Sourdough Starter - Day 3 & 4

Day 3
There are a few bubbles and its starting to smell a bit... not like sourdough, but like something.
I added more starches and water to double the mixture and swirled to combine.
Potato starch flour
Rice flour
Millet flour
Sorghum flour
Filtered water

Day 4
Good morning weird goop!

Buttermilk Banana Muffins

I had some left over buttermilk and three very ripe bananas that inspired this cold, rainy Monday night baking experience.

Buttermilk Banana Muffins
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/2 cup potato flour (this was an oops, it was suppose to be 1/4 cup, lets see how this comes out)
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans + tbsp for topping muffins (optional)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp buttermilk

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing for each to be fully incorporated into the batter.
3. Add in the mashed bananas and beat until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir to combine.
6. Add 2-3 tablespoons of buttermilk until the batter loosens up. (you want the batter to slide off the spoon and then plop off sorda slowly.)
7. Place in lined muffin tins.
8. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Overall these were a bit less sweet and a little drier than the banana bread recipe I made last time. I think the explosion of potato starch is to blame.

The texture was better last night when the muffins were still warm, but I doubt they will go to waste.

Gluten Free Marketing Discussion

An interesting podcast about gluten free labeling, dieting and is it a fad.

Sourdough Starter

After a successful pancake making session (I mixed a lot of things without measuring or writing them down... I should know better, but they came out tasty), I was watching an episode of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie and was re-inspired to attempt making a sourdough starter.

Sourdough Starter Day 1
Sorghum flour
Millet flour
Potato starch flour
Filtered water*

I poured some of each flour into a jar and covered with an equal amount of water. Then, I shook it up a bit. Covered it loosely.

Hopefully, in a few days, there will be bubbles!

*The chlorine in tap water kills bacteria and some yeasts (a good thing in your pipes) but can slow down the formation of a sourdough starter, which is a combination of bacteria, yeast and flour(s).

Gluten Free iPhone App

Celiac Travel just released a gluten free app for the iPhone.

Click here to download the application. (It opens in iTunes)

Cadbury Candy

I have to thank a friend for this. Its a little early for Easter, but this old Cadbury commercial is necessary:

YouTube Video

Psssst, Easter Bunny. Check this out too:
Gluten Free list of Cadbury products (non-USA list*)

*In the USA, while Hershey's does not technically own Cadbury, they license and distribute their products. There seems to be a lot of confusion over what Hershey's will and will not disclose about their product ingredients. Some lists say some products are ok, other lists contradict those. SIZE MATTERS! Miniatures and seasonal products can and often do contain different ingredients. Always read labels and double check.

In the mean time, while I feel that this old Cadbury commercial his hysterical, I will not be buying Cadbury or Hershey's products in the near future.
Instead, I am going to send a letter requesting full disclosure of ingredients to:

David J. West
COO of Hershey Incorporated
100 Crystal A Drive
Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033

Hershey's "contact us" number: 800.468.1714

Belated St. Patrick's Day Celebration

You are going to look at this recipe and wonder why a nice Irish girl would go mucking about with a culinary standard. Well, this lass had a German-Irish father and a Sicilian mother... that's how the garlic, oregano, basil and rosemary got added to the pot. The first time my mother prepared boiled dinner for my dad, to his horror, she throw in a tomato as well. The literally melting pot of flavors produced a St. Patrick's Day feast so tasty that the Italian influences became a family tradition.

Corned Beef & Cabbage
corned beef brisket, recipe here
cold water
peppercorns
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
1 head of garlic
4 carrots, peeled and quartered
4 onions, peeled and halved
1 head of green cabbage cut into wedges (keep the core attached for easier removal)
8 potatoes peeled
brown mustard and viewing of Lost, optional

1. Remove the brisket from the brine and brush off most of the spices. Place it in a large stock pot and cover with enough cold water so that the meat is submerged and there are few inches of extra water (you will need this later to cook the veggies).
2. Add in a tablespoon or so of fresh black peppercorns, Italian seasonings and head of garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
3. Cook for 1-3 hours, depending on the weight of the meat, till it is mostly cooked through. (The original brisket I used was 4.31 lbs and this took about 1.5 hours over medium-low heat.)
4. Add in the vegetables and turn the heat up till it begins to boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook veggies until fork-tender.
5. Remove the meat, trim it of the fat and cut into slices, against the grain of the meat.
6. Serve with spicy brown mustard and enjoy the fact that there will be many many left overs.*
*Store left overs in the boiling liquid to prevent them from drying out.

This version was even more flavorful than my homemade corned beef attempt of 2008! But for now, I am looking forward to hash for breakfast.

Vosges Chocolate

While in Chicago I checked out Vosges Chocolate. I have previously had their Mo's Bacon Bar and Black Pearl Exotic Candy Bar. I found the bacon bar, well wanting for bacon, but thought the black sesame and wasabi worked well with the dark chocolate in the Black Pearl.

Armed with info about gluten-containing truffles from their website, I was excited to try most of their offerings. Honestly, I think I should have known better. Upon walking into the storefront on North Michigan Ave. it was clear that packaging was more important than product. Purple walls, check. Purple accents, check. Expensive lighting shining on chocolate that shouldn't be exposed to that much heat, check. Overpriced clothing oddly placed between the customer and the truffle counter, you got it.

Dazzled by the prospect of rich, intense flavors I purchased the following truffles:

Rooster: Taleggio cheese + organic walnuts + Tahitian vanilla bean + bittersweet dark chocolate
Olio d'Oliva: First press extra virgin olive oil + white chocolate + dried kalamata olives
Balsamico: 12-year aged balsamic vinegar + dark chocolate + Sicilian hazelnuts
Kayoko: Japanese macha green tea + white chocolate + cherry blossom petals
Buddha's Leaf: Malaysian pandan leaves + dark chocolate + cocoa powder
Black Pearl: ginger + wasabi + dark chocolate + black sesame seeds
Naga: sweet Indian curry + coconut + deep milk chocolate
Red Fire: ancho chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + Venezuelan dark chocolate

and bars:

Organic Enchanted Mushroom Candy Bar

Calindia Exotic Candy Bar
Goji Exotic Candy Bar

As I signed away my bill with a purple pen, the staff person threw in a mini Red Fire Exotic Candy Bar for free.

Overall I was underwhelmed. For the price point I expected something much more interesting, intense and more solidly constructed.

One of the truffles was cracked, the two white chocolate flavors were not filled properly and almost every truffle had separation between the two uneven layers of the outer shell. They were packaged in 2s or 4s in little cellophane bags (why they don't use boxes is beyond me), but without a guide some of the tasting was guesswork.

My favorite was the Redfire truffle which had heat, chocolate and cinnamon flavors that all came through. The pandan leaf truffle was a bit nutty but could easily have been hazelnut. The black pearl was my second favorite truffle, echoing the bar I remembered and liked so much. The rooster did pair chocolate and cheese effectively. It had an interesting tang but I am not sure its something I would necessarily reach for again. The balsamic vinegar truffle was one of the most disappointing; it clearly had a sour note, but the chocolate overwhelmed it. Some of the flavors were a bit lost, others were nearly obliterated. The white chocolate was salty and overwhelmed both the green tea and olive oil centers.
(I opted out of tasting the Naga truffle. I asked if it contained fenugreek and the staff there was not sure, so I bought one on a whim. Boy did it! Fenugreek is one of those spices that I can taste from a mile away and then only taste it for the next few hours.)

The bars faced a similar problem of missing or overpowered flavors. The dark chocolate in the Enchanted Mushroom bar masked most of the mushrooms earthiness as did the pink salt, taking over the goji in the Goji bar. The Calindia bar had a strong cardamom and chocolate flavor but I couldn't taste the prunes. (Dried plums on the label do not fool me.)
The mini Red Fire Bar hit hard with intense cinnamon and then a warm heat that tickled the back of the throat, like the truffle with the same name, it was the stand out favorite.

While I doubt I am going to be dropping that much cash on chocolate again, I think Vosges is using good products, I just question the pairings and truffle construction... a lot.

Lula's Cafe

I had a lovely meal at Lula, a restaurant in Logan Square, Chicago. I called ahead to ask about their Monday Night Farm Dinner, sadly it was gluten filled, but they assured me that there were other menu options that were or could be made gluten-free.

From the outside, Lula Cafe did not look like much sandwiched between a diner and apartment buildings. But the modest exterior gave way to a cozy, candlelit interior with a beautiful bar that lead down the narrow hall towards the dining room.

I started the night with a Malbec rose; I have never seen one before and thought it was worth a try. It was clean, slightly crisp, but it felt like something that was better left to warmer months.

The cheese plate appetizer came with far too much bread (not just because I could not eat it) there were two small cheese offerings a bloomy rind Italian cheese and some Great Hill Blue from Wisconsin plus brandied cherries, candied walnuts, preserves, micro greens, a drizzle of honey, flat bread crisps plus a small side plate of 4 slices of bread... it was bread overkill.
The beet and blood orange salad was a surprise. Layers of shaved fennel, serrano ham, arugula, golden and garnet beets, and supremes of blood oranges were dressed table side with black olive infused honey. The plate was also garnished with dried bits of black olives that provided a light crunch and salt that helped balance the plate.

The main dishes offered generous portions of protein paired with interesting sides. The whitefish came lightly crusted atop stinging nettles and black trumpet mushrooms and fried fingerling potatoes. I honestly thought the dots of chile oil around the plate would be overwhelming, but they added a pleasant and balanced heat to the dish. (I have never had stinging nettles before and they were a little fuzzy feeling, but soft, tender and paired well with the mushrooms.)
The flank steak, served medium rare over a bed of chickpeas and marrow-poached baby turnips had at least one or two hidden spices, beyond the cilantro listed, that made me keep going back for another bite. The meat stood out with its crisp, perfectly seasoned exterior that gave way to a tender interior, making me think that it was bathed in some clarified butter. The chickpeas were firm, but not undercooked, but the turnips were the real treat. Soft, bite sized roots had me digging through the chickpeas and green onions to find one more bite.

There was a comfortable and needed lull between courses, with casually dressed servers who knew how to read a table and their clientele.

The meal ended with the apricot milkshake and caramel panna cotta. The toasted rice and almond milkshake was thick but not overly sweet. (I passed on the accompanying cookies)
There was some confusion about the oatmeal praline topping on the panna cotta, but it was quickly resolved and a new dessert was sent out. If it would have been doable, I would have lapped the cajeta off the plate that accompanied the barely sweet goats milk panna cotta. The quince offered a texture contrast, nice, but not necessary. The salty and tangy curls of a hard goats milk cheese were cute but appropriate since the panna cotta itself did not have the characteristicly metallic or lemony hits of most goats milk products. The cajeta (similar to dulce de leche) was sweet and luscious and even with such a filling meal, I wanted more of it.

Lula is good and often times sometimes great local cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere. I look forward to a reason to visit both it and Chicago again.

More gluten free Chex

By way of Gluten Free Blog, there is word that General Mills will be reformulating more of their Chex products - in addition to the now gluten free Rice Chex - to be released in June 2009!