In search of bakeries, recipes for gluten-free bread
Welcome to the tail end of the month of May — or might we call it the dessert of the delicious meal that is the month of May? We have a couple of requests from a former Chattanoogan returning home. CCL had breakfast at Two Sons Kitchen and Market on M.L. King Boulevard and hopes someone can provide the recipe for their Honey Hot Sauce.
She also reported, “In my current home in Illinois, it is pretty easy to eat gluten-free at restaurants. I didn’t find universal availability of gluten-free bread, though a couple of places graciously offered to replace bread with a lettuce wrap for a sandwich. I would like to know what local restaurants and bakeries have gluten-free bread and also what is the best gluten-free bread you can buy at a grocery.” She added, “Who has a really tasty recipe for this bread made at home?” We think you can solve every one of those dilemmas.
We’ll pass on to you the compliment from Dan Cobb of Soddy-Daisy, since you are the ones who provide what he complimented. “Thank you once again for publishing some terrific tips and recipes.”
BEAN SALADS
Next, of course, came a recipe. “I noticed today you asked for bean salad suggestions, so here is mine. I have a friend who alleges that his grandmother makes the best bean salad. I have not found that to be true, along with the fact that my grandma’s bean salad was awful, to be generous. So I made some adjustments to a recipe I thought to be the least boring, and it turned out better than I expected. It is pretty simple as well.”
All good, Mr. C. Each generation should improve on the taste of the previous ones. And isn’t that what most of us in the older generations hope for, to be improved upon? I am counting on that, in every area of life.
And while we are discussing beans, here’s a confession that fresh green beans never get top billing at our house. The man of the house wants them cooked to well-seasoned softness; another occupant wants a lovely spring green and a little crunch. Can you offer recipes that might make the ubiquitous green bean a delight at our house as well as yours? And in the meantime, here’s Mr. Cobb’s recipe using canned green beans as well as kidney and white beans. 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon tomato
paste
1 tablespoon malt vinegar 1 tablespoon chives,
chopped
½ can cut green beans,
drained
1 can kidney beans,
drained and rinsed
1 can white beans, drained
and rinsed
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded
and chopped
4 to 6 green onions,
chopped
8 to 10 pitted black olives,
sliced in half
4½ ounces feta cheese,
crumbled
Salt and pepper
Combine the first 5 ingredients in large glass mixing bowl.
Mix in all the beans. Add tomatoes, green onions, black olives and feta cheese, and toss gently to coat thoroughly.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cover tightly, and refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, before serving.
Loleta Hammontree sent her favorite version of bean salad.
Marinated ThreeBean Salad
1 can kidney beans 1 can wax beans
1 can cut green beans 1 large onion, chopped 1⁄2 cup chopped green
pepper
3⁄4 cup sugar (I use
Splenda)
2⁄3 cup vinegar
1⁄2 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon pepper
Drain beans. Mix all vegetables together. Mix remaining ingredients together, and pour over vegetables. Let set in refrigerator overnight.
VEGAN CEVICHE
Here is another recipe from Rose Secrest’s collection, vegetarian as always.
Ceviche Real
1 quart water 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 cup oyster mushrooms,
finely chopped
1 cup hearts of palm,
finely chopped
1⁄4 cup red onion, finely
hopped
1⁄3 cup cilantro, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced
1⁄2 cup cucumber, finely
chopped
1⁄2 cup jicama, finely
chopped
2 tomatoes, finely
chopped
1 avocado, cubed Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Boil water with 2 tablespoons lime juice. Put in mushrooms and hearts of palm. Bring to a boil again, and immediately take off the burner. Let cool. Rinse red onion if it’s strong. Drain mushrooms and hearts of palm, combine everything else, then chill.
HOMEMADE EXTRACT
Clifford Burdette, who has practiced the art of homemade extracts, offered another version of homemade vanilla extract.
Vanilla Extract No. 2
6 vanilla beans, split 1 bottle vodka (a fifth)
Combine split beans with vodka in a 1-quart glass jar. Store jar in a dark, cool place for a minimum of 2 months; however, the longer time stored, the stronger and better flavored your homemade vanilla will be.
NO-SUGAR JAMS
Mr. and Mrs. Sunday addressed the challenge of homemade low- to no-sugar jams.
“Standard pectin will not gel without 55-85 percent added sugar. There is a special pectin derived from citrus peels and pulp (low methoxyl pectin) that doesn’t need sugar to gel (Pomona’s Universal Pectin), but it used to be hard to find and it’s a little tricky to use. Fortunately, Ball (the canning jar company) and Sure-Jell (a Kraft brand) have formulated low-methoxyl pectin into one-for-one replacements for regular pectin in recipes. You can find it in the canning supplies aisle of some groceries and many hardware stores. There are recipes in or on the package and most existing recipes should work.
“Be aware that these products have some dextrose (to bulk up the very powerful pectin for recipe purposes) so if absolutely minimal sugar is essential you’ll want to hunt up the Pomona product. (We think we remember seeing it at Ace Hardware on Signal Mountain Boulevard). You can use any sweetener you like with Pomona (stevia, saccharine, honey, guava … or none). They have tested recipes in the package as well. Of course, all fruit has sugar, but most berries have relatively little. And look, it’s strawberry season…”
Here’s to you, and here’s to June, as we turn the page on Friday.