Vegetarian Ireland

This is a really light, moist quick bread that is gluten and dairy free.  There’s a lot of  options to help you with gluten free baking in most health shops.  In Coming Home To Cook I have my favorite gluten free flour recipe which is a combination of white rice flour, potato flour, soy flour and tapioca flour.  For this bread I decided to buy a gf bread flour mix. It is a combination of these flours: garbanzo bean, potato, tapioca, white sorghum and fava bean. So if you don’t want to have a lot of ingredients hanging around, buy a bag  that is already mixed.  I simply substituted the gf flour mix for the traditional white and whole wheat in my favorite recipe.  Some recipes and packages tell you that you need xanthum gum, which is a stabilizer used in place of  gluten, but this bread came out perfect without it. Here’s how:                            Preheat oven to 325. Oil a large bread tin.

Blend 1/2 cup soy margarine or 1/2 cup canola oil  with 1/2 cup white sugar. Beat in 2 eggs, 3 large very ripe bananas, 1 tsp. vanilla extract. In another bowl blend 2 cups of gluten free bread mix with 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt.    Mix wet and dry ingredients together. Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries, blending well. Pour into the bread pan, top with chopped pecans. Bake for 45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack, and remove from pan.     Enjoy!

Helpful hint: Freeze overripe (black) bananas. When ready to use, defrost, peel, drain juices and use in recipe.

Eggplants, otherwise known as aubergines, are rich in calcium, vitamin A, iron and have plenty of good fiber. Stuffed, rolled, stacked, diced, layered and pureed they are versatile in an array of ethnic vegetarian dishes.  I made these timbales or stacks with a homemade tomato sauce and fresh mozarella cheese. To keep this dish light and low fat I used low fat ricotta,  baked the eggplant (which is much lighter than frying) and I made it gluten free by using rice flour and gluten free bread crumbs.  They’re perfect with my slamming good garlic bread recipe from Coming Home To Cook and a fresh green salad. Here’s how:

Eggplant Timbales - gluten free

Peel 1 large eggplant. Slice into 1/4″ rounds.  Fill 3 separate bowls with 1 cup flour, 2 eggs beaten with 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup breadcrumbs. Dredge eggplant in flour, eggs, then breadcrumbs and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350 (180), Cook for 10 minutes on each side until crispy. Set aside.

Make your favorite tomato sauce.

In a skillet, lightly saute in 2 Tbl. olive oil - 1 cup chopped mushrooms, 1/2 cup diced onions, 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, 2 chopped garlic cloves, sea salt and pepper to taste.  Let cool.

Mix together 2 cups of lowfat ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup grated fresh romano cheese and 1/3 cup low fat cream cheese and add to the mushrooms.

Slice thin pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese from a large ball.

To assemble:

Pour enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom of  a baking dish. Layer 1 slice eggplant, spread it with ricotta mix, 1 slice of mozzarella and repeat to make a 3 layer stack. Top with tomato sauce and bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Comfort yourself and your family with  a warm dessert on a cold winters night.  This is an old American cake recipe that’s made in a cast iron skillet or you can use a spring form pan. Don’t have either? A 9″ cake pan is ok, too. There’s nothing complicated about this recipe.  Just follow the steps and you will have a perfect cake that will look beautiful and taste delicious. Good luck! Here’s how:                                                                                                                                   Preheat oven to 400.   Melt 1/4 cup butter with 1 cup brown sugar. Peel, core and slice into rings - 1 fresh pineapple.  In a cast iron skillet, pat down sugar/butter mixture. Sprinkle 1 cup of whole pecans and top with pineapple rings.     Now make the cake batter, which for this recipe is called  Cottage Pudding:                                                                                                          Sift together 1 1/2 cups white flour, 2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt. Blend with 1/2 cup white sugar. Seperately mix together 1 egg with 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup melted butter. Mix together dry and wet batter. It will be thick. Pour into the pan, covering the pineapple. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.  With a knife or spatula, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Place a flat plate over the pan, completely covering it. Slowly turn over and the cake will come out of the pan onto the plate. Put another plate on the bottom of the cake and turn over again, so the pineapple side is up. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollopof whipped cream.  For more delicious recipes check out my vegetarian cookbook Coming Home To Cook.  Happy Cooking!

A beautiful fresh green salad with my house dressing from Coming Home To Cook, a crusty hot semolina baguette, a bottle of red wine and a delicious hot casserole makes for a lovely birthday dinner on a cold winters night.  I put together these napa cabbage rolls using the last of the gardens herbs and they were a big hit for this mostly vegetarian crowd.  It is hearty but surprisingly light. This recipe makes 20 rolls, serving 10-12.  Enjoy.

Napa Cabbage Rolls - gluten free

Ingredients:

Rough chop the following: 1 leek //12 button mushrooms//1 small eggplant//1 courgette (zucchini)//1 small red pepper//3 cloves garlic.  Add 1 Tbl. chopped oregano, basil, sea salt and black pepper.                                  Saute all in 2Tbl. olive oil and set aside.                                                                           Separate the leaves of 1  large napa cabbage. Steam until tender.Set aside to cool.                                                                                                                                                Boil 2 sweet potatoes, mash and set aside.                                                                       Puree 10 oz. of soft goat cheese with 2 eggs.                                                                 Make your favorite tomato sauce.                                                                                      On a flat surface line up all the ingredients.                                                                      Lay out flat 1 piece of cabbage. Spread a tablespoon of the sweet potatoes, cover with 1 tablespoon of goat cheese, top with vegetables and crushed nuts of your choice. I used toasted cashews (yummie!!)                                          Roll from fleshy stem to leafy end making sure to keep ingredients within the cabbage. Do this by folding leafy edges in.                                                                 Put tomato sauce in a large baking dish and place rolls on top. Cover with grated mozzarella. Bake at 350 (180) for 40 minutes. Serve immediately.

The best review of my dog biscuits from my cookery book Coming Home To Cook are the reactions from these cuties. Little Annie was nipping at my heels as I was mixing them up and baking them. She remembered the smell from a year ago! Raven was jumping with delight as Alice came home with her order of fresh baked biscuits and Jan, a Veteranarian, says that when her 3 Corgi’s are asked if they want a store bought biscuit or a Mary B’s, they leap with delight for the latter.   Baked with all natural ingredients, with the crunch of fresh veggies, chewy wheat berries and nutty sunflower seeds, your dogs can share in the woofs of glee and howls of anticipation as the smells of  all the whole grain goodness wafts from your oven.  Here’s the recipe:

Mary B’s

Preheat oven to 350 0r 180c. Grease a baking (cookie sheet).

Mix together 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups white flour, 1 Tbl. sunflower seeds, 1 Tbl. flax seeds, 1/4 cup wheat germ or wheat bran, 1/4 cup cooked wheat or spelt berries, 1 cup diced, cooked vegetables, 1 beaten egg, 1 cup vegetable stock.  Knead dough and lay out on floured surface. Using a small or large dog bone mold form into shapes a 1/4 ” thick.  Bake for 30 minutes.

For more recipes and for a wonderful holiday present order                     Coming Home To Cook for all your friends. Discounts on multiple orders.

There’s nothing like luscious comfort food to ward off  the winter blues.  As the light wanes in the west it’s time to get out the soup pot, invite friends over and light the fire. But, if your friends and family are anything like mine, there are some of them with food sensitivities. So, I focus on foods that are gluten and dairy free for the winter months.  It helps to curtail the inevitable sinus, chest and cold irritations that the season brings.  As with all my soup recipes, it’s about using the freshest vegetables, seasonings and a good vegetable stock. See Coming Home To Cook for more winter soup recipes. Enjoy!

Cream of Broccoli  - gluten and dairy free

In a heavy soup pot pour 2 Tbl. of olive oil (or soy margarine). To it, add 1/2 cup chopped white onion, 1 cup chopped celery, 2 diced large floury potatoes, 2 minced garlic cloves, 12 chopped button mushrooms, 4 cups chopped broccoli. Stir and cook for about 15 minutes. Add enough vegetable stock to just cover (about 3 cups)  Cook on medium heat until veg are soft. Add 2 cups of plain soy milk, sea salt and pepper to taste. Cook for another 20 minutes on low heat.  Puree until smooth. Serve topped with chopped coriander (cilantro) and a dollop of non dairy yogurt.

I noticed these bushes of gorgeous rose hips as I was walking past Rooska in Lisdoonvarna the other day.  I remember picking them on a beach in Rhode Island many years ago with my sister Joanne who made tea from them. They are loaded with vitamin C and can also be made into  jam, jelly, syrup and cold soup. Annaliese dries the leaves for her organic Burren tea blend which I sell at the markets.  I started out making a Swedish cold soup, which I decided since it’s not really cold soup weather in Ireland (is it ever?) it would work better as a dessert sauce, so I added a little more potato flour and boiled it down to a nice thickeness. So, pick 4 cups of rose hips. Take off stem, wash and add to 2 qts. boiling water. Cover and cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or sieve. Put hips in a bowl. Measure water to 2 qts. You will have to add cold water as some of the juice will have evaporated.  Put hips and water back into the pot, add 3/4 cup of white sugar. Take a little water out and in a small bowl mix in 3 Tbl. of potato flour. Whisk until smooth. Add to pot. Simmer until thick. Let cool and refrigerate. It also freezes well. I served it with plain yogurt for a healthy dessert.  Enjoy!