Gluten free recipies


 

Paul K

TVWBB Guru
A family friend will be spending a couple of days at our house (while I'm away) and she has to stick to a gluten free diet. I was thinking of helping out by preparing a dish or 2 in advance. The 1st one could be beef enchiladas. Corn tortillas, with shredded brisket. I'd create the enchilada sauce but would have to sub arrowroot or something else as a thickener. Any suggestions or cautions? I've read up a little on avoiding wheat, barley, malt, rye, etc. Many prepared sauces evidently use flour as a thickening agent and can be listed under many names, so I thought best just to make it myself.
 
Only some enchilada sauces are made with flour. Most rely on reduction for thickening. Any you like made with flour can be easily altered to thicken via increasing the chile puree and/or reduction. Arrowroot and cornstarch will make the sauce glossy so it's hard to recommend either. Xanthan is a better choice but I'd just go with reduction.

One thing you have to watch is the use of commercial chicken, beef or veg stocks. Many contain gluten. (See the first two recipes here. Neither contain flour. The third does but could be modded.)

Avoid soy sauce (if thinking Asian). Use tamari instead--but read the label.

Many prepared mustards contain flour. Read the label or just make your own.

An easy in-advance thing to so is an Indian- or Thai-style curry to be served over white or brown basmati or jasmine rice.
 
I read about the broths; it had never occurred to me. The curry is an excellent idea. I'd like to be able to prepare something, and just leave it with the ladies. Thanks Kevin.
 
Paul, Another to watch out for is the corn tortillas. I was reading up on Cilliac the other day and they say you have to be carefull because even though they are made from corn that same plant may also make flour tortillas and gluten can be present in the corn. They said that that caution pertains to a lot of corn products. Just a heads up.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Another to watch out for is the corn tortillas </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Good point. Fortunately, she's not ultrasensitive to gluten. Her husband told me she can "cheat" every once in a while. Thanks. I went ahead and made the enchiladas last night. Used some brisket from last weekend and whipped up a sauce. It thickened up just fine through reduction. Heck, I like it more than the store bought variety; I should have been making my own all along.
 
Yummy!

Yup, they're easy and you can FoodSaver and freeze. By varying the chilies you can create far more flavor depth than what you'rec likely to find commercially.
 
The enchiladas were a hit. Not to brag, but my guest does come from a Latino family...she even took some leftovers home (the ultimate compliment). The second night I had prepared marinated (quicky Ital dressing) chicken pieces with fresh sage, rosemary and basil (the garden is starting to produce!). The ladies popped it in the oven and it came out great as well.
 

 

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