for permission to reprint a modified version of the recipe. She graciously gave permission, so you can see the recipe below, modified to be dairy free and vegetarian and including my dough tricks. Carol recently released Gluten-Free Quick & Easy: From Prep to Plate Without the Fuss. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m sure it’s full of great recipes just like her others. Two of my favorite gluten-free recipes ever have come from Carol Fenster- her pizza crust and her equally yummy flatbread. I also like her recipes for their flexibility with flours- if you have multiple flour allergies besides gluten, you can easily adjust her master flour blends to accommodate those intolerances, with excellent results. So, if you haven’t tried any of Carol’s recipes yet- I hope you will, and if you’re a long term fan like many of us, I hope you’ll take this chance to check out her new cookbook!

For another grilled veggie pizza, see my post on The Best Gluten-Free Pizza ever.

This post is for anyone with multiple food allergies, but especially for Karina the Gluten Free Goddess.

A few days ago the topic of nutritional yeast in un-cheese recipes came up. Joanne Stepaniak is the reigning queen of vegan cheese substitute recipes, and has many excellent cookbooks, including her The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook: Recipes Using Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula, The Uncheese Cookbook: Creating Amazing Dairy-Free Cheese Substitutes and Classic “Uncheese” Dishes, Vegan Deli,Vegan Vittles: Recipes Inspired by the Critters of Farm Sanctuary. However, the question was- how useful are these cookbooks for someone with multiple allergies? First of course, you have to screen the books for gluten- there are a few recipes with gluten, but overall these books are an excellent resource for the gluten free, lactose intolerant chef. If you are intolerant to soy, a few more recipes have to be screened out, still leaving a decent amount of recipes based on nuts, beans, oats (I use quinoa) and nutritional yeast. But, if you happen to be allergic to gluten, most nuts, soy, and lemon juices, probably your best bet is to scour the internet for nutritional yeast based recipes and start experimenting.

This conversation reminded me of my days as a gluten free vegan, cooking at my friend’s college lodging commercial kitchen late at night. (Yes, it was way cool.) My friend was the original genius behind one of my favorite holiday recipes, spinach pie. You met one incarnation of this recipe with my chebe tartlets . At that time we were both vegan, and vegans that didn’t like nasty processed un-cheese, at that. So, we decided to vegan-ize our favorite recipe and created a very tasty vegan spinach pie. The gluten free vegan diet rules out eggs and dairy, making it ideal for anyone who is both gluten intolerant and has multiple allergies. Many vegan recipes use soy as the base of their dairy substitutions- but you absolutely don’t have to rely on soy anymore, with the prevalence of rice, almond, and even hemp milks on the market. (Which reminds me, I’ve never tried hemp milk- is it good???) So, with those happy vegan memories floating in my head, the other day I set out to create a spinach pie that used nutritional yeast for cheesy flavor without any allergenic ingredients.

I made a white roux with lots of garlic powder, and added some nutritional yeast for added flavor. I also made a dairy version for DH, who is skeptical about spinach in general and not the biggest fan of a pie centering on spinach. I followed the same basic recipe for his, but used dairy milk and 4 oz. cheddar and 2 oz feta cheese, just for variety’s sake. To my surprise, I found that I rather preferred the dairy free version, although here’s a big tip- IF you only have vanilla flavored unsweetened rice milk in your house and want to avoid using soy milk to make sure the recipe really works- go to the store and buy unsweetened PLAIN rice milk, because otherwise, no matter how much garlic powder you add to the recipe, you will still taste the ever so mild, ever so insidious flavor of vanilla. Another thing- when the pie first comes out of the oven, it won’t be firm. I don’t mind, myself, and am greedy enough to eat it right then. However, if you want it to be firmer in texture, consider adding xanthan gum or some other thickener- or even more flour. It will become firm after cooling, and especially after refrigeration. It tastes good cold OR hot, making it a good bento box (lunch box) candidate, especially if you have access to a refrigerator. It was VERY yummy with a sliced heirloom tomato (hippie zebra, if you were wondering…) sprinkled delicately with black salt. YUM! So, next time you’re wishing for something cheesy, why not make a cheezy spinach pie with nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast doesn’t taste JUST like cheese, but it does add a salty, cheesy note to recipes that I personally find very, very tasty. Note: If you are new to nutritional yeast, ease into it by trying it on popcorn or in my famous Southern Tofu Recipe or Baked Nutritional Yeast Tofu Recipe, both brought to you by Joanne Stepaniak. You could also try my favorite recipe for vegetarian gravy or explore my entire collection of recipes using nutritional yeast.

And, here’s a visual test. Can you tell which one is the dairy free version, and which contains dairy? Maybe you can- but, they’re both darned similar!