This includes a variety of treats including:

Asda’s new fresh chilled pasta- A penne and a tagliatelle which is made from a combination of cornflour and rice flour (no additives), with the addition of water it cooks in 3 minutes- great for a super quick supper.

Dell’Ugo’s fresh Chickpea Fusilli, winner at this year’s FreeFrom Awards which i’ve heard rave reviews about all over the twitterverse! Dell’Ugo is the UK’s largest fresh pasta brand and specialises in making filled and unfilled pasta, based on authentic Italian recipes. Find out more at http://www.ugogroup.co.uk

As well as a variety of other gluten-free items including yummy pud’s and deli treats!

All you gotta do for a chance to win is go to the Wuthering Bites Facebook Page and enter the form on the competition app seen here! Competition closes at midnight on the 22nd May.

Simple :)

Good luck!

As i have been so busy i have been resorting to very quick meals, and although this recipe wasn’t planned it turned out so well that i thought i’d share it with you as it makes such a good quick lunch or dinner idea.

Aside from the carbs, it also makes a very healthy one, alkaline power foods at their best! The garlic breadcrumbs really give the crunch it needs if you’re being frugal or can’t get round to buying any meat one week. Enjoy :)

Lemon, Chilli, Spinach Pasta with Garlic Breadcrumbs.

Serves 2

250g of Gluten Free Pasta (I used Doves Farm)

2 Slices of Gluten Free Bread wizzed in a food processor to crumbs

2 Garlic Cloves

Black Pepper and Salt

Glug of Olive Oil

1 Chilli

Bunch of Spinach

1 Lemon

Parmasen (Optional)

1. Put your gluten free pasta onto boil.

2. Pop your wizzed breadcrumbs into a frying pan with a glug of olive oil. Grate on the garlic and add a touch of salt and pepper to season. Fry the breadcrumbs on a medium heat until they are golden. Take off the heat and set aside.

3. Chop your chilli finely.

4. Once the pasta is how you like it, drain and set aside.

5. Fry your chilli and spinach in some olive oil in a frying pan, as the spinach starts to wilt add in your pasta.

6. Squeeze the whole lemon over the pasta adding some zest too.

7. Finally season with salt and pepper and parmasen and mix in the garlic breadcrumbs.

OoOoo Fancy Flapjack…

Not only are these ‘Fancy Flapjacks’ but they also make rather good ‘Fancy Granola’ crumbled over some plain yoghurt with a few nuts thrown in for good measure. The heat from the ginger gives these flapjacks a subtle punch  and the rich dark chocolate keeps the sweetness level at bay. Stunningly good cut into small cubes and served with a smokey tea..

Stem Ginger and Dark Chocolate Flapjacks

210g Golden Caster Sugar
210g Unsalted Butter
2 tbsp Golden Syrup or Honey
325g/12oz whole Gluten Free Oats
10 pieces of Crystallised Stem Ginger Chunks chopped into small pieces.
50g of 70% Dark Chocolate chopped into chunks.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C and Line a 23cm round cake tin with parchment paper and grease well with oil or butter.

Place the sugar, butter and golden syrup or honey together in a saucepan and heat gently and stir continuously until everythings melted together.

Take the saucepan off of the heat and quickly add in a third of your Stem Ginger chunks. Stir this around until the mixture has taken on some of the ginger flavour.

Stir in the oats, rest of the ginger pieces and the dark chocolate chunks and mix really well.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and press it out evenly.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes.

Turn off the oven but keep the flapjack in the oven for a further 10 minutes as the oven cools down.

Take the flapjack out of the oven and allow to cool before cutting into squares.

Keep stored in a very tight tupperware container; if they do get hard for any reason they’ll be fine around a short burst in the microwave!

Enjoy :)

Spiced Pepper Yoghurt

I don’t plan my recipes too much, but this was one of those occasions where i had been thinking about these combination of ingredients and sides for a while and the Easter Bank Holiday was the perfect time to test.

The small fire from the Harissa and the gentle bursts of Citrus from this lamb makes it a perfect summer dish and would also be fantastic cooked on the BBQ. The lamb just melts away from the bone, which you can either leave in chunks or shred to put inside wraps or burger buns.

Unfortunately it wasn’t summer,  so i slow roasted it in the oven for six hours and served it with Spinach and some Buttery Lemon and Broccoli rice and spiced Pepper yoghurt- using the blackened bits and peppers from the lamb; a great way to get in some veggies.

Slow Roasted Citrus, Harissa and Honey Lamb

with

Broccoli Rice and Spiced Pepper Yoghurt.

The Lamb (Serves 2)

1 600g Half Shoulder Joint of Lamb on the bone

1-2 Red Peppers cut into big squares

1 Lime

1-2 Lemons

3 Tablespoons of Harissa Paste

2 Tablespoons of Tomato Puree

5 Tablespoons of Plain Yoghurt

1 Tablespoon of Honey

Salt and Pepper

Drizzle of Olive Oil

50ml of White Wine

• Prepare the Lamb the night before or marinade for at least 4 hours in the fridge.
• Pop all the lamb marinade ingredients into a bowl and give it a good mix and taste, if you can’t taste enough citrus , add another lemon. Leave in the fridge overnight.
• Before you are ready to cook your lamb make sure you take it out the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to it’s highest temperature.
• Place the marinated peppers first, onto a large roasting dish covered with several layers of foil and a bit of oil. Place the lamb onto keeping the peppers tucked nicely underneath. Pour over the 50ml of white wine.
• Pop the roasting dish into the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes on the high heat, then turn the oven down to 110 degrees C and cook for five to six hours. Every hour give the lamb a baste with it’s own juices, adding a tiny bit of water as you go along.
• After 5 or 6 hours, get your lamb out and cover it with foil to rest for at least 25 minutes.
• Either cut into chunks or shred like aromatic duck. Use the blackened bits for the Spiced Yoghurt if making..

The Spiced Pepper Yoghurt

(Serves 2)

Blackened bits and the Peppers from the Lamb roast

Half a lemon

300 ml of Yoghurt

1 Chilli or chilli seeds diced finely (Optional)

Mix all of these ingredients together and just season to taste :)

The Broccoli Rice 

(Serves 2)

1 Broccoli

1 Lemon

30 grams of Butter

Drizzle of Oil

Cup of Rice

Fennel seeds (Optional)

• Cut up your broccoli and place into a saucepan filled with cold water ready to boil.
• Melt the butter and oil in a saucepan over a gentle heat.
• Add the rice and fennel seeds if using, to the saucepan and stir until fragrant.
• Add the juice and the whole lemon to the pan and add 2 cups of water.
• Cover the rice saucepan on a medium heat cook for 20 minutes until cooked. Cook the broccoli at the same time.
• Drain the broccoli and season with salt and pepper, pop it into the rice saucepan and give everything a good mash.

I used a gluten free Newburn Bakehouse wrap here but this lamb could also be enjoyed with veggie fueled quinoa, lemony mash or some sweet potato jackets or fries. :)

The Knead to Make Gluten Free Bread

Gluten free bread is my nemesis mainly when it comes to making it myself. The amount of times I’ve ended up with a brick-like loaf that could seriously do some damage is uncountable. Overtime I’ve grown to take this gluten free bread making with a pinch of salt ( pun intended) , it’s also very much like gambling and you just hope this time your choices will come out fruitfully this time. So this month I looked back over this question to myself:

Why make your own gluten free bread?

I love the crust on bread. Currently none on the market provide that fresh crust I want to dunk in my soup.

The smell of fresh bread is almost better than eating it although not quite enough to make me attempt and fail making it several times a week.

The various flavours and styles of bread you could try to make from Brioche, Boules, Soda bread and within these experimenting with added fruit, nuts and aromas the possibilities are endless.

But is it worth the time, the flours ( usually a mixture of more than two) and the patience?

After my first and second attempts at Focaccia I can easily say yes. Even though parts of my first were undercooked I was pleasantly surprised with Lucinda ‘s recipe. So I’ve decided over this next year, to test recipes for different gluten free breads and show you how I get on. One type of bread a month. The idea is to highlight the best that worked for me (without a bread maker) and possibly even make a recipe or two myself. A mini project.

Lucinda’s Focaccia recipe was my first go-to. I’ve always longed for chunky bread I could dip into olive oil again and again.

My first attempt following this recipe exactly (although I subbed almond flour for hazelnut) came out rather well, although the husband didn’t quite agree and found it quite hard. I guess I just missed that crunchiness on the top too much!

My second attempt i used Lucinda’s recipe on the Genius blog. I substituted potato flour for Sorghum ( as it’s what I had to hand) and at an attempt to make it more gluteny I substituted the rice flour for Sweet Rice flour ( glutinous rice flour). I also topped this one with a combination of red pepper, lemon and rosemary.

Second Attempt

The results pleased the husband more when it was fresh out the oven, but I’m not sure after cooling as the sweet rice flour made it just very dense and gluey; the result needs to be much lighter in the center for a good Focaccia!

My Third attempt i did some further tweaking and kind of merged the two recipes together and thankfully found a lighter result i was looking for- and something that kept really well.

Third Attempt

Instead of the 110 grams of gluten free plain flour suggested i replaced with 55g of Light Brown Rice Flour and 55g of Tapioca flour.

I didn’t use a wooden spoon this time to bring it together like in the recipe, i used a warm dough hook on low speed for 10 minutes.

Instead of leaving to sit for 15 minutes i let it prove in a warm area for an hour and a half. The proving really worked and i felt this subtle rise gave it the lighter texture after cooking.

Like my first attempt i kept the temperature high at 250 and cooked for 25 minutes.

So there you have it, three attempts and i’m happy to say i have a Focaccia that i love to eat.

Gluten Free Red Pepper, Rosemary and Lemon Focaccia

Inspired by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne’s Focaccia recipe found here.

Get a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil, give it a good coating and set aside.

Put the Flours, Salt, Ground Almonds, Xanthan Gum, Sugar and Yeast into a bowl for a stand mixer. Give this dry mixture a whisk until all combined.

Get your tap on hot and measure out 350ml of water, add the oil to this.

Put your bowl onto the stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and add half the water, immediately turn the stand mixer onto low and after 2 mins add the rest of the water. Keep this mixing for another 5 minutes to really ensure everything is combined.

Quickly transfer the dough to the greased roasting tin and use cold fingers to press it into a rectangle or circle. Try to keep it relatively small and thick -28cm length maximum. Drizzle this with a little olive oil, sea salt and grate over some lemon zest.

Pop immediately into a warm place for around an hour until there is a small rise. ( i used my boiler cabinet) and pop the oven on to 250degrees.

After the dough has rised and the oven is ready, sprinkle over rosemary and more olive oil.

Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden; Add the diced red pepper around the 15-18 minute mark to avoid it burning.

Take your focaccia out of the oven and allow to cool completely (or ignore these rules and break off a piece and eat immediately!)

Please let me know how you get on, any questions please feel free to ask me on Twitter or Facebook!

mmm :)

The theory of making something that can last the entire week is a bold one, as over the weekend i made this Banana Bread to do just that but has already half been eaten. When you make something so tasty sometimes it’s impossible to resist that second helping. I’m hoping this is different with a takeaway lunch though, where you are stuck with one Tupperware box helping.

This Veggie-Kedge(ree), veggie in the sense that it can be full of any vegetables you please, is quick to cook at the start of the week and can be kept in the fridge and topped up with different things for a nice lunch alternative. I’ve also made this with quinoa which i would highly recommend as the nuttiness really works with the curry flavours.

Veggie Kedge

You can use any veg you like so feel free to swap things around.

You can also add a couple of boiled eggs.

Makes around 4 lunches

Tablespoon of Oil

1 Red or White onion cut into cubes

2 Cloves of Garlic chopped

1 Tablespoon of Mild-Medium Curry Powder

1 Teaspoon of Chilli flakes or half a fresh chilli

1 Courgette cut into cubes

1 Red Pepper cut into cubes

1 Big tomato cut into cubes

1 large cup of Rice or Quinoa

2 Bay leafs

4 fillets of Smoked Mackerel or fish

Juice of 1 Lemon

Salt and pepper

Handful of fresh Coriander and extra to serve (optional)

1. In a deep, non stick saucepan, fry the Onion and garlic in a tablespoon of oil on a medium heat until they start to sweat.

2. Add in the chilli, courgette, red pepper and tomato and sprinkle over the Curry powder. Give this a good mix and bring the heat down and cook for around 5 minutes. Boil a kettle for the rice/quinoa.

3. Add a cup of rice or quinoa to the pan and give the grain a good mix into the vegetables. Pop in the two bay leafs and add two cups of water to the pan. Cover with a lid on a low heat for 20-25 minutes until the water has almost all absorbed.

4. Whilst the rice/Quinoa is cooking, chop up your mackerel into chunk size pieces in a bowl and marinade in the juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper,a tiny bit of oil and some extra coriander (optional).

5. When your rice/Quinoa is reaching the 20-25 min mark, add the mackerel to the pan and mix well. Pop on the lid again for an extra 2 mins and take off the heat to steam with the lid on for a further 5 mins. This will allow the rice to get fluffy and absorb all the flavours.

6. Chop up some extra coriander, season with salt and pepper and serve.

To save for week lunches: As soon as you have cooked this allow to cool and immediately transfer to a big bowl into the fridge and wrap tightly with two layers of cling film. Keep chilled.

Last week was the worst week of illness i have ever encountered in my life, i’m not being dramatic either- i have had all sorts of serious kidney infections and nothing compares to the week i had suffering from the awful flu. I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who has caught it recently, it is truly vile. A tickly throat soon became a red dungeon of pain, nothing that honey could soothe. My head felt constantly numb and blocked from ear to ear with a constant migraine. A high, strong fever that a hot toddy couldn’t kick and to top it off a barstod of a cough that just wouldn’t quit (and still isn’t.)

I do believe that food cures. I was told to starve my fever, and i actually blame this fact for actually prolonging my awful symptoms. This simply is the worst advice someone has given me. I starved and ate very little for around four days, i had lost my appetite, felt very sick, and thought that i probably shouldn’t eat at all and just drink lots of water. By day five my husband ordered me a friday curry takeaway, and i started to eat this ever so slowly and i instantly got my hunger back for protein and for a couple of hours afterwards i felt full of energy again; i still woke up in the morning feeling feverish still but i got my hunger and energy back. I used this weekend to power through the ultimate healthy foods, fruit and vegetables and despite what some medical advice says, i ate whatever i truly fancied – ice cream, tea with sugar and milk, pasta and roasted vegetables….Roast chicken and potato gratin.

It’s Monday and i feel a hell of a lot better, i can actually think again! Although i still feel weak, tired and have a cough still i’m regretting i didn’t eat sooner. The potato gratin i ate on the Sunday was something you should never really eat with a cough or cold, the potatoes aren’t really the best fighting foods, the cream and milk is just destined to prolong mucus but i swear this meal made me the happiest i’d been all week. So why should we Google all these questions on how to cure colds and flu? I did it because i felt alone and like i was about to collapse, but i should have really just been looking in the fridge and asking myself what could i feed my body. I think it’s a matter of ignoring symptom checkers and medical sites- this can make your mind panic and feel worse.

Here’s the Potato Gratin recipe for anyone suffering from the cold or flu, don’t listen to google, eat what you want, when you want but do not starve. Food equals energy and energy is your friend.

Potato Gratin Required Dosage- Recommended all day, whenever you want.

Serves 4

1kg New Potatoes sliced very thinly

1 or two onions sliced thinly

350ml Double cream

150ml Semi Skimmed Milk

4 Cloves of Garlic grated

2 Bay leafs

Handful of Peppercorns and Teaspoon of salt

Grating of Parmesan

Fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary.

Optional additions: 2 teaspoons of Cayenne Pepper/ Couple of strands of Saffron.

1. Pour the double cream and milk into a large pan (enough to fit the potatoes in) on a medium heat. Whilst it’s warming to a boil add in the bay leafs, garlic, peppercorns, salt (and cayenne/saffron if using)

2. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat to simmer for around 5 minutes.

3. Add the sliced onion and potatoes to the creamy mixture and give it a good stir ensuring all is coated.

4. Pop the mixture into a deep deep and wide roasting oven dish- (you want it deep as the cream can bubble and overflow otherwise)

5. Grate over the Parmesan and add a bit of salt to the top. Cover the dish tightly with tin foil and poke one hole in the center. Cook for 50 mins on 200c.

6. After 50 mins is up take off the foil, and mix in a few fresh herbs. Taste and season once more. Return to oven for a further 15mins to get a crispy topping.

7. Serve with Roast chicken and veg, or it’s lovely cold the next day with a bit of smoked mackerel.

A new chapter has begun for Wuthering Bites, and i am very excited! Over the next couple of months i will be teaming up with Bristol’s fantastic pop up restaurant SupperThyme to bring, initially, the South West creative and delicious gluten free options in a series of pop up events in March and April. We’re really looking forward to showcasing how easy and delicious gluten free options can be as well as giving you both healthy and indulgent offerings.

In order to get our pop ups as refined as possible, we’re asking a select few people to take part in a Question and Answer session in March based in Bristol, to get some initial thoughts from the Coeliac and gluten intolerant community. In turn they will be able to sample some tasty free treats!

We’ll be popping up another blog post on this soon to get on board anyone who may be interested in attending the Q+A and more news on the pop up dates!

In the meantime make sure you follow our twitter feeds @wbites and @SupperThymeChef for constant updates on our testing and developments and give us any ideas on what you think we could name the events! – WutheringThyme isn’t doing it for us at the moment…hah!

Stay tuned lovelies!

Sarah xoxo

Filed under: Events, Gluten Free advice/rambles, My rambles ]]> http://wutheringbites.co.uk/2013/02/21/wuthering-bites-supper-thyme-gluten-free-events/feed/ 3 wutheringbites SupperThyme, Pop up, Bristol Wuthering Bites, Supper Thyme, Pop Up, Gluten Free http://wutheringbites.co.uk/2013/02/11/be-my-florentine/ http://wutheringbites.co.uk/2013/02/11/be-my-florentine/#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 11:32:24 +0000 skreczmer http://wutheringbites.co.uk/?p=932 Continue reading →]]> I’m not really one for traditional Valentines gifts, Valentines recipes, Valentines flowers in fact – Valentines is a complete fad day in my opinion, but i do appreciate it when our other halves do attempt to make an effort at being romantic.

This year i’m more excited about pancake day this week, an attempt to flip and smoke up the kitchen and top a mountain of pancakes with an unhealthy amount of sugar, maple syrup, cheese, ham- you name it; for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I take the ‘day’ in pancake day very seriously.

Still. This shouldn’t stop us creating a few romantic treats for our loved ones, i’m sure that although we all say we hate the idea of Valentines Day that deep inside we hope for a little something special.

These Rose Florentines weren’t exactly planned for a Valentines Day post, in fact i thought of these a couple of months back at the beginning of the year. I was in a cafe in Bath drinking a cup of Lahloo Rosebud tea with a lovely slice of very sweet cake, and i fell in love with the combination of the floral taste.

It’s definitely a kind of marmite tea, some may think it’s a bit too perfume like but others may develop a kind of obsession; it’s a beautiful caffeine free tea that can cheer the dullest of moods.

I bought a tin of this tea last week and began to recipe test these Rose Florentines. Feel free to experiment with the amount of edible rose petals, if you want just a small hint of rose i would suggest halving the amount i’ve suggested. Since when should being romantic stick to one day of the year ?… so do try to make theese at any time of the year for your loved one!

Perfect with the light rosebud tea or a dark expresso, as they are very sweet, they’re perfect to share ;)

 Rose Florentines 

Adapted slightly from this Hairy Bikers recipe. Makes 6 big ones or 12 tiny ones.

Additional notes: You may find using silicone sheets easier to make these as they tend to love to stick. If using greaseproof paper ensure that they are slightly warm when attempting to move to a wire rack to cool.

 2 tbsp of unsalted butter

75g of golden or regular caster sugar

3 tsp of Gluten free plain flour

70ml of creme fraiche

125g flaked almonds,  Half whole, half chopped and toasted.

3 tbsp Candied peel /Orange Peel (optional)

2 tablespoons of Edible Rose Petals (roughly chopped) with extra for decoration (i used Lahloo’s Rosebud Tea)

150g/5oz good quality white or dark chocolate, broken into pieces

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Measure out your almonds, candied peel, rosebuds, mix and set aside.

Heat the butter, sugar and flour in a pan over a medium heat.  Stir continuously to avoid sticking, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Add in the crème fraîche, stirring continuously until well combined.

Add the almonds, candied peel and rosebuds and mix well. Make sure the sugar coats all of the almonds.

Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper and place teaspoonfuls of the florentine mixture onto it. Space the teaspoonfuls out like you would cookies, not too close to each other. You can either make 6 big ones or 12 tiny ones.

Transfer the florentines to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until just turning golden-brown. Top the florentines with the extra rose petals whilst hot, so they stick.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool on the tray, then transfer the florentines to a cooling rack.

Bring a little water to a simmer in a pan. Suspend a heatproof bowl over the water (do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the water). Add the chocolate and stir until smooth and melted.

Turn the florentines so that the flat base is facing upwards. Spread the melted chocolate over the florentine bases and set aside to cool and set. Or pop in the fridge for quicker results.

Naomi Devlin says “If you’re looking for a Valentine’s gift, birthday present or even just a great day out for yourself or a gluten free friend, my gluten free day is sure to fill them with excitement about the potential delights of the gluten free kitchen. For anyone just diagnosed with Coeliac disease, or looking for a way to eat well without wheat, I can explain away the mystery and fill you with hope and curiosity for all the amazing foods you can make with your new found baking knowledge!”

As there are a few last minute tickets left, River Cottage has kindly asked to give my gorgeous followers a cheeky 30% discount for the February course! Simple enter this code WBFEB30 on Checkout!

I expect to see photos of your creations on twitter! mmm…