Potato and smoked mackerel soup – Low Fodmap

This is a really tasty soup that is made from basic ingredients and I hope you like it!

Ingredients

800g of potato

1 carrot

sprinkling of asafoetida

1 tablespoon of garlic infused oil

1 1/2 smoked mackerel

300 ml of lactose free milk

Salt and pepper

grating of nutmeg

Method

1 litre of water (or more depending on how thick you like your soup! Just add more as needed)

wash and peel the potatoes and carrot and chop

add oil to the pan and add asafoetida and fry

add vegetables

add flaked mackerel

add milk and water, bring to the boil and simmer till vegetables are soft

add salt and pepper to taste

blend or mash soup – depending on your preference

add grated nutmeg.

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This dish serves 3-4 (depending on how much water you add!)

Purple sage & parsnip gnocchi

Today the weather has been grim again so I am stuck in the house being creative, or perhaps you should decide if I am! I adore parsnips, they are a tasty root vegetable that is not too hard on the digestive system. It is getting towards autumn now so a nice recipe using parsnips in place of potato sounds an interesting idea. Not that I have anything against potatoes or I not that I reckon parsnips are some kind of ‘super root’ – if you have been following my blog for some time you will know my views on this 😉

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Ingredients

500g of parsnips

80g of gluten free flour

20g of Parmesan cheese

2g purple sage leaves (you can use ordinary sage if you wish)

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil

a sprinkling of asafoetida

Method

wash, peel and boil the parsnips until they are quite soft in salted water

mash them well

whilst still warm add the gluten free flour and mix well

empty the mix on to a floured surface, split into four equal amounts

roll each into a sausage shape and cut into disks evenly

roll each disk into a ball then squash flat with a fork

Boil a pan of water and add a few gnocchi at a time they will float when they are cooked

remove them from the water and drain.

using the olive oil fry the sage and asafoetida and mix with the gnocchi

add grated Parmesan to serve

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the gnocchi can be served as they are if you are vegetarian or they will taste great with meat, chicken or fish too!

If you follow a vegan diet then you should use a dairy free Parmesan alternative.

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I hope you like them – the recipe serves two for a main dish, it is also possible to use them as a side dish serving 4. If you are following the Low Fodmap Diet parsnips are low fodmap – have a small portion. I am seriously wishing the weather to improve a little – it is much to early for wintry weather to be a feature but of course being situated in the middle of the Pennines this is a distinct possibility. Although I don’t want to end on a negative note so enjoy the recipe and I will blog again soon from happy valley!

Gluten free, low lactose rosemary and olive bread

The seat in the wood has intrigued me since I stumbled across it, looks home made, old – it has certainly seen its fare share of winters, I guess. It doesn’t overlook a repose worthy view and the valley’s features are obscured by the wall when seated, but is certainly a welcome resting place from the steep climb of the valley side. A haunting melancholy spot in an old oak forest – to come home to a meal of rosemary and olive bread is certainly what’s needed to cheer up the spirit after today’s walk! Check out the recipe below.

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Ingredients

450g gluten free self raising flour

1 teaspoon of xanthan gum

3 tablespoons of olive oil

15 green olives

salt

350 mls of lactose free milk

5g of rosemary leaves

Spray olive oil

2 eggs

50g of Parmesan cheese

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Method

Wash your hands

Measure out the lactose free milk, add eggs and olive oil mix well, add salt to season.

Weigh out the gluten free flour and add the xanthan gum, and mix well.

Grate the Parmesan cheese and add 2/3 to the flour leaving the remainder to sprinkle on the finished bread.

Chop the rosemary finely and add to the flour.

Slice the olives and add 2/3 to the flour leaving the remainder to decorate the top of the bread mix before cooking.

Mix the Parmesan and olives into the flour, make a well in the centre of the flour mix and add the liquid ingredients.

Incorporate the liquid into the flour till everything is blended in.

The finished mix has a slightly sticky texture.

Oil a tray well and add the mix, wet your hands and smooth the surface and add a thumb print in lines down the bread as a decoration.

Spray the surface of the mix with olive oil

Add the remaining olives and cheese.

Cook for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean at gas mark 6 or 220 degree centigrade.

Serves 8-10

For a low fodmap diet xanthan gum is possibly fermentable but is in the bread in very low levels (less than 0.5%) so most people should be OK to have a portion.

Low Fodmap, Gluten free, low lactose pancakes

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According to Wikipedia’s reference for Shrove Tuesday pancakes represent the sun in pagan mythology and eating them gave power, light and warmth of the sun. Pancakes were also a way of using up rich food before the fasting of lent in the Christian religion. Either way these delightful disks are a treat with sweet or savoury fillings and I like the association with the life giving sun when it has been so cold recently. Enjoy….

Ingredients

3 large eggs

50 mls Lactose free milk

100g of wheat free, gluten free flour

Pinch of salt

Spray oil

Method

Weight out the flour into a mixing bowl and add the eggs and a small pinch of salt.

Mix well and add enough milk to make a thin batter that coats the back of a spoon.

Pour the batter into a measuring jug.

Heat the frying pan and spray some oil – pour in enough batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan and move the pan till the batter is even and pour off the excess back into the measuring jug.

Cook for 30 seconds maximum till dry and and flip over the pancake to cook the other side.

Serve warm with lemon juice and sugar (traditional way) or anything that takes your fancy!

 

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Gluten free low lactose crumpets – better to make these at home!

This recipe is really easy to make and is gluten-free, low FODMAP and low lactose. These are really nice to enjoy toasted with a little free from spread (and jam if you wish) on a cold winters day after a long walk in the countryside! It was really cold outside when the pictures below were taken but the benefit of being outdoors is the atmospheric sky and moss-covered surfaces – showing that winter is really here!

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Ingredients

300 g Gluten free self-raising flour

1 teaspoon of dried yeast

2 eggs

3/4 pint of lactose free milk

Salt + pepper

Method

Remove the eggs from the fridge and leave to warm to room temperature. Heat the milk till luke warm (body temperature.) Weigh out the flour and add the eggs, milk, yeast salt and pepper. Mix well and leave somewhere warm for the yeast to begin to rise, heat a frying pan and using spray oil to fry and using a cooking ring sprayed with oil place this in the pan and fill the ring with 1 cm depth of batter, you should see small bubbles forming on the surface of the crumpet. Lift up the cooking ring turn the crumpet over and cook through. If you are avoiding yeast then try a little more baking powder in the batter instead.

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Wheat free couscous stuffed peppers and Living well with IBS

Please watch and share ‘Living well with IBS’ (irritable bowel syndrome), a film made by Vicky Grant, a researcher at the University of Sheffield, and Gemma Thorpe, a professional filmmaker. Vicky has lived with IBS for over 30 years; here she talks about her experiences and the experiences of others, as portrayed through the storytelling workshops she runs through the Knowing as Healing project.

One of the recipes developed for the video is the one below – a perfect choice for meatless Monday!

Ingredients

150g of wheat free couscous
200ml of boiling water
60g of green olives
60g of hazelnuts*
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of mild paprika
10-12 strands of fresh coriander
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
4 slices of wheat free seeded bread
4 teaspoons of garlic infused oil
Five orange peppers.
Salt to taste.

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Weigh out the maize couscous and add the boiling water and cover – leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Add the oil to a pan and add chopped hazelnuts and add cumin, cinnamon and mild paprika and toast the nuts.

Mix the nuts and spices with the couscous and add chopped olives.

Wash and cut the peppers in half fill each with the couscous.

Crumb the bread and add lemon and fresh coriander and sprinkle this mix on the top of each pepper.

Use aluminium foil to cover the peppers while they cook and cook till pepper is soft 20-10 minutes at gas mark 5 or 190°C. Remove aluminium foil for the last 5 minutes to toast the breadcrumbs. Watch out for other recipes soon!

*Hazelnuts do contain some FODMAP but are used in very small amounts in the recipe – if you wish you can omit them if problematic or if you are on the exclusion part of the diet.

Serves 10 – serve with some Low FODMAP salad as a light lunch