It is constantly surprising how many things contain wheat, barley or rye. There are obvious things that you cut out straight away—bread, pasta, beer, cakes and pastries—unless they’re specifically marked “gluten free”. But there are a host of less obvious things as well, turning you into an expert in reading food contents labels. Things to check carefully on a gluten-free diet include:

• chocolate and lollies
• cereals
• biscuits and crackers
• French fries—these can be coated with flour before deep frying
• gravy mixtures
• processed meats and sausages
• salad dressings
• sauces, including soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Hoisin sauce
• seasoning mixes, including rice and noodle flavourings
• seasoned snack foods, such as potato and corn chips
• soups and stocks
• spreads, such as Vegemite, peanut butter, Anchovette paste
• yoghurts—some of the flavoured ones are thickened with gluten.

To anyone attempting a gluten-free diet, making the change seems daunting—“what am I going to eat?” being the primary concern. Our diets are often so loaded with breads and cereals that you can’t have any more, it can be a real challenge to find alternatives. There are plenty of delicious things that you can eat, it’s just about making sure you eat enough to fill you up.

Gluten-free fillers

Our favourite gluten-free fillers are:

• chickpeas, lentils, beans (kidney, cannellini, butter, fava, black)
• quinoa, buckwheat, polenta
• seeds, nuts
• corn, rice, potatoes
• eggs
• plus a host of other fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and fish.

Gluten-free substitutes

If you’re really struggling to fill up, here are some of the things that we’ve substituted into our meals to make them gluten free.

Tasty gluten-free meals

Gluten free doesn’t mean flavour free! We make some delicious gluten-free meals. Once you learn what you can and can’t eat it makes it much easier to adapt your recipes to suit. Check out some of our regular dishes:

Soups

• Zucchini, potato and feta soup
• Dhal
• Chestnut soup
• Pumpkin soup

Salads

• Witlof, apple and walnut salad
• Quinoa tabouli
• Asparagus and pea salad
• Orange and fennel salad
• Coleslaw
• Caramelised pear & fennel salad with gorgonzola

Mains

• Herbed rissoles
• Coconut chicken curry with banana chutney
• Pasta with cauliflower, peas, mint and quinoa
• Coconut, chicken and banana curry
• Thyme and lemon lamb with zucchini and chickpea
• Lamb and haloumi skewers
• Beef tacos
• Fish with charred Mediterranean vegetables
• Tuna with bean salad

There are so many mouthwatering recipes in Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals it’s hard to choose, but eventually I settled on an Asian style beef and noodle salad (page 68).

Challenge #2 Seared Asian Beef, Best Noodle Salad & Ginger Dressing

All of the recipes in this book start with the instruction “ingredients out” and this recipe also suggested boiling the kettle and setting a frypan on high heat.

Ingredients: cashews, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, rice noodles, romaine lettuce, carrot, cucumber, radishes, coriander, spring onions, cress, alfalfa sprouts, steak, Chinese five spice, pickled ginger, limes, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, red chilli

So I set about weighing ingredients and getting various tools ready to go. This took 10 minutes and 44 seconds. Slightly longer than the first challenge but not by much.

Start cooking

First is toasting the nuts and seeds until golden then setting aside. Next pouring boiling water over the noodles to heat them through; then rubbing the steak with Chinese five spice, salt and pepper, and cooking in the pan until done to your liking (medium-rare for me). All very straightforward.

Next was the ginger dressing, really just mixing the pickled ginger, lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil and chopped chilli together. Not difficult.

Now on to assembling the salad—separating lettuce leaves, grating carrot, chopping radishes, cucumber and spring onion (by hand, not with the food processor like most of these recipes call for), grabbing the coriander leaves, cress and alfalfa, then arranging them on a platter or board—there’s nothing complicated here. All the while flipping your steak and, when cooked, resting it.

Finally, draining the rice noodles and scattering them over the salad, slicing the beef and placing the slices on top, then scattering the platter with the nuts and seeds.

It all sounds like the simplest thing in the world, and it is, but it still took me 22 minutes and 20 seconds to complete it. Although I have to admit, I wasn’t trying too hard because after last time I’d decided I preferred my own cooking pace.

That brings the total cooking time up to 33 minutes and 4 seconds. OK, so not 15 minutes but I still think that’s really quick to produce a delicious healthy dinner.

My thoughts

Positive: This dish had fantastic Asian elements—sweetness, saltiness, heat, fabulous crisp vegetables, amazing crunch from the toasted nuts and seeds, soft noodles, and tender juicy meat. I loved the combination. There were lots of beautiful textures and every mouthful was just a little bit different, depending on what ingredients had ended up on the fork.

Negative: Who am I kidding—brilliant dish! Just took a little longer to prepare than I expected.

Next time?

I will certainly make Jamie’s Seared Asian Beef, Best Noodle Salad & Ginger Dressing again but will start by cooking the steak, and allowing it plenty of time to rest. The nuts and seeds can easily be toasted in another pan—extra washing up but not a big deal.

Herbed rissoles are a meal from my childhood, a real comfort food. Back then herbed rissoles were regularly served for dinner with creamy mashed potato and steamed greens, or as beef burger patties with salad, cheese and tomato sauce on a crunchy bread roll.

Herbed rissoles traditionally have bread soaked in milk added to the mix to fill them out and help keep them moist when cooked. They are also usually lightly dusted in plain flour before frying to help develop a golden brown crust on the outside. Now that we’re trying to eat less gluten this is a no–no so I’ve played around with the herbed rissole recipe and managed to reinvent a really tasty mix. I actually think it’s better than the original.

The secret of perfect herbed rissoles, or any burger patties, is in how vigorously you combine the ingredients. It’s important that the mixture holds together when cooked and to achieve that you need to massage the ingredients into each other so that they bind together thoroughly. The salt and milk help by acting as a kind of glue that binds the rissoles. As you work the ingredients together with your hands you’ll feel the texture of the minced beef change. Once it starts to get sticky it’s ready for the pan and won’t fall apart while cooking.

Cooked over medium heat, the resulting herbed rissoles are golden brown on the outside and dense but tender and juicy on the inside. I like to use a mix of fresh and dried herbs—the fresh herbs add lovely subtle leafy green flavours, the dried herbs pack a bit more intensity into the meat. Here’s how to make my herbed rissoles:

Ingredients

30g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
¾ cup mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1kg lean minced beef
½ cup milk
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 tbs olive oil

Method

Melt the butter on low–medium heat and fry the onion until it’s soft and golden, approximately 10 minutes.

For the fresh herbs I use a mix of parsley, oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary. I choose whatever is looking the best from my herb garden—sometimes it’s all five, other times not. By trying different combinations you’ll find one that best suits your tastes. My favourite is parsley, basil and oregano. The dried herb blends then supplement the fresh ones with some additional flavours and a much stronger taste. Note: if you’re not able to find good quality fresh herbs, you could use only dried herbs (approximately 1–2 tbs).

When the onion is cooked, combine it with the fresh and dried herbs, salt, pepper, milk and minced beef. Mix the meat together using your hands and combine it until the texture become sticky. Shape the mixture into patties that are about 2cm thick and set aside. Note: This raw mixture freezes well in zip lock bags if you want to separate some for cooking later.

Heat the olive oil in a large frypan over medium heat. When the frypan is hot add the herbed rissoles and cook through, turning occasionally, for approximately 8 minutes. To test they are done, cut into the centre of one and ensure the meat is no longer pink. Serve immediately.

Beef mince is the base but there are plenty of other flavours going on—sweetness from celery and capsicum, savoury from tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce, and acidity from lemon pepper. Wrap this in pastry and you have a grown up version of a sausage roll.

I recalled this dish as something that Mum used to make for my sisters and I when we were little. While I hadn’t made it myself for years, I decided to give it a whirl as potentially something to add to my kid-friendly repertoire.

Success! And the best bit—it’s full of vegetables but, because the pieces are so small, all fussy eaters see is an oversized sausage roll.

Ingredients:

500g lean beef mince
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, grated
1 small green capsicum, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tsp beef stock (powder only)
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs tomato paste
½ tsp lemon pepper seasoning
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 sheet puff pastry
1 beaten egg for glazing

Combine the beef mince, breadcrumbs, vegetables, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, lemon pepper and parsley; mix well.

Mould the mixture into a log shape and arrange on the pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with water and fold over the top and sides, ensuring you seal the edges. Place in a greased baking dish and glaze with the beaten egg. Bake in a hot oven (approximately 200°C) for 30–35 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through.

Serve with creamy mashed potato and steamed green beans.

The key for me is always plenty of vegetables in any main meal and with tacos this is really easy to do. We went all out to make a range of sides that would suit everyone’s tastes.

We had beef tacos served with guacamole, refried beans, sour cream, tomato salsa, lettuce, corn kernels, tomatoes, grated carrot, grated cheese and sliced black olives. And don’t forget the Tabasco sauce for those who like it hot.

To make the meat filling:

1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g beef mince
400g tin diced tomatoes
400g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup beef stock
¼ cup red wine (optional)
2 tbs tomato paste
3 tsp Mexican style chilli powder (this is a blend of paprika, chilli, cumin, oregano, pepper and garlic)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft. Turn up the heat to medium-high and fry the beef mince until browned. Once the meat is cooked, add the tomatoes, kidney beans, stock, wine, tomato paste and chilli powder; stir and simmer until the sauce has reduced to the point where it is quite thick (a really wet sauce will make your taco shells go soggy).

To make the guacamole:

1 avocado
1 tbs lemon juice
½ clove garlic, crushed
¼ onion, finely grated
sprinkle of hot chilli powder

Scoop out the avocado flesh and mash lightly with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and combine well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

What else you’ll need:

Taco shells—hard or soft depending on your preference
400g tin refried beans, heated through in a saucepan
200g sour cream
1 jar tomato salsa—mild, medium or hot depending on your taste
½ head of lettuce, shredded
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
250g tinned corn kernels, drained
cheese, grated
10 kalamata olives, sliced
Tabasco sauce

Arrange everything on platters or in bowls on the table so it’s easy for people to serve themselves.

It’s definitely a messy meal but everyone, young and old, enjoys it.

While this beef curry does not profess to be anything like a true Indian curry, it is still delicious and simple to make. It’s fantastic if you’re short on preparation time and can leave it cook slowly in the oven or slow cooker while you do other things.

There’s certainly plenty of flavour for not a lot of effort. And you can feed the family or multiply the quantities and feed the masses. I still remember my mother hiring catering pots and cooking this up to serve 40 people for my 21^st birthday party.

Ingredients

750g rump steak (you can also use round steak)
2 tbs peanut oil
1 brown onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs ginger, finely chopped
2 tbs curry powder (I prefer Clive of India)
4–5 vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into wedges
1½ cups beef stock
3–4 kipfler potatoes, cut into 2–3cm chunks

Method

Trim the fat from the steak and cut it into 2–3cm chunks. Heat the oil in a casserole dish and brown the meat. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until the onion starts to soften. Stir the curry powder through and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and beef stock, stir and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat.

Return the meat to the pan and add the potato, stir through. Cover the casserole dish with a lid and bake in a moderate oven for 1–1½ hours, stirring occasionally. You may like to take the lid off the dish for the last 20–30 minutes of cooking time to reduce the amount of liquid.

Serves 4–6.

By cooking this for a long time the meat becomes so beautiful and tender. This dish is hearty comfort food, perfect for the cooler weather.

Mmmmm, this is a favourite in our household. We usually have it when we’re feeling too lazy to make anything else.

It’s so simple to make with minimal preparation time (about 10-15 minutes), then leave it to gently simmer until thick and rich (at least an hour).

Bolognese sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 medium Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
500g lean beef mince
400g tinned tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
½ cup red wine
½ cup beef stock
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1 tbs fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp thyme
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil then add the onions and garlic. Fry on low until onion softens, add the mushrooms. Continue to fry until mushrooms are soft, then add the beef mince. Brown the mince, breaking up large pieces as it cooks through.

Once the mince is cooked through, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, stock, wine and herbs (fresh and dried). Stir through and bring to a rapid simmer, then turn the heat down to a slow simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve on al dente spaghetti (or your choice of pasta) and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Belissimo!

Leftovers
The Bolognese sauce freezes well. If you’re making it in advance to freeze, leave a bit of extra liquid so you can reheat it in a saucepan. We do this when we’re planning to go camping.

Jim really loves to have the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. He does this by reheating in a small frypan. When heated he pushes the meat sauce to the edges and breaks an egg to fry in the middle, then serves it on toast.