Gluten and dairy free eating with flavour

When you, someone in your house or even a friend have a food allergy or intolerance, preparing tasty food can be very difficult.

Gluten, Dairy, Soya, Nut Free Cooking is brimming with imaginative and wonderfully tasty recipes that are aimed at those who have allergies and food intolerances as well as those who, as a matter of choice, would like to embrace gluten and/or dairy-free eating.

The author of this beautiful book, Nada Farina, is a scientist who is a passionate food enthusiast with an extensive knowledge of nutrition. As a mother of two young boys with food intolerances, she understands the importance o nutrition and strongly believes in the beneficial effects of organically-grown foods.

Nada believes that eating quality and a variety of food by cooking with fresh and unprocessed ingredients, will improve your energy levels and overall health and well-being.

In today’s fast and fake food world, this book is a real eye-opener as it shows how, with easy-to-find ingredients and a touch of imagination and creativity, one can easily prepare incredibly tasty, healthy and nutrition-packed meals even when on a very restricted diet.

Recipes in Gluten, Dairy, Soya, Nut Free Cooking show that you don’t have to live on celery and lettuce leaves to have a healthy diet. From turkey meatballs, creamy potato gnocchi with salmon and sweet peas, to profiteroles with chocolate sauce or vanilla crème brulee, your mouth will be watering.

Not only about recipes, the book covers eliminating certain foods from your diet and how to make sure we receive all the valuable nutrients we need to thrive. It also addresses things to be careful of when buying pre-packaged foods and the benefits individual foods and spices can have.

In paperback format, this book retails at RRP AU$29.99

Nada has generously allowed prodijee to sharesome of her recipes from the book to get you started.

 

Baked Eggplant and Olive Patties – serves 4

Preparation time – 10 minutes

Cooking time – 60 minutes

Ingredients

800 g (1 lb 12 oz) eggplants (aubergines) (2–3 medium size)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large egg

80 g (3 oz) GF breadcrumbs

60 g (2 oz) green olives, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 handful of parsley, finely chopped

50 g (1.75 oz) corn meal

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Cut eggplant lengthways in halves, carefully cut through the flesh down to the skin, taking care not to cut through the skin. Place them side by side on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and bake for 45 minutes or until the flesh is soft and slightly browned.
3. Remove the eggplants from the oven, let them cool and carefully scoop the flesh out of the baked eggplant halves, place into a strainer and press down to remove all the excess water. Put the flesh on a clean chopping board and finely chop.
4. Place the eggplants into a medium size bowl, add egg, GF breadcrumbs, finely chopped olives, garlic, parsley and season with salt and pepper (adjust the quantity of salt depending on how salty the green olives are).
5. Mix well to form moderately stiff dough.
6. Take one tablespoon of the mixture and shape with your hands into a small patty. Repeat until you have used all the mixture.
7. Add the corn maize into a deep plate, gently coat the patties with the corn on all sides, place onto a non-stick parchment paper lined baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Serve warm or cold with your favourite dip or with crunchy salad.

Kale and Salmon Quiche – serves 6

Preparation time – 20 minutes

Cooking time – 35 minutes

Ingredients

50 g (1.75 oz) kale

70 g (2.5 oz) asparagus

130 g (4.5 oz) butternut squash

60 ml (2 fl oz) coconut milk

250 g (9 oz) salmon fillet

1 handful of fresh parsley

1 handful of fresh basil

½ red onion

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp coconut oil

4 eggs

170 ml (6 fl oz) coconut cream

100 g (3.5 oz) smoked salmon

1 tbsp tomato paste

Pinch of salt and black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Cut the vegetables into chunks.
3. Bring a large pot of water to the boil; add kale, asparagus, butternut squash and a bit of salt to enhance the vegetables flavour and boil for 10 minutes.
4. Pour the coconut milk into a medium pot, add a salmon fillet, a few leaves of fresh parsley, season with salt and pepper and bring to boil. As soon as the milk starts boiling, switch off the heat, cover the pot and leave salmon to poach in the milk for 10 minutes.
5. Finely chop parsley, basil and onion, (best done using a mini electric chopper) and fry the mixture in olive oil on low heat for 3 minutes. Add sliced smoked salmon and tomato paste and gently fry for a further 3 minutes.
6. Add the boiled and chunky vegetables into the mixture and fry on a low heat for an additional 10–15 minutes or until the mixture is almost dry (remove as much moisture as possible without overcooking the vegetables).
7. Grease a tart tray with coconut oil and spread the vegetable mixture evenly.
8. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with coconut cream, season with a pinch of salt and pour over the vegetable mixture in the tray.
9. Flake the poached salmon and evenly distribute on top of the mixture
10. Bake in the oven at 200°C (400°F) for 35 minutes. Let it stand for 10 minutes before cutting

Sweet Maki Rolls – Serves 2

Preparation time – 10 minutes

Cooking time – 15 minutes (for pancakes)

Ingredients

2 pancakes around 26 cm (10 inch) in diameter, (GF, DF and SF – recipe in book)

30 g (1 oz) chocolate, melted (GF, DF and SF – recipe in book))

1 fresh banana, cut lengthwise

½ handful fresh blueberries

½ handful fresh raspberries

2 fresh strawberries

30 ml (1 fl oz) fresh whipped cream (recipe in book)

1. Once the pancakes are ready and cool, assemble your maki following the below instructions.
2. Lay a pancake on a flat surface, spread generously right to the edges with melted chocolate, add cut banana, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries (or a selection of fruits of your choice), roll up tightly, slice into rolls and serve standing to attention, with the cut side down. Add a dollop of fresh whipped cream onto a serving plate and generously glaze with the melted chocolate and scatter a few fresh fruits around to look pretty.
3. Serve immediately.