Getting the Band Back Together

Well it's official. I'm back. Back again. Emily is back. Tell a friend.  No, seriously tell a friend. Tell lots of friends.

My last post was literally a year and six months ago. Wow. In that time a few things have happened and sadly none of them involve winning the lottery or meeting Dick Van Dyke, which were the only things I thought could truly put this blog on the bench. But let's see. Since I last wrote a post I have turned 30 (yee-haw!), hiked 100 miles in Scotland, and bought several pairs of cropped pants in multiple colors and prints. Phew. Talk about crossing things off my bucket list!

In more important, blog related news, I reached my 10 year Celiac birthday in June of 2012. What a time to be a Celiac! If you would have told me 10 years ago that there would be restaurants with gluten free menus, a whole aisle dedicated to gluten free foods at the grocery store, and countless articles in magazines from Vogue to Allure on the benefits of going gluten free, I would have slapped you in the face and called you crazy.  But we live in a different world now. My pool of gluten free allies has grown ten-fold. Now, not only do I have a standing gluten free dinner with some of my non-gluten free friends, but people are popping out of the woodwork right and left with either full blown Celiac Disease or a want to eliminate gluten from their diets to alleviate various health problems. My best friend (who lives in Germany - Gutentag Rebe!) was just diagnosed with Celiac a few months ago. Hell, my mom even eats a gluten free diet now! These days you can't even throw an overpriced, cardboard tasting, crumbly piece of gluten free bread without hitting someone who is gluten free. What a world, what a world!

So I took this all as a sign that I need to get back out there, back out there spreading my certified gluten free oats if you will. So you'll notice I jazzed up my blog design a little bit. Isn't the multi-colored flatware much more inviting? I'm also going to try to stream-line my recipes. I'm shooting for less anecdotes about my cat (love you April!) and more food, food, food.  With that said, on with the show!

Today's recipe is..........Veggie Lover's Spaghetti and Meatballs! 

Now upon first reading that title you might think I'm absolutely nuts. I mean she puts carrots in her meatballs? Sacrilege! And while on some days I certainly am pretty nuts (just ask my roommate/sister) this recipe is as sane as it gets! On Fridays there is a farmer's market in Copley Square and I thank my lucky stars every day that I work right nearby.  This past Friday I got a whole smorgasbord of veggies. Now, I'll admit, normally I would not use all of these together. However, recently there's been a serious dearth of vegetables in my life. Last week, I was just so happy to have some produce in my house for once that I went a little bit overboard with this recipe.  I got one giant spaghetti squash, a large head of kale, fingerling potatoes, broccoli crowns, and a nice head of cauliflower.  I had planned on using some leftover pasta and tomato sauce I had frozen last week to make a really exciting Friday night leftovers dinner. Meh, no.  But now that I had a plethora of veggies at my finger tips, I decided to go whole hog. This recipe is going to be a bit willy nilly and I'm going to somewhat briefly explain the steps . So hang in there.  I would describe my style of cooking as - "what else can I throw into this to make this taste better?!?" - and that's basically what I did here. Of course if you're a true veggie lover, you can leave out the meatballs and it will be just a really great faux pasta with lots of veggies kind of a thang.

Things you'll need

Veggies

Spaghetti Squash
Kale
Broccoli
Oil
Salt and Pepper
Garlic - a few cloves minced

Meatballs

Ground beef, turkey, veal, or pork 1 lb
Onion  - 1/2  of one chopped
Garlic - a couple cloves, minced
Carrot - peeled and cut into tiny pieces
Worcestershire Sauce - a few (Harlem?) shakes
Mayo - 1 T
Dijon Mustard - 1T
Smashed up tortilla or potato chips [put a few chips in a bag and smash 'em up]
Salt and Pepper

Sauce

Butter -1T
GF flour - 1T
Milk - 1.5 c
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Chicken Stock - a 1/2 cup [optional]


First - prep and roast your spaghetti squash.  There are couple of ways of doing this. You can either use a microwave or an oven and you can cut the squash or not. It's a free for all basically! If you have the time I suggest just halving it, sprinkling it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and putting it on a cookie sheet cut side up. Roast for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven and remove. Let cool for a few minutes and then rake a fork across flesh to create your "spaghetti".  Set aside.

Next, make your meatballs.  Throw ingredients listed above in bowl and combine with hands.  Roll meat into mini meatballs. I found the best way to make gluten free meatballs is to always follow three rules. One: Make them mini. Two: Bake them in mini muffin pans. You can even use regular muffin tins and just put a few meatballs per cup. Three: Use crushed up GF chips as a binder. While traditional meatballs use breadcrumbs, I've found that a good GF switch is to use either crushed potato or tortilla chips. It binds the meatballs but also ensures they remain succulent. Trust me. These techniques will change your meatball lovin' life. Stick into oven while spaghetti squash is cooking  and cook for about 10 minutes until no longer pink yet still moist.  Remove from oven.

Then make your veggies. I roasted the broccoli by cutting my head of broccoli into smaller chunks. I placed them in a bowl and added a bit of oil, salt, and pepper and tossed to coat. Next, spread broccoli on cookie sheet and bake in oven with spaghetti squash and meatballs. Make sure you stir the pieces around every few minutes because broccoli tends to stick to the cookie sheet and get a little burned. Keep an eye on it - probably only 5-7 minutes or so.

Cut kale leaves from backbones.  I like to do this because the backbones tend to be a little bit tough to chew. Chop leaves and rinse with cold water.  Put a little bit of oil in a pan and add your kale leaves. Saute for a few minutes till they reduce in size. Like spinach, you'll start with a lot of kale but once you lose some of the water from the leaves the amount will shrink. After a few minutes add some chopped garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat and cook another minute or so, then remove from heat.  I always add the garlic at the end because the hot pan tends to scorch it if you add it at the beginning.

Last but not least - the sauce.  You can use any sauce you want with this. A homemade tomato would probably be stellar.  I opted for a garlic cream sauce.  I did this by doing the following. Melt better in pan. Add 1 T of GF flour to make a roux. Mix for 30 seconds, then add milk and chopped garlic, whisking as you pour in the milk.  Continue to whisk and bring to a simmer but do not let it boil over.  At this point, sauce should start to thicken. If sauce can coat the back of a spoon, you're good to go. If too thick add some chicken or veggie stock to thin it out. If you want it more cheesy, throw in some cheese at the end. Fontina melts well and adds a nice richness. Gorgonzola or blue cheese would add a tangy zip!

Finally....assemble! Add hot sauce to spaghetti squash that you set aside.  Place into large bowl.  Top with your roasted broccoli, kale, and veggie lover's meatballs.

Reviews from my sister - "Wow, this tastes just like pasta!".  Mission complete!

 

Thinking Outside the Prepackaged Box: Hasta Luego Old El Paso!

It’s been a goal of mine for a long time to completely obliterate pre-packaged and processed food from my diet. On those days when I find myself in tears because all I want is a piece of frickin’ cake, I have to think of the silver lining of the celiac’s storm cloud. In a sense, my food allergy means I can’t willingly gorge on junky processed foods because in most cases these foods are rife with gluten. Let’s just say I have a leg up in this whole conundrum – but it doesn’t necessarily mean I get away with a clean break. And you know who is to blame? Mexicans!

I love Mexican food. I almost love Mexican food more than my sweet cat. And just look at her?? How can you not love this little sleeping baby tiger?

Mexican food is extremely gluten friendly – probably the most gluten free friendly food in the world. Other than the flour tortilla, most Mexican food I’ve eaten is based around the two loves of my life; rice and corn. Plus, it’s so simple! The flavors are super fresh and just so darn tasty. Tomatoes, avocados, cheese? Yummy! To sum it up, I get a burrito bowl at Boloco at least once a week and am totally content on eating nachos for dinner for the rest of my life. Mexican food es la bomba!

La La La La La La Bamba!

Since Mexican food is rather simple, making it from scratch should not be that hard. However, I think most of us out there rely heavily on brands like Old El Paso and Ortega when they want to have Taco Night at home. But is this really necessary? Can a delicious Taco Tuesday be had without an envelope of processed taco seasoning?? I say si!

From a gluten free stand-point, you certainly can get a taco making kit that is gluten free. Actually for this challenge I bought hard taco shells, which are made from corn. They give me a certain nostalgia for Taco Day at good old Eastham Elementary School! A quick perusal of the Mexican section at Shaw’s turned up several packets of taco seasoning mix that were in fact gluten free. However stay away from the Taco Bell brand as that does contain wheat flour. Actually stay away from Taco Bell in general. That place is muy gross.

Yet, the point of all this was to make my own tacos, from scratch! Even with this lofty goal, I didn’t see the harm in sneaking a peak at what the heavy hitters used in their mixes. Here’s the back of a packet of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix.

A few interesting things here:

1. The first ingredient is a food additive! Today’s fun fact: Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide aka a complex sugar. It usually appears in the form of a white powder (the anthrax of cuisine!) and is easily digestible.

2. Since this is a powder – the ingredients are all in powder format. Garlic powder, onion powder, cornstarch, etc. Yum….powder?

3. I once read somewhere that if you can’t pronounce the ingredients on a food label, you should not buy that food. Case in point: Ethoxyquin. On the bright side, that would be an excellent word to use in Scrabble!

4. It looks like they reduced the sodium. It used to be 370 mg. Now it's 270 mg. Hot dog! Still – this is per serving and I think there were 6 servings in this whole packet. So that’s about 1600 mg of sodium for the whole batch. I am a huge lover of salt – and am constantly dousing my food in it. But using table salt is usually not the culprit when you are talking about your sodium levels, it's food like this!

5. It sort of freaks me out when ingredients on a label get too general. For instance – “Spice” is listed. To me, you can't really general spices like you can milk or butter. There are about 20,000 different spices out there. So tell me Old El Paso, WHICH ONE IS IT?!!

6. My manicure is sweeeeeeeeet.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve used this brand many of times, and despite my qualms with it, it’s mighty tasty. It’s good for what it is, but it makes me wonder why I can’t make own version without all the weird chemicals? Let the challenge begin!

Here’s what I assembled from my pantry to make my from scratch taco mix.

1. 1/4 cup onion, diced

2. 3 cloves of garlic chopped

3. 2 T chili powder

4. 2 T cumin

5. a few dashes of Worcestershire

6. cornstarch

7. a few dashes of Tabasco

The reason for using most of these ingredients is pretty obvious. I took everything that Old El Paso dried, and used the non-dried version. Chili powder is a staple in Mexican cuisine, as is cumin. I chose Tabasco for the heat. Cornstarch, in case I needed a thickening agent. Why the Worcestershire you ask? While at Shaw’s I saw Rick Bayless, a well known chef who cooks amazing Mexican cuisine, has his own brand of taco seasoning mixes out. Interestingly enough, his were not in powder form but were delivered sauce-like in these little pouches. I took a quick look at his ingredients and saw Worcestershire. Interesting, I thought. Worcestershire is a great addition to any meat based meal – it adds a great level of umami and overall deliciousness without really adding any specific tastes that would throw your flavors off.

I started with a nice hot pan and threw in a little bit of olive oil. Next, went the onion and garlic and after a few minutes, I added the ground beef. Once all the meat was nice and browned, I added the chili powder, cumin, Worcestershire, and the Tabasco. (I would say use your judgement when you are adding these spices. Depending on what level of heat you can tolerate, I would use more than the measurements I gave above. Truthfully, I probably did. Cooking is not an exact science.) After a few good stirs and a few moments of simmering, I started to taste. Something was definitely missing. I decided not to use the cornstarch since I didn’t think there was enough liquid to need thickening up. I feared that if I did use the cornstarch we would have had taco paste. But I did come to the conclusion that I needed things to be saucier. What did I have that could do the trick without disturbing the Mexican flavors?

Well much to my chagrin, my secret ingredient ended up being as American as it gets. Ketchup! I also threw in some salsa, so basically more tomatoes. It did the trick though! Here is my final product as it simmered on the stove.

And here it is in taco format! Now I know this looks like a taco shell filled with guacamole (what can I say? I love my guac!) but trust me, there is taco meat in there. For the most part, my think outside the pre-packaged box challenge was a success! Maybe next time, I would add a can of diced tomatoes and simmer everything down, to really achieve that saucy consistency. Other than than that, I think I have Old El Paso beat. Hit the Rio Grande Senor!

Easter Sunday Eatin’: Jesus Rose From the Dead and My Blender Bit the Dust

First up, this official announcements from The Kitchen Times:

April 8, 2012 - Cuisinart “Curtis” Blender and Food Processor, beloved appliance of Emily K. Dumas, took his last breath on Sunday, April 8 during a whipping up of a traditional Bearnaise sauce. Cuisinart Curtis was born in 2006 in some factory in China and was given as a gift by Ronald R. Dumas to his daughters as they were starting on their new life in Boston. In the 6 short years he roamed this earth, Cuisinart Curtis was responsible for blending multiple soups and sauces. Some of his most memorable contributions to the gastronomic community include a Roasted Tomato Soup, Homemade Mayonnaise, and a Pumpkin Curry Bisque. Cuisinart Curtis is survived by Katrina the Kitchenaide Mixer, Sally Sunbeam Microwave, and Etienne the French Press. In lieu of flowers, please send monetary donations to the EMILY NEEDS A NEW BLENDER FUND.

Hello gang! As you can see from the obituary above, I am no longer the proud owner of a blender/food processor! How fitting that on the day we honor the memory of Jesus Christ rising from the dead, my sweet little blender was to join him in heaven. Blenders go to heaven, right? Doesn’t that prayer go: In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy blender?? Looking back on old posts, I realized I used good old Curtis a hell of a lot! He certainly made my life easier and taught me so much about the importance of a good puree. What will I do with out him??

In memory of Curtis, I dedicate this blog post to him – and now I’ll tell you all about his final minutes but most importantly how to concoct a tantalizing Bearnaise sauce!

Easter Sunday circa 1989 - when little girls in white blazers and puffy perms ruled the world

So where to begin? Easter Sunday! This past Easter Sunday, my sister and I were on our own. Back in the day, as a proud Roman Catholic family, we would get all dolled up in our Sunday best and go to church on Easter morning. I remember one year where I was so proud of my big straw hat and white Mary Janes. Yikes to say the least! Dad would buy us Whitman Samplers and Mom would stick some lip gloss and other girly stuff from Avon into Easter baskets. We’d have a massive egg hunt in the backyard and eat a big ham. Now that we are older, and slightly more atheist, we no longer attend church or really make a big deal out of it in general. Maybe that’s why Jesus took away my blender : (

Check out these eggs!

This year, in true, “I can’t let go of our childhood form”, Andre and I still exchanged Easter baskets and dyed some eggs. We also agreed that a fancy dinner was in order (rising from the dead is a BIG DEAL!) and decided on steak frites. Now steak frites might possibly be one of my favorite meals on the planet. I have fond memories of eating it practically every other day when I was in Paris a few years ago. I mean is there anything better than steak and potatoes? NO! There ISN’T! By far one of my favorite things about steak frites is the sauce. If you go to a bistro here or in France, chances are steak frites will be served with Béarnaise. Bearnaise is a relatively simple sauce, as far as French sauces go. And to prove that Jesus really does love me, it’s gluten free! A sibling of the more decadent Hollandaise, Béarnaise consists of mainly butter, tarragon, shallots, and eggs. Usually there is some variation of vinegar, lemon juice, white wine or all three thrown in there as well. I don’t think you’ve experienced heaven on a plate until you’ve dipped fatty meat into a fatty sauce. Bring on the coronary!

In typical Emily fashion, I had barely any of the ingredients on hand. It was Sunday, and I wasn’t too keen on leaving the house, so I decided a little improvisation was in store! I think the element of fresh tarragon is what really makes a Béarnaise a Béarnaise, but when it comes down to it, the last thing I ever have on hand is fresh herbs. So tarragon was out! I thought I had a lemon and turns out I didn’t so that was a no-go. I had one desiccated onion that could use in place of shallots – so that would have to do. I did however have butter, lots of vinegars, white wine, and some eggs. Make it work Emily, Make it work!

Traditionally, Béarnaise would be made on the stove-top by using a double boiler and whisking your brains out. I wasn’t so much up for that, so enlisted the help of my trusty blender for the big mixing part. I started by sautéing some chopped onions (my sub for shallots) and some red wine vinegar in a sauce pan. I cranked the heat to medium and let the whole thing reduce till I mostly had vinegar soaked onions. I added a dash or two of white wine to lessen that vinegar taste that tends to really choke people up. Once the sauce was reduced, I let it cool for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I melted 2 sticks of butter over very low heat in a small saucepan. Next up, I took 3 egg yolks and the onions and popped them into my blender, and blended for about 30 seconds. Here’s where things got a little dicey……

The next step in this process should have been to put the blender on high, and slowly drizzle in the melted butter. I started my drizzle and Curtis the Cuisinart started making a noise a kin to a wounded yak. Smoke started to pour out of the bottom and I smelled burnt rubber; like “oh no, your tires are on fire” burnt rubber. Eeeegads! Off went the blender, and bye bye went Curtis!

a photo from the morgue

Not to be derailed by the death of an appliance (the show must go on!), I quickly poured the contents of the blender into a bowl and started to drizzle in the butter by hand, while at the same time whisking to my little heart’s content. After a few moments of heavy whisking – voila Béarnaise sauce was achieved! With the exclusion of tarragon and inclusion of onion, the sauce ended up coming out more like Béarnaise's cousin from the wrong side of the tracks, but it did its job. Our steak frites turned out amazing and I happily dipped my fatty steak in a butter sauce as I watched Bubba Watson try on his cool green jacket. What an Easter! Thank you Jesus!

Plan B - whisk it up!

A fun fact about Béarnaise: The sauce has been attributed to Chef Collinet who invented puffed potatoes (what are those and can I try them immediately!!???) and served for the first time near Paris in 1836 at the opening of Pavillion Henri IV. I guess Henri IV was some sort of a gourmand and just happened to be born in the former Province of Bearn (in Southwestern France) hence the name Béarnaise.

Here’s a link to their version of the historical sauce; too bad it’s in French. The pictures are fun though - visual learning here we come! The hotel however is beautiful. I need to get married here ASAP to my imaginary French boyfriend Armand!

Pretty French hotel - tres jolie

When I made my Béarnaise, I sort of strung together tips from a lot of different recipes I found online. However, I used parts of this Ina Garden recipe specifically because it used a blender. And who doesn’t love Ina? I want her life.

Classy Béarnaise

1/4 cup Champagne or white wine vinegar

1/4 cup good white wine

2 tablespoons minced shallots

3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves, divided

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 extra-large egg yolks

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

6 (1-inch thick) rib eye steaks

Olive Oil

Coarsely ground black pepper

For the sauce, put the Champagne vinegar, white wine, shallots, 1 tablespoon tarragon leaves, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is reduced to a few tablespoons. Cool slightly.

Place the cooled mixture with the egg yolks and 1 teaspoon salt in the jar of a blender and blend for 30 seconds. With blender on, slowly pour the hot butter through the opening in the lid. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of tarragon leaves and blend only for a second. If the sauce is too thick, add a tablespoon of white wine to thin. Keep at room temperature until serving.

Recipe Upgrade: Curry Pumpkin Soup

Swish. Swoosh. What is that sound you say? It's just me, shooing off the virtual cobwebs that have inhabited this lovely blog. I wish I could say I have a good reason for neglecting my poor little baby East of Eating. I wish I could say I had triplets or took a sabbatical to Oslo to study Nordic legend. I wish I could say that I fell in love with a handsome Spaniard named Roderigo and we've been spending the last month making fondue and reading each other love poems. But I'm embarrassed to say, that it's just not true!

I've been lazy, people! Lazy and unmotivated. Food hasn't been that exciting for me lately. Maybe it was the holidays? Too many rich dinners, glasses of prosecco, and games of Yankee Swap can take its toll on a person. Throughout January, I found myself dreading the kitchen and my somewhat dilapidated pantry. My epicurious app stood idle. My food processor was silent. I became the cook who didn't cook. I wasn't East of Eating, I was West of Eating. So far past eating, I feared I had slipped into culinary boredom. Gasp! Shudder! Get the defibrillator!

Now, I am no drama queen, but in all honestly I haven't been cooking. But I'm going to - RIGHT NOW.

Today’s featured recipe comes from my dear friend Liz and hales from Bermuda. That's right, Bermuda! Home of pink sand beaches and one of my favorite cocktails, a Dark and Stormy. I've actually been there, and it is one of the loveliest places I've ever encountered. I was there over Columbus Day weekend to watch Liz marry her beau, and to this day I'm still finding pink sand in my belongings! That stuff gets everywhere - I think I was finding it in my hair weeks after the trip - and trust me I shower regularly.

beeeeeeautiful Bermuda

A few weeks ago, I went over to Liz's for a Pilates training session. She's training to be an instructor so I served as a guinea pig of sorts so she could practice her mad training skillz. By the end of the session I learned how tighten and tone my core and got a hell of a workout. I also realized that I should probably attempt a sit-up once every few months. My abs punished me for days afterwards for waking them from their months long hibernation.

Afterwards we made a healthy dinner - chicken on the grill pan over some spinach and a curry pumpkin soup. Liz had taken the pumpkin soup recipe from her good friend's mother, a Bermudian. The recipe itself was quite simple, mostly due to its use of canned pumpkin. I’m no stranger to pureed soups, and they are quite easy aside from cutting the squash or pumpkin up. This eliminated that step, and the recipe included a healthy dose of savories, curry, and some heavy cream at the end.

Actually, I CAN believe it's not butter. It stinks.

Liz, being the uber Pilates guru and healthy eater, had a really healthy pantry, so we had to tweak this recipe towards the healthy end of the spectrum. We used margarine instead butter and non-fat sour cream in place of the heavy cream. While the soup came out rather tasty, I felt a good dose of FAT would have made it all the better. It was a little thin, and I don't think I put enough curry in it. There was room for improvement, and I vowed to take on the challenge.

While many websites and health magazines set out to remake recipes that are unhealthy into something more calories conscious, here at East of Eating, that is pure blasphemy! I’m not saying that you shouldn’t eat healthy, but a large part of my some what restricted diet dogma involves eating good food that tastes good, calories be damned! You only live once. So here’s my version of curry pumpkin soup – unleash the calorie beast!

Release the calorie Kracken!

My first step in creating my version of the curry pumpkin soup involved research. I wanted to see how other sources made their soup, and perhaps steal some of their ideas. Mwhahhaha. A quick search on epicurious.com revealed a few different recipes that while keeping the same key ingredients; onions, canned pumpkin, curry, and stock – had quite a few variations to them. One recipe called for garlic, ginger, curry, and several other Indian spices. I liked the idea of garlic, because garlic just makes everything better. Ginger was intriguing but can be very overpowering. Some recipes pureed everything together at the end. Some didn’t. I’m a strong believer in pureeing any creamy vegetable soup. A little emulsion goes a long way in binding all the flavors together. Lastly, what to use for the creamy agent? Some recipes called for just stock, others heavy cream, and one coconut milk! I had never used coconut milk and am always looking for a non-dairy alternative, so coconut milk made the cut.

New Kid on the Block - coconut milk

In addition to garlic and coconut milk as the upgrade ingredients, I had to use butter to start things off. If you want to make this totally vegan or dairy free, you an always use olive oil. But I don’t feel totally chef-a-fied unless I start my savories with butter. It was only 1T, not enough to derail any diet plans.

Using the coconut milk ended up being quite a wild ride. I opened the can, and was shocked at how thick it was! It looked and tasted like coconut tinged cool whip! I was a bit concerned that this would leave things too creamy or sweet, so set out to use only half of the can. Yet, when I went to add the coconut milk there was quite a bit of coconut water on the bottom. The cream top part was merely separation. Ah, you wily coconut! So I added the whole can, and it was an excellent idea! I didn’t know you could get that kind of creaminess from something non-dairy and I intend on investigating more uses for coconut milk in order to expand my non-dairy repertoire (and perhaps make me some vegan friends).

Check out that creamy coconut - and my handsome pointer finger

I would say the one thing that might need further tweaking was the amount of curry I used. I felt that when Liz and I made our healthy version, we didn’t use enough curry. You couldn’t really taste it and that spicy heat was missing. I realized when cooking my own soup, that I am a curry virgin. I never use the stuff, so didn’t really understand its potency. Most recipes recommended 2 teaspoons, so I started with that. After adding the curry, pumpkin, coconut milk and stock, I tasted it and felt like it needed a bit more curry. So I added one more teaspoon. Idiot! I should have waited for the soup to simmer and the ingredients to combine! When I gave it to my sister to taste, she liked it but felt it was too spicy for her. This confused me as I still didn’t think it was that spicy - that is until I ate a bowlful. Woweeee, that's some strong stuff. I’m intrigued by curry. It’s not like jalapeno or habanero hot, but it has a smoky boldness that can be a touch overwhelming. I would stick to the 2 teaspoon measurement for future batches – even if just so I could eat more than a small bowl in one sitting.

Here’s the finished product. I will happily add this to my pureed soup recipe collection – it’s cozy and delicious and the curry adds a dash of the exotic to my pretty Westernized pallet.

Finished product - velvety smooth with a hint of spice

Emily’s Curry Pumpkin Soup

With inspiration from Mrs. Wadson and Epicurious.com

1 T butter
1 small onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 cans of pumpkin
1 can of coconut milk, unsweetened and full fat
2 t curry powder
2 cups of chicken stock
1 t honey
Salt and pepper to taste



Add 1 T butter to deep saucepan and melt on medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté 3 minutes.

Add 2 t curry power and sauté for 1-2 minutes until aromatic. Add pumpkin, stock, coconut milk, and honey. Stir to combine. If you feel like it looks too thick, you can throw in a little water. Reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool. Puree batches in blender and then add back to sauce pan. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Gluten Free Pity Party Plus the How to Make Friends with Chocolate

I wish I looked this cute throwing a gluten free tantrum + I miss overalls!

I would say I generally do not have any feelings of injustice about my lot in life as a gluten free person. My motto? It could be worse, a lot worse. I could be forced to eat vegan, have a goiter, or have no arms and legs like that man I met outside a bar last week. He asked if he could take my picture because he said I was something that he wanted for Christmas. How sweet, though now that I think about it, sort of creepy as well - but the man was basically a torso!

Yet every year around the holidays I like to throw myself a good old pity party about not getting to eat all the “fun stuff". For Thanksgiving this year, I took control of the situation, and cooked everything myself. The only thing that wasn’t gluten free at my Thanksgiving dinner was a basket of rolls and the pies – both things that don’t interest me at all. The food was delicious and I don’t think anyone missed the big, bad G-monster.

However, Christmas is a whole other ordeal that tends to leave me acting like The Gluten Free Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I blame this largely on the fact that I work in an office and sit right next to a buffet like table where all the Christmas tidings get placed. Here’s a typical day at the office for me.

Vendor: (carrying a large box of donuts, cupcakes, fried chicken) Come and get it everyone! Free food because you are AWESOME.

Emily: (takes a quick glance at the free food up for grabs, realizes she can’t eat it, and goes back to emailing). Sigh, I love having celiac disease! Who’s kidding who, I’m really the AWESOME one here.



Gluten loving co-worker: Wow, I feel so bad for you. You are in the best spot for guzzling all of this gluten filled food, yet you can't eat ANY of it. I don’t know how you function in life without being able to stuff pastries in your mouth 24 hours a day!



Emily: No worries, I’m not a huge whoopie pie eater anyways. Excuse me while I go cry in my favorite bathroom stall.




Ok, so my coworkers are not that mean. I really do love them (especially the one who gave me a bottle of Cote de Rhone for Secret Santa this year. Merci beau coup!) I’ll say for the most part, things have improved. With the economy in the toilet, no one can afford to give out a bunch of free stuff anymore. So nobody gets anything, and I win! Also, the one holiday vendor lunch I did have this year, we went to a place with a gluten free menu. And even though I found a renegade wheat bow-tie in my shrimp scampi with gf pasta, to quote Bob Dylan, “times they are a changin’.”



But it still makes me sort of mad/sad that when everyone else gets this as their mid-afternoon pick me-up:

fancy schmancy cupcakes from NYC. They were probably amazing!

I get to nosh on these yummmies. All I need is a bottle of Ensure and I’ll make my complete transformation into a nursing home resident – jesus, I’m only 28!

Why is fun gluten free food still totally inaccessible slash remortgage your house expensive? Why can’t they make cupcakes out of pure chocolate? Or have a gluten free spray that neutralizes all harmful gluten proteins? Why is my life so damn difficult!???

Well it is the holidays, and I'm reminded that there are some people that have no food - ever. And the fact that I can eat at least some food in this world, without any major struggle, means my life is pretty great. Cue the chorus of angels. Hallelujah! And on that note, let’s talk about CHOCOLATE!

For my work Xmas potluck this year, I decided to go the dessert route. This is an odd choice for me, as normally I loathe sweets. They just don’t do it for me. Ice cream is eh, cake is only good on birthdays, and gluten free cookies are the serious pits. However, recently I stumbled onto something that will satisfy my inner need for a 24 hour salt lick - chocolate with salt on it! Salty sweet is the way to go people. If you have not tried it you are making the biggest mistake of your life – right along with those tapered pants!

In the December issue of Bon Appetite they had their usual Yuletide smorgasbord including a recipe for Chocolate Almond Bark with Sea Salt and I thought that now is the perfect time to dust off my skills as a master chocolatier. Fun Fact: My first job at the age of 14 was actually at a chocolate shop. I prepped these amazing truffles and gained about 20 pounds doing it. Best summer of my life! For this particular recipe, I was pretty sure this was going to be just like riding a bike, with edible chocolate wheels!

For the most part this recipe was pretty easy, aside from making the caramel concoction to cover the almonds. It seemed so simple. Put some sugar in a sauce pan, add 2 T water, and then heat until the mixture turns an amber color. There was some direction about wiping the sides of the pan down with a wet pastry brush, but I sort of ignored that. This sounded like when you make simple syrup for mojitos – what could be easier????

Well my sugar mixture took forever to get to any sort of amber shade and it got so clumpy and weird. It looked nothing like caramel – more like rotten milk. So I did what any person used to cooking does when something looks lumpy or weird – I whisked the bleep out of it! And lo and behold, once I added the tablespoon of butter, I got something that resembled caramel. Be forewarned – DO NOT TRY TO TASTE THE HOT CARAMEL. That stuff was like 800 degrees and I nearly burned my thumb off. Also, don’t spill any on your extremities – who knew you could practically lose a toe from flying caramel! And........wear shoes in the kitchen!
do it yourself double boiler!

The rest really was quite easy. I don’t own a double boiler (not a lot of people do) and improvised with a glass bowl over a sauce pan. I melted the chocolate added the almonds and spread it out onto a cookie sheet. I’ve learned from using several recipes from Bon Appetite to read the online reviews first. I find that fellow readers are far more likely to encounter the same hurdles as you versus the test cooks at Bon Appetite. In this case, many of the reviewers had some good pointers on the caramel sauce and had a nice tip about waiting for the chocolate to cool a bit before adding the sea salt.

oooo action shot

A few hours later, I had some delicious bark. When I unveiled them at the office party, people were devouring the salty sweet goodness and I suddenly had a ton of new friends! By far my easiest and most visually appealing pot luck offering to date (the stuffed jalepenos I brought last time had seen better days after the morning commute) plus I have a ton of leftovers that I can eat in my pajamas tonight while I am enjoying my bottle of Cote de Rhone. Christmas really is full of gluten free miracles. Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy.

This bark will make you friends

Chocolate-Almond Bark with Sea Salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups roasted Marcona almonds (not in oil) - I couldn't find these so I just bagged, sliced almonds

1 pound good-quality dark chocolate (62%–70% cacao), finely chopped - I found 60% cacao chips that Ghirardelli sells now.

Coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or foil. Combine sugar with 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until caramel is dark amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately add butter; whisk until melted. Add almonds; stir until well coated. Transfer to baking sheet, spreading out to separate nuts. Let cool. Break up any large clumps of nuts. Set aside 1/4 of nuts.

Stir chocolate in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted. Remove from heat, add nuts from baking sheet, and stir quickly to combine. Spread chocolate-nut mixture on same baking sheet, keeping nuts in a single layer. Top with the reserved nuts; sprinkle with salt. Chill until chocolate is set, about 3 hours.

Break bark into pieces and store between layers of parchment or waxed paper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep chilled.

My Culinary Life In Pictures

Sipping on some 25 year old port in NOLA

Woweeeee. It’s been a CRAZY few months. I’ve been insanely lazy about posting anything recently, and it makes me feel sad. Almost so sad, that I want to insert an emoticon. But I won’t. I have self respect. I’m going to blame my lack of posting on the fact that I’ve had an off and on cold for a few weeks that has zapped my appetite, but also because my bank account has seen better days. How can I buy oodles of serious ingredients without some serious moolah? That’s right, you can’t. (Note to self: Look into culinary prostitution. Need money will work for Shaw’s gift cards!)

However, as I look through my new Iphone, I realized that I actually have eaten some fun stuff the last few months (I also realized I need to stop taking pictures of my cat with bows I’ve placed on her head) both things that I have made and things that I did not. So why not share all my fun feasts with you – my 7 fabulous followers?? Hi Mom!

Pork: The Other White Meat I Never Eat. Wait, I Think That's a Haiku!

This past Labor Day weekend, I was on Cape Cod and had dinner at Adrian’s in Truro. My friend Erin had heard that Boston chef Will Gilson had a pop-up restaurant at this little outpost this summer, so we drove to way out there Truro to sample the delights. The food was insane. This was pork loin (cooked to perfection btw) served with these neat little carrots, roasted leeks, and peaches. I love when fruit makes an appearance in a savory. I also can't tell you the last time I ate pork. Why don't I eat it more often?? It's just so delicious! My favorite part of this dish was the orange puree, which was actually chorizo flavored! Hot dog. Even though we got a flat tire on the way home, totally worth it!

Sufferin’ Succotash

One weekend this summer I drove my BFF back to her home-town of Fort Worth, Texas. That’s right, I drove to Texas in 2 days, suckaaaaaa. One night we stopped in New Orleans and ate at a stupendous restaurant called The Green Goddess where I had this duck sausage served with a black eyed pea succotash. I love the idea of a succotash ( I love to say the word even more!) so put together my own little mimic of that dish, subbing some chicken sausages for the duck. The black eyed peas really made this dish though be forewarned if you make a whole bag of beans, you will have A LOT of beans to eat. Of course if you are me, they just sit all guilty in a Tupperware in your fridge for a month before you come to the sad conclusion (or your roommate yells at you) that you're just never going to use those beans. I don’t do well with leftovers….

Norway: Fjords, Fish, Meatballs??

The premiere of The Amazing Race was at the end of September. A few friends and I are AR junkies, and thought it would be fun to have a "foods of the world" themed pot-luck event. It was my brilliant idea to pick our chosen country out of a hat, and of course I got stuck with....NORWAY! Kids, there’s a reason why Norwegian restaurants aren’t on every block. Their food is just weird. Just kidding - that’s mean. I will say that most of the food is pickled fish, brown bread, some weird brown cheese, reindeer? Not really pot luck caliber dishes. I did find a recipe for some meatballs with a spicy cream sauce - and by spicy think cinnamon not jalapeño. Here are the meatballs as they sizzled up. They turned out great and that’s mostly because I used about a pound of butter and lots of heavy cream.

No More Nachos!!!

There came a point in early October, where I was sick of eating nachos for dinner every night and smartly raided my bank account and splurged for scallops. Was I embarrassed that I went up to the fish market guy and said I wanted 3 scallops? Hellz no! It still cost me about $2 bucks a scallop and they were on sale! I wanted to make a restaurant worthy meal this night and one of my favorite things to order out are seared scallops over a risotto. For this risotto I did peas and a hint of lemon. Divine! I’m always a little wary of the whole scallop searing process. Butter or Oil? How long per side? They are just so delicate and they are really easy to over-cook. I got a pretty good sear on these though, and they were damn good.


If you turn 25, I’ll make thee Duck

My sister turned 25 on October 14th! Happy Birthday Andre! Andre loves duck and part of her present this year included me cooking a delectable duck feast. Well Monsieur Duck seriously took it out of me. I was at the peak day of my October coldfest and spent the morning running around trying to find duck breasts whilst guzzling various cold meds. I ended up buying a whole duck and teaching myself how to de-bone it via a YouTube video. I went for the French classic, Duck a L’Orange. Like a lot of French dishes the sauce was really complicated and by complicated I mean 28 different steps, lots of reducing stocks, caramelizing sugar, etc. Those French are serious over achievers. Duck is also a tricky bird when it comes to cooking it just right—but I got a pretty good sear on these and got them to a nice medium rare. I served the duck over a simple asparagus risotto with Romano cheese. Yum Yum.

Wow, Onion Rings Are FANTASTIC.

Andre also inspired me to make another meal recently; BBQ Bacon Cheeseburgers with Onion Rings. This particular burger is Andre’s Holy Grail burger and one day she was eating it and I asked her if I could take a sniff. Oh the pathetic lives of those who cannot eat burgers on buns! The smell was intoxicating; fatty burger, tangy bbq, smoky bacon, and the fried yumminess of the onion rings. I nearly swooned. I ended up making my own bun-less version, complete with gluten free onion rings! I used GF pancake mix for the breading and it all worked out rather well. It was my first onion ring in almost 10 years and I had forgotten how flipping amazing they are.

MY CAT IS CUTE DEAL WITH IT

There is no culinary story tied to this little gem, but I do enjoy taking pictures of my sweet cat. This is a mini raspberry sorbet that I got and that IS food, so I think it qualifies for the montage. Cat Lady, what what??

The Hunger Games: Day Four

As of this morning, I’ve embarked on the beginning of my fourth day of eating like a vegan. I’m not going to lie; it pretty much sucks, though not as much as I thought it was going to suck, so I guess that’s a big old WIN. I’m actually shocked I haven’t cheated yet, even yesterday when my darling sister tried to ply me with chicken liver mousse, brie cheese and Ritter bars. I held fast and firm. Nothing can shake my inner vegan warrior! NOTHING.

Xena was a total vegan face

On a hunger scale, I would say I’m at a steady 5 or 6 all day. That’s my biggest beef (zing!) about the vegan diet; I never feel satisfied or full. I’m not necessarily looking forward to my next plate of steaming veggies. I thought this would be a huge problem for me since most days I turn into the female version of the Incredible Hulk if my blood sugar dips below a certain level. I honestly feared for the safety of my sister and cats. However, I seem to have magically maintained my pleasant demeanor. I will say I have gotten pretty creative on my menu, and that has helped. Going into this week, I made a point of not being lazy and just eating pasta every day and so far I’ve succeeded. Here’s what I’ve had so far:

Day 1

Breakfast: granola with rice milk

Lunch: quinoa with beets and beet greens

Dinner: roasted portabello mushroom “steaks”, roasted potatoes, and green beans

Good looking mushrooms steaks!

Day 2

Breakfast: banana with peanut butter

Lunch: Burrito bowl from Boloco – vegan style (and they totally gipped me on the rice btw)

Dinner: Butternut Squash Soup and corn tortilla quesadilla with rice cheese, tomato, and basil.

A vegan burrito bowl from Boloco. Basically I paid $5.00 for a bowl of lettuce, three beans and a few grains of rice. All I can say is good thing I added the guac!


Day 3

Breakfast: banana with peanut butter

Lunch: butternut squash soup and a wrap with tomato, basil, and mustard

Dinner: roasted eggplant with broccoli polenta

I have to admit, this polenta was really blah without the milk or cheese. Damn you vegans!


In true list loving fashion, here are a few things I've learned about this "whole vegan thing".......

1. The soy lattes at Starbucks are surprisingly good. I don’t usually take sugar in my coffee so this was a bit on the sweet side for me. But by the time the foam melted into the coffee, it was sort of ….nice?

2. I didn’t have high hopes for my rice cheese. I should have guessed that a dairy substitute made with a grain would be, well, grainy. But the package said it was good at melting, and that definitely made it taste less like sticks. Hooray!

3. Season, Season, Season. Without butter and milk to add to things, I found that a little extra seasoning really goes a long way. I have been using veggie stock in the place of water when I cooked most of my grains, salt and peppering like it’s my job, and throwing random herbs into everything. Long live basil!

4. Vegan and Gluten free granola is the pits! As you can see from my menu recap, I bailed on the gluten free granola by Day 2. First of all, it tastes like cardboard coated with cranberry dust. Secondly, my affordable (cough, cough à $7.00) bag, would probably last me three servings! What a rip. I really think the market takes advantage of gluten free people. Just because we haven’t tasted granola in a few years does not mean we won’t realize that this stuff tastes like crap.

5. God bless tortilla chips, salsa, and guacamole. By the end of this wild ride, I think I’ll have to base my strict adherence to this diet on the fact that my almost daily ritual of bingeing on chips and salsa (or guac) and a cocktail while watching Jeopardy, remained intact! God truly loves me if he made booze and avocados vegan and gluten free.

So with only 4 full days to go, I can just about see the finish line of this Vegan Marathon. Look---a nice wedge of Brie cheese is waiting for me with it’s arms (do cheese have arms? Just go with it) open for a big hug.I still have to survive my work potluck (I'm making a vegan pumpkin risotto) and might do a grand finale at a vegan or vegetarian restaurant. Until then.....VEGAN ME.