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Lemon Curd Cheesecake

3 Feb

Another guest blog post from my lovely wife Abby.  Moving away from Mexican food and onto dessert, Abby brings you the recipe for her amazing baked lemon curd cheesecake.  Over to Abby:

Hi,

I’ve heard some of you are interested in my lemon curd cheesecake recipe.  I’ve been making it for years, and have now adapted it to be gluten free.  It’s also not too unhealthy, for a cheesecake.  It’s quick, easy and delicious.

Enjoy,

@anaturalstate

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Cheesecake base

  • 125 g gluten free biscuit crumbs – rich tea and digestive both work.  Smash them up in a bowl to get crumbs, or use a stick blitzer
  • 40 g granulated sugar
  • 85 g butter, melted (Flora light works too, melt in a microwave)
  1. Mix biscuit crumbs, sugar and melted butter until well blended.  Press into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate or spring form tin.
  2. Bake at 190 degrees C (375 F) for 7 minutes.

Cheesecake filling

  • 500 g extra-light Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 150 g caster sugar
  • 1.5 tbsp gluten free plain flour (I use Dove’s Farm)
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 125 ml lemon curd, at room temperature
  1. Pre-heat oven temperature to 220C (we have a fan assisted oven).
  2. Beat the Philadelphia until fluffy.  Mix in the flour and add the sugar.  Then add in the salt and vanilla.  Slowly beat in the egg whites.
  3. Pour the filling into the pie plate/spring form tin containing the crust.  Spoon over mounds of lemon curd and swirl through with a knife.
  4. Bake in oven for 20 minutes (turn cheesecake after ten minutes), then reduce the temperature to 80C for 15-20 minutes or until the centre is just wobbly.
  5. Turn off oven and leave the cheesecake to cool inside for an hour.
  6. Remove tin from oven and leave on a wire rack until cool.  Refrigerate overnight (if you can wait that long!).

Abby, Guest Blogger for Gluten Free by the Sea

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Black Bean Mexican Chilli

31 Dec

Guest post by @anaturalstate

I’m from the American South where Mexican is a staple of everyone’s diet and, as you may have suspected, Mexican food is big in our house here in Plymouth (see earlier blog posts about Wahaca and homemade refried beans). Cooking Mexican food at home is easy, healthy, cheap, and delicious – and almost all dishes can be simply converted to a gluten free version. This recipe for black bean Mexican chilli is naturally gluten free and is also one of my faves – it serves four, but can be easily halved or double (healthy GF lunches!). Once made, the chilli is freezable too. All of the below ingredients can be found at Sainsbury’s. You will need:

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Olive oil

4 garlic cloves (chopped or crushed)

2 large onions (chopped) – I prefer red onions

3 tbsp sweet pimenton (Spanish paprika, or smoked paprika) or mild chilli powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

3 tbsp lime juice

3 tbsp cider vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 cans chopped tomatoes

2 cans (or boxes) black beans, drained

In a large pot, heat a bit of olive oil and fry the onions and garlic until the onions have turned translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the pimenton, cinnamon and cumin, and cook for a few minutes, being careful not to burn the spices. The spices are ready when they start to smell fragrant. Add the vinegar, sugar, lime, tomatoes and beans and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, stirring once in a while. Serve up with jacket potatoes, potato wedges, and/or cheddar, feta or queso fresco cheese, use the chilli to stuff tacos, or even just eat it on its own. ¡Delicioso!

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Gluten Free Mexican Food and Abby’s Refried Beans

21 Oct

My wife Abby is from America, where Mexican food is as common as the good old chippy in England.  So since we met 10 years ago Mexican food has been a regular feature in the Gollop household.  Fortunately Mexican food is easy to make gluten free, thanks largely to Discovery Foods great range of products – many of which are labelled gluten free.  We frequently use the taco trays to make quick and easy tacos.  Stir fry some onion and peppers with some mince or chicken with one of the spice mixes, serve with some grated cheese and salsa and you have a tasty meal in minutes.

Slightly trickier to find are gluten free tortilla wraps.  There are solutions though.  My first taste of gluten free tortilla wraps was the Lovemore version from Asda.  Quite possibly the worst gluten free product I have tried, like eating old leather boots and not something I would recommend!  Hope was restored though when we successfully tried this recipe from The Gluten Free Student Cookbook.  One of the most popular GF wraps amongst the gluten free community are the corn wraps from Mexgrcoer, and these are really nice (though only 6 inch diameter).  I’ve also had success with the Cool Chile Co wraps that are available in Whole Foods.  Another option is the easy mix available from the Foodamentalists, which is also available at Plymouth Greengrocer for Plymouth based readers.

Whether it be tacos, fajitas or quesadillas, no gluten free Mexican meal in our household is complete without Abby’s Mexican bean recipe.  These can also be re-heated in a microwave and can be perfect for parties to dip your tortilla chips in.  Based on classic Mexican refried beans, this recipe has evolved over time to use black beans instead of pinto beans.  They are much more readily available in tinned form, which makes this a simple recipe.  We have tried in the past with dried black and pinto beans and have never really had much success.  The caramelised red onion, garlic, white wine vinegar and lime juice infuse to give these beans an extraordinary flavour.  We usually serve as a side dish, but a friend we passed the recipe onto made them and just served with rice and really enjoyed it.

Abby’s Mexican Refried Beans

1 red onion. chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

2 tins of black beans, drained

250 ml (ish) passata

Lime juice of one lime (we use bottled lime juice)

Fry the red onion and garlic in a pan with a tiny bit of olive oil.  Next add the vinegar and brown sugar and cook until the onions are caramelised.

Stir in the black beans, passata, lime juice and add some salt and pepper to season. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened, or longer depending how mushy you like your beans.

Hope you enjoy and we’d love to hear from you if you try these.

Edit: For this of you asking where to buy soaked black beans, these are the ones we use which are from Sainsbury’s:

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