Category: Gluten-Free Cooking

Praising the Art of Braising

When a friend hosted a potluck, another friend and I met at happy hour for the sole purpose of hashing out what dishes we would bring to the party. This made perfect sense to us. I was inclined toward chili, particularly since the weekend promised to be on the cool side.

My friend, however, wanted to make traditional goulash — a naturally gluten-free dish. As she described her plans, including making the dish the day before for maximum flavor, I had the most intense craving for the smoky, sweet, addictive dish. While I knew my chili would be excellent, I planned to, well, camp out by her goulash and eat until I burst.

Then disaster struck, and my friend had to change her weekend plans. No goulash from her. Life would go on, and my craving for goulash would remain just that. Except, except, except…

I’d planned to make a chicken chili to balance her beef goulash. I had a boatload of onions — and this dish requires a lot of onion — plus, well, I just happened to have sour cream and lots of paprika in the house. It didn’t take long before my chili morphed into chicken paprikash, a relative of goulash.

The secret to goulash, chicken paprikash, and so many other dishes is braising. Braising uses a combination of moist and dry heat to make delicious foods. The technique is pretty simple: brown your choice of meat in a hot Dutch oven or other suitable dish; saute vegetables as a base for your sauce; add liquid such as stock, scrape up the brown bits in the pan, and get the liquid hot; finally, nestle the browned meat on top of the veggies and liquid and cook, on the stovetop or in the oven, low and slow for a good long time.

Needless to say, braising is a great choice for tough cuts of meat. The long cooking process breaks down the tough connective tissues in the meat, resulting in fork-tender meats. Braising is also perfect for dishes you make in your crockpot. The long, slow cooking process is perfect for party dishes. While the dish is cooking, you’re enjoying your guests.

When you’re ready to serve, just reduce the liquid into a sauce, and, voila!, dinner.

Tip of the Week

Traditional Western braises usually call for stock/broth or wine as the braising liquid. If you want to mix it up or try new flavor ideas, use gluten-free beer, cider, orange juice, or vinegar to add additional flavor to your dish. I particularly love adding orange juice when I’m making Caribbean dishes.

Menu of the Week

Since I’m half Hungarian, I’d like to pretend that I’ve been making this dish since birth. The truth is I’ve only been making it for a few years. While you can make it spicy with the addition of cayenne or hot paprika, I like the way the onions and paprika mellow into a slightly sweet and smoky dish.

  • Chicken Paprikash
  • Wilted Kale Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette (saute the kale for about five minutes in a bit of water to wilt the kale)

In a Curry

Confession: my idea of a relaxing Sunday afternoon involves chopping, grating, and mixing. When I making curry pastes, there is plenty of all those activities going on. Plus it’s an oddly fast activity, but that’s probably because I don’t hand-grind my spices in a molcajete, or large, rough-surfaced mortar and pestle.

(Of course, even as I type those words, I’m looking on Amazon for the perfect molcajete, because, well, every kitchen needs one!)

Curries are great for weeknight meals because, once you have the paste on hand, it’s a matter of simmering meats and vegetables in sauce and steaming some rice to sop up the delicious curry. My favorite curries have their roots in Indian and Thai cooking, meaning they have lots of flavor. Curries can be mixed with coconut milk, broths, or even water, making them that much more flexible. Continue reading “In a Curry”

One of *Those* Weeks

Most of the time, my weekday life is boring and predictable. I like it that way. Get up, go to work, bang my head against my desk, go home. My meals are under control — if it’s not something I’ve made myself, then it’s likely a meal from a restaurant that I’ve vetted and trust.

There is great comfort in knowing your lunch won’t make you sick for the next week or two.

Sometimes, life is less controlled. Maybe I’m traveling. Maybe I’m attending a conference. Maybe I’m involved in a work situation that doesn’t allow the flexibility of my normal life. Whatever the circumstance, I can’t rely on my safe, gluten-free kitchen or familiar restaurants with familiar options, and bringing my own meals is challenging. Continue reading “One of *Those* Weeks”

Don’t Pay Good Money for That!

A few months ago, I decided to take the plunge: I was going to make a delicious-sounding chicken with olives and preserved lemons. Except, natch, not a preserved lemon (or fresh lemon, for that matter) to be found in the house.

Or at my local grocery store.

At this point, I had choices. I could devote my life to finding a nearby store that stocked preserved lemons, or I could accept the inevitable. I did the latter, ordering a small jar of preserved lemons from Amazon. Sure, it was pricey, but I was convinced the lemons were worth it. Continue reading “Don’t Pay Good Money for That!”

Party Leftovers = Gluten-Free Ingredients

When it comes to feeding people at parties, my philosophy is along the lines of “too much isn’t nearly enough”. No matter how often I swear I won’t overdo it on the food, I still find myself making too much, buying too much, and wondering what to do with the leftovers.

When it comes to meats and vegetables, I try to get them packaged up and refrigerated as quickly as possible so they’ll be available for meals later in the week. Likewise for salads that can be served again — I don’t saved dressed green salads as they get mushy. Heck, I rarely serve green salads at parties for that very reason.

Also, between you and me, it turns out most of my guests opt for the less healthy options over the healthy options. I don’t blame them. I go straight for the chips, too! Continue reading “Party Leftovers = Gluten-Free Ingredients”

Simple Gluten-Free Dinners

One thing I love about being gluten free is that is has really forced me to step up my game in the kitchen. Most nights, I’d rather make a meal than eat out. Since I rarely get home before 7:30, and usually must closer to 8 than I’d like, I’ve had to learn ways to make great meals that cook fast.

I’ve also learned that it’s absolutely critical to have meals planned in advance, so I have necessary ingredients on hand. This eliminates frustrating trips to the grocery store after work…because it seems like whenever I’m in a hurry, it has never occurred to the person in front me that, you know, groceries require money. Continue reading “Simple Gluten-Free Dinners”

Homemade Salad Dressings

A year or so ago, a friend tweeted to the world at large about her major discovery: making her own salad dressing was fun! And easy! And it tasted so much better than bottled dressing!

Yeah, we all tweeted back, we know. Welcome to the club.

Since going gluten free, one of my rules for food is that what I eat should include as few ingredients as possible (it makes reading labels so much easier!). I also want to be able to pronounce every ingredient. If you look at the ingredients on a bottle of commercial salad dressing, you might wonder what is going on. I, for one, am curious why “color” needs to be added to some of these products. Continue reading “Homemade Salad Dressings”