Olive-Rosemary Bread

Bonjour bonjour!
Good Friday to you all.
I have a recipe to pass on to you this afternoon, it’s delectable.  This bread will make your socks fly off your feet and your eyelashes curl into perfect ringlets.

To boot, it’s gluten-free, though the glutivores (not a real word) out there will also enjoy it very much.  Just ask the guests I had at my dinner party last night.  They couldn’t believe this bread was gluten-free when I served it alongside a hearty elk stew and a heart warming malbec wine.
They’ll testify.

I should add that I found this recipe in THIS cookbook which contains a fantastic selection of recipes that feature almond flour, agave nectar and grapeseed oil instead of regular wheat flours, sugar and vegetable oils.  Baking and cooking with almond flour is the most scrumptious way to eat gluten free, in my opinion, and probably the most expensive (GROANnNNnnn).  If you haven’t come in contact with this cook book yet and you are living gluten-free, I’d highly suggest picking up a copy.  Tout de suite!
 Ingredients:  
3/4 cup creamy almond butter at room temperature
2 tbsp olive oil
3 large eggs (Winona and Rhonda supplied mine…)
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/4 blanched almond flour
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (I use Celtic sea salt, because it’s the best…)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
 Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F, Grease a 7×3 inch loaf pan with grapeseed oil (or olive oil…I’m aware that not everyone uses grapeseed oil) and dust with almond flour.

In a large bowl, mix together almond butter and olive oil until smooth.  Then blend in the eggs and agave nectar.  In another bowl, combine your dry ingredients and then blend these with the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Fold in the olives and rosemary and pour the batter into your loaf pan.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, on the bottom rack of the oven, until a knife inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Let the bread cool in the pan for one full hour and then serve.
I could obviously eat an entire loaf myself except RW has demanded that I share with him.  Since he has built me a brand new bathroom I suppose I shall acquiesce to his demands.

This bread really saved me this week.  I’ve been spending my afternoons stomping around the house complaining bitterly about how my body is craving grains and I just wish I could sink the hearts of my teeth into a beautiful slice of wheat bread, freshly baked, slathered in the magenta delicatessa that is plum jam.  Sometimes we gluten-free folks experience times like this, times when nothing fills the void.

I hope your weekends are full of delicious foods, long walks, organic carrots and good books. If you can manage glutens, please raise a gloriously golden croissant in my name before you let its buttery fibers dissolve on your tongue tip.

Happy baking my friends!
Happy weekending my friends.
Be well.
xx
Plume

Post Scriptus:
Plum says, “Hi!  Gimmie all your biscuits or I’ll twang your heartstrings!

…she’s been helping RW paint our new bathroom doors.  As you can see.

All Is Not Lost

Today I’m here to inform you of the fact that if you have been forced into the confines of a gluten free diet in this lifetime, you can still have waffles!
 [sorghum waffles wearing maple berry smooch syrup with sides of elk breakfast sausage and nectarine slices]

How To:
2 eggs (separated)
1/4 cup canola oil (or whatever oil you prefer)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup milk
1 3/4 cup sorghum cornstarch mix (2/3 + 1/2 cup sorghum flour AND 1/3 + 1/4 cup cornstarch premix this in a separate bowl and then measure out the amount needed for this recipe…sorry to confustigate you…if you find yourself feeling confustigated…which isn’t a real word by the way)
4 tsp baking powder
1 3/4 tsp xanthan gum

Beat egg yolks, stirk in milk and oil.  Add flour, sugar, baking power and salt.  Stir until all lumps are gone.  Beat egg whites until stiff and gently fold into batter.  Pour into your waffle iron, cook and eat.

Just to set the record straight, RW is the Waffle King and makes fresh waffles from scratch most days of the week.  Yes.  I agree.  He is a magical fluffy baby centaur man!

Now, if you’re in the tropics, you won’t comprehend what I’m talking about when I make this next statement but let me tell you, waffles were the perfect thing for breakfast today as it’s been snowing nonstop and a winter wonderland always seems cozier when there are waffles on the kitchen table!  What’s your favorite cold weather breakfast?

I hope it’s lovely where you are!
I’ll be back in a while with a post all about my recent time away!
Stay tuned.
xx
Plume

PS  The maple berry smooch syrup came to me by way of a friend who resides in my home town in Canada.  It’s made of maple syrup and Saskatoon Berries (also known as Service Berries)  My dear friend Michele is ALSO the gal who won the golden ticket giveaway!  She’s an amazingly generous woman and actually gave the necklace to her best friend who lives in Tucson.  Can you believe it?  Thanks for the Saskatoon sauce, Ms Michele, it made us smack our lips like a pack of wild things.

The Pumpkin Soup Your Mother Warned You About

Well, as I wrote about here, we harvested a  bounty of beautiful pumpkins from the gardens here at The Gables.  I’ve been pondering on what the heck to do with them — many of you offered helpful suggestions — and yesterday I decided I needed to attempt a pumpkin soup.

As stated before, I had some rather awful experiences with pumpkin soups whilst living in New Zealand a few years ago.  So, with that expressed, fully,  I pulled two small pumpkins from the pumpkin pile yesterday and whipped up the deliciosity (not a real word) that is this soup.

I used the ingredients listed in this recipe for cream of pumpkin soup, however, since I roasted and pureed the pulp of my own, home grown pumpkins, I didn’t have an exact pumpkin amount so I really winged the ingredient ratios as I went along — testing by taste to make sure I was on the right track.  The result truly was scrumptious, earthy, sweet and spicy.
Cream of Pumpkin Soup Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp butter
2 cans chicken broth
1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree
1tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
Toss some butter in your sauce pan and saute your chopped onion until it’s relatively soft.  Add chicken broth and pumpkin puree to onions, bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  

Transfer broth mixture to a blender and puree until smooth.

Return mixture to saucepan and add all spices.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  

Stir in heavy whipping cream and fully heat again (but do not boil) to the temperature you’d like to serve it at.

*As usual, I would greatly encourage you to find a beautiful, organically grown, vine ripened pumpkin at your local market to roast and puree yourself.  I’m not sure how this soup will taste if you use the sad little pumpkin bits that come spiritless and corralled in a tin can…

I served this soup to my smokejumpers with a side of spinach salad last night.  This afternoon, while they were out bird hunting, I consumed the leftovers with a small grilled cheese sandwich and a soy latte — so autumnal.  I have been converted into a pumpkin soup passionista.  Officially.  Watch out!  You will be too.

Happy souping.
xx

The Proof is in the Pomatoes

First off, happy Friday to you all!  
The weekend has arrived and things at The Gables are downright farmy!
Now.  Take note.  This particular rose has taken until now to put these blooms forth.  The blossoms are the most glorious hues of salmon fading inward to a pleasant and punchy yellow…these flowers prove that everything tends to bloom when RW comes home.

Also, may I solicit your prayers for Madame Judith who seems unable to produce eggs?
The poor thing.
Is there a patron saint of egg laying?
RW has been giving her plenty of hugs, trying to encourage her to pop a few eggs out.  We expected her to begin laying in August and we fear she may think she’s a rooster.
She’s become quite a handsome lady, hasn’t she?
Farley has become the keeper of my tomatoes (and yes, he always sits on steps like this).  Remember a couple of weeks ago when we were having our first freezes here?  Well, my tomatoes survived and are coming ripe all at once, as usual.
When this happened last year, I made batches and batches of pico de gallo salsa and ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day (and then I took tortilla chips into the bath and had chips and salsa while soaking).  This year, I planted a total of 25 tomatoes plants in the various gardens of The Gables.  I have a considerably higher fruit yield and last weekend I made a foray into canning my own pasta sauce as a way to preserve some of this garden goodness into the winter months.
The outcome of my first attempt was positively delicious and I am prepared to share the recipe with you now, should you like to can your own pasta sauce or just make a delicious, fresh, from scratch marinara sauce for dinner this weekend.  My recommendation is that you use your own garden fruits or scout out some beautiful, vine ripened, organic tomatoes from your local farmer’s market (store bought tomatoes are the saddest things in all of the grocery world)  Easy peasy.  Here it is:

Jillian’s Superdooperlicious Pasta Sauce

8 cups coarsely chopped and peeled tomatoes (about 9-10 tomatoes OR 4 lbs)
1 cup chopped onion (Walla Walla sweets are GOOD in here)
3 cloves of minced garlic
2/3 cup of red wine (no matter here, I use 2 buck chuck)
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp pickling salt
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 can or 6oz tomato paste

1.  Combine ALL ingredients in a large saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes or until mixture reaches desired consistency, stirring frequently.

2.  Remove hot jars from your canner and ladle the sauce into jars and leave a 1/2 inch of headspace.  Process for 35 minutes for a pint and 40 minutes for a quart.

This should make you 8 cups of pasta sauce.

Notes:
1.  If you don’t have the patience to can (and this recipe IS VERY time consuming), I don’t see why you can’t store this sauce in freezer containers (glads or zip-locks) into the winter.
2.  To peel your tomatoes, blanch them!  See instructions HERE.
3.  I’m very picky about following canning recipes because I fear botulism.  I wouldn’t mess around with the ingredient portions here too much folks, if you do INDEED can this sauce.
4.  This sauce is delicious on the spot if you just want to make it for dinner.  Fortify it with mushrooms and your choice of meat, if you like.  We’ll be adding elk, antelope and venison to ours this winter!
5.  On it’s own, it’s positively scrumptious over pasta (quinoa pasta for me) with freshly grated Parmesan on top.  And that’s the honest truth.
Happy canning!

See you on Monday!
xx
Plume

Dessert For Breakfast

Last night, rather late, I decided to whip up some dessert.  Just to inform you of the importance of this decision I must let you know that this was my first gluten free baking attempt and I was a bit nervous.  The fact is, anything with rhubarb in it cannot be ruined so I elected to whip up a delightful little rhubarb crisp and boy howdy, did it ever whip up right.

Crisps are one of my favorite dessert concoctions and I have the crumbly oat topping recipe topping memorized.  For THIS specific crisp I was using gluten free flour, rolled oats as well as xanthan gum to substitute for the real, magical, good stuff (there’s just really nothing like the real thing so I don’t bother complaining any more).

I can’t say for sure the exact amount of everything I used, since I mixed from memory, but it went something like this:

Filling:
freshly harvested rhubarb from the garden out back (washed and chopped)
quarter cup of sugar (or less)
slightly less than a quarter cup of GF flour
dash of lemon juice

Crisp topping:
1/3 cup brown sugar (or slightly less)
pinch of salt
1 cup of GF rolled oats
1/2 cup of GF flour
dash of xanthan gum (don’t now if that was really needed…)
slightly less than a half cup of butter

Baked for a half hour at 350F (in case you intend to follow suit).

It was shockingly delicious with a dollop of vanilla frozen yogurt on top, so delicious that I had it again this morning, for breakfast with an endless pot of Earl Grey tea because that’s the sort of thing a girl does when there’s only one of her and there’s dessert in the house.

NOTE:  In hindsight, this might 
have not been a delicious dessert.
It’s been so long since I’ve experienced 
a baked dessert that I might have
just been frothingly mad in the moment 
of initial tasting…