Garlic Mushrooms

When the veg box arrived the other day with a paper bag of chestnut mushrooms, which Sous Chef J will not eat, a recipe was required to make use of them.  We chose another long standing family recipe as it's quick and easy with only five ingredients. 

Gathered with the mushrooms were a clove of garlic, an onion, a Tablespoon of oil and a Tablespoon of tomato puree.

The garlic was 'squashed and squished', then the onion was chopped fairly finely.  Next the oil was heated in a small pan before adding the garlic and onion, to sweat over a low heat for a few minutes. At this point, the tomato puree was added to the pan and left to cook through for about five minutes (again on a low heat). 


Whilst the garlic, onion and tomato puree was cooking, the mushrooms were cleaned, the stalks trimmed and they were quartered. 


Finally the mushrooms were added to the pan and left to cook, still on low, for a little over five minutes.  This allows the lovely mushroom juices to be released.

A quick mix round and the mushrooms are ready to serve... as a side dish with steak or on Gluten Free toast for a quick lunch.

Doughnut Sticks

 When @CoeliacStudent Saara posted that she'd made some Gluten Free Sticky Doughnut Sticks on her blog  it was only a matter of time before Sous Chef J and I were having a go at making them!

The recipe calls for very few ingredients which is always something that catches our eye.  As a tester batch, we decided to make half the quantity the Saara used.


So, we gathered together flour (65g Plain and 65g Self Raising from Dove's Farm and, of course, in this recipe we use gluten free) and 15g caster sugar.  Weighed out 200g water (yes, really) and added a Tablespoon of oil.

The water had the oil added to it and was then put into a pan and brought to the boil.

This hot water/oil  mix was then added, gradually, to the flour/sugar bowl which had also had a pinch of salt added.

 The mixture was brought together with a fork until it formed a rough dough ball.

Next, small amounts of the dough were rolled into stick (we used a silicone sheet and a little flour for dusting).  We were as quick as possible and, whilst this was happening, we had a small frying pan heating with oil on the hob.

 Once the oil was heated to 'bubbles when you drop a bit of dough in temperature' we carefully added the dough sticks, in batches, to cook (remembering to turn them) til lightly browned.










The cooked sticks were drained on kitchen towel and cooled slightly before being rolled in granulated sugar.

Finally, the Doughnut sticks were served ... and they didn't last long!  

 Thanks again, Saara for sharing your recipe... we think we'll be making these quite often from now on.

Chilli Potato Mix

This is a simple and fairly quick way to make a tasty potato dish.  It has just four ingredients and is great to fill the oven when making cookies or cakes.

The ingredients were gathered - potatoes, sweet potato, sunflower oil and sweet chilli sauce.  We just used what we had to hand... and, this time, the ratio was about 3 parts potato to one part sweet potato but this is very variable.

First of all, the potatoes (we used new potatoes so didn't peel them) and peeled sweet potatoes were diced into similar sized pieces (about 1cm cubes) and placed in a bowl.  Then some sunflower oil was drizzled over and mixed thoroughly to ensure the cubes were coated.

This was then placed on a non-stick baking tray and put in the pre-heated oven (about 170ºC for our fan oven).

After about twenty minutes, the potatoes were turned and a good helping of chilli sauce was added...
obviously the amount used depends on how spicy you want the result... and check the sauce is Gluten Free.

Then, the well mixed concoction was returned to the oven for another five minutes or so until the potatoes had a golden sheen.

And there you have it... simple, quick and tasty Chilli Potato Mix.