Loaded Potato Skins

Mini Versions

I couldn't get a photo of these that I was really happy with but they're just so lovely to eat that I wanted to post anyway. Any excuse to write about food for me.

I happily discovered that the only potatoes we had in the apartment were just shy of golf ball sized, if you're a regular reader you'll know that I have a penchant for small foods, these were perfect! 

Warburtons Gluten Free Wraps

Convenient

I noticed these on the shelf a couple of weeks ago but I didn't bother to investigate further as I just expect the worst when it comes to gluten free bread items. I love DS Gluten Free Ciabattas and Baguettes but other than those, pretty much everything I've ever tried has been disappointing.

It was The Intrepid Glutenite who picked these up, I took no real notice when he did because I fully expected him to put them straight back onto the shelf, but he didn't. He remarked at how soft and pliable they were and as I saw him bending the pack, the wraps curving and holding together as he did so, then I took notice. Bendy gluten free bread?!

Gluten Free Sweet and Sour Chicken

Crispy Chicken With Sweet And Sour Sauce

Sat eating this with chopsticks last night I actually felt as though we'd ordered a take away, this is so easy and quick to make that all memories of cooking it disappeared as soon as I tucked in.

As far as trying to replicate a Chinese dish goes, I think this is my most accomplished effort to date. The fact that it's gluten free is a given but I don't think that anyone not gluten free would notice. The Glutenite gave the thumbs up so I know it must be pretty good.

Gluten Free Fish and Chips in Crispy Batter Revisited

Very Crispy Batter

Prior to recently finding the answer to all purpose gluten free crispy batter, I had made gluten free Fish and Chips with masa. It worked incredibly well, the end result was great but it certainly wasn't quick to prepare. I knew I could make it easier and better.

Here's the new improved Free From G Fish and Chips in Crispy Batter, it's ridiculously easy to prep and super fast to cook. Yet another gluten free fast food that is so good I might need Weight Watchers at some stage.

How To Make Gluten Free Taco Shells

Gluten Free Taco In Homemade Shell

I'm a big fan of Mexican food and I've experimented quite a bit with this cuisine, I'm comfortable with it. I wasn't daunted at the prospect of making my own gluten free taco shells but I didn't actually expect them to turn out as good as they did on my very first attempt. I should have more faith in myself really.

Though there are quite a few steps to making these I wouldn't call them time consuming and so long as you've got great tortillas to begin with you're sure to end up with great Taco Shells, simple really.

Cadbury Gluten Free Product List (Updated September 2014)

Cadbury actually class these products as Gluten-absent, a term that I've not come across until today. They also say on their website that "We cannot ever guarantee that any of our products are 100% free from such contaminant". Take from that what you will, I personally think it's a cop out but hey.

Here's what they list as Gluten-absent:

UPDATE 08/09/2014: A comment has been left on this post saying that "an allergen alert MAY CONTAIN GLUTEN on some of their products that used to be listed as gluten free by ingredients."

*I've checked the Cadbury gluten absent section of the website where this information originally came from and found two new items have been added. The seasonal items have been removed. No indication of any other changes but ALWAYS CHECK THE LABELS, just in case!

Red Pork In Crispy Batter

Crispy Gluten Free Batter

Red Pork has been a favourite of ours for years now, it's such a simple thing to make because basically all you do is open a packet of red pork seasoning, mix with water then marinade the pork slices overnight. A bit of a cheat but the blend of spices is perfect so I've never bothered to try and make my own.

Armed with my new gluten free crispy batter mix I decided to do a new take on the regular Red Pork recipe, the addition of the batter was a winner. Tender melt in the mouth pork encased in a crisp, delicate coating, the textures worked perfectly together.

Gluten Free Crispy Batter - Finally!

Chicken In Crispy Gluten Free Batter

The search for a versatile crispy gluten free batter has been a constant since the birth of Free From G in 2010. I had experimented so many times over those years that I came close to thinking it was impossible to get a great gluten free crispy batter. I got good batters but never great, never something I was happy enough to share and if you know anything about this blog it's that I never post recipes that I'm not proud of at the time. Sure I sometimes better my original recipes but they're always good enough to post to begin with.

This was just another of those experiments, one that I didn't hold high hopes for hence why there's no great photos. When I mixed the batter to begin with I knew I had something. When the batter hit the hot oil I knew that finally I had accomplished something that has been a constant niggle for the past few years. Proper crispy gluten free batter that could easily be used on a variety of foods.

Cream Of Chestnut Mushroom Soup

Chestnut Musrooms

I'm not starting off with a photo of the soup because I don't have one that looks good enough to be on the homepage of Free From G. It's not because it isn't great or that it went wrong, it's because it was never intended to be served as a soup and so I don't have a nicely plated version to share with you.

The reason I created the soup was as the sauce for a Chicken and Mushroom Pie, the Puff Pastry went horribly wrong though so I won't be documenting that anytime soon but I think that the soup deserves its own post as it's pretty special.

Smoked Chicken Chilli Nachos

Nacho Lunch

I've gone with this photo as the lead because the just out of the oven Nachos shot is a boring one, and there's a very good reason for this being the case. Instead of layering the ingredients I put the Chicken and Vegetables at the bottom of the dish and the Tortilla Chips and Cheese on top. No more soggy Tortilla Chips but a dull photo representation of a really lovely meal as served.

Clams And Bacon In A White Wine Cream Sauce

Pile O'Clams

I'm a huge fan of Shellfish, I wish that I could eat it every day but my local fishmonger only opens Thursday to Sunday with the real good stuff only being brought in fresh on a Friday. I don't like to freeze my shellfish, so the window for optimum freshness is quite small, at weekends you'll usually find me peeling or picking away for hours at some sort of shellfish, I find this a bit of a comforting ritual I've had since childhood.

Saying that, these Clams were actually bought frozen. My fishmonger can get hold of them fresh if ordered specifically but they're the really huge ones and they come in a big net bag which I've always thought would be way too much for me alone. It was only yesterday that The Glutenite tried Clams and established that he likes them, still I think the size of the fresh ones might push him over the edge, he's not a shellfish lover like me but I'm really glad he gave this a go, I've been wanting to document a Clam recipe for ages.

The Recipe Post That Wasn't

The Base Of A Lovely Meal

Hope that everyone had a lovely Easter Weekend, I did, albeit a somewhat painful one. I intended to make the most of the four day break leisure time and document new recipes to post throughout the coming week, circumstances however put pay to that. I had a slight accident.