Main courses

Here are the recipes of some of my favourite gluten-free meals. I'll add to them as I post more.

- chicken basque

- mushroom risotto
- Moroccan tagine
- bangers and cheesy mash
- tasty roast chicken
- pork baked in cider
- cottage pie

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.

Mushroom risotto

You will 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 - see Stock page)
• a handful of fresh mushrooms (I always buy chestnut mushrooms - they have much more flavour and a firmer texture than white ones)
• a clove of garlic (see the Garlic page)
• 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.

Moroccan tagine

This is my version of this versatile, tasty, sweet and sour, spicy (but not hot) dish. It can be made with meat (I've made it with lamb and pork) to replace the root vegetables in this recipe - this is a vegetarian version for 6 people.

You will need:

• 1 large or 2 small butternut squashes
• 4 carrots
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 75g sliced almonds
• 1 jar passata or tinned tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• tin of chickpeas
• 100g dried apricots (preferably unsulphured dark ones)
  
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• half a teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• half a teaspoon ground ginger (or fresh root grated)
• cooking oil for frying

1. Roast half the sliced almonds in a non-stick frying pan on a medium heat until golden - put to one side.
2. Peel and chop the root vegetables and cut them into large chunks. Place them into a casserole dish with a lid.
3. Add the drained chickpeas and dried apricots (cut in half).
4. Peel and slice the onions into thick half rings. Fry them in the oil until starting to brown.
5. Add all the spices and the garlic and continue cooking for a minute or two.
6. Pour over the passata, spoon in the tomato puree, stir and simmer until thick and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Pour the sauce over the vegetables.
8. Bake in the oven for as long as possible on low so that all the flavours are absorbed.

Serve sprinkled with the toasted almonds and brown or white basmati rice (see Rice page).

Bangers and cheesy mash

Sometimes, especially when it's freezing cold, traditional British food can't be beaten. Charlotte and Dan Green of Twelve Green Acres. make delicious gluten-free chipolatas from their free-range rare breed pigs.

For perfect mash, I always steam the potatoes. I use Maris Piper because they make a nice floury mash with no lumps. I mash them with butter, salt and pepper and then add some grated cheese (I like Red Leicester). 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 ...!!

Tasty roast chicken


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 mushroom risotto recipe above).

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.  

Pork baked in cider

A slow-cooked winter casserole that's really tasty. It also works well with sausages or pork chops. Great served with mashed potato and a green vegetable.

You will need:

• 500g pork (shoulder, chops or fat sausages)
• 2 large apples - peeled, cored & quartered
• 1 large onion - sliced
• 2 cloves garlic - chopped
• 6 juniper berries - crushed
• 2 pinches of dried or fresh sage
• cider (or apple juice or stock)
• arrowroot or cornflour to thicken (see Thickeners page)

1. Lightly fry the pork or sausages in a little vegetable oil to seal the outsides. Put them in a large casserole dish with a lid.
2. Add the sliced onion to the pan and fry until beginning to soften, add the garlic and fry for a minute longer. Add these and the apples to the casserole.
3. Sprinkle over the crushed juniper berries, sage and some salt and pepper.
4. Pour in the cider until about halfway up the casserole contents.
5. Bake in the oven (or simmer on the hob if using a pan) as slowly as possible - until the meat is completely tender.
6. Thicken with a dessertspoon of arrowroot or cornflour dissolved in a little water. Return to the oven until ready to serve.

Cottage Pie

An economical Sunday lunch! A cottage pie used to be made from left-overs but it's usually made from scratch these days. I use a quarter pork mince to three quarters beef mince - I just find it tastier. To make it even more economical I used the slow cooker for both parts of the pie. We recently got a gadget from the electricity company that shows how much we're using - it's scarily high when the oven's on! I'm shopping for a slow cooker on Amazon right now ... if only I hadn't car-booted ours years ago!

You will need:

• mince
• a chopped onion
• a clove of garlic (chopped)
  
• optional: root veg (a parsnip and a carrot or two adds flavour and vits)
• potatoes (mashed)
  
• worcester sauce (check it's gluten free - I use Life's)
• a thickener such as arrowroot (see Thickeners page)
  

1. Put the mince, onion, garlic and root veg into the pressure cooker. Add enough water to make a paste. Cook on low for 10-15 minutes.
2. When cooked, season the mix with worcester sauce, salt and pepper to taste and thicken it with arrowroot or cornflour (dissolved first in a little water).
3. Pour the mix into a casserole dish, top with the mashed potato (and I like some grated cheese on top) and bake in a hot oven for 20 minutes.
4. Serve with a green vegetable - we're having broccoli.