If anyone is reading these postings, you might wonder where I went. Big start, sudden stop. I took my friend Rachel, the photographer, to LA to see my mom. We spent more time cooking gluten free food for the trip than we spent there. But, it worked, neither of us got sick from gluten, and it was almost like eating out, since all we had to do was serve, microwave, and set the table.
Both cameras were broken so there are no good photos. I am sorry, as the photos make it work. I have a new charger so there will be pictures from now on.
First I wrote a menu so I would know how many dishes and servings and meals we were working with. It may sound easy as pie, but not for my dyslexic brain. I had to write it out like this: lunch on the road, egg salad and bread with margarine, cherries, and so on. For me, once it's on paper, neatly printed and hanging off the frig magnet I can make sense of it. Two hot dishes, eggplant parmesan, no relation to egg salad, and a rice, egg and raspberry baked pudding which was supposed to have bits of good ham in it, for protein and flavor, but at the last minute we remembered that you aren't allowed to bring any pork across the border into the US from Mexico. It was to be served with maple syrup and it was boring. But it was food and it was ready to eat. So we ate it and didn't go hungry. The three cold meals were the egg salad, and two lunches of chicken salad. Oddly the chicken salad, which I made, was not appealing during prep, but was delicious and hit the spot when eaten. You can't always tell. Over all it worked, there was enough tasty food for the two of us for three days away from my safe gluten-free kitchen. Like the "A team", I love it when a plan comes together.
We used the eggplant recipe from the cookbook, which I will attempt to copy and paste here. The photo is from the cookbook too.
Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients
1. One large eggplant, or 4 to 6 Japanese eggplants, any color
2. Enough potato starch to flour the eggplant, about half a cup. Use more if you need to. Other non-gluten flours, such as rice or corn starch will do, but I prefer the potato starch. (Corn starch is often contaminated with gluten, and rice flour has a different consistency when it’s fried.)
3. Plenty of olive oil for frying, about half a cup. (Olive oil does go rancid, and different brands have different flavors. Look for a big bottle, freshness and best price. Local grocery stores are usually not the best source.)
4. Sauce, about two or three cups. You can use canned, or home-made as you wish. If you buy a ready made sauce, try to be sure it’s gluten free. I can never bear to just leave it alone, so I add the prepared sauce to a pan in which I have sautéed fresh basil, (one cup, raw, chopped) and garlic (two cloves finely chopped), and onion (half a chopped) in olive oil. To that mixture I add a quarter cup of cream sherry.
5. At least one pound of several kinds of cheese. We like havarti, cheddar, mozzarella, and grated parmesan.
6. Two cups of cooked rice, white or brown
Next
1. Cut the eggplant into half inch cubes, the size and shape of dice. We didn’t peel ours, but you may if you’d like to. Ignore the seeds. If there is a bad spot or bruise, cut it off.
2. Either in a big bowl, or a gallon sized plastic bag with a zip, mix the cubes with enough potato starch to coat each little cube.
3. Fry these floury cubes in hot olive oil till they are getting brown, a little crispy and soft to a fork. Do it in batches if there’s too much for your pan. Put the cooked pieces in a big bowl till they’re all done.
4. Butter or oil a large rectangular baking pan, or lacking that, a large oven proof frying pan.
5. Make layers. Three layers of eggplant and cheese are good, but two is fine. Begin with the rice. Pat it along the bottom, like a crust. Then add a layer of fried eggplant cubes. Spoon sauce over the whole surface. Sprinkle the grated, mixed cheese over the sauce, pretty thick so it will be melty and nutritious. (We used the parmesan cheese only on the top layer of the casserole.) Then make another layer. And if there’s room in the pan and more ingredients, make yet another layer.
6. Bake about 35 minutes in a medium oven, 350 to 375 degrees. When it’s bubbly, the cheese on top is melted, and the edges are a little brown it must be done. (If it starts to bubble over into your oven, put a cookie sheet or some aluminum foil under it to prevent a burned on mess.)
We liked this so much, we kept thinking of excuses to cook it over and over.
The smell alone will make company glad they came and I’ve seen men’s eyes light up and sparkle when they’re served this dish. The more cheese the better.
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I'll post more of the recipes in the next few days. The casseroles travelled well in a cold bag with frozen chill packs and were perfect microwaved later.
For me at least, stress and change increase my autoimmune sensitivities. Change is refreshing and fun, but... When I'm on an adventure, it's even more important that I stay away from any gluten, or hint of gluten, and all the other foods I'm allergic to. Sure it's not easy, but it's worth it. I learned over time that if I'm cranky and achy and tired I really don't have as much fun as I might otherwise. Take care of yourself. Everyone will be glad.
