Today’s Stars, Stripes, and Spatulas has been taken over by a guest blogger! My name is Brit Gay, a close friend to our usual hostess, Carissa. I live in South Georgia with my amazing husband (Matt), darling 2 year old daughter (Chloe), and our furry children: 2 cats and a dog.
When Carissa asked me to guest blog for this week I set out to do a completely Matt-safe dinner, and I have succeeded. Mind you, it was tough, and some of it hit the wallet a bit strong. Thankfully all of these recipes do not have to be gluten free. Everything can be substituted for your regular wheat consuming family. Exact conversions too!
Ingredients:
Hearts of Romaine (or your favourite leafy green. Spinach would be amazing)
Pecan halves
Fresh and rinsed Blackberries
Pepperjack Cheese, crumbled (feta would work great)
Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
This salad is as simple as it gets, yet still unique and has an amazing flavor. I go ahead and toss in all of the ingredients (except the vinaigrette) earlier in the day. Cover and refrigerate until time to serve. This way you’re not worrying about that untossed salad when your steaks are simmering!
Garlic Parmesan Encrusted Steak on a bed of angel hair pasta
Now for this, you can use the cheap cuts of steak (which we did) or you can go for your specialty cuts. Mind you, cooking time will differ depending on your preference of how you like your steak cooked. We eat ours well done. Well, we do when I’m cooking. :-)
Garlic Parmesan Crust Ingredients:
1 cup Parmesan cheese (I had powdered on hand, but this recipe would be absolutely delicious with freshly grated Parmesan)
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp basil
A pinch of rosemary (I know some folks aren’t fans of this herb, and a small pinch goes a really long way.)
**I do not add salt to this recipe, because Parmesan already has a salty flavor
**Black pepper would go great in this recipe (or even cayenne!) My husband is sensitive to black pepper so we left it out.
Need to stretch this recipe, and don’t have enough parmesan? You can always do a very thin coating, and add a slice of fresh cheese near the end. I bet Pepper Jack Cheese would compliment this amazingly! You can also stretch the recipe by adding bread crumbs, but of course this isn’t an option for our family.
Directions:
Steaks should be room temperature prior to cooking for best results. Also, go ahead and start cooking your pasta. You’ll want everything ready to serve immediately!
Heat Large skillet with oil to medium-high heat. Be careful not to let the oil pop on you! Safety first folks :). Check the heat of your oil by dropping in some of the leftover crumbs. If the oil sizzles, we are ready to start cooking!
After blending all ingredients, toss steak and pack well. Some will fall off, but keep the leftovers in case you need to add more after the initial turnings of the steak.Gently Lay each steak in the oil. After about 3 minutes it is time to flip. You will keep flipping your steaks so that they cook evenly on both sides, and the cheese doesn’t burn. These steaks will brown up nicely, but we don’t want them blackened. Cook these to your preference on how well you like your beef cooked.
aww look! It made a heart! I didn’t realize that until uploading the photo
Marinara Sauce
I am not a fan of premade sauces. One thing, they truly aren’t economical. Two, They aren’t any easier (to me) than making homemade sauce. Try out this recipe instead of grabbing your normal selection of spaghetti sauce.
Ingredients:
1 can tomato paste.
1.5 can water (take the can and fill it up. I stir around the edges to get the extra paste out of the can)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp basil
2 tbsp Oregano
1-2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
½ tsp cayenne pepper (omit or substitute black pepper if you’re not a fan of a touch of spice)
1 tbsp dried Chives
1 tbsp sugar (this may need more depending on the acidity of the tomatoes)
Pinch of Salt
Stir this gently over the sink before putting on the stove. You need to work the water and oil into the paste, and take special care to stir the bottom and edges of the pot. It can burn, and we don’t want that.
I personally prefer to stick this on the stove on low for a few hours before dinner. Stir it here and there, and let it simmer until you put your noodles on. Then bump up the heat for about 5-10, and get it nice and hot for serving!
For our gluten free man, I used rice noodles (they’re considerably whiter in color compared to your regular enriched wheat noodle). If you are looking a gluten free alternative to pasta please check your local super market (our walmart doesn’t carry it, but our publix does!). Sometimes stores will order things to put on the shelves for you if you ask. Also check out local co-ops, health food stores, or organic food markets. Gluten Free doesn’t have to be organic, but with being a speciality item I’ve found that many times the two can go hand in hand.
Gluten Free Strawberry Pie
Many times gluten free pies are actually “crustless pies”, but I really wanted to try baking a gluten free crust. Pie just isn’t the same without a crust, and the few desserts my husband actually likes are mostly pies. So I needed to start experimenting with crust recipes before his birthday in October (he absolutely loves pumpkin pie, and I don’t want him to have to miss out because of this new diet!)
Now, unfortunately, our pie was subpar at best. And by that I mean I wouldn’t even eat it, and the guys (we had a friend over for dinner) tried their best to get through it. We’ll discuss that later. For now, I’ll give you the recipe and add my ideas on how to improve this pie.
The only gluten free all purpose flour I was able to find was organic Buckwheat. Be more than willing to try and make this out of a different GF flour, or use your own wheat flour that you probably already have in your pantry. The measurements will be the same. Honestly, I think this is why the pie tasted so horrible. The crust wasn’t right. I would suggest trying out either a regular flour, or testing out a different GF blend. There are some “pastry” GF flours out there, but our local markets didn’t have any in stock. Buckwheat is too bitter for pie, and the crust was extremely dark (almost black). It was also extremely crumbly instead of flaky. I believe adding a tsp of xanthan gum would have helped.
Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter or solid, all vegetable non-dairy shortening
2 to 4 tablespoons cold water (add ice cubes to keep cool)
1¼ cups All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend ( plus more for rolling)
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Directions:
Now for most sorts of cooking, directions and measurements are sort of like guidelines. For baking this is not the case. You must be very aware and particular about your ingredients and how they are blended. Pie crusts are flaky in two ways. One, that wonderful flaky, but melt and your mouth goodness we all love, and two, flaky in the sort that you’ll probably have a different amount of water every time. Watch and pay close attention to your dough. Be aware that with the humidity fluctuating, so will the amount of water you’ll need.
Cut butter into ½ inch pieces and place it the freezer for 10 minutes. I generally do this, and then gather, measure, and prep all of my other ingredients and tools.
Using a food processor blend flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse 5 times. Add the butter and pulse 8-10 times, or until mixture resembles a coarse meal with small round pieces of butter (pea size).
With the food processor running, add water 1 tbsp at a time until the mixture just starts to clump. If you are able to pinch some of the dough together, and it holds then you have enough water. You do not need to add more. The dough will still look and feel very crumbly.
I’ll share a little trick with you on this next part. Since the dough will be crumbly, add it to a large ziploc bag. Put your hands inside the bag, and start forming the dough into a disc. Close the bag, and put into the fridge. Let it sit for at least one hour, but the dough should keep to up to 3 days if you need to make your crust ahead of schedule.
Time to roll it out!. Remove the dough and let it sit for 5 minutes before beginning this process. While the dough sits, gather 2 large pieces of wax paper, your GF flour, and your rolling pin. Spread flour over the first sheet of wax paper. Add dough. Sprinkle more flour on the top of the dough, and cover with second sheet of wax paper. Roll the dough into a circle that is approximately 12 inches in diameter. Its okay if pieces break off. Just pinch them back on!
Remove the top sheet of wax paper, and carefully transfer to a 9 inch pie plate. Push dough gently so that it reaches and lines the sides of your pie plate. You’re welcome to try and do a decorative finish to the ends of your pie crust. I opted out of that this go around.
Pre-baking your Pie Crust:
Freeze your pie crust and pie plate for at least 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 350
Foil the entire pie plate. I personally do not own pie weights, but died beans or rice work wonderfully. Place the dried beans on top of the foil, and pop all of it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights and foil, poke generously with a form, and return to oven (no foil!) for 10 minutes.
Let the pie crust cool completely, before filling.
Ingredients for Strawberry Pie filling:
2 quarts of strawberries, sliced
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs corn starch
Directions
Fill your pre-baked pie shell with berries until no more will fit. Chill for at least one hour.
Near the end of your chilling time, take the remaining strawberry slices and place in a medium saucepan with 1 cup water. Simmer until berries are tender. Pour strawberries and water in a food processor (or blender) and puree. After straining, pour mixture back into the saucepan. Add sugar and cornstarch. Cook and stir on low until the sugar and starch dissolve.
Pour the hot glaze over chilled berries and crust. Refrigerate and serve. (Add a dollop of cool whip if you so please. I did!)
See how it just fell apart?
Now here is where I add my suggestions to this Pie filling recipe. I actually called my mom before baking this pie and went over the recipe with her. I explained that the recipe didn’t have much substance, and that I was scared it wouldn’t congeal. 1 tbsp of cornstarch isn’t much when it comes to trying to make a pie stick together (especially when the original recipe only calls for chilling, and not freezing. Which by the way, it didn’t even freeze over after a few hours). I would suggest adding a block of plain cream cheese in the food processor with the strawberries, This would give it something to congeal. Other alternatives would be corn syrup, or even gelatin. I’ve heard that some folks put their favourite lemon-lime soda in Strawberry Pie. That would probably would well if you were trying to freeze the pie.
Either way, this pie recipe and crust (with this specific flour) is a thumbs down. Matt and our friend Austin attempted to give the dessert a second try by something they labeled “The Redemption Smoothie”. The majority of the pie went into our food processor with some ice and cool whip. Remember how I said the crust was too crumbly? Well, that didn’t help much with the smoothie. Actually, it probably made it worse. But they were troopers anyway :-)
Good try guys. Too bad the crust kept clogging the straws!
(Thanks so much to Brit for helping me out this week! She's a great cook, and I've had her parmesan encrusted steak, it's amazing! Definitely try it sometime guys!)
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