Christmas is coming - Panforte di Siena

I love Christmas food and especially baking, however it can be a bit tedious for gluten free eaters unless you have a bit of time to plan in advance.  I normally become a bit obsessed in the weeks leading up to the holidays, baking to fill the house with aromatic spices & delicious snacks to ensure that there are enough tasty bites for us all to share. 
This year I am starting a bit early with the baking as I'll be putting my feet up in hospital just before Christmas (the lengths some people go to for a rest!), so I am already thinking about my favourite snacks and squirrel-like, I'm making and storing some away.  Parmesan crisps and Union Bar nuts are an absolute must in our house.  I've started making a version of the nuts using fennel & lemon zest as well, which taste just great with a G&T. 
Usually, I make traditional gluten free Christmas cakes but this year my diet restrictions have put this recipe out of reach. Trying to find a cake which was egg free and contained no added fat seemed like an impossible task, but I was wrong, thank you to the Italians!
Panforte di Siena packs a spicy punch wrapped up in sticky rich fruit and nuttiness - now isn't that the perfect festive combination?  Lots of the recipes I found had a lot more sugar and honey, but this has a base of dried figs instead which are both naturally sweet and perfectly festive.  If you can, use whole pieces of peel and cut them into rough chunks about 1cm square, this will give a more interesting texture and gives a rustic look to the cake.  To make your own candied peel, you can use this recipe from the L.A Times, it is very easy to do and the results will lift this cake to another level. If I was going to the trouble of making my own peel, I would definitely use fresh spices, lightly toasted and fragrant, freshly ground.

The recipe may look really long, but it is very straightforward and, dare I say it, easy?!  I have baked a couple of test runs to make sure I get the fruit and spicing combination right.  The first attempt was definitely too peppery, though not too peppery to eat, of course!  I think this recipe has a good balance of flavours, it certainly works for my tastes and I hope you like it too.

Panforte di Siena
This is lovely served at the end of a meal, either with cheese or with coffee (or both!).


Ingredients:

• 100g blanched almonds
• 100g hazelnuts, unskinned
  
• 240g dried figs, chopped (you could substitute dates, prunes or a mix of all 3, instead)
  
• 75ml water
• 50g honey
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp crushed cardamom seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp finely ground black pepper
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 70g whole glace cherries
• 70g organic apricots, chopped
• 70g candied orange peel, chopped
• 40g candied lemon / citron, chopped
• 60g rice flour
• 30ml pommeau or vin santo, or moscatel
• 1 orange, zested and juiced.
• 2-3 sheets rice paper
• clean tea towel and a baking sheet
  
• lots of icing sugar
• 1 x 21cm square or 25cm round tin, lined with baking paper

Method:

1. preheat the oven to 150°C
2. on a baking sheet make 2 separate heaps, one of the hazelnuts, the other of almonds.  
3. toast the nuts in the oven for 12 minutes.
4. when they are done tip the hazelnuts onto the tea towel and wrap them up.  rub the nuts inside the tea towel, the friction should flake the skins off.  pick the nuts out and shake the dusty skins into the compost or bin.
   
5. layer the rice paper over the baking paper in the base of the tin - this will form the base for the cake
6. put the chopped figs in a medium sized sauce pan with the water (add more if required to just cover the fruit).
7. measure out the spices and add them, with the honey & sugar to the pan
8. heat the pan, stirring occassionally and cook for 10 minute until the water has been absorbed creating a soft and sticky paste
9. take the pan off the heat
10. add the fruits & orange zest and mix in thoroughly
11. add the nuts, and do the same
12. sieve the flour into the pan and stir to mix through
13. pour on the orange juice and alcohol
14. stir to mix
15. spoon the mix into the tin and spread gently to create a thick even layer
16. bake for 30-40 minutes 
17. remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin
18. to serve, dredge with icing sugar*

*If you are not serving this immediately, don't dust with the icing sugar instead wrap the cake in cling film before storing in an airtight box or tin.  Don't forget to the icing sugar before serving though.

sweet cucumber pickles & ginger-pickled carrots

I've just discovered I really like making pickles!  I usually write up my recipes as I go, to ensure that I don't forget any stages, but I was so engrossed with this from the beginning I almost forgot.
I've been reading blogs all autumn full of ingenious recipes for pickling but I was very unsure about how to create the right balance of flavours - it didn't really dawn on me to taste the spicing vinegar.  The original plan was to make 2 completely different types of pickles using different types of vinegar to try out their flavours.  As it turned out 1x568ml bottle of distilled vinegar was enough for both the cucumber pickles and the carrot ones, so I just added some additional spice to the carrot, which I made second. I used 2 x 0.5L 'Le Parfait' style jars along with 1 old Bonne Maman jar (this had +20% so a bit bigger than the usual size).
Both the carrots and the cucumbers look really good so will make good Christmas presents.  I am sure that I will be making more of these in the next couple of weeks.


Sweet pickled cucumbers

Ingredients:

• 500g mini cucumbers, halved
• 25g (1 tbsp + 1dsp) salt
• 1.5 tsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp coriander
• 10 white peppercorns
• 10 black peppercorns
• 1 bunch dill
• 568ml distilled vinegar
• 175g white sugar
• 1 x 1L sterilised pickling jar
• 1 x 500g sterilised pickling jar

Note:  I tasted the dill pickles a week after I made them.  They are really good: sweet yet slightly salty crunchy and spicy.  If you like things a bit more toned down, you could use 150g sugar and 17g salt.  

Method:

• wash then sterilise jars in an oven at 140°C for 15 minutes, cool whilst preparing the cucumbers
• fill a pan with water and bring to the boil
• wash  and halve cucumbers (quarter if very plump)
• blanch the cucumbers in the boiling water for 1 minute
• drain and rinse in cold water
• allow cucumbers to cool and dry
• add the vinegar, spices, sugar and salt to the empty saucepan used to blanch the cukes.
• bring to the boil, and if you can bring yourself to, taste the vinegar to check the balance of sugar and salt.
• adjust with extra sugar or salt as you wish
• dunk a few sprigs of dill into the boiling vinegar for a few seconds to sterilise (I have no idea whether this helps, it just seemed like a sensible idea)
  
• pack the cucumbers and dill into the jars
  
• pour the spiced vinegar over the packed jars, ensuring the vegetables are fully covered
  
• lid with acid-proof (ie not exposed metal) sterilised lids 
• store in a dark cupboard for 3-4 weeks before serving
• store in fridge after opening and consume within 1 month

Ginger pickled carrots
Using the (250g)  left over pickling vinegar so I decided to pickle some organic carrots with fresh ginger

Ingredients

• 300g organic carrots,
  
• pan of boiling water for blanching the carrots
• leftover pickling vinegar
  
• 15g peeled and thinly sliced fresh ginger

Method:

• wash, peel and quarter the carrots length-ways (to create spears) 
• blanch the carrots for 1 minute then drain and rinse in cold water
• bring the spiced vinegar to the boil and add the ginger
• taste vinegar to check for seasoning
• pack the carrots into a 0.5L sterilised jar
• pour the vinegar and spices over ensuring the vegetables are covered
• lid with acid-proof (ie not exposed metal) sterilised lids 
• store in a dark cupboard for 3-4 weeks before serving
• store in fridge after opening and consume within a couple of weeks

gluten free gnocchi

It's definitely Autumn now!  Of course you can't have failed to notice that, the leaves are blowing from the trees, daylight fades at 5pm and the rain falls as much as the sun used to shine. Winter boots are replacing sandals and the central heating clicks on for the first time since spring.  I haven't altogether let go of my comfy birkenstocks but I am embracing autumnal foods very happily.
Here is a recipe for squash & sweet potato gnocchi.  These are free from potatoes and wheat flour so are great for both gluten free and nightshade free diets.  I was really disappointed when I thought that I would have to give up gnocchi, so I was relieved to realise that this wasn't the case.

The first time I cooked this recipe with just squash, but the little dumplings seemed to be a little bit squeaky in your mouth and just not substantial enough.  Adding the sweet potato gives a firmer dough which is easier to roll and much, much more satisfying to eat.  The extra starch means that these freeze a lot better than squash only, so you can make more and freeze for quick mid week suppers
I was looking for a slightly bitter sauce to cut through the natural sweetness of the gnocchi, so - as pictured - I served the gnocchi here with a drizzle made of blanched dandelion leaves, garlic and olive oil.  Making this again I will make the sauce with equal amounts of dandelion and either spinach or rocket to balance the strong flavour of autumnal dandelion, but I was pleased with the results as I have never tried cooking with dandelion leaves.

Gluten free Gnocchi with a dandelion drizzle (serves 4)

350g squash, or piece of  (raw and unpeeled)
1 x 400g sweet potato stabbed with a fork all over
1 free range egg (medium)
120 g (3/4 cup) rice flour
30g (1/4 cup) glutinous rice flour 
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Preparation

• Microwave* each vegetable for around 5 mins each for an 800W oven until they are soft and cooked throughout.  Set to one side to cool whilst you prep the flour.
• Sieve 120g rice flour with 30g glutinous rice flour and just under 1/5 tsp xanthan gum.
• Once the vegetables are cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh from the skins (scrape to get every last morsel).  Mash the vegetable flesh together with a potato masher (or whizz briefly in a food processor).  If the puree is still warm, wait for it to cool (rather than cold) before you move on to the next stage.

Making the dough

• Beat the egg gently and then add to the vegetables, stir through until the egg is combined making a smooth thick batter.
• Season with a bit of salt and black pepper (taste if you don't mind the raw egg).
• Some squashes are drier than other varieties and this will dictate the amount of flour you need to add.
• Sprinkle one tablespoon of the flour mix at a time over the vegetable batter, and stir until throughly combined.
• Continue doing this until the batter is too thick to stir and needs to be kneaded by hand (for me this was after adding 75g flour (i used a buttercup squash which is quite firm and dry).

Forming the gnocchi

• Sprinkle your work surface with more of the flour mix and scrape the dough out onto the worktop.  If the dough is still sticky, knead some more of the flour in until the dough holds it's shape.
• Form into a block and cut into 4 pieces, roll out 1 piece to make a long sausage no more than 2cm wide.
• With a wet knife, cut 2cm lengths along the length of the dough - it should make around 15-18 pieces per portion.
• Form the dough into gnocchi (see below for over complicated instructions - why didn't I take photos of the process?!
• Continue until you have rolled all the dough and then leave to dry for at least 30 mins before cooking.

To make the drizzle.

• Pick about 20 small (less than 7cm) dandelion leaves and wash them.  Fill a 1 pint bowl with cold water and set by the hob.
• Bring a little pan of water to the boil, drop the leaves in and let them boil for about 30 seconds.
• Lift them out with a draining spoon and dunk them straight into the cold water.
• Allow to cool for a minute or two, the scoop them out with your hand and squeeze hard to extract all moisture.
• Chop finely along with 1/4 clove fresh garlic.
• Put both in a small bowl and drizzle over some olive oil.
• Mix then taste, season with salt and pepper as required.

To cook the gnocchi

• Bring a large pan of water to a rolling boil.
• Salt - approx 10g per litre of water.
• Add gnocchi and let the pan come back to the boil.
• As soon as the gnocchi rise to the surface (1-2 minutes) they are cooked, so drain them and serve with the drizzle, and grated parmesan if you can eat it.

Instructions for forming gnocchi (if you need them)

• Roll each piece of dough in the palm of your hand to make a ball (dust with a little flour if necessary).
• Balance the dough ball between your middle finger and your 3rd finger (ring finger in the UK) then grab a fork and drag the fork gently over the top of the ball - the dough will lengthen slightly as it moves and pick up the markings of the fork.  
• If you drag the fork across your fingers, the gnocchi will be stopped by your ring finger and slightly squashed - that will make a little dent in the back of the gnocchi which increases the surface area and makes it cook quicker.
• The fork grooves help your sauce stick to the gnocchi meaning you get a perfect portion of sauce & dumpling with each forkful.
  

*Microwaves:  I recently contributed to forum chat on the UK Food Bloggers Association discussing microwaves.  I realised then I don't really use mine much, and certainly not for cooking, just heating stuff up.  Using the microwave to cook these vegetables was much quicker and much more efficient than the oven.  I was suprised that the results were just as good as oven roasting, with a little caramelising on the cut surfaces of the squash.  I will definitely try this again.

Apple and blackberry crumble

I don't bake sweet treats at home anywhere near as often I as should, which I supose makes the name of the blog a misnomer.
Kate the bake comes from me being a baker by trade rather than writing a blog full of baking recipes.  Perhaps I should include more baking recipes to rectify this.
As Autumn hurries on whipped up by strong winds and driving rain, we find ourselves craving comfort food.  Today faced with a pile of fresh eating apples and the blackberries that I strained our out of our blackberry vodka, I realised that I really needed to find a home for both.  So here is a blackberry and apple crumble (or crisp).  I have made this with a gluten free topping of course,
and have used a mixture of rice and maize flour, but you could add gluten free grain flakes for a bit of texture and vary the spices depending on the fruit.

Blackberry & Apple crumble

Ingredients
400g (4 small) dessert apples, peeled, cored and chopped.
100g blackberries
1 lemon - zest only
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit method:

• Put the fruit in a pan with a splash of water (a tablespoon or so) and let simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.
• Taste the fruit & sweeten with dk brown muscavado (turbinado sugar) or agave nectar if very tart.
• Add the zest and vanilla extract, stir through.
• Pour the fruit into a baking dish - I used several small dishes for individual portions but I guess that an 8" or 9" square ceramic dish would be fine.
  

Topping
90g (1/2 cup) rice flour
80g (1/2 cup) maize flour
115g (1/2 cup) castor sugar
90g (1/2 cup) dark muscavado sugar (turbinado sugar, I think)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
125g (1 stick) cold butter

Topping method

• weigh out flours and cinnamon, sieve together
• weight out sugars and stir into flour
• finely chop butter and add to flour mix
• rub in as if you were making pastry until you have a  sticky bread crumb mix ( you can do this in a food processor).
• spoon the topping over the fruit in the baking dish creating a thick even layer.

Place the baking dish on a lined tray to catch any drips.  Bake in a preheated oven for around 40 mins at 190 deg C, until the crumble is browning on top and the juices are oozing up the sides of the dish.
Serve with whilst still warm just as it is or with yoghurt, cream, custard or ice cream.

Hummous two ways

The 16 year old just rolled in from her friend's birthday party (it was 12.40pm the day after).  She is normally a remarkably well-behaved young lady but I had been forwarned by her text at 9am ("I just threw up!" said with some pride) that she may feel a little delicate.
I tried to think of something to snack on which would give her some energy and protein without resorting to the good old English breakfast routine laden in grease.  So it was that I found myself skinning chick peas to make hummous.

I know it is completely unnecessary to skin them, as the skins are perfectly edible, but it makes a dramatic difference to the quality of the finished product, and, it's not as if I have anything else to do - according to the teen anyway!

Aux puces de la Mosson

I find it is always either feast on famine at flea markets and car boots, and today was no exception.
I love wandering around & searching out long forgotten or discarded treasures but, easily distracted by people watching & evesdropping, I inevitably miss a bargain in the process.  This flea market is so colourful, it is very difficult to concentrate on the task in hand. The faces and voices combine with the wafting aromas of frying merguez sausages, fresh oily coffee and cigarette smoke to create a hypnotic headiness which draws you away from here towards North Africa and far away from the task at hand.
Today I tried to keep my head down & focussed, so I did my best to ignore the Moroccan tagines, the drum-playing father & son duo and the guys strumming guitars to advertise their sales in the far corner. Now that I have my lovely canary yellow rectangular Le Creuset 1970's cocotte (bought here earlier in the year), I'm trying to find smaller items that are more useful for everyday cooking. The focus was again cast iron.  The trick, I have learnt, is to check the insides carefully - by touch rather than by eye.  Often rust and dirt is just superficial, but chips that look quite superficial can be deep into the enamel which will flake further in use.  Today was a good day ...

 I won't mention the set of simple fluted ice cream glasses that disappeared from before my eyes into the bag of a lady in front me ...

help please - the next day of the rest of my life

My usually cast iron stomach is no more, and I have been mourning my loss.

At present, my diverse investigation into foods of the world has been interrupted, and my own body is doing the interrupting.  I have scarcely recovered from the news that I have to exclude all things nightshade from my diet.  This has now been augmented by my body's sudden aversion to meat, fat, dairy products, sugar and (almost worse) alcohol.  To be honest I am not sure that the alcohol bit is entirely necessary so I will do some tests - for the sake of science, mind you - to challenge this theory next week.  In the meantime though, all of the above means that I have suddenly become a vegetarian, no fat, gluten free teetotaller.

I'm not sure yet what I make of this change, it is really too early to say.  On the plus side,  I feel a lot better than I have done for months and I am looking forward to fitting into clothes that haven't seen daylight for a while!  On the negative side, at first glance, almost everything that I enjoy for both nutritional and purely pleasurable purposes, is now denied me.

The effects of this are immediate.  At work I am struggling to be able to taste the recipes that it is my job to design so I am having to learn to work in a whole new way.  I have to be very careful how I taste products, and spitting a sample (so beloved of supermarket buyers everywhere) does not permit you to experience the the flavours & textures of a products in the same way as swallowing.  At home, the enjoyment that I used to get from baking and creating sweet treats is no more, and in its' place is a new challenge I face (at least) 3 times a day - what on earth am I going to eat?