Roasted Garlic sauce and Gnocchi - DF, EF and GF

I don't know what it is about the little potato dumplings that call to my daughter's heart, but there is something so intensely pleasurable about gnocchi for my little lush cook. 
And I adore the little conclave of helping hands dusted in flour, carefully peeling the dumplings off forks and chattering away.

Free to enjoy as many vegetables as she likes, her favourite is a tomato-based sauce or burnt butter and sage. But for a while I have been experimenting to get a delicious 'burnt butter' sauce for my dairy free and food intolerant gang.

For those of you who can tolerate lots of ingredients, I suggest a lovely broccoli pesto as a sauce - but for the sensitive tummy - ENJOY the fruits of my concocting labours. I must give credit to the incredible Cybele Pascale for her ALLERGY FREE gnocchi recipe that gave me a good start in developing the gnocchi

INGREDIENTS

660g, old floury potatoes peeled & cubed

600 g water

300g gluten free flour mix

3/4 tsp salt

50g oil (can be replaced with butter if dairy is tolerated)

1 tsp xantham gum or 2 tsp psyllium husk

60g rice milk

Sauce: -

4 cloves roasted garlic

80g nuttelex

pinch of brown sugar

½ tsp salt

50g water

tsp of parsley leaves

METHOD

1. Place potatoes into Varoma dish.

Place water into mixing bowl and cook 30 min/ Varoma temp/speed 1.

2. Remove Varoma and set aside.

Allow potatoes to cool (approx. 15 -20 min) so that they are very dry but still warm.

Discard water, rinse and dry bowl.

3. Place cooled potatoes into mixing bowl and mash 4 sec/speed 4. Scrape down sides and mix through then repeat. Do not over puree but make sure all large lumps are gone.

4. Add 200g flour, salt, oil and gum/psyllium. Set dial to (closed lid position) and knead 30 - 40 sec/ Interval setting.

5. Place remaining flour, along with dough, onto floured surface or ThermoMat. Work remaining flour into the dough until you achieve texture that is not overly sticky. Lightly oil your hands.

Roll dough into a finger width 'sausage' shape and cut into approx. 2cm long pieces.

Shape the gnocchi with a fork, or wooden gnocchi board.

6. Cook immediately. Place into pot of boiling water and cook until gnocchi has risen to the surface.

Sauce – place garlic and Nuttelex and pinch of sugar and salt  into TM bowl and sauté caramelize 4.5 minutes, Varoma temp, speed 1.5. Add water and emulsify for 30 seconds on speed 8.

Add water and salt and blitz for 20 seconds speed 6

VARIATIONS:

When moderate salicylates and glutamates are tolerated, add peas to the above sauce when pureed and cook for 2 minutes, 100 degrees speed soft reverse.

FAILSAFE tiny teddies - DF and EF - low Gluten

My son's tolerance to gluten opens up a world of lovely things to incorporate in his diet - malt syrup for vitamin B, Oats for low GI. But I will be experimenting with a gluten free version, so let me know if you are keen for that one.

I love this mix. Easy to clean the TM bowl afterwards, fast, lots of wholegrains and you can make fun shapes. Just make sure you rest the mix for 20 minutes in the fridge if you want to roll it out for cutting.

Ingredients:

• 60g buckwheat (less if your children aren't used to it, and increase the spelt flour)
• 60g oats,
• 130g (ish) g of brown and white sugar - can reduce over time.
• 190g spelt flour - normal flour is of course fine
• 40g carob plus 3/4 tsp deaf coffee powder if needed to alter carob taste - or, if you have the amine freedom of cocoa or cacao - use that!! (jealous sigh)
• 170g nuttelex or butter if tolerated
• 20g milk substitute plus 15grams malt syrup pre-heated for 20 seconds in the microwave or for 30 seconds 60° speed 2. Or, if you can have dairy - just use normal milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius

Mill buckwheat for 20 seconds speed 9
add oats, and brown and white sugar
Mill for another 10 seconds, speed 9

add spelt and carob and mix for a few seconds speed 5.

If not preheating malt and milk, tip dry contents out and heat the liquid now.

Add nuttelex plus pre-heated malt and milk substitute, or return dry ingredients to bowl.

Combine all ingredients for 8 seconds speed 6, then poke it down with your spatula and put on interval speed for 15 seconds or less.

Rest 20 minutes before rolling or roll it between two sheets of baking paper.

and then....bake for 15 minutes for super crunchy tiny teddies on about 170 degrees (yes, turn the oven down as you put it in), or for 10 minutes at 190 degrees for the softer biscuits.

The top biscuits I rolled small balls that I gently squished with my palm and then lightly imprinted a heart shape cutter.

THE SECRETS - Gluten Free Bread tips from the expert

Now I love Cyndi's recipe, but I have had the occasional gluggy flop, and then it really piques my scientific brain when Lynne turns up to every cooking class with a PERFECT gluten free loaf.

Now to cut us all some slack, Lynne is the expert when it comes to bread - sourdough, gluten free - anything!! And she is a wonderful teacher as well. So last Tuesday, she finally let the cat out of the bag and told us her secret technique tips.

I tried to angle this picture to show you how bendy and flexible this loaf was. And it's delicious.
It's very simple! Ready:

1) There are some recipe modifications - but very minor, and she has not been forthcoming. For myself, I like to use 40g of sticky rice in place of some of the basmati for more binding. And I like to use the gluten free doctor's "pixie dust" to help reduce the amount of xantham gum. For start though, STICK TO THE RECIPE! you may add a tiny bit more yeast, but only by rounding your teaspoons.

For other modifications - like egg free you can use similiar ingredients to the pixie dust (like making a gel out of chia seeds and adding that instead of egg. I'll give that a go myself soon. For egg free, dairy free, gluten free and yeast free, I direct you to the wonderful work of Me and My Thermie and her new loaf

2) The mix. Both Lynne and I like to set aside the dry ingredients (leave sugar out) after mixing and heat the liquid on 37 degrees for 1.5 minutes WITH THE YEAST AND THE SUGAR. Then let it sit for 5 minutes while you go and get other things on, so the yeast has a chance to get started.

Then - proceed as normal and combine all ingredients for 15 seconds. THEN - KNEAD ON INTERVAL SPEED FOR 2 MINUTES. Haha! Now that's a sneaky manouvre.

3) THE KEY CLUE - is the long rise. I see some recipe community hints and Sarah Santos have all noticed that 30 minutes for a rise is better. Lynne's recommendation is an hour, or as long as you can. She even does a second rise sometimes...I'll get the details on that soon. For now, make sure you choose somewhere warm, but not too warm. My mostly defunct microwave is a good spot for us. Too warm and it will rise too quickly and give those larger holes in the loaf.

All of you science lovers can join me in the geeky question - WHY DOES THE LONG RISE MAKE SUCH A DIFFERENCE? Well the structure in the gluten free bread depends on the yeast breaking down the sugars in the loaf. The yeast interacts with the proteins to make it rise...but without the structure provided by the broken down sugars (think of all the starches you put in the loaf), it doesn't have a firm skeleton to stay risen when the heat goes away. Glug!

That's why it's important to have at least 30% starches in your gluten free mixes. This loaf has slightly higher. And the long sitting and yeast digesting the sugars is why Quirky Cooking's artisan loaf is so fantastic and has a great texture and flexibility.

4) The oven. Lynne puts her oven on 210-220 and then turns it down to 190 after the first five minutes of cooking. If you have an unreliable oven thermostat....I would buy one that hangs in your oven!

Cool huh? Have a play. Tell me your thoughts and Bon appetit!

EASY CLEANING

I have heard a few people say that they don't find the Thermomix bowl easy to clean - but with a few little tips it's an absolute cinch - and very quick.

I have my photo series below to show you the best way to clean off a sticky mess. Enjoy

This is what out bowl looks like after scraping out the porridge, (also applies to batters, sticky breads)

Step 1 - pop the bowl back onto the TM unit and fling any excess batter off your blades by whizzing for 1-2 seconds speed 7-9.

Step 2 - quick re-scrape 

Then cover the blades with warm water (drop of detergent for milky or buttery mess) and place brush bristles between the blades and wiggle side to side while going around the bowl. then do it on the opposite sides of the blade. Then swish the brush quickly around the sides of the bowl.

Return to the Thermomix unit and whizz for 20 seconds speed 8

Voila! The hard work is done!!!




















In general here's the cleaning document I prepared and Leonie from ThermoFun has kindly tweaked and promoted.

here's to easy cleaning!!

Lush Thermosphere and ThermoFun

Present

CLEANING THE THERMOMIX HINTS AND TIPS

SECTION / RECIPE	TWEAKS AND TIPS
Basics: Cleaning sticky messes	1.    If you have excess food on the blades – simply return the bowl to the TM base and spin the blades for 1-2 seconds on speed 6-8.  Then re-scrape the sides with your spatula. 2.    If it is still doughy – put some flour on the blades and spin again. 3.    For any starchy or sticky mixes, I cover the blades with water, run a dish brush around the blade post a few times, and then proceed to ‘wash’ at speed 7-8 for 15 seconds or more. 4.    If it is a real mess in the bowl, I put in at least 600g of water, set to 5 mins, 100 degrees speed 4.  When finished, carefully take the speed dial to speed 7 and ‘wash’ for 15 seconds.
Basics: Cleaning smelly, oily messes	1.    The first step is your basic ‘wash’ but with some drops of detergent and any of; lemon ends, vinegar, bicarb, citric acid 2.    If needed - Repeat with a little bit of water, and more of the above ingredients.  Then make sure everything can aerate well. 3.    If your silicon lid is stained – follow the above steps, then cover with lemon juice and leave to dry in the sun for an hour. 4.    If everything still smells, you can ‘season’ your silicone seal by cooking 60g+ of cheap oil with vanilla or citrus peel.  You will need to cook 3 minutes+ on 100 degrees.  Then carefully raise the speed to blitz on speed 9 for a minute.
Basics: Cleaning a burnt or filmy bowl.	1.    Follow your normal ‘clean’ procedure. 2.    Make a paste with equal amounts of bicarb and washing soda (or just the bicarb if that’s all you have) and a ½ amount of citric acid, then adding a few drips of water.  If you don’t have citric acid, pour several drops of lemon juice or vinegar onto your paste.  You can also grind up salt, and add a little bicarb and lemon to make a paste. Leave this for at LEAST ten minutes. 3.    Agitate with a NON-SCRATCH scourer or a brush.  Over several minutes, all the build-up should come away.  You can do a longer soak with vinegar and water (in your EDC). 4.    Cooking with salt, or cooking up a cleaner helps.  Try this beautiful lemon concentrate from the UK website: http://www.ukthermomix.com/recshow.php?rec_id=87 5.    A slight film is fixed by soaking with lemon juice.

If you have any cleaning the Thermomix hints and tips - we would love to include them in our next revision of this document.

You can either email Leonie from ThermoFun at:  leonie.cavill@infoclarity.com.au

OR

Liz from Lush Thermosphere at:  lushies777@optusnet.com.au

ENJOY!  And Happy Cleaning and Cooking!

From Leonie and Liz   J