Fruit crumble

Crumbles are ideal for gluten-free puddings as gluten-free flours are naturally crumbly!

You will need:

• fresh or frozen fruit (quantity depends on how much the fruit 'falls' during cooking and the size of your dish)
• 175g Doves Farm gluten-free plain flour **
  
• 90g butter
• 75g caster sugar (preferably unrefined)

1. Sieve the flour into a food processor or mixer.
2. Chop the butter into small pieces and add to the flour.
3. Blitz until the mixture begins to look like breadcrumbs.
4. Add the sugar and blitz again.
5. Peel and chop the fruit into a pie or casserole dish. If the fruit is sour (or you have a sweet tooth) sprinkle with caster sugar.
6. Pile on the crumble mixture so the fruit is completely covered - no gaps.
7. Bake in the oven at 180-190C until fruit is cooked and the top is golden - it can take 50 minutes to an hour.
8. Serve hot or cold with ice cream, yoghurt or creme fraiche ...
   

** quantities can be varied - as long as you use half as much butter as flour and slightly less sugar than butter, it'll crumble.

Tip: Use more fruit than you think ... when it's cooked, a crumble is always flatter than you think it's going to be.

Variations:

• swap half the flour for ground almonds
• sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and/or brown sugar
• fruit ideas: apple & sultana, peach, apple & strawberry, rhubarb & root ginger ... what's your favourite?
  

Tasty roast chicken

Aldi are offering free-range chickens for £4.99 at the moment. I like to buy whole chickens because I usually make them last for 3 meals and then I use the stock in a risotto (see recipe on Main course page).

I add flavour to the chicken with lemon, garlic and rosemary. I lift the skin over the breast (from the open end) and insert slivers of garlic and sprigs of rosemary. I put a couple of cloves of garlic inside the chicken, squeeze a lemon over the skin and put the used lemon halves inside, along with a few sprigs of rosemary. I use an oval Pyrex casserole dish with a lid (handed down from my Mum!), add some water to the bottom (to make a good amount of stock) and roast it slowly until the meat is ready to fall off the bone.

The first meal is usually a roast dinner with a leg each and plenty of veg. The next day we have cold sliced breast with salad and steamed or fried potatoes. The third meal can be a curry or pasta sauce made with all the bits of meat from underneath, on the wings, etc.

Bangers, cheesy mash and beans ... mmm!

Sometimes, especially when it's freezing cold, traditional British food can't be beaten! I'm not sure my French friends will agree - they just don't get those white beans in what they think is a sugary tomato sauce!

The reason for the British-themed dinner last night was that I got an order delivered from my former shop's meat suppliers - Charlotte and Dan Green of Twelve Green Acres. Just the sight of the gluten-free chipolatas he makes specially for me from his free-range rare breed pigs ... brought all the memories back ... and made me urge for bangers and mash.

For perfect mash, I always steam the potatoes. I used Maris Piper because they make a nice floury mash with no lumps. I mashed them with butter, salt and pepper and then added some grated Red Leicester cheese. Certainly not a low-fat option but delicious once in a while.

I bake sausages in a terracotta dish in the oven and never prick the skins. My absolute favourite baked beans are Whole Earth's but it's easier to find Heinz and I like the low salt and low sugar variety. I add a dash of Life's gluten-free worcestershire sauce to the beans. And Granovita's gluten-free brown sauce is really delicious and fruity (also perfect in a bacon sanie). Now my French friends really won't get that combination ...!!

Mulled wine, bhajis, tagine and mincemeat crumbles ... a wintry girls' night in

We had friends over for dinner tonight. We welcomed them with a warm punch (see below for recipe), followed by onion bhajis and cauliflower bhajis with a yoghurt dip (see Starters page). The main course was butternut, carrot and sweet potato tagine (see Main courses). Pudding was mincemeat crumbles with vanilla ice cream (we just about managed not to eat them all the day before!).

Warm punch

You will need:

• a bottle of red wine
• 600ml fruit juice (I used apple)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• a few allspice berries
• a few cloves
• a lemon and an orange (sliced)
• a tablespoon of caster sugar

Put all the ingredients in a pan on a low heat. Stir until warm and the sugar has dissolved - do not boil! You can boost the alcohol content by adding brandy if you want but some of our guests were driving ...

Tip: Make it early in the day and then leave it to infuse before warming it again - this gives the spices a chance to really do their job.

Christmas crumbles (mince pies)

I don't usually bother trying to make gluten-free pastry ... it's always either rock-hard or falling apart crumbly. However, when I spotted this recipe in a Sunday supplement, I thought I might be able to adapt it because (a) the topping is crumble, and (b) it has ground almonds which are nutritious and I thought they might help the pastry stick together after cooking. It's really worked! I've managed to roll out and re-roll out this pastry twice. It's made 24 crumbles in my muffin tray. (I ran out of mincemeat so I used jam in the last three!)

You will need:

• 200g butter - chilled and diced (if you use marg you may need to add more dry ingredients) + for greasing
• 300g Doves Farm gluten-free plain white flour + for dusting
• 150g caster sugar (I always use unrefined sugar - better colour and flavour + slightly lower on the glycemic index)
• 125g ground almonds
• a jar of mincemeat (check it's gluten-free - mine's from the Coop)
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon (unwaxed/untreated)
• 2 tablespoons of brandy

1. Thoroughly grease a shallow muffin tray. Preheat the oven to 170-180C
2. Put the flour, butter, almonds and caster sugar in a food processor or mixer and blitz until it just begins to form crumbs.
3. Spoon out about a third of the crumbly mixture and keep it in the fridge.
4. Briefly re-blitz the rest of the mixture until it starts to stick together.
5. Put it into a mixing bowl and add a spoonful of beaten egg. Start to form a ball (I use a knife as I have hot hands).
6. Flour a worktop really well and gently roll-out the pastry.
7. Use a pastry cutter to cut rounds the right size for your muffin tray. I used a floured fish slice to lift the rounds off the worktop.
8. Mix the mincemeat, lemon rind and brandy in a bowl. Place a spoonful into the pastry cases - leaving enough room for the crumble topping. Spoon on the crumble topping.
9. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool completely before trying to take them out of the tray.

We're having them re-heated with ice cream as a pud tomorrow night. If they last that long ...!

New potatoes in December??

I couldn't believe it but fell for them because they were grown in the UK and came with 50% free! How disappointed were we ... they took ages to steam yesterday even though they were tiny and they were still tasteless and hard.

Tonight I decided to roast them with herbs and sea salt ... they took almost an hour even though I cut them in half! And they were still pretty tasteless.

How do they do it?? I'm not sure I want to know ...

Salmon and Avocado salad with orange juice dressing

For lunch today we've just had a wintry salad. It all started with a couple of cheap finds in supermarkets. First, Aldi had salmon fillet cured with chilli and ginger for £1.99. Then there was a bag of 4 small hass avocados (the only ones I like - the others taste watery) out of date but rock-hard(!) for 75p in Asda ... I put them in the fruit bowl with the bananas and they ripened in a few days.

You will need:

• a packet of watercress (or other leaves)
• an avocado or half per person
• smoked or cured salmon
• The dressing: mix a teaspoon of mustard with a tablespoon of orange juice and a pinch of salt. When blended, stir in 2-3 teaspoons of oil (I used walnut). See the Page on Salad dressings.

1. Pile the watercress into the centre of the plates.
2. Slice the avocado on top.
3. Add the dressing
4. Slice the salmon over the top

We had ours with steamed small potatoes.

Chicken Basque

Adapted from a recipe by Delia Smith or Saint Delia as we used to know her because of her omnipresence at UK dinner parties at one time! A fantastic recipe - I've made it again and again.

You will need:

• chicken pieces - if you only use breast meat it's dry and tasteless. I use thighs. It cooks so thoroughly the meat just falls off the bone.
• a red pepper (or some from a jar)
• 2 onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a 6cm piece of chorizo (check it's gluten-free!) sliced thinly
• brown basmati rice (you can't use white - it cooks too quickly)
• a handful of black olives
• a few sun-dried tomatoes
• chicken or vegetable stock
• oil for frying
• optional: paprika, tomato puree, white wine (instead of some of the stock), wedges of orange (all these feature in the original recipe but I find them unnecessary as the dish has so much flavour already)

1. Heat the oven to 175C/350F.
2. Brown the chicken pieces a few at a time in a frying pan with a little oil. Put them in a large casserole dish (with a lid) when browned.
3. Fry the slices of chorizo until browned (careful - it can burn very quickly!). Add them to the casserole dish. Don't change the oil here - the flavour of the chorizo is important to the dish.
4. Next, fry the sliced onions and pepper (if using fresh) until a bit soft. Add the chopped garlic - don't brown it though (it tastes horrible!).
5. Stir in the rice (I use a large cup for two people) until it's coated in the juices.
6. Add double the rice quantity of stock. Add the olives, sundried tomatoes and optional ingredients.
7. Pour the pan contents over the chicken and chorizo pieces. Put on the lid and bake. Mine takes an hour or more. It's done when the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. You may need to add more stock during cooking - it depends on the rice and your oven.

Lemon polenta cake

I made this for my friend Nini and her lulu - they loved it. Absolutely delicious served with a dollop of creme fraiche (or soy yoghurt) and some berries.

You will need:

• a cake tin with a removable bottom + greaseproof/baking paper
• 225g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g ground almonds
• 3 eggs beaten
• 2 lemons (unwaxed/untreated as you'll be using the rind)
• 110g polenta (fine cornmeal)
• 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

1. The tin needs a lot of preparation but it's essential as this cake will just crumble when it's warm. Butter the inside of the tin thoroughly, then line it with baking paper (remove the bottom, put it on the paper and draw round it in pencil, cut it out just inside the line then cut strips for the sides). Butter the inside of the paper when it's in place, then add a spoonful of polenta and shake it about to 'dust' the tin.
2. Heat the oven to 170C/325F.
3. Grate the rind off the lemons (very fine grater) and juice them.
4. In a food processor or mixer, cream the butter until pale and soft.
5. Add the sugar and blitz/mix until pale and creamy again.
6. Add the almonds and mix.
7. Add the eggs a little at a time.
8. Add the polenta, baking powder and then lemon juice and rind. Blend, then pour into the tin.
9. Bake. Mine takes an hour or more - check the top isn't burning (cover with tin foil if it is). A knifepoint should come out clean from the centre when it's cooked.

Banana and Chocolate cake

This cake earned me the following comment on Facebook from my gf friend Charlotte: "Jane C makes the best banana and chocolate cake in the known universe!" It's a great way to use up those black spotted bananas at the bottom of the fruit bowl that nobody wants to eat.

**If you have trouble finding gluten-free ingredients, follow the links under 'Sources' at the bottom of the page.**

You will need:

• 250g Doves Farm self-raising gluten-free flour
• 1tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 125g butter or margarine + some for greasing the tin
  
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 or 4 overripe bananas
• 2 eggs
• 100g chocolate chopped into chips (I use 70% dark choc but any will work)
• optional: a handful of chopped nuts (I use walnuts)

1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F. Butter a loaf or cake tin.
2. Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a large bowl. Add the chopped nuts and choc chips.
3. Put the butter and sugar in a food processor or mixer and cream well.
4. Add the eggs and then the bananas and blitz/mix.
5. Pour the wet mix into the dry and stir gently but thoroughly.
6. Pour into the cake tin and cook until a knifepoint comes out clean from the centre - about 45 minutes in a round cake tin in my fan oven.

Delicious with friends over a cup of tea (they won't guess it's gluten-free) or as a pud with vanilla or chocolate ice cream!

Mushroom risotto

You need:

• a handful of dried mushrooms (I buy them in Asian supermarkets - they're much cheaper and there's a wider choice) - covered with hot water and left to rehydrate for 30 mins.
• risotto (arborio) rice
• stock (I use the liquid in the bottom of a roast chicken - chilled so the fat can be removed or Marigold bouillon - purple tin)
• a handful of fresh mushrooms (I always buy chestnut mushrooms - they have much more flavour than white ones)
• a clove of garlic (buy the purple juicy fat cloved European heads - not the skinny white Chinese grown stuff!)
• fresh or dried parsley
• a knob of butter
• a handful of parmesan cheese grated

1. Wipe then slice the fresh mushrooms. Heat the knob of butter in a non-stick pan. Add the mushrooms and cook until they shrink and soften a little.
2. Strain (keep the liquid!) the dried mushrooms. Chop them and the garlic - add them to the pan and stir for two minutes.
3. Add the arborio rice (I use a small mugful for two people) and stir well so it absorbs the juices but doesn't fry. Add a few pinches of parsley.
4. Add the mushroom liquid (check there's no grit at the bottom before pouring it all in). Stir well and simmer.
5. Cover with a lid and turn down the heat. Stir occasionally to check it's not sticking. When it starts to dry out, add half the the chicken or vegetable stock. Stir and cover again.
6. As it dries out, add more stock ... until the rice is tender but not sticky or soggy.
7. Turn down the heat, add two pinches of salt and a pinch of black pepper, half the parmesan and cover again.
8. When almost all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender, stir well then serve and sprinkle with the rest of the parmesan.
   

We had it with steamed frozen green beans.