Gluten Free Gooey Fudge Brownies

Let me start this post with saying that I haven't had brownies in a very long time. Since becoming gluten free (which happened a good 2 years ago) the only other time I've had brownies were some Smores Brownies. So needless to say I was excited to make some tasty brownies.

I feel like brownies can be rather personal, everyone has a type of brownie that they prefer over all others. There can be a wide variety of flavors (chocolate, blondie, peanut butter, etc) but have two distinct textures, cake-like and gooey. For me, gooey fudge brownies beat all others. I hope you all enjoy this recipe like my roommate, who begged me for the recipe before posting it so he could make some more!

Also, does anyone else ever feel like they could eat an entire bowl of brownie batter or cookie dough? Mmmmmm...

Serves: 18-24, depending on how large you cut them
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35-45 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 cup white rice flour

1/6 cup almond flour

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/2 tsp xantham gum

1 cup butter
4 oz 63% dark chocolate
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract


Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 6x10 rectangular pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flours and the gum.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate, and sugar over low heat. Stir constantly until well combined and the sugar has dissolved.
4. Remove the chocolate from the heat, and use your finger to test the temperature of the it. The chocolate needs to be warm, not hot. If the chocolate is too hot, you'll end up with scrambled eggs in your brownies, which we definitely don't want. When the chocolate is warm, beat in each egg, one by one until well combined.

5. Slowly add the flour mix to the chocolate until well combined. Stir the vanilla into the the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I did!

Gluten Free Sausage and Rice

A couple months ago, I posted a recipe for Gluten Free Stuffed Bell Peppers. I absolutely love the taste and texture of the filling, so I decided to make a variation of it with Italian sausage. I use mild Italian sausage in my recipe, but feel free to use a spicier variety if you prefer.

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 mild Italian pork sausages
1/3 cup brown rice
2 oz pancetta, diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup red wine
2 Portobello caps, cubed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup Marinara sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Steps
1.  In a small pan, over medium heat, cook the sausage in a tablespoon of olive oil until browned on all sides, about 5-7 minutes
2. Cook the brown rice in a rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, boil rice in a small pot with 1/2 cup water. Once the water is boiling, cover and reduce to low heat for 20 minutes.
3. In a medium saucepan, sautee the pancetta, garlic, and onion over medium heat with the wine until the pancetta has browned.
4. To the pan, add the mushrooms and bell pepper, and cook on medium low heat until the mushrooms have reduced in size.
5. Cube the cooked sausage. Add the cheese, sausage and sauces to the pan, and cook together for about 4 minutes. Add the rice to the pan and let it all cook together for about 5 minutes.

Dark Chocolate Lemon Tart

This a really quick and easy dessert to make that blends the acidity of citrus with the richness of dark chocolate. In my first trial I used only chocolate and corn syrup for the chocolate swirl, but in the end all it left was hard crunchy chocolate throughout the pie. This recipe is the second trial, which uses a simple chocolate ganache. I hope you enjoy!

I hope you enjoy is beautiful yet easy to make dessert!

Serves: 8

Active Prep Time: 10 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour

Crust Ingredients:

3/4 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

1/8 cup sugar

3 tbsp melted butter

Tart Ingredients:

2 cups prepared lemon curd (or use your favorite recipe)

3 oz dark chocolate

1/3 cup heavy cream

Steps:

1. In a small bowl, mix all of the crust ingredients together, and then spread them evenly into a pie tin.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the chocolate and cream over medium heat until the chocolate is melted and a smooth, consistent ganache has formed. Set aside and let chill for 5 minutes.

3. Pour the lemon curd into the pie crust, and place spoonfuls of chocolate onto the top of the tart. Using a toothpick, swirl the chocolate through the lemon until a swirl has formed. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.

Gluten Free Cherry Apple Cobbler

This past week I went to the local Farmer's Market and got some beautiful apples and cherries, and decided to make a tasty cobbler out of it.

This recipe is perfect for the summer weather, and is zesty and sweet.

Serves: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cherries, pitted

1 apple, thinly sliced

1/4 cup white wine, Riesling

1/2 cup sugar 

1 tsp corn starch

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 cup almonds

3 tbsp butter, melted

3/4 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

Steps:

1. Preheat an oven to 350F.

2. In a small pan, cook the cherries, white wine, and sugar over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.

3. Mix the corn starch into the cherry mixture until combined, and remove from heat.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the cherry mixture with the lemon juice and the apple. Grease a 13 x 9 inch rectangular pan, and pour the fruit mix into it.

5. In a small bowl, combine the almonds, butter, and crumbs. Crumble the mixture over top the fruit mix, and place the cobbler in the oven for 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

Gluten Free Veggie Stir Fry

Every now and then, my roommates and I decide to prepare dinner together. Last week we decided upon creating a vegetarian stir fry. Stir fry is a really adaptable recipe since you can add in whatever vegetables or meats you prefer, or have in your pantry at the time. In order to adapt any stir fry recipe into a gluten free recipe, here's two vital tips:

1. Make sure you use gluten free soy sauce. It may sound silly that wheat is in soy sauce, but it is. Gluten free soy sauce is fairly accessible in major chain stores now, so make sure to pick some up!
2. Check the ingredients when you choose your noodles. I recommend a standard white rice Lo Mein noodle for stir fry. It holds up well, and is easy to prepare.

I also tried garlic scapes for the first time in this recipe. I found them at my local farmer's market, and they're a part of the garlic plant. I've been told it has a milder garlic taste, and is good to have in eggs and other mild recipes. This is my first attempt at cooking with them (at first I thought they looked like they belong in a Harry Potter movie) and my next desire is to try them with eggs. Read more about them in this Washington Post article!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Serves: 4 people
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 box Gluten Free Lo Mein noodles
3 inches of a garlic scape, minced (use 3 cloves garlic as an alternative)
1/2 onion, diced
1 head of broccoli, diced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into strips
4 leaves bok choy, loosely chopped
4-6 mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
salt and pepper

Steps
1. Preheat a wok or deep skillet on high heat. Soak the Lo Mein noodles in warm water for about 10 minutes.
2. Cut all vegetables according to ingredient list.
3. Add about 1 tablespoon wok or vegetable oil to the pan, and sautee the garlic scapes and onion until the onion begins to caramelize. Add the broccoli and carrots, sautee for about 3 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms and bok choy. Cook until the mushrooms and bok choy have reduced. Will take about 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the noodles to the pan, along with the soy, sesame, cardamom, and salt and pepper. Cook until the noodles are tender and the vegetables are cooked. Add soy sauce to flavor.

My City Cuisine Review

Hi everyone!

I was approached by MyCityCuisine to try it and write a blog post about it, so I'd like to share it with all of you. 

MyCityCuisine.org is a Wiki project dedicated to helping answer the question 'What Should I Order?' when you travel to various cities. The project's goal is to help travelers discover local foods from all over the world, and MyCityCuisine aims to become a comprehensive source for this information.

People can contribute to MyCityCuisine in the following ways:

• Write a new dish description
• Expand an existing dish description
• Correct mistakes in an existing dish description
• Suggest a new dish to be included
• Upload a new dish photo

This site is for those interested in tasting local food, not for someone looking to cook it at home, so recipes aren't required. Visit MyCityCuisine.org to add a dish from your city.

Currently they are looking mostly for people to contribute photos and descriptions of local dishes to the site. Here is a link to our page that describes what we're looking for in a bit more depth.

After using the Wiki project a bit, it was evident that it is not a place to mention restaurants, as the primary focus of MyCityCuisine is the local dishes. According to the creators, the aim is to be general enough that you could take the information and use it whatever restaurant you decide to visit in a particular city.

For those interested in trying, here is a brief summary of how to contribute:

To start adding to a page, you first need to create an account. You can do this by clicking on the Log on/Create account link at the top right-hand side of the site. Once you have an account, you can search for a city using the search bar on the left side of the page and can then click the Edit tab at the top of the page and go to town. If you are unfamiliar with adding pages to a wiki, you can use the submission form here.

Feel free to try it out, and share with others as this project has recently started up!

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

This past week I wanted to try making something I haven't before, so I tried making Bobby Flay's Bacon-Herb Wrapped Pork Tenderloin.

The recipe is really easy to follow, and not hard to make. My biggest recommendation is how to wrap the pork in bacon. I believe that there are 2 cheap tools you can use to make the wrapping easy: toothpicks and twine.

When wrapping each piece of bacon around the pork, secure one end of the bacon slice with a toothpick so it does not fall off, and then secure the other end of each piece once its wrapped. Once you've wrapped the entire pork, tie the twine around each piece of bacon to secure the wrapping, and remove the toothpicks.

Once you've done this, follow the rest of the recipe and it should end up delicious and moist!

365 DC Food Survey

Do you live in the DC area and enjoy DC food and restaurants?

The site called "365 Things to Do in Washington DC" is hosting a survey for DC residents asking about their favorite restaurants and how you share this with the blogging community.

If you'd like to take a chance to win one of 20 dinners at a Four Star DC restaurant, visit this page to participate in the survey (there's a separate on for bloggers and for readers).

Feel free to participate and share if you wish!

Gluten Free Pork Raviolis

Its that time again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! This past month was a bit crazy for me with work and life, so I was happy to have the opportunity to participate in the rally again!

This month we worked together to come up with pasta recipes. I loved pasta before I was eating gluten free, so I had been looking forward to the month of June to make some pasta. This month's Ratio Rally helped give me the opportunity to realize how complex simple food can be. Pasta is often treated as one of the simplest types of food, yet making a perfect pasta is far from easy. Especially gluten free.

I fully admit that I don't believe my pasta is perfect, and that I want to try the same ravioli filling again, only this time with Jenn's (of Jenn Cuisine) pasta recipe. She was the wonderful host for this month and made some really beautiful Tagliatelle with Smoked Salmon.

Please visit Jenn's post for some amazing pasta, and for a full listing of the Gluten Free Ratio Rally  posts. Her link is here http://jenncuisine.com/2011/07/tagliatelle-with-smoked-salmon-ratio-rally/#more-6646

I went through two trials for this recipe. The first I included way too much corn starch in my recipe, it ended up being quite brittle and chewy after cooking. Pasta fail for sure. The second trial was a greater success, I was able to easily roll out the dough and the raviolis stuck together (for the most part). 

I'm glad I was able to participate this month, it was tons of fun and thank you to Jenn and the rest of the Ratio Rally for all the collaboration. It inspired me, and I hoped some of my lessons helped y'all as well!

Active Prep Time: 30 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes

Ingredients:

Pasta

84g tapioca starch

84g white rice flour

42g teff flour

42g corn starch

168g egg yolks (approximately 8 egg yolks)

1 tsp xantham gum

Filling

3/4 lb ground pork

3 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

Sauce

3 tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

1/4 cup white wine

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp coriander

1 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

dash salt and pepper

Steps:

The Pasta

1. In a food processor, pulse the flours, gum, and egg together. Once combined, remove from the food processor and knead for a few minutes until the dough comes together. If the dough is really sticky, add a little more flour. The consistency you want is slightly sticky and moist. Wrap the pasta in some plastic wrap and set aside for about 20 minutes. 

Sauce

1. Preheat broiler oven. Sprinkle some salt and olive oil on the tomatoes, and broil in the oven. Once there is some charring on the outside of the tomatoes, remove them from the oven and place into a cold water bath. This will help remove the skin.
2. Once the tomatoes have cooled, peel the skin off them, and dice them into chunks. In a saucepan over medium heat, add the tomatoes, the garlic, the paste, and the wine. Cook for about 15 minutes.
3. After the 15 minutes, puree the sauce in a blender and add the spices and cheese. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer.

Filling
1. In a pan, brown the ground pork and drain the fat. To this, add the rest of the filling ingredients.

How it all comes together...
1. Fill a large pot with water and boil the water.
2. Either using a pasta roller or two pieces of parchment paper and a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/8". I also recommend lightly dusting the paper with flour to reduce sticking to the paper.
3. Slice the pasta into equal sized squares, and place a spoon of filling into the middle of half of them. Cover each filled pasta with a second sheet, and press the ravioli together either with your fingers or a fork.
4. In batches, cook the pasta for about 3-4 minutes or until the dough is tender. Serve the pasta with the sauce and garnish with some fresh basil.

I hope you all enjoy! Please go to Jenn's page for the full listing! http://jenncuisine.com/2011/07/tagliatelle-with-smoked-salmon-ratio-rally/#more-6646

Sirloin Steak with Raw Asparagus Salad

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July yesterday!

About a month ago, one of my roommates wanted me to make a entire dinner with totally raw ingredients. This recipes was my attempt at experimenting with the salad aspect of a raw dinner. I really love the taste of the asparagus when paired with the freshness of the peppers, the sweetness of the apples, and the acidity of the lemon.

For this dinner I wanted to pair it with a steak that was prepared in a simple rub. This rub takes a little bit of preparation since you have to rub the steak at least a day ahead of when you want to cook it. The advantage to this is you get a nice crust on the outside and a juicy steak on the inside. 

Let me know what you think of this recipe!

Serves: 2 servings

Inactive preparation time: 1-2 days

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 lb thin sliced sirloin steak

Dry Rub Ingredients:

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp salt

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Salad ingredients:

5 asparagus stalks

1 gala apple

1 orange or yellow bell pepper

dash of salt and pepper

2 tsp lemon juice

Steps:

1. Mix all the dry rub ingredients in a bowl until combined. Rub the steaks with the mix, and then wrap tightly in Saran Wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 days.

2. After 1-2 days, remove the steaks from the refrigerator, and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature. Preheat a grill pan over medium high heat.

3. Once the pan is hot, spray with some nonstick cooking spray and cook the steaks for about 2-3 minutes per side. Let the steaks rest for a few minutes.

4. While the steaks are cooking, thinly slice the asparagus, apple, and pepper. Toss the vegetables with the salt, pepper, and lemon juice until well combined. 

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Squares

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posting this past week. I've had a rather intense week with work, but now its Fourth of July weekend! Here's a fun recipe that any peanut lovers would enjoy, and its perfect to bring to a Fourth of July weekend party! Also, this recipe is a little lighter than some of the other peanut square recipes I've seen out there, so I hope you enjoy!

Makes: 15-20 squares

Preparation Time: 20 minutes 

Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 stick butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup gluten free graham cracker crumbs

2 cups powdered sugar

12 oz milk chocolate

Steps:

1. In a microwavable bowl, melt the butter. 

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, peanut butter, and crumbs. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar until the mix is consistent.

3. Spread the peanut butter into a 13x9 rectangular pan.

4. Melt the chocolate, and spread on top of the peanut butter. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.