L'addiction s'il vous plait

Apparently I have been in denial. Or maybe just underplaying it. It seems that I have an addiction. It was only last night as I added more photos to my Facebook page that I truly realised the extent of it.

Hi, my name is Trish and I am addicted to French Food.

 My favourite French band

There. I said it. It is out there now. 

I loved it before failsafe. Buttery croissants, coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, baguettes with lashings of butter, tarte au fraise, crêpes, crème brûlée, cheese, wine and I'm getting quite worked up just thinking about it all (I may also be addicted to dairy looking at that list).

It seems only natural that I would be converting as much as I can to failsafe. It helps that a lot of it is easy to convert.

My latest attempt was soupe à l'oignon or as you would know it - French onion soup. Onion is out, but leek is in. Leeks are about as cheap as they get at this time of year. They aren't as big as they are at other times, but try to get the thicker ones so you get more bang for your buck.

Not the golden brown hue of its onion counterpart, but equally satisfying.

Soupe aux Poireaux  (leek soup) (Serves 8 as entree)

Ingredients

• Leek, halved lengthways, washed and sliced - Aim for about 1kg chopped which was 5 short fat leeks for me.
• 3 Tbsp failsafe oil (or nuttelex or ghee if tolerated)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup rice flour (or other tolerated flour)
• 2 1/2 Litres of liquid (water or stock or whiskey. I used 1/2 cup whiskey, 1Tbsp stock concentrate and the rest water)
• Bread to serve.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the leeks. Cook over a medium to low heat for about 30mins stirring occasionally until they start to caramelise.
2. Add the garlic and flour and stir for a few minutes.
3. Gradually add the liquid while stirring to ensure there are no floury lumps.
4. Cover the saucepan and simmer for about 25 mins.
5. Serve with slices of grilled garlic bread on top

Variations

• Salicylates - Use onions (duh), add a bay leaf and a few sprigs of thyme.
• Non Failsafe guests? Serve with slices of baguette that have been grilled with grated gruyere cheese on top.

 This was a brilliant starter for my Mum's birthday dinner of Boeuf à la Ficelle. The kids had garlic bread slices on top of theirs (I had a few pieces of gluten free garlic bread in the freezer) and the adults had the cheesy baguette option. It was enjoyed by all.

Highly Strung

Having people over for meals gives me the opportunity to try new things out, things that I wouldn't necessarily cook for just any old dinner.

My mum recently celebrated a milestone birthday and that seemed like a good reason to do something a little bit fancy. So I flicked through all my cook books searching for inspiration and came across a recipe in my French book that I have been wanting to try for ages. It is so incredibly close to failsafe to that few changes were needed and the end result was really quite special. The meat is cooked for a very short time, which suits the amine sensitive and the cut is so very tender when it is done. Unfortunately the cost of the cut will relegate it to "special occasion" status.

Boeuf à la Ficelle
(Beef on a string)

Ingredients

• Beef fillet (allow about 200g per adult, less for kids - I cooked for 5 adults and 2 kids and used 1.2kg)
• 6 cups liquid (this could be stock, water, whiskey or a combination - I used 1/2 cup whiskey and 3 tablespoons of vegetable stock concentrate with 5 1/2 cups of water). If you are cooking less meat you won't need as much liquid.
• 1 large swede, cut into batons (sticks)
• 1 celery stalk, cut into batons
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/4 cabbage, sliced
• 6 shallots, trimmed and cut into long lengths
• A few sprigs of parsley

Method

1. Trim the beef of any visible fat and sinew and cut into portions. Tie a length of cooking string around each piece so that it holds shape leaving enough string attached to lower the beef into the pot.
2. Pour the liquid into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the vegetables and parsley and cook at a medium boil for about 8 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Discard the parsley and skim and fat or foam from the surface.
3. Season the beef with a little salt and lower into the boiling stock. Tie the string around the pot handle or to a wooden spoon resting across the top of the pot. Cook for 6mins for rare, 10 mins for medium rare, 15 mins for medium and 20 mins for well done (for those who can't bear the sight of pink in their meat).
4. Place each piece of meat on a plate or shallow bowl, add the cooked vegetables and ladle some of the broth over to serve.

Variations

• Salicylates - Add a carrot cut into batons with the other vegetables (moderate) and a bay leaf and 2 sprigs of thyme (very high).
• Amines - use beef stock for the liquid.

We didn't eat all the cooking liquid on the night, so I reserved it and froze it. Normally beef stock would be too high in amines to use, but as the beef was only cooked very briefly it make a nice, mild beef stock that I would happily use again.

This dish was so succulent and was happily devoured by failsafers and non-failsafers alike.

Like My Nan Used to Make

Australia is made up of so many different cultures all with wonderful food traditions. So many different flavours and cooking methods. Me? I come from a long line of Brits and am only second generation Australian. This means childhood meals weren't full of spices or unconventional meats or vegetables. For a while I felt a little miffed that I had no ability to eat chilli and that the smell of certain cured meats made me want to gag. It has paid off in the end because I seem to have a fairly sound knowledge of failsafe friendly food.

One set of grandparents were from Scotland and we used to eat with them quite a lot so it wasn't always fancy. The thing that my Nanna used to make quite often was Mince and Tatties a very traditional scottish meal. It is a savoury mince stew which is cheap and filling and is one of my comfort foods. My Nan would use gravox or vegemite to add a kick of flavour to the gravy and there was always peas and carrots in it. My version probably bears very little resemblance to hers or a traditional one, but it hits the spot.

Mince and Tatties
Ingredients

• 500g Beef mince 
• 2 tsp failsafe oil
• 1/2 large leek, finely chopped
• 1 small stick celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 2 cups stock (I used vegetable)
• 1/2 swede, finely diced
• 1/2 cup lentils (I used a mixture of red and french this time)
• 1/2 choko, finely diced
• 3 brussel sprouts, finely chopped
• large handful of beans, chopped
• salt to taste 
• 1 Tbsp rice flour
• Mashed potato to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and gently saute the leek, garlic and celery.
2. Add mince and fry, breaking up the mince as it is cooking.
3. Once the mince is lightly cooked add the whiskey and turn the heat up so that it starts to boil.
4. Add the swede, lentils, choko and stock, bring to the boil and then gently simmer for about 15mins, stirring occasionally.
5. Add the sprouts and beans and simmer until the lentils and veg are cooked.
6. Mix flour with a little water and add to thicken.
7. Check seasoning and add salt to taste.
8. Serve with mashed potato.

Variations
 Salicylates - Use onions instead of leeks and add diced carrots.
Glutamates - Use green peas.

Leftovers are particularly nice on toast for an easy meal or thickened a bit more and used as a pie filler.

Not Quite Curry

So my son had a friend over today who is Indian. He was telling me about the food he normally eats and it got me craving curry. Hubby and I had real curry about a month ago when we went out for our anniversary, we go out so rarely that something so incredibly un-failsafe is a fitting choice. But I wanted curry tonight so I experimented with what I can use here and the results were surprisingly good. Actually, it was seriously delicious.

Clayton's Chicken Curry
Ingredients

• 1 large leek, split lengthways and sliced finely
• 5 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbsp failsafe oil (or ghee if you can tolerate it)
• 600g chicken breast, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup rice milk
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 1/4 cup gin (optional, you can just add more rice milk)
• 2 Tbsp ground raw cashews

Method

1. Heat rice milk and add saffron and let soak. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan and cook leeks and garlic until soft and pale gold.
3. Add chicken and seal on all sides. Stir in salt
4. Add gin and rice milk with saffron, cover and gently simmer for about 20 mins or until chicken is cooked and tender.
5. Add ground cashew and cook for another few minutes.
6. Serve with steamed rice and flat bread.

Variations - Dairy - use cream instead of rice milk.
                    Salicylates - add a tsp of garam masala with the salt and a Tbsp of fresh coriander to garnish


This was so easy to make and everyone liked it, so I think this will be a regular feature at dinner time.

Poh-Tay-Toes

What's taters, precious? What's taters, eh?

Amusingly, since the Lord of the Rings movies I have trouble saying "potatoes" properly. More often than not it is said Samwise style "poh-tay-toes".

Ridiculousness aside it is a really lucky thing to have potatoes as part of this diet, they are such a versatile vegetable - "Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew... Lovely big golden chips with a nice piece of fried fish". Or you can turn them into soup.

This soup is such an obvious failsafe choice and one that we didn't even try until our second failsafe winter. My boy never liked soups, so I didn't even bother at first. Now he loves this one and it makes great leftovers. Since there are no amines in it, it can be kept in the freezer longer than meaty leftovers. Bonus! Last winter he took this to school for lunch in a little thermos tub with some gluten free bread to dunk in it.

Potato and leek soups with a crusty bread roll

Potato and Leek Soup
Ingredients

• 2 large leeks (I had about 600g chopped)
• 2 Tbsp FS oil
• 4 large potatoes (I had about 1kg peeled)
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups rice milk
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Parsley or chives to garnish

Method

1. Trim leeks and halve lengthways, rinse and slice thinly
2. Peel and thinly slice potatoes
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan and gently saute the leeks for about 5 mins.
4. Lay the potatoes on top, cover and cook over a very low heat for about 30 mins.
5. Stir in the salt, water and rice milk.
6. Increase the heat and bring the soup to boiling point stirring often (so that it doesn't stick) and then turn down low again.
7. Partly cover with lid and cook gently for 20 mins.
8. Puree in food processor or with stick blender. Cooling as much as necessary first.
9. Return to pan and heat until desired serving temperature is reached.
10. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with fresh snipped chives or parsley and serve with your favourite bread.

Variations- Dairy - Use butter and milk

This lovely bread roll was made from a recipe by the very talented Kersten and can be purchased from her facebook page.

Warm My Chills

The cool weather has really set in now and I have to admit that I rather like it. I like scarves and warm coats, heaters and hot drinks and I really like winter food. It's quite lucky that failsafe food lends itself so well to delicious warm meals. Inspiration can be hard to come by in summer, but not winter, far less thought is required to come up with something that hits the spot.

This casserole definitely hit the spot. I have been getting into using the failsafe alcohols for cooking. They can really add a hit of flavour that failsafe cooking often needs. If you don't like to use them, you can leave it out or substitute a bit of stock.

Warm, stodgy, stick to the ribs goodness.

Beef Casserole
Ingredients

• 1.5 kg diced beef
• 1/2 large leek, diced
• small stick celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 swede, diced small
• 1/2 cup french lentils
• 1/4 cup red lentils
• 1/4 cup amaranth, washed very well
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1-2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C 
2. Put everything except the salt into a large casserole dish cover with lid and place in the oven.
3. After about half an hour (when everything is boiling away) turn down to 120°C and cook for another 1 1/2 hours until the meat is tender.
4. Add salt to taste and serve with mash and steamed vegetables.

That's it! So easy. You could mess around and seal the meat and saute the vegies first, but it really doesn't need it and any leftovers can be used as a pie filling or just tipped over toast.