Recipes

Gluten-Free Bread

To make your easy gluten-free bread recipe start by dissolving the yeast in water, then add the flour and mix the ingredients using an electric mixer.

When the mixture is evenly blended, add the oil, malt and salt.

Place the gluten-free bread dough in a bowl and cover, leaving it to rest in a switched-off oven for approximately 2 hours.

Once this time is up, place the dough on a worktop sprinkled with flour and knead it gently by hand, after which, shape it as desired.

Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 250°C, brush the bread with the water and oil emulsion and bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.

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Eggless Chocolate Muffins

To make eggless chocolate muffins without butter, melt the chocolate using the bain-marie method.

Place the flour, baking powder, unsweetened cocoa and sugar in a bowl together.

In a separate bowl, mix the milk and oil.

Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones, add the melted chocolate and mix rapidly.

Pour the mixture into the special paper cases taking care to fill them to 2/3 full.

Bake at 180°C for approximately 20 minutes: your chocolate muffins without butter or eggs are ready.

Enjoy them!

Find out what other delicious and easy-to-prepare desserts and cakes can be made without eggs.

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Eggless Shortcrust Pastry

To prepare an easy shortcrust pastry without eggs, start creaming the butter (at room temperature) and sugar together.

Add the flour quickly and the milk, a little at a time.

When you have obtained a smooth and even dough, wrap it in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

Roll out the pastry rapidly with the aid of a rolling pin and bake in the oven at 180°C for about 15 minutes.

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When you hear “slow cooker,” do you picture the old crock pot your mom had that produced meal after meal of sloppy, bland chili or chicken? It’s time to rethink the slow cooker. With some gourmet shortcuts, you can take a few minutes in the morning for prep and come home to a kitchen that smells delicious.

One of the most common complaints I hear is that time is too short in the morning. I know that I choose sleep over pretty much everything else, but some of these recipes take literally ten minutes or less to toss in. You just need to make a quick trip to Williams Sonoma.

I recently discovered their line of cooking sauces and life is good! I started with the Pulled Chicken Starter. At first I panicked because I had allotted ten minutes to prep before I had to run out the door. Obviously, I hadn’t read the label because it said to quarter a chicken and brown it and then put it in the slow cooker with the sauce. That wasn’t happening, but I didn’t have time to change my plan. I took four frozen skinless, boneless, chicken breasts out of the freezer, threw them in the pot and covered them with sauce. I turned the temp to low and left. About 4 hours later, I gingerly lifted the top. It smelled wonderful. I used two forks and “pulled” the chicken so that all of the meat would soak up the flavors of the sauce. By dinner time, I served it with coleslaw on buns. It was a huge hit. I can’t imagine how using a whole chicken and browning it would make it better… just more work.

Encouraged, I tried the Balsamic and Carmelized Onion Braising Sauce. This one called for sauteeing chicken and then adding the sauce before baking it. What did I do? The same thing as the Pulled Chicken. This time, I didn’t “pull” the mean, but cut it into chunks to serve over rice. It was quite tasty, but the cabernet wine flavor was too strong for some. If you don’t like wine based sauces, you may want to avoid this one.

These sauces are not just for slow cooking. I found one made for FAST cooking! I needed a quick, last minute dinner for my family. When everyone’s plans change at the last minute, mom is left holding the dinner plate. I was able to brown some ground beef that I had in the freezer, add the Williams Sonoma Sloppy Joe Starter (It had been a long time since I’d had a sloppy joe), simmer for a few minutes and everyone had a delicious sandwich in under 30 minutes.

Gourmet doesn’t have to mean difficult. It also doesn’t have to be fancy. The sloppy joes could easily be served as quaint sliders for a picnic or as the main dish for a vintage themed dinner.

Take a look for some gourmet sauces and starters to see if you can use them in your slow cooker or for a last minute meal. Even if you don’t use them right away, it’s handy to have them around just in case!

Mango Ice Cream

Peel the mangos and cut the flesh away from the stones in cubes.

Put the diced mango into a liquidiser or food processor with the honey, lemon juice and zest and puree very finely.

Whip the cream until stiff and fold into the mango puree.

Transfer the mixture to a shallow metal dish, cover and put into the freezer for 3-5 hours.

Stir vigorously with fork when the mixture begins to freeze.

Repeat this process every 20 minutes (three or four times).

Alternatively finish off in an ice cream maker.

Take scoops of ice cream with an ice cream server and put into small bowls.

Served garnished with mango slices.

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