Bean and Pepper Chilli

Having spotted a tweet linking to this recipe from Sainsbury's, we took a look and decided that, with a very small tweak (using ready made gluten free tortilla chips) this would be a dish we'd like to eat.

It's a speedy supper and is something that could be made with store cupboard/freezer items.

We used a fresh yellow pepper as the recipe suggests but think that Sainsbury's frozen sliced mixed peppers would also be good to use.

What was needed was a jar of Sainsbury's Taste The Difference Cherry Tomato & Chilli Pasta Sauce, a tin/carton of red kidney beans (drained), a yellow pepper (sliced), two cloves of garlic, a teaspoon of smoked paprika and water.

Having sliced the yellow pepper (though, as mentioned before, frozen peppers could be used), it was cooked for a few minutes before the smoked paprika was added and stirred through.

After another couple of minutes the two cloves of garlic were added (we used a couple of black garlic cloves as that's what we had in the cupboard).

Adding the drained kidney beans and the pasta sauce to the pan, it was time to add 300ml of water.

We discovered that, handily, the pasta jar has a capacity of 300ml to just under the shoulder... something that will be useful when we take the 'makings' of this recipe on holiday with us - as it means we won't need to find a measuring jug.

The heat was then turned up and the chilli was left to simmer for 20 minutes until it had thickened slightly.

Finally it was time to serve - Sous Chef J likes Manomasa's Chipotle & Lime Tortilla chips so we used these... adding a green salad and some grated cheese (leave out the cheese and this will be a vegan meal).  A lovely dish for a speedy meat free meal, any day of the week.

Florentines

We are members of the Sainsbury's blogger Community and were asked about whether we use flaked almonds in our cooking.  Following a gluten free regime, almonds are an ingredient we use lots but we thought we'd try something new.  Having taken time to think of things we like to eat which feature flaked almonds, we decided to see if we could find a new recipe to try.  A quick search of the Sainsbury's recipes online and we found something - a Florentines recipe - which would be a good one to try to adapt to being Gluten Free.

Of course, as those of you who follow our blog will guess, we didn't *quite* stick to the actual recipe as some of the ingredients were tweaked a little.  For starters, we substituted Dove's Farm Plain Gluten Free Flour for the flour in the recipe.  Then, as Sous Chef J doesn't like brazil nuts, we decided to make use of some macadamia nuts.  We also used only raisins and sultanas, omitting the peanuts in the original recipe.  Finally, we were lacking creme fraiche, so used double cream instead.  So, our ingredients were as follows:-

• 50g unsalted butter
• 100g light soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Gluten Free plain flour
• 75ml double cream
• 50g flaked almonds
• ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
• 125g raisins & sultanas
• 50g macadamia nuts roughly chopped

The butter and sugar were melted over a low heat.  When fully melted, the flour was added and the mix was brought up to boiling.  Next, we stirred in the double cream and removed the pan from the heat before adding the spice, nuts and dried fruit.

Having mixed the ingredients together well in the pan, we placed tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with silicone sheets.

The florentines were then cooked in a pre-heated oven (160ºC fan) for 10-12 minutes.  BEWARE - they spread out LOTS!

We cooled the florentines on the trays for about 5 minutes before using a palette knife to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.  The original plan had been to drizzle them with melted dark and white chocolate (per the Sainsbury's recipe) but they were too tasty to leave for long enough for that to happen.

Next time we make these (as Christmas goodies) we'll use less mix in the 'dollops' and WILL drizzle or dip them in chocolate before storing in cellophane bags and giving as gifts.


Disclosure - we were sent a 200g bag of flaked almonds by Sainsbury's, some of which we used in this recipe.

Gluten Free Christmas Cake

Page in Sainsbury's mag that ACTUALLY MENTIONS changes for a gluten free bake!

Having spotted the above recipe in the December 2012 Sainsbury's Magazine, we couldn't not give it a go.  As regular readers of this blog will know, we rarely stick to the letter of a recipe and this one was no different.  We'd bought a small, springform cake tin from Aldi the other week (18cm round) and wanted to make a cake in it.  So, we halved the ingredients listed in the Mag and used the following:-

75g ready to eat figs - chopped
112g stoned, soft prunes - chopped
50g skin on almonds
112g soft butter
92g dark brown soft sugar (we only used 62g due to a calculation error!)
125g self raising flour (we used Dove's Farm, gluten free)
¼tsp ground cinnamon
¼tsp ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
2 large eggs, lightly beaten (we used 3 medium eggs)
112g raisins (we used mixed dried fruit)
1½Tablespoons black treacle
Juice and zest of ¾ lemon

The figs and prunes were chopped using scissors.

Having creamed the butter and sugar (using an electric hand mixer as we don't *yet* have a stand mixer)...  the flour and ground spices were added to the mix a third at a time, with a little of the beaten egg and mixed thoroughly before adding more.

Once all the flour and eggs were incorporated, the remaining ingredients were then mixed through by hand. 

The cake, ready to bake in our fab 18cm Aldi springform tin

Testing the cake - the knife's clean!

Having heated the oven to 150ºC, we baked the cake for 50 minutes then checked on it.  At this point, it was looking quite browned on top, so we covered it with foil to reduce the chance of burning and returned it to the oven for another 15 minutes.  We then checked it with a knife to see if it was cooked through.




Once the knife, inserted into the cake, came out clean, the cake was removed from the oven and left to cool completely in the tin.

Cooled Christmas cake - what a level top it has.

Here's the cake... ready to be decorated... another day!