gluten free – Beyond Umami

Tacos for Today, Tomorrow, Any Day – Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos Recipe with Homemade Corn Tortillas

Beyond Umami — Thu, 18 Jul 2019 04:01:00 +0000

Recipe for Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos

Assembled ingredients for Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos

Why wait for Taco Tuesday, when you can have tacos today? Or even tomorrow? It has been pretty hot here in Ottawa, so I have been leaning towards meals with limited oven or stove time. So even though it seems that there are many ingredients needed to make this specific taco recipe, I am sure you already have most of these ingredients in your fridge/freezer. I am also a sucker for dips as snacks, so avocado and salsa are pretty much permanent ingredient that I have on hand.

Now, don’t feel like you have to make your own guacamole for this recipe. Buying guacamole is perfectly fine in my books (I also have really loved Farm Boy and all their products here in Ottawa)! In fact the salsa I used in this recipe is store bought.

Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos

Feel free to make your own tortillas or buy store bought ones. We have this huge bag of masa harina that I bought when we first moved to Ottawa, so I really needed to use it. You can get a more detailed method of how we make our tortillas over on my blog post Quick and Easy by Step Homemade Tortillas if you want home made. Masa Harina is also gluten free (just make sure the package says gluten free) as it is made of corn. The brand I use is Maseca.

In terms of planning, make the guacamole, grate the cheese, and assemble salsa and veggies into bowls before cooking the shrimp and making the tortillas. That way, you can start assembling and eating once the tortillas are finished cooking.

Paprika-Garlic Shrimp with mushhroom, garlic & onion

Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos Ingredients

Paprika-Garlic Shrimp

300g (2/3 lb) shrimp- zipperback, deveined D*I used pacific White Shrimp
1 large mushroom (or 3 smaller ones) sliced
1 small onion (chopped)
1/2 tsp paprika
4-5 cloves garlic (diced)

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
2 tablespoon lime juice
zest of one lime
1/2 of a red onion (diced)
salt & pepper to taste

Homemade Tacos (makes 9 small tortillas, 3-4″ in diameter)

1 cup masa harina (also can use corn flour)
3/4 cup water

Other ingredients:

1/2 cup grated cheese (your choice) *I used Balderson Cheddar
1/2 cup salsa (your choice)
1 cup arugula

Ingredients for Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos – featuring some of my wheel thrown bowls!

Directions for Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos

Prep guacamole – In a small bowl mash avocados, lime juice, lime zest, salt & pepper together. Stir in red onion. Set aside in refrigerator while prepping rest of the taco fixings.
Follow the instructions to defrost the shrimp.
Peel the shell off the shrimp.
Use a paper towel to absorb excess liquid.
In a small bowl place the shrimp and mix in 1/4 tsp paprika, then set aside.
Heat a pan to medium-high heat. Add in 1 tablespoon of oil.
Once the pan is hot, add in the chopped garlic and onion. Once onion starts to soften, add in the other 1/4 tsp of paprika.
Continue to stir, and then add in the sliced mushrooms. Cook mushrooms until softened and browned along with the garlic and onions.
Add shrimp to the pan. Cook until done (approximately 5 minutes; Shrimp is cooked when it curls).
Once shrimp is cooked, place in a dish and set aside.
Make the tortillas by mixing together 1 cup masa harina with 3/4 cup of water (for more visual pictures see my post here).
Roll 9 balls that are approximately ping pong or golf ball in size. Cover them loosely with saran wrap while rolling to keep them from drying out. Place saran wrap/parchment paper on top of each ball. Using a flat bottom pan, sandwich the ball between some saran wrap or parchment pap. The saran wrap will prevent the dough from sticking. Flatten each ball to make a tortilla 3 1/4″-4″ in diameter.
Cook each tortilla on a pan (medium-high heat); approximately 50 sec each side. We use a cast-iron pan but a regular pan will work too.
Place cooked tortillas in a stack, and cover with a kitchen cloth in order to keep them soft and warm. I used a brie baker to keep the tortillas warm and wrapped a kitchen towel around it.

Assemble your tacos and enjoy!

Since this recipe uses masa harina (corn flour) this taco recipe is gluten free. The nuttiness of the arugula also helps to accentuate the paprika-garlic shrimp. I love garlic, so if you don’t want yours to be as garlic intense cut down on the garlic.

Hope you end up making these Paprika-Garlic Shrimp Tacos! The tortillas can also be used for making pulled pork tacos! I’ll have to post a recipe for that soon too.

Pressure Cooked Instant Pot Mushroom Risotto

Beyond Umami — Sat, 06 Jan 2018 04:29:00 +0000

Mushroom Risotto made in the Instant Pot

Last night I made risotto in the Instant Pot! Yes, you read that right, a dish that would traditionally take time over the stove-top was cooked in the Instant Pot. The best thing was that we were able to pressure cook the risotto in the Instant Pot; thus cutting down the “hands on” actively stirring time that risotto typically needs. Now, don’t get me wrong I do love making risotto the regular old fashioned way (typically in my dutch oven). In fact, I have a recipe on this blog for a Creamy Shiitake Mushroom Risotto. However, given that I am not currently cooking in my own kitchen, all I have for kitchen appliances is an Instant Pot that Dan received as a gift. So yesterday afternoon I ventured out in the cold Ottawa weather (it was actually quite warm compared to today’s real feel of -43C) and bought all the ingredients we would need for making the risotto.

The Instant Pot that we used for this recipe is the 4 quart Lux Mini. In terms of timing, it took about 10-12 minutes of prep (washing, cutting, cooking down of onions & garlic, and stirring). Everything else was handled by the Instant Pot on pressure cooking mode. You only need to set it for 7 min pressure cook! All in all, with the time it takes to pressure, cook and de-pressure it was about 15 minutes. So, definitely super quick.

Ingredients for Instant Pot Risotto

2 medium yellow onions (chopped)
2-3 cloves of garlic (sliced)
1 cup (or 1 small container) crimini mushrooms sliced (add more if you wish!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups superfino arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken stock (we used the 30% less salt version but any chicken stock can be used)
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano
2 tablespoons of cream or milk (optional)

Recipe for Instant Pot Risotto

Set the Instant Pot to “sauté mode”. Heat two tablespoons of olive oil (it will take 2 minutes or so to heat up ). Add garlic to start.
Once the garlic starts to sizzle add in the chopped onions. Stir often and sauté until the onions become transparent (5-6 minutes)
Add in the rice. Stir often until the rice becomes lightly golden from being “toasted” (about a minute). Then add in the white wine. Once the white wine has cooked off (30-40 seconds), stir in the mushrooms.
Add in the chicken stock. Stir until all 4 cups have been incorporated.
Turn off the “sauté mode” on the Instant Pot. Next, press “manual” mode (this is the pressure cook mode) and set it for 7 minutes. Wait until the mixture starts to boil (little bubbles will appear), stir the inside a bit and then put the lid on. Ensure the knob on the top of the lid is set to “seal” mode.
The Instant Pot will beep when it is done cooking. Once it is done, gently push the knob on the top of the lid to venting. Be careful and do not stand too close as hot steam will come out. We typically place our Instant Pot under the stove hoodrange and set the fan on high while the Instant Pot is venting.
When venting is complete, open the Instant Pot to see the 7 minute pressure cooked risotto. It will appear watery at first. Using a spoon stir vigorously. This will help to break up the starches. Next gently stir in the cheese and milk/cream if using.
Serve! Add salt and pepper to taste. For this meal we pan fried two steaks while the risotto was cooking in the Instant Pot and assembled a simple salad with a balsamic and olive oil dressing.

So there you have it, Pressure-cooked risotto done in the Instant Pot. Some of you may be thinking that the risotto looks great and all but how does it taste? Does it taste differently compared to stove top cooking or even in a regular pressure cooker.

The answer is that it tastes and looks exactly the same! Yes, exactly the same. If I didn’t know any better risotto cooked in the Instant pot looks visually similar to ones I have made on the stove top as well as in the regular pressure cooker. With stove top risotto you need to stand there the entire time, stirring often in order for the rice to cook evenly. Risotto cooked in a pressure cooker still needs to be monitored but doesn’t require stirring for any long periods of time. The biggest difference between a stove top and electric pressure cooker (like an instant pot) is the timer on an electric pressure cooker helps makes things more precise (no need to guess when it’s pressurized). Time precision is pretty important when it comes to such a short cook time (7 minutes) for risotto. Taste wise it is the same as well. The risotto, while creamy, is not mushy and has the al dente bite to it.

Would I go back to making risotto the regular way? Now that I have made Instant Pot Risotto I am highly tempted to continue making it this way. Think about all the possibilities for being able to make risotto on a week night after work (which is what we did yesterday)! What do you think? Will you make risotto in your Instant Pot, Pressure Cooker or will you continue to make it over the stove?

A Recipe for Mochi Matcha Cake

Beyond Umami — Sun, 28 May 2017 23:27:00 +0000

A recipe for making Mochi Matcha Cake – not too sweet and is a gluten free cake!

Recently I have a craving for mochi. The best way to describe mochi, is that it is a rice flour cake. It is made from glutinous rice flour. Glutinous rice flour is made from grinding a type of sticky rice into a fine powder and the word “glutinous” describes the texture (sticky) versus the content of it. So these mochi cakes are naturally gluten free (no wheat ingredients) and the rice flour gives the mochi cakes a nice bounce to it. In fact, glutinous rice flour is a good flour to mix with other gluten free recipes as it adds chewiness to your recipe where other gluten free flours often lack.

I received some matcha powder from Natur’el Tea and decided that I wanted to give their matcha a spin and try making mochi cake with them. As you can see the mochi cake looks like a brownie on the outside but on the inside is green (due to the matcha) and has a gooey centre.

Ingredients for Matcha Mochi Cake

Ingredients for making Matcha Mochi Cake

1 1/4 cups of sugar
2 1/4 cups of glutinous rice flour (one in the green bag; not sweet rice flour)
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
2 tablespoons of matcha powder
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of evaporated milk
1/4 cup of canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions for making the Matcha Mochi Cake

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Add sugar, glutinous rice flour and baking soda into a mixing bowl or stand-up mixer.
Add matcha powder into the dry ingredients and stir well.
In a separate bowl mix together the can of coconut milk, evaporated milk, canola oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Then, slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Line a 8″square baking dish with parchment paper. Leave about 1 inch to over-hang on all sides. Slowly pour your matcha mochi mixture into the square dish. It will look like it almost overflows but the pan with the parchment paper should be big enough!
Bake at 375F for 70-75 minutes. The cake is done when the cake jiggles slightly when you gently shake the pan. The cake will rise as it bakes and then it will crack (that is okay). The top should have a slight brownish crust. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan.
After 30 minutes the cake should have cooled enough to be cut. Gently lift the cake out using the parchment paper (it will be heavier than it looks). Use a sharp knife to cut the mochi cake into 16 squares. Ensure you cut all the way down as the mochi is quite sticky. The parchment paper should peel away easily.

These mochi matcha cakes visually look like a brownie but as you bite in there is a matcha green tea flavour instead of chocolate and a gooey sticky centre. I love how this recipe is super simple to make and put together. It’s probably easier than making brownies as there is no butter to cream.

They are ready to eat right away. Store them in an air tight container but beware that these mochi cakes need to be eaten within a few days. They cannot be placed in the fridge as they will dry up and harden. So definitely share them with your friends, neighbours and co-workers!

Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes

Beyond Umami — Sun, 19 Feb 2017 08:38:00 +0000

We have always liked making crepes, but to make a gluten free version was more than just simply swapping out flour with buckwheat. It required quite a few experiments and the end result is a straight-forward recipe that requires only four ingredients. That’s right FOUR! Unlike other gluten-free recipes that use xanthan or guar gum, this recipe is really simple in terms of ingredients and steps. The basic ingredients are just: Milk, Eggs, Buckwheat Flour, and Oil. That’s it!

This recipe is based on a volumetric ratio instead of a weight-based ratio. That means you don’t need to use a scale. Instead, just half an egg shell and a 1/4 measuring cup will do. See what we mean in the video that we created below:

Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes Recipe

Yield: 3 eggs made 9 crepes (the size of a dessert plate).

Time: 30-45 minutes

Crepe Ingredients:

3 Eggs
2% Milk
Vegetable Oil
Approx. 1/4 Cup Light Buckwheat flour
ChocoVine (Optional – used for flavouring. Other flavourings such as Grand Marnier or a tablespoon of vanilla extract can also be used)

Instructions

Crack eggs into bowl.
Reserve one half of an egg shell.
Fill the half egg shell with milk and pour into the bowl.
Repeat the previous step 5 more times.
Fill one half egg shell with oil and pour into the bowl.
Beat the egg, milk and oil together until well combined.
Pour about 1/4 Cup of buckwheat flour into the mixture and whisk well.
Pour in 1 shot glass of Chocolate ChocoVine (this is optional).
You may need to add a bit more flour (by the teaspoon) until the mixture is thick enough and flows a bit slower than water (like oil).
Heat up a small frying pan or skillet (we used an 8 inch one) on low-medium heat.
Add half a teaspoon of oil to the frying pan.
Use a paper towel to evenly spread the oil around (even if using a non-stick pan, it is advisable to coat the pan).
Mix crepe batter again to make sure that the buckwheat has not sunk to the bottom.
Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into the frying pan. If you see the batter vigorously sizzling initially, than the pan is too hot. Remove the pan from heat for a few minutes and turn down the heat.
While batter is still runny, tilt the pan around in order to evenly spread the batter.
The crepe is ready to be flipped when the edges of the crepe lift up a bit or the top surface of the crepe is almost dry.
Cook for another 10-15 seconds and remove crepe from pan.
Repeat steps 12 through 17 until all the batter is used.

Butter Sauce

We also wanted to try our hand at making a crepe cake and then drizzle butter sauce on top. A quick short story: our initial trial of a butter sauce recipe ended in a disaster as one of the recipes we tried involved mixing in egg yolk into hot melted butter! You can imagine what was the end result – buttered scrambled eggs instead of a sauce! The following recipe is not only easier but tasty without any scrambled egg bits.

Butter Sauce

Yield: Approx. 1/4 cup of sauce

Time: 10 minutes

Crepe Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons of Butter
2 Tablespoons of Cream
4 Tablespoons of Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla ChocoVine (Optional – used for flavouring, you could use another liqueur such as Grand Marnier, or a tablespoon of vanilla extract)

Instructions

In a small pot at low heat melt butter, sugar, and cream.
Add in 1 tablespoon of the Vanilla ChocoVine (optional).
Stir until well combined.

You can assemble the crepes into a stack like we did and then pour the butter sauce on top. In terms of taste, there is no grassy taste of buckwheat. The crepes are super soft and flexible as you can see in the video and in the photos. You could also choose to spread nutella between each crepe layer and then pour the butter sauce on top, but we opted for just the butter sauce this time. The buttersauce with the addition of the vanilla ChocoVine wasn’t too sweet or heavy, it still maintained its butteriness while giving you a hint of vanilla chocolate and white wine.

Also, visit my last post about ChocoVine Pot de Crème for a delicious recipe and a ChocoVine giveaway! You can never go wrong with chocolate!

ChocoVine Pot de Crème

Beyond Umami — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 05:11:00 +0000

I have a confession to make: I have a sweet tooth, not just any kind of sweet tooth but a chocolate one. Dan sometimes says I like to hoard varieties of chocolate from everywhere in all places of the house. If you’re like me, and like to try pairing things, you’ve also found that red wine pairs very well with chocolate. So instead of trying to find a wine to pair with your favourite chocolate – what if the chocolate was already in your wine? In November 2016 during the Rocky Mountain Wine & Food Festival, I was introduced to ChocoVine. ChocoVine is produced in Holland and there are three different flavours available: ChocoVine Original (which is made from Dutch chocolate and red wine), ChocoVine Vanilla and ChocoVine Raspberry.

The Western Canadian distributors of ChocoVine recently asked me to make a recipe featuring their wine. This recipe for Chocolate Pot de Crème has the perfect combination of smooth chocolate and the nice finish of ChocoVine.

Chocolate Pot De Creme Recipe

Ingredients for Chocovine Pot de Crème

3/4 cup 50% dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup of 2% milk
3 Egg Yolks
2 tablespoons of chocolate ChocoVine
Whipping cream (optional)
Chocolate shavings (optional)

Ingredients for making your own ChocoVine Pot de Crème

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F. Heat whipping cream, 2% milk and sugar in a pot. Stir occasionally and bring the mixture to a boil. Place dark chocolate chips in a separate heatproof bowl.
Once the milk mixture is boiling, pour it slowly into the bowl containing the chocolate chips. Stir until all the chocolate chips have melted (It may look oily as it melts).
In another bowl whisk the egg yolks until smooth.
Slowly add the egg yolks in a stream into the chocolate mixture. Stir the mixture as you add in the whipped egg yolks.
Stir in 2 tablespoons of ChocoVine to the chocolate mixture.
Pour the chocolate mixture into 5 heatproof containers (I used 4 ramekins and 1 small bowl).
Place the ramekins into a heatproof rectangular baking dish. Pour warm water into the tray until the tray is half full of water (this makes a hot water bath and prevents the dessert from overcooking). Cover the tray with tinfoil and bake at 325F for 30-35 minutes. They are done when it is firm but jiggles slightly (sort of like jello). Check them around the 25 min mark to see how they are doing as each oven is different. Just be careful of the steam as you lift the tin foil off to check. After baking, carefully remove each ramekin from the hot water bath (use gloves or a tea towel). Allow them to reach room temperature (approximately 30 minutes).
While the pot de crème is still warm, top with a dollop of whipped cream – this is optional but so very tasty!
Add a sprinkle of chocolate shavings if desired.
These ChocoVine Pot de Crème are best eaten warm. When you first get your spoon into the filling, you will find that it has an oozy chocolate centre.

In my opinion, this dessert is perfect; the texture of the pot de crème is smooth (not at all gritty), and the addition of the ChocoVine adds some depth and complexity to an already great dessert! While the dessert is likely best eaten warm, I stole a few bites after a night in the fridge and they taste just as good.

You can purchase ChocoVine currently in two different flavours – Chocolate or Vanilla. If you are in Alberta the easiest way to find which stores sells ChocoVine is to go to Liquor Connect.

Giveaway!

I am excited to share that not only can you make these delicious ChocoVine Pot de Crème from this blogpost, but Edmonton residents (or surrounding areas) and Calgary have the chance to win a bottle each of the ChocoVine. There are some rule and restrictions, one of which is that you must be 18+ to enter, answer a skill-testing question to be announced the winner, and the winner will need to meet with us to receive the prize.

Details for entering the giveaway is in the Rafflecopter widget below. Make sure you enter your information in the widget so that I can keep track of entries. Mandatory Entry and additional (optional) entries are listed below:

Mandatory Entry:

What would you create with ChocoVine?

Additional (Optional) Entries – located in the Rafflecopter:

Subscribe to the Beyond Umami mailing list
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Leave another blogpost comment about which recipe on my blog you would like to make.
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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out the Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes with Butter Sauce to see another recipe using ChocoVine.

Vitamix Blender Lemon Cream Pie (Gluten Free)

Beyond Umami — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 20:46:00 +0000

I have been meaning to write my recipe for this blender lemon cream pie for a while! After much testing, sampling, and testing some more I present to you this deliciously creamy yet simple to make gluten free lemon cream pie made in the Vitamix! Okay, so the gluten free pie crust isn’t made in the Vitamix, but I did use it to blend up the gluten free oats into a fine flour. The beauty of the recipe is that you get a very creamy, lemony filling and you don’t need a double-boiler at all.

To start, make the gluten free pie dough. After it is assembled, wrap up the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour. Just remember that this pie dough recipe makes a double batch so you can fridge or freeze the other half for another baking project. About 15 minutes before you are going to roll out the pie dough, take it out of the fridge and place on the counter top so it can come to room temperature. It is ready to use when you can push your finger into the dough and there is a bit of resistance.

While the dough is in the fridge, assemble your ingredients for making the blender lemon cream. You will need the following ingredients and a thermometer:

Ingredients for Blender Lemon Cream

100g (less than 1/2 cup) sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon zest (approx. one large lemon)
90g lemon juice
2 large eggs
150g (less than 3/4 cup) unsalted butter- cubed; room temperature

Directions:

Place the lemon zest and sugar in a bowl. Gently rub the lemon zest into the sugar to make lemon sugar.
Transfer the lemon sugar into the Vitamix or a high powered blender and blend for a few seconds. Just enough until it combines together.
Add in the eggs; blitz for a few seconds. Then add in the lemon juice.
Switch to the hot soup function on the Vitamix and blend until the mixtures reaches a temperature of 167F. This will take approximately 5-7 minutes. Use a digital thermometer to check the temperature periodically. You will know it is done when the mixture has thickened. Once the mixture reaches 167F, slowly add in the cubed butter. When combined, place the entire container in the fridge to cool.

Blender Lemon Cream Pie Assembly

Because you are working with gluten free ingredients, the pie dough will stick more compared to using flour. The best stress and mess free method is to first lay down a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Then, sprinkle the rice flour (which you can get from most major grocery stores) on the surface and roll the pie dough out on top of the plastic wrap. To figure out how thin you should roll the pie dough, flip over your pie dish to estimate. There should be approximately an inch or two bigger than the pie dish. We rolled our pie dough out to a thickness of around half an inch.
To transfer the pie dough to the pie dish, slide the saran wrap onto a flat cutting board. Place your buttered pie dish, in the center, on top of the rolled out pie dough .
Flip it all over and your pie dough should now gently fall into the pie dish. Take off the cutting board and using the the palm of your hand gently flatten the pie dough into the dish. Use a knife to cut away any excess pie dough from the edges.
Make the edges of your pie. I typically struggle with this part, so if it doesn’t look perfect don’t worry too much about it! You get better with practice. Essentially, you want to gently push down the edges of the dough and make a ridge. Afterwards, use a fork to make some vents on the bottom of the pie. Because we made this recipe several times prior to blogging this recipe, the picture below is Dan’s work of art! My work on the pie edge is more rustic as you can see in the first photo on this blog post.
This pie crust needs to be blind baked first as there is no other baking needed after the lemon cream is poured into the crust. To blind bake the crust, lay parchment paper on top of the crust. Then pour baking beans on top to weigh it down.
Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Once the gluten free pie shell has cooled, take the lemon cream filling from the fridge, and blitz in the Vitamix for a few seconds. Then pour the filling into the shell. Refrigerate overnight for best results.
The next day, feel free to sprinkle a bit of icing sugar on top of your blender lemon cream pie or leave it plain.
Cut a slice out and enjoy with your favourite breakfast er.. dessert drink.

All right, so there you have it! Vitamix blender lemon cream pie with a gluten free crust. Dan and I really ascribe to trying to make our kitchen tools multi-functional and using the blender this way definitely helps. Any high-powered blender that can blend until the inside heats up will work, the key part is to get the filling to the right temperature. I used to do a make-shift double-boiler by putting a glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water but I usually ended up burning myself from the steam and the filling took significantly longer than seven minutes to make! Using the blender is not only faster but less chance of burning myself.

In case you were wondering if this was too sour for kids, this lemon cream pie was highly enjoyed by our friends’ three kids, they loved the creamy lemony filling a lot! No one noticed that the crust was even gluten free. I do hope you enjoy making this pie tart as much as we have.

Gluten Free Cheese Soufflé

Beyond Umami — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 05:07:00 +0000

People often think soufflés can be challenging to bake because they need to rise and stay risen even upon coming out of the oven and being served. So, of course people assume that a gluten free soufflé would be even more difficult as it is often thought that a special component is needed. Dan found that this was not the case and that you can easily make soufflé as well. Read on for how we managed to make not only a successful soufflé but a gluten free cheese soufflé!

Search Results

In terms of ingredients you likely have all the staples you need in your pantry or fridge. If you are making regular soufflé then just use all purpose flour instead. There are two parts to the recipe. First you need to make a roux (a thickener), which can then be used for all sorts of cooking such as gravies or more soufflés, and then the mixing and baking of the soufflé itself.

Ingredients for the Roux

70g Butter
120g gluten free flour

Directions for the Roux

In a small saucepan, melt butter.
Then stir in the flour until it becomes a thick semi-transparent (translucent) paste.
Set the roux aside.

Note: The roux acts as a binder. By mixing it together you are cooking the flour and butter. You will make more roux then you need for making one soufflé. Use the rest for gluten free gravies, as a thickener for sauces, or more soufflés. The ratio for this is essentially 2 parts of fat to 3 parts of flour.

Ingredients for the Soufflé

6 eggs; separated
1/2 a chopped onion
1 tablespoon of roux
3/4 cup of milk (or cream)
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

Directions for Soufflé

Preheat oven to 350F.
Butter a round 1 1/2 quart (1.4 L) round baking dish. When buttering, ensure that not only the bottom of the dish is buttered but also the sides and the lip of the baking dish as the soufflé will rise above the edge of the dish as it bakes.
Separate eggs. Place egg yolks in a separate bowl and set aside. Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand up mixer or using a hand mixer whip egg whites into stiff peaks.
In a medium pot, cook chopped onions until they are clear with some butter (approximately 5 minutes).
Once onions are cooked, add in 3/4 cup of milk (or cream), and 1 tablespoon of roux. Heat at medium-low heat. Add in 1 cup of cheese and continue stirring until the mixture is heated through and the cheese has melted.
Whip up the egg yolks. Then, slowly add the warm milk mixture to the egg yolks. Continually stir the mixture as you combine to ensure that the egg yolks do not get cooked by themselves but are part of the sauce.
Fold the egg-milk mixture into the whipped egg whites until combined.
Slowly pour the soufflé batter into the buttered round baking dish.
Bake the soufflé on the middle rack at 350F for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and the soufflé has risen.

You definitely want a golden brown top as this helps to set the “crust” and keeps it risen. Remember to not open the oven during the baking until the very end. If the top happens to fall, don’t worry it will still taste good! However, next time bake it for a bit longer as oven temperatures may vary. If you find that you have a huge separation between the top and “filling” then make sure that the egg whites are incorporated more evenly (no big chunks of egg white).

This recipe (and dish) was a surprise for me as Dan made it so quickly (under 1 hour) and it was really tasty. The cheese filling was not too cheesy, nor too eggy. The baking dish and amount of eggs was more than enough for the two of us with ample leftovers for lunch/breakfast. It also proved that you don’t have to make soufflés in single serving ramekins. Just one large baking dish is enough as it will not only rise better (and stay risen) it is also less dishes to clean! Dan has made this dish several times since the first time and it gets quicker at making it each time.

Chocolate Meringues Kisses

Beyond Umami — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:05:00 +0000

‘Tis the season to bring sweet treats to your place of work, christmas functions or to a friend’s place. Today’s blog post is for those that want to make an impressive and easy but equally tasty dessert. These chocolate meringue kisses, like macarons, uses egg whites. You still end up making a meringue, but they are less finicky compared to macarons.

To start all you need is 4 ingredients, one kitchen appliance (stand up mixer or hand mixer) and one piping bag fitted with a tip.

Ingredients

(57 g) 2 egg whites
1 cup icing sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
33g 72% dark chocolate callets

Notes:

I used dark chocolate callets but you could easily use mini chocolate chips. As long as they can fit through the piping tip than it should be fine.

Directions

Using a knife chop your chocolate callets as fine as possible.
In a mixing bowl start to whip the egg whites at a low speed. Add in the cream of tartar. Once soft peaks form, gradually add in the icing sugar and whip at high speed (10 on my Kitchen Aid) until a glossy and stiff meringue forms.
Turn the mixer off. Add in the chopped chocolate all at once and using a spatula gently mix the chocolate into the meringue.
Prepare a piping bag fitted with a star tip nozzle. Gently transfer the chocolate meringue mixture into the piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag use a large plastic ziplock freezer bag fitted with the star tip. You may have to split the chocolate meringue mixture in half depending on the size of your ziplock bag. Fill the piping bag or ziplock bag with the meringue mixer and gather at the top in preparation for piping.
Line two baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper. Pipe the chocolate meringue kisses leaving about 2.5 inches between each meringue kiss.
Bake both trays in a preheated 200F oven for 30 to 45 minutes. Then turn off the oven, leaving the door ajar and allow the chocolate meringue kisses to sit in the oven for another 2 hours. This helps to dry out the meringues; resulting in that melt in your mouth sensation.

I made mine to be bite-sized so that they are easier to enjoy and more can be shared with others! They were a hit at the office and for guests, as these chocolate meringue kisses often feel like they are melting in your mouth as you eat them. A couple things to note is that you need to use a fine sugar like icing sugar (or berry sugar) which will dissolve more easily into egg whites when you are whipping otherwise the mixtures ends up being gritty and the meringues don’t always hold their shape as you pipe. You could also make plain meringue kisses without the chocolate and add in optional flavouring extracts (like vanilla extract, almond extract or mint!). While easy to prep, these meringue kisses have a long baking time. This is because you want to bake them at low temperatures to prevent the edges from burning.

This is definitely a big hit anytime I make them for potlucks. They are so easy to make with few ingredients, prep work and steps that I will definitely make them again. Hopefully, you will try baking them during this winter season!

Chickpea (Gluten Free) Chocolate Chip Cookies

Beyond Umami — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 22:51:00 +0000

Over the past year, Dan and I have been playing around with using chickpea flour to make cookies. We really wanted to bake a chickpea cookie that would be completely gluten free as we often bring desserts to get-togethers, work or church potlucks where there are people that are gluten free.

I also wanted to make cookies that has chocolate chips in them, since who doesn’t love chocolate chips cookies? I find that these cookies are not overly sweet and the texture is pretty consistent and not crumbly. Friends and family also comment on how these cookies don’t even taste too “chickpea” like.

If you want to make these purely without any white sugar, you can replace both the white sugar and simple syrup with a natural sugar. I hope you enjoy these as much as we have!

Ingredients (approx. 12 small cookies)

3/4 cup (96g) cold chickpea flour

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp white sugar

1/8 tsp simple syrup

3 tbsp melted coconut oil

3 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips

*notes*

I had made some simple syrup a few weeks ago while making mojitos. A simple syrup is made with equal parts wanter to sugar (1 cup hot water to 1 cup sugar).
Chickpea flour can be found at most organic markets or at bulk barn.
double the recipe so you can make more at once

Directions

Mix chickpea, sea salt, baking soda and white sugar together in a bowl (in the picture above, the red bowl).
In another bowl mix the simple syrup, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract together (green bowl).
Mix all the ingredients from step 2 with the ingredients in step 1.
Add in the chocolate chips.
Roll the dough into equal size balls. I usually roll each ball of dough to 25g or about 1 large tablespoon.
Gently press each ball of dough into a disk on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Space the cookies about 1 inch apart.
Bake at 350F for 14 minutes or until golden brown. If you want softer or chewier cookies bake for 12 minutes. They will keep well in an air tight container.

Enjoy your cookies! These also made the most delicious ice cream sandwiches! Oh and did I mention that they freeze very well? Perfect for baking double or triple batches and freezing a batch or two for later.

Homemade vietnamese coffee ice cream sandwiched between chickpea chocolate chip cookies.

Country Style Gluten Free Saskatoon Pie

Beyond Umami — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 21:22:00 +0000

In the theme of pies, I want to share with you my recent creation of this Saskatoon Berry Pie. When I moved to Edmonton (this August marks 9 years!), I kept hearing about these berries called Saskatoon Berries. I was hooked on the berries when I tried a saskatoon pie purchased at the St. Albert Farmer’s Market. Over the years I also learned that you could actually pick your very own saskatoon berries in and around the Edmonton area. So last year Dan and I made some attempts to pick our own berries, but by the time we went all the Saskatoon Berries were gone! Flash forward to this year when I was more than determined to pick our own. Because of the hot summer we heard people started picking them extra early so we started on Canada Day, July 1 and after a run in the Whitemud Creek area picked a significant amount of Saskatoon berries (almost 400g).

Who would have thought these little dark purple-red berries would be so addictive? Since we had picked our own berries, I knew that the first item that I wanted to bake was my own Saskatoon Berry Pie. Now a whole pie is a lot for just the two of us, so we decided on creating a Gluten Free Saskatoon Pie that we could share with some friends that were gluten free. The pie dough recipe is similar to that of a pate sucree. We found that we needed to use a bit of cream cheese to get the pie dough to be more malleable and to not crumble immediately upon rolling.

Ingredients for Filling

437g Saskatoon Berries (rinsed and drained)
1 1/2 tbsp water
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
100g sugar
28g oat flour
pinch of ground nutmeg

Ingredients for Gluten Free Pie Dough

240g Oat Flour
75g Icing Sugar
35g Almond Flour
1/4 tsp salt
145g unsalted butter; cubed
2 tbsp cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

*grind up gluten free oats to make oat flour or purchase gluten free oat flour

Directions for Pie Dough:

Sift oat flour, icing sugar, almond flour and salt together.
In a bowl or using a stand mixer add cold butter and cream cheese. Mix on low speed until texture is sandy.
Add egg and vanilla extract to the mixture.
Transfer contents of bowl onto a clean counter and combine mixture together.
Form 2 equal size balls of gluten free dough. Wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
After an hour remove both balls of dough from the fridge. Working quickly roll one of the halves flat (1/2 to 1/4 inch thick). Due to the sticky texture of this dough, rolling it between two sheets of saran wrap was best in order to make rolling and transferring to the pie dish easier.
Carefully transfer the dough to a buttered pie pan.
Trim edges of pie and push down as needed for evenness.
Poke a few holes into the bottom of the pie dough with a fork.

Directions For Filling:

Place saskatoon berries, water, lemon juice and sugar in a pot and cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Stir occasionally.
Once mixture simmers, stir in the oat flour and nutmeg. Set aside until assembly.

Assembly:

Pour filling into the assembled pie shell.
Roll out the other half of the pie dough using the same method and gently place on top of the pie.
Using fingers, gently press the top and bottom pie dough together.
Cut slits in the top of the pie using a knife.
Bake at 375F for 45-50 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

Our Gluten Free Saskatoon Berry Pie tastes just like a good solid saskatoon berry pie should taste. The oat flour gives a slight nuttiness to the pie, but works very well with the taste of the saskatoon berries. We made our own oat flour by blending (gluten free) quick oats in our Vitamix. Normally, gluten free pie doughs require some sort of gum to help the dough keep together which is why we added cream cheese (it naturally has xanthan gum). Due to the nature of the ingredients in the pie dough, you do have to work fairly quickly with the dough as it is sticky. Overall, I am super happy with pie, filling and all. Our friends and family loved it too and they could barely tell that it was gluten free. Try this recipe out and let me know how it goes.