Tag Archives: dairy free

Baked Aubergine with Pistachio Yoghurt

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Baked Aubergine with Pistachio Yoghurt-2028

I haven’t posted anything here for quite some time now. However, my Instagram account is up to date with, at least, weekly postings – @theglutenfreegourmet – so you can always find the latest food ideas there.

Today I’d like to serve you a wonderful “yoghurt”, believe me, you really want to try this. The Pistachio Yoghurt can be served with many vegetables. If you don’t want to do the aubergines, try with oven roasted carrots instead.

Serves 4 as a starter

“Yoghurt”:
200 ml pistachios, shelled and soaked in water over night
150 ml water
½ tablespoon agave
50 ml apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (or more)

1. Blend together in a high-speed blender until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed. Check the texture and add more water if you like.
2. Refrigerate. Should be served cold.

Aubergine:
1 Aubergine, quartered
olive oil
salt
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
½ lemon, zest
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
½ pomegranate, seeds from
1 teaspoon chili flakes
Pinch of pink Himalaya salt

1. Roast the aubergines quarters (skin side down), drizzled with olive oil and salt, in a 175 C oven for 30-40 minutes
2. Chop the parsley, grate the lemon, toast the sesame seeds (in a dry pan)
3. Squeeze a ripe pomegranate until soft, cut in half and squeeze over a bowl the let the seeds fall out.
4. Serve the aubergine with parsley, lemon zest, sesame seed, pomegranate seeds and Himalaya salt on top plus the “yoghurt” with added chili flakes on the side.

Valentine Plum Cake

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Valentine Dessert-4244

A sweet and sour cake, vanilla cream and plums, combined with a nutty, not too sweet crust – a rich and delicious dessert!!

Plum Topping:
100 grams of pitted and halved plums
1 tsp of ground Ceylon cinnamon
A little bit of water

1. Gently simmer the topping over low heat until soft and well combined.
2. Set aside to cool

Crumble:

200 ml almonds
200 ml oat flour
1 tablespoon date paste (made by softening 1 date with a bit of water, then mixing using a handheld blender or mini-prep)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Salt
1-2 tablespoons of water if the dough isn’t moist enough (but you don’t want it to be wet – just moist!)

1. Crumble the almonds and oat flour in a blender
2. Add remaining ingredients in blender and process until a crumbly dough
3. Spread on baking sheet in crumbles and dry in oven at 100 C for 25 minutes

Vanilla cream:

100 ml cashews
50 ml hazelnut milk (or almond milk)
1 tablespoon agave
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1. Soak the cashews in water for 3-4 hours, rinse
2. Blend all ingredients, except the oil, until smooth
3. Add the oil last, this will thicken the cream, but do not over blend
4. Refrigerate to thicken.

Assembly:

1. Press the crumble into a mold
2. Spread the cream on top
3. Finish with a layer of plum topping

Carrot and Parsnip Soup with Crunch

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Carrot Parsnip Soup-8273

A warm, filling soup – perfect on a chilly evening with some crusty, gluten free bread (why not try the potato bread recipe? You’ll find it in the search bar).
Roasting the vegetables in the oven before adding to the soup, brings out some wonderful strong flavours. Add the pecans and coconut for some nice crunch.

Serves 4

5 medium sized carrots
4 medium sized parsnips
olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Dash of salt

150-250 ml coconut milk
350-450 ml water

100 ml chopped pecans
50 ml shredded coconut
salt
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Chili flakes

1. Peel and cut the vegetables into halves even sized slices and place in a casserole dish
2. Drizzle with olive oil, vinegar, chili flakes, juice and salt.
3. Roast in oven 200 C about 40 minutes (until caramelized and tender)
4. Deglaze the oven pan with some of the above water (pour the liquid into the hot pan and stir to release the flavours that have stuck to the bottom of the pan).
5. In a saucepan, add most of the milk and water (including the deglazing liquid) with the veggies and let simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Using a handheld mixer, purée until completely smooth. If too thick, add some more liquid.
7. Taste and add more chili or juice, as needed.
8. In a dry pan, toast the pecans and coconut, add some salt.
9. Pour into soup bowls and add the pecans and coconut then drizzle balsamic vinegar, olive oil and/or chili flakes on top

Plum Pie with Vanilla Sauce

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Plum Pie-7802

The Plum Pie may not be one of my most healthy recipes, but, oh so tasty!!!! If you prefer, you can use rhubarbs instead of plums. The vanilla sauce is a wonderful dairy free sauce that can be enjoyed on its own, or, with just plain fresh berries.

Vanilla Sauce:
200 ml cashews, soaked overnight and then rinsed
200 ml almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup

1. Process in blender until completely (!) smooth (may take a while depending on blender type)
2. Chill in refrigerator

Pie:
300 ml quartered and pitted plums
1 tablespoon oil (for the pie tin)

1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon potato flour (or corn starch)

300 ml gluten free flour
100 ml sugar
½ tsp baking powder
Dash of salt

175 g vegan margarine (can be replaced with cooking oil; coconut, sunflower or rape seed)

1. Oven at 225 C
2. Combine the dry goods
3. Melt the margarine (or oil) and stir into the dry goods
4. Spread with the back of a spoon into a greased pie tin
5. Place the plums on top
6. Mix the sugar with the potato/corn flour and sprinkle on top of the fruit to soak up some of the juices
7. Bake in oven until done (about 20-30 minutes)

Decoration tip:
You can use the drops of plum juice (that you most probably will end up with at the bottom of the bowl of cut up plums) and from a small spoon create little juice droplets in the sauce. “Cut through” the droplets with a sharp knife as to create little hearts. See photo below.
(I had a lot of juice as I used previously frozen, from my fall harvest, cut up plums)

Plum Pie-7824

Easy Berry Cake

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170600 Berry Cake-5592

This is not a very sweet dessert. More like a berry oven omelet – like the French Clafoutis, but a much lighter option. Very quick to make. And healthy!
The cake is dairy free. If you want it egg free you can try substituting the eggs with flax-gel and/or the soaking water from chickpeas.
I like to serve this with some whipped Greek yoghurt, possibly flavoured with some vanilla extract, or maybe with the Apricot Macadamia Crème (in the Apricot Pecan Bite recipe), I recently posted.

Serves 4 – 6 people depending on serving size.

250 g frozen berries (save some for decorations or use some fresh raspberries for this)
75 ml almond flour
1 tablespoon agave syrup
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
200 ml almond milk

Oven at 200C
1. Place the berries in a greased pie mold (1 large mold or 4 individual).
2. Whisk the eggs slightly. Add remaining ingredients and whisk to combine.
3. Pour over raspberries. There will be about 400 ml mix in total.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes (individual molds) or 40 minutes for large pie mold.
5. Place some raspberries on top. Let cool slightly before serving.

Serve with a whipped Greek yoghurt or Apricot Macadamia Crème.

Summery Citrus Salad

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Summery Citrus Salad-5654

Just a simple salad – but, oh, how lovely! Refreshing, tasty and with a crunch to each bite. Complements anything from the BBQ – how about serving with some grilled halloumi cheese?

100 g mixed lettuce leaves
1 grapefruit, peel and white pith cut out
2 oranges, peel and white pith cut off
1 large avocado, sliced
50 ml toasted sunflower seeds
50 ml toasted pine nuts
50 ml toasted pumpkin seeds
1 red onion, cut in 2 halves and thinly sliced
100 ml olives

Dressing:
1 tablespoon fig balsamic dressing
1 tsp Dijon mustard
50 ml olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Combine the salad in a bowl
2. Shake/whisk the dressing well and toss with the salad.
3. Serve

Red Sauce

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170607 Not a Ketchup-5514

Red Sauce (not a ketchup).
Sometimes, it is good to have some healthy, tasty sauces on hand. I like to make this Kidney Bean sauce which can be used together with so many different things. It’s beautiful pinkish red coloured sauce to plate with (goes especially well with smoked and BBQ dishes). Make ahead and keep in the fridge.
Below you will find three other suggested uses.

The Red Sauce:
250 g Kidney Beans, cooked (about 350 ml)
1 lemon, juice from
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ medium sized red onion
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
A few drops of honey
Pinch of salt
½ tsp chili flakes

1. Run in blender until smooth. Taste. Season some more if needed.
2. If too thick add another spoon of olive oil. Consistency should be like a smooth apple sauce.

SERVE AS A SAUCE WITH GRILLED AUBERGINE/EGGPLANT AND DIJON BALSAMIC DRESSING: (great starter or snack)

– pour the Red Sauce into a squeezy bottle and place in fridge until time of use.

Dijon Balsamic Dressing:170607 Not a Ketchup -5569
50 ml olive oil
50 ml red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt

1. Whisk or shake to combine. Make sure it blends well.
2. This sauce is rather thin, plate with pipette or drop from tip of spoon.
3. Drizzle on plate.

Roasted Aubergine:
1 large, sliced aubergine
Olive oil
Sea salt

1. Oven on 200 C
2. Place on baking sheet. Drizzle with salt and oil.
3. Roast 35 minutes.

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SERVE ON TOP OF AN AVOCADO SANDWICH:
Please see my previously posted Crisp Bread recipe.
SERVE AS A DIP:
– with serve with carrot sticks, celery or sliced apple

Marinated Carrots with Fennel Foam

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170531 Carrots with Fennel-5470

A healthy, tasty and colourful starter! Sometimes, I add a few drops of brandy to the foam (a little goes a very long way) which adds a rounder flavour. Possible a drop of vinegar would have the same effect?

2 large carrots, thinly sliced (best to use a mandolin slicer)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt

Some fresh spinach leaves on the plate to serve on.

1. Heat oven on high grill setting
2. Toss the carrot slices with juice, oil and salt. Leave for 30 minutes.
3. Place the carrot slices on an oven sheet
4. Roast under the grill for about 10 minutes, until slightly charred and caramelized

Fennel Foam:
1 fennel bulb, tips and “grassy tops” only
Water
Ice wate170600 Carrots with Fennel-5447r

A few drops agave syrup
Dash of salt
½ tsp olive oil

½ tsp lecithin

1. Cut off the tops (including the grassy parts) from the fennel bulb. The bulb can be saved for use another time.
2. Bring some water to boil and blanch the tops for 30 seconds.
3. Remove the tops from the boiling water and put in an ice bath (to secure the green colour).
4. When cool, place in blender with a 2 table spoons of water. Add some more water if needed. You want a smooth, thick mix but do not over blend.
5. Add the syrup, salt and oil. Blend briefly to mix.
6. Set aside until you are ready to make the foam (may be prepared and kept in the fridge until the following day)
7. Mix in the lecithin.
8. Pour the mix into a large shallow container. Using a handheld blender, incorporate air into the mix, thus creating a foam. Might take a few minutes! Spoon off the foam into a separate bowl and repeat until you have a bowl of foam.

Serve the carrots with the foam on top.

Alternative to the foam:
If you’d rather make a fennel cream to go with the carrots, you can either mix in a couple of tablespoons of coconut cream or some double cream. No lecithin. By choosing the coconut cream you will have less of the fennel taste and, instead, some coconut flavour which goes wonderfully with the carrots.

(On this photo I have sprinkled some black, Hawaiian salt on top.)

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

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170405 Chocolate Avocado Mousse-5220

This is a very quick and (almost) healthy recipe for a great chocolate mousse! The creamy avocado provides the thick, fluffy consistency in this mousse. A must try! Also, this recipe is dairy free, vegan and low fodmap (if you eat maximum 1/4 of the whole dessert).

Serves 4 (small servings)

300 ml coconut milk
3 tbsp cacao
1,5 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ ripe avocado
Dash of salt

Decorations:
Blueberries, raspberries, cacao nibs, banana, orange slices…

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth and thick.
2. Refrigerate minimum 2 hours before serving.

Variations:
Add some chili flakes to the blender or some crushed licorice candy (gluten free) after the choco mix has been processed.

Fruit Tagliatelle

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170106-fruit-tagliatelle-3849

Maple Coconut Tagliatelli

Delicately flavored “tagliatelle” makes for a light and fruity dessert. In the photo above, I served this dish with a chocolate sauce but then felt that the chocolate was a little too overwhelming. Instead I would recommend a citrus/berry sauce which balances nicely against the tagliatelle. Please find recipe below.
This recipe is gluten and dairy free. It is low foodmap too if you keep the serving to less that 1/4th of the recipe (60 ml coconut water is considered low fodmap).

Serves 5-6

The base:
400 ml Coconut Milk
200 ml Coconut water
75 ml maple syrup
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tbsp agar agar

1. Combine the agar mix in a saucepan.
2. Boil 5-6 minutes.
3. Pour into small round bowls. Do not pour too much into each bowl as this will make the tagliatelle too wide.
4. Chill in refrigerator.
5. When set, remove from bowl and start shaving into tagliatelle (see photo).

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Berries:
100-150 ml mixed berries
A little maple syrup
Juice from ½ lime

1. Marinate the berries in the syrup mix for a few minutes.

Sauce:
150 ml frozen berries
1-2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
50 ml water

1. Slightly thaw the berries
2. Run the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor

Decorations:
Lime zest

Amazing Cake Base

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160610 Amazing cake base-3058

This cake base is made in a few minutes only. I like to chill the base in the fridge for an hour or so before using, but this is not necessary. Any topping goes, here I have made one with cream cheese and vanilla. Don’t forget to strain the sauce as it comes out much nicer without the seeds.
I have created the base to be able to serve it dairy free, low fodmap, vegan and raw as well as gluten free of course. The rest depends on what sauce and topping you choose. For a more interesting look, I would sprinkle some freeze dried strawberry powder on top, but, at the time of the photo shoot, I didn’t have access to any.

Serves 4

The base:
100 ml desiccated (dried and grated) coconut
2 tbsp cacao nibs
1 tbsp almond butter
1,5 tbsp melted cacao butter
1 tbsp rice syrup
50 ml fresh raspberries
Dash of salt

Topping:
2 tbsp crème fraiche,
100 g Philadelphia cream cheese
½ tsp vanilla extract

Sauce:
250 g frozen raspberries cooked with
25 ml water
1 tbsp icing/powdered sugar
Some extra raspberries for decoration

1. Mix the base ingredients with a fork. Press into 4 ring moulds. Add some topping and refrigerate.
2. Combine the ingredients for the topping. Pipe onto the cake base. Refrigerate.
3. Simmer the raspberries with the sugar and water over low heat. Add more water if needed. When slightly thickened, strain and cool.

Strawberry Ice Cream – Dairy Free

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160524 Strawberry Ice Cream-3023

If you can find fresh coconuts (can be bought on-line), this is a very easy ice cream to make. Only takes a bit of planning (the soaking takes a lot of time). To make it even creamier, or if you don’t like almonds, you may substitute the almonds for cashews. With almonds though, it is not just dairy and gluten free but also low fodmap (with a limit of a 12 almonds serving, you can safely eat 1/5th of this ice cream).

100 ml soaked almonds (about 55 almonds)
100 ml young coconut meat (should be enough in one small coconut)
Pinch of salt
25 ml maple syrup
25 ml rice syrup
50 ml almond milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
400 ml fresh strawberries, cut up
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted

1. Soak the almonds 24 hours, after half the time, change the water.
2. Crack the young coconut open with a meat cleaver and scrape the meat out with a spoon.
3. Combine all ingredients (except for the oil) in a blender. Process until smooth.
4. Slowly incorporate the oil while processing. Do not overblend.
5. Pour into ice cream machine and make according to the manufacturer’s instruction – OR – pour into plastic container and place in freezer. Remove and stir every hour until frozen.
With this dish I like to serve some dehydrated strawberry slices. They are wonderful, intensified in flavour and naturally sweet. If you own a dehydrator, I can definitely recommend dehydrating thinly sliced strawberries.
Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving.

Parma Wrapped Hake with Kimizu Sauce

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160518 Parma Wrapped Hake with Kimizu Sauce-2943

Kimizu Sauce is both creamy and light. This is one of the few instances I actually cook with sugar because the sauce will not be the same without it. Roasted asparagus sprinkled with sea salt, grilled salmon or any other salty dish should go nicely with this sauce. In this recipe I serve it together with parma wrapped hake. Dairy free and low fodmap.

Serves 4

3 parsnips
500 g hake, fillets
4 large basil leaves
Black pepper
4 slices of Parma ham (or Serrano)
4 tooth picks

Kimizu Sauce:
3 egg yolks
Dash of salt
3 tbsp of rice vinegar
1,5 tbsp of sugar

3oo ml quinoa, cook according to manufacturers instruction
Black olives, chopped
1 lemon, zest from the whole and juice from ½

Spinach
Salt and pepper

1. The parsnips make for a beautiful addition but are not essential to the dish. If you have a dehydrator, slice the parsnips thinly and dry at about 45C overnight. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and grind some salt on top.
2. Prepare the hake parcels. On a piece of ham, place 1 leave of basil, a generous amount of pepper and a piece of the fish (about 125 grams). Wrap the ham around the fish and secure with a toothpick.
3. The sauce: Whisk the yolks in a bowl with a round bottom and add the salt, sugar and vinegar. Place the sauce over a pot with boiling water and whisk continuously. You must whisk vigorously with no breaks until the sauce has thickened. If you take a break the eggs will coagulate and you end up with scrambled eggs… The sauce will become think and “foamy”. When the sauce is thick enough (after about 5-6 minutes) remove it from heat and place the bowl in another bowl containing cold water and ice cubes. This is so that the sauce will quickly cool. The sauce is to be served at room temperature (or chilled).
4. Cook the quinoa. When done combine with the olives and lemon.
5. Fry the spinach, season.
6. If you have a steam oven please use it. The fish will be so moist and tender. If not, set oven at 180C and cook for about 12 minutes, until done.

Coco Thai Chicken

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160511 Coco Thai Chicken-2914

It is all in the sauce! Really! This sauce is just amazing! I like to steam the chicken in my steam oven but will give the recipe for an oven baked chicken below. A quick and easy recipe but the chicken should be marinated for about 6-8 hours so don’t forget to allow time for this. The dish is also dairy free and low fodmap.

Serves 4
Marinade:
2 green chilies, seeds removed
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce (light)
12 coriander leaves
2 limes, zest and juice
1 tsp sugar (can be omitted)
400 ml coconut milk

1 tsp cornstarch (to be added to the sauce at a later stage)
5-600 grams chicken breast, mini fillets
250 ml wild rice
Chili flakes to decorate

1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a blender and run until smooth.
2. Place the chicken in the marinade for 6-8 hours, refrigerated.
3. Cook the rice according to the manufacturers instructions (generally 20 minutes in double amount of water)
4. Remove the chicken from the marinade and bake in a 200 C oven for 20 minutes (or until done).
5. In a small saucepan, heat the marinade/sauce. Combine the cornstarch with a little water (1-2 tsp) and stir until dissolved. While stirring, add the cornstarch mix to the sauce and make sure the sauce has been brought to a boil before removing from heat (otherwise it won’t thicken).
6. To serve, put a spoonful of sauce on the place and then, using a spoon or any other kitchen tool, spread the sauce out in a semi circle. With the help of a ring mold, add the rice to the plate. Add the chicken sprinkled with chili flakes.

Nacho Cheese Sauce – Dairy Free

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1604 Dairy Free Nacho Cheese-2396

A spicy dip to be served with nachos, cucumber or any other vegetable. Dairy free, gluten free and low fodmap. Quick and easy to make. Can be served directly, still a bit warm from the boiled vegetables, or cold.

4 medium sized potatoes
2 medium sized carrots

100 ml water
75 ml almond milk
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
100 ml nutritional yeast
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp black pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
75 grams roasted, marinated red pepper (I like the Sacla brand) or roast your own with olive oil and salt

1. Boil the potatoes and carrots until soft. Place in a food processor.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.
3. Taste. Add some smoked paprika, lemon juice and salt as required. Remember, cheese is quite salty so if you want to imitate the nacho cheese sauce you may need more salt.

Serve with Nachos