Lemon Curd – Low FODMAP.

I love the sharpness and sweetness of lemon curd and the vibrant yellow colour is just perfect for Easter. It is also a great gift to give to those relatives you haven’t seen for some time! It does contain fats and sugar but you will generally only be using a small amount on toast or crackers so it’s likely to be fine to use and absolutely fine for an Easter treat!

Ingredients

• 6 unwaxed lemons
• 300g caster sugar
• 150g butter
• 6 medium sized eggs

Method

• Wash and grate the skin from the lemons, cut in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl
• Add the caster sugar, lemon juice, butter and rind into a glass bowl and put the bowl over a pan on boiling water and mix until the butter is dissolved.
• Crack open the eggs into a separate bowl and beat with a fork.
• Add the egg mixture to the other ingredients over the boiling water pan slowly and mix till incorporated.
• Add the mix to a fresh pan and heat directly whilst stirring till the mixture thickens.
• Add to jars sterilized with hot water.
• This should keep for around two weeks

Makes about 700g depending on the size of the eggs

Easy!

Zucchine (courgette) Pizza gluten free low lactose

Just the job for using up all those extra glut of courgettes that you have in the garden! Courgettes are great for the low fodmap diet, this recipe used yellow courgettes but green ones will work just as well so don’t feel you need to produce this recipe exactly – although the pizza dough does need to be followed closely and it is a modification of one of Jamie’s gluten free pizza bases, but using lactose free milk and one or two tips from someone who is familiar with using the ingredients and fickleness of cooking gluten/wheat free.

Ingredients

Dough

400g of gluten free bread flour (I used doves Farm with zanthan gum already added)

250ml lactose free semi skimmed milk

2 1/2 teaspoons of castor sugar

7g fast yeast powder

1 teaspoon of zanthan gum

1 teaspoon of salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of gluten free baking powder

Topping

1 sachet of lactose free mozzarella

1 courgette

2 small handfuls of pine nuts

a few basil leaves

2 tablespoons of grated parmesan

a few thyme leaves

oil and egg (beaten)

seasoning

Method

Warm the milk to lukewarm

Add 50ml milk to a dish and add the sugar and yeast, mix and leave in a warm area till it bubbles

Weight out the flour, sieve and add the zanthan gum, baking powder and salt – mix well to ensure the gum is fully dispersed in the mix

Add the egg to the rest of the milk, pour in the oil and mix well

Add the milk to the flour and incorporate well, kneed.

Leave for 1 hour in an oiled basin with a cover in a warm place for the dough to rise.

Add two pieces of cling film to your work surface

Add the dough

Roll out as thin as possible if a thin based is wanted (makes around 4 seven inch or one large pizza)

Lift and turn upside down onto a pre-heated pizza stone

Remove the cling film (now on the top of the dough!)

Topping

Add a drizzle of oil to the top of the pizza

Wash and slice the courgette

Remove the lactose free mozzarella from the packaging and tear into thin strips

Dry the mozzarella well with kitchen paper to remove as much moisture as possible – this is very important as any excess will make the base soggy.

Tear the basil and thyme

Grate the parmesan

Combine the ingredients on the pizza base except the pine nuts

brush dough edges that are free of topping with beaten egg.

Cook at gas mark 7-8 at the top of the oven for 10 minutes

Remove and add the pine nuts and cook for a further 5 minutes

Serve and enjoy

Purple sage & parsnip gnocchi

Today the weather has been grim again so I am stuck in the house being creative, or perhaps you should decide if I am! I adore parsnips, they are a tasty root vegetable that is not too hard on the digestive system. It is getting towards autumn now so a nice recipe using parsnips in place of potato sounds an interesting idea. Not that I have anything against potatoes or I not that I reckon parsnips are some kind of ‘super root’ – if you have been following my blog for some time you will know my views on this 😉

Ingredients

500g of parsnips

80g of gluten free flour

20g of Parmesan cheese

2g purple sage leaves (you can use ordinary sage if you wish)

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

a sprinkling of asafoetida

Method

wash, peel and boil the parsnips until they are quite soft in salted water

mash them well

whilst still warm add the gluten free flour and mix well

empty the mix on to a floured surface, split into four equal amounts

roll each into a sausage shape and cut into disks evenly

roll each disk into a ball then squash flat with a fork

Boil a pan of water and add a few gnocchi at a time they will float when they are cooked

remove them from the water and drain.

using the olive oil fry the sage and asafoetida and mix with the gnocchi

add grated Parmesan to serve

the gnocchi can be served as they are if you are vegetarian or they will taste great with meat, chicken or fish too!

If you follow a vegan diet then you should use a dairy free Parmesan alternative.

I hope you like them – the recipe serves two for a main dish, it is also possible to use them as a side dish serving 4. If you are following the Low Fodmap Diet parsnips are low fodmap – have a small portion. I am seriously wishing the weather to improve a little – it is much to early for wintry weather to be a feature but of course being situated in the middle of the Pennines this is a distinct possibility. Although I don’t want to end on a negative note so enjoy the recipe and I will blog again soon from happy valley!

Gluten free, low lactose rosemary and olive bread

The seat in the wood has intrigued me since I stumbled across it, looks home made, old – it has certainly seen its fare share of winters, I guess. It doesn’t overlook a repose worthy view and the valley’s features are obscured by the wall when seated, but is certainly a welcome resting place from the steep climb of the valley side. A haunting melancholy spot in an old oak forest – to come home to a meal of rosemary and olive bread is certainly what’s needed to cheer up the spirit after today’s walk! Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients

450g gluten free self raising flour

1 teaspoon of xanthan gum

3 tablespoons of olive oil

15 green olives

salt

350 mls of lactose free milk

5g of rosemary leaves

Spray olive oil

2 eggs

50g of Parmesan cheese

Method

Wash your hands

Measure out the lactose free milk, add eggs and olive oil mix well, add salt to season.

Weigh out the gluten free flour and add the xanthan gum, and mix well.

Grate the Parmesan cheese and add 2/3 to the flour leaving the remainder to sprinkle on the finished bread.

Chop the rosemary finely and add to the flour.

Slice the olives and add 2/3 to the flour leaving the remainder to decorate the top of the bread mix before cooking.

Mix the Parmesan and olives into the flour, make a well in the centre of the flour mix and add the liquid ingredients.

Incorporate the liquid into the flour till everything is blended in.

The finished mix has a slightly sticky texture.

Oil a tray well and add the mix, wet your hands and smooth the surface and add a thumb print in lines down the bread as a decoration.

Spray the surface of the mix with olive oil

Add the remaining olives and cheese.

Cook for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean at gas mark 6 or 220 degree centigrade.

Serves 8-10

For a low fodmap diet xanthan gum is possibly fermentable but is in the bread in very low levels (less than 0.5%) so most people should be OK to have a portion.

Prunes – natures laxative.

“I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers, If I belittle dogs and mothers”

Ogden Nash

Ogden Nash was an American poet who suffered from crohn’s disease according to Wikipedia, his unfortunate demise was after a lactobacillus infection after eating poorly prepared coleslaw as the Wikipedia site states. Interesting quote about prune juice, do you get the feeling he detested prunes? Prunes might have resulted in symptoms for him – depending on his crohn’s disease. I can only speculate, but what do these dried fruits do for us? Should we in fact include them in our diet? The following post by Compound Interest explains the chemistry behind the prune – or dried plum.

http://www.compoundchem.com/2015/09/01/plums-prunes/

Prunes do in fact improve constipation – but for some people at a cost – the reason they do is down, in part to the large amount of sorbitol and fructans they contain, these FODMAPs or fermentable sugars draw fluid into the small bowel and rapidly ferments in the large bowel. Sorbitol is also found in sugar free mints and gum – often a warning is given on these to avoid eating too much as a laxative effect may be the result. Not great if you have IBS and bloating and are intolerant to sorbitol. Prunes could also result in symptoms for people with active crohn’s disease too – perhaps that is the reason they are suggested by Nash to be a treatment to instill an avoidance of denigrating your mother! Or alternatively it might be just down to taste or personal preference. But to help constipation if you don’t suffer from IBS, bloating and excessive wind – they are worth a try – introduce them in your diet slowly so your bowel adjusts to the extra fibre they contain. These sugars can also have a pre-biotic (food for bacteria) action, so it is worth including some in your diet if you tolerate their effects!

Gluten Free, Low FODMAP, Low Fibre, tea scones

Afternoon tea is an English tradition that is now only consumed for a birthday or other celebrations and one of my favourites for a treat. It should contain sliced sandwiches, a scone with jam and small cakes. The following is a recipe for plain scones.

Ingredients

250g of gluten-free self-raising flour

50g of olive oil based spread

50g of castor sugar

1 pinch of salt

40mls of milk

1 egg

(1 egg to use for an egg wash and sugar for coating the scone.)

Method

1. Weigh out the flour and add the olive oil based spread, sugar and salt to the bowl

2. Rub the margarine into the flour until you have a small crumb

3. Add the egg and milk and bring the mix together – remember the more work you put into this the better the mix will stay together, it really is not like working with wheat flour!

4. Roll out to a 1.5 cm thickness and cut out scones.

5. Wash with egg and sprinkle with sugar and bake in an oven for 15-20 minutes at gas mark 6 22o°C.     

You could add a teaspoon of gluten-free baking powder to increase the rise of the scone – I didn’t – as I tend to feel that you can taste baking powder in scones if you use too much.