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.

I’ve been watching Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals on TV and was given the accompanying recipe book for Christmas. Always on the lookout for great recipes to add to my work-day dinner repertoire, this book is full of my kind of food and I thought it best to get stuck in and give it a go this week. And why not put a time limit on myself for once. Could I actually cook a meal in 15 minutes? Challenge accepted.

I’m notoriously slow at preparing food, partly because I like to clean up as I go and partly because of a previous kitchen mishap (picture a tough-skinned Queensland Blue pumpkin, a blunt knife and a self-stabbing—the pumpkin won that day).

I’ve read quite a few reviews of the book and blogs of people challenging themselves in the same way. Not too many seem to have managed it so my expectations for success in the 15-minute timeframe were not high.

Challenge #1 Golden scallops, sun-blush mash & greens

The golden scallops, sun-blush mash & greens recipe (page 144) appealed to me as a good starting point—all the flavours I love and maybe, just maybe, achievable in the timeframe because there’s not a lot of ingredients or chopping to worry about.

Ingredients: scallops, bacon, sage, potatoes, cheddar cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, milk, broccoli, asparagus, frozen peas, lemon juice, olive oil

Ready, set…

I should start by quoting the instructions in the book to get ready for cooking “ingredients out • kettle boiled • large shallow lidded casserole pan, high heat • medium pan, high heat • food processor (bowl blade) • large frying pan, medium heat”.

Rightly or wrongly, I took “ingredients out” to mean weighing out quantities, and some vegetable peeling and trimming. It took me 10 minutes and 27 seconds to get prepared (yes, I was keen to really test myself time-wise).

Now to the cooking. GO.

The idea was to get the potatoes on the heat first, as they would take the longest to cook. Jamie’s idea of 1cm slices going into a hot pan and covering them with already boiling water was a good one—the potatoes took a lot less time than normal to cook. Although I can envisage a few kitchen mishaps with boiling water going into the hot pan. It bubbles, hisses and spurts a lot!

Next was cooking the greens. Boiling water for 3 minutes—a no brainer really. Jamie says to toss with lemon juice and olive as soon as they have been drained. I personally think they need to be refreshed in cold water first, but I guess that would take up a bit more time and it’s something I can do next time.

Continuing on with the sun-blush part of the mash, the cheese and sun-dried tomatoes go into the food processor to blitz in readiness for when the potatoes are cooked—easy.

Next, slicing bacon and scoring scallops ready for the pan. Jamie says to cook the scallops first. For me, scallops are so quick to cook I think the bacon (I used proscuitto instead) should hit the pan first because it takes longer to melt the fat. Then the scallops and sage leaves could be added so they cook in the bacon fat. Another personal choice…

While that’s happening the cooked potatoes are drained and go into the food processor to create the mash.

Then plate up. It all comes together quite well. My cooking time: 16 minutes, 6 seconds. So not far too off the 15-minute timeframe.

Total time: 26 minutes, 33 seconds. Probably the fastest dinner I’ve ever prepared and cooked. Definitely the messiest state I’ve cooked in, physically and mentally.

My thoughts

Positive: I like the concept of Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals and the resulting dish was delicious! Sun-dried tomatoes, bacon, sage, scallops—these work so well together. Salty, meaty, sweet—brilliant! The mash, despite the rich flavours of sun-dried tomato and tasty cheddar, was surprisingly light and had a gorgeous creamy texture. It’s made me completely rethink the way I make mash.

Negative: I felt really rushed and disorganised, even though I had read the recipe several times and had everything out, weighed and ready to go. I know it’s not meant to be a race but I’m sure many people would struggle to get this done in 30–40 minutes, let alone 15! Oh, and perhaps I am guilty of gluttony but the dish needs more scallops (4 each is simply not enough of these tasty critters).

Next time?

I will most certainly make this dish again…but for me cooking should be an enjoyable experience, so I’ll do it while sipping a glass of wine and without the mad rush. I don’t really mind if this means it takes me longer.

Esquire has a unique approach to the menu. Rather than offer any al a carte options, it simply has degustation—you can choose between the short menu (6–9 courses) or long menu (9–15 courses). Each day the menu changes to use the best produce available so you can never be quite sure what you’re going to be served.

Esquire’s degustation-only menu is not necessarily going to appeal to everyone, there’s something quite adventurous about it—unusual textures and striking flavour combinations that some may find challenging. But those willing foodies should have faith in the talent of chefs Ryan Squires and Ben Devlin, they put forward sublime plates of food.

On the night we dined, we opted for the long menu ($150 per person) and were treated to:

• Kim chi
• Air dried beef
• ‘BBQ’ kettle chips
• Truffle and ham
• Scampi nigiri
• Ike jime coral trout with avocado and perilla
• Squid with bisque and cauliflower
• Corned beef with quark and cavalo nero
• Itchi bai with almond and apple
• Deckle of beef with yoghurt and parsley
• Popcorn with chocolate, berries, hazelnut and coconut and cocoa rocks
• Campari with orange, curds and whey
• Strawberries, tea and cake

As each dish was brought to the table the produce and processes used to prepare it was explained to us…and the final product was flawless—like art on a plate that tasted absolutely amazing. We thoroughly enjoyed eating at Esquire—each dish served to us seeming better than the last, made up of lots of little elements all complementing one another perfectly.

It was a leisurely dinner, accompanied by beautiful wines chosen for us by the sommelier. You would expect the bill to make your heart skip a beat, but really, for the quality and care taken with the food, wine and service, it was quite reasonable. Something we would happily go back for.

‘A first-class restaurant in a shopping mall?’ you ask. I was a little dubious too. The surprisingly intimate experience starts at the front door—wrought iron covered in leafy vines. Guests are greeted at the door by a staff member who leads you down a long hallway, decorated with branches and vines. To me, it felt like being welcomed into an enchanted forest. The hall opens out into the elegant dining room, with a honey-hued sandstone feature wall, large arched windows and more branches and leafy vines amongst velvet-clad lounges. The atmosphere is very warm and inviting, at the same time it feels luxurious…and all this before the food and drinks begin!

The seven-course degustation actually ends up being about nine courses with the extra bits and pieces that are brought out as part of the dining experience. Our degustation included:

• Snacks—tapioca crisps, soubise mousseline, fried bread, cured lardo
• Becasse artisan bread, olive oil butter
• Local radish, melon, oloroso and green zebra gazpacho
• Chilled ocean consommé, Pacific oyster, scallop and octopus
• Spanner crab, chamomile, young coconut and crab jelly
• Flame-grilled mussels, caramelised calves sweetbread, duck prosciutto and kohl rabi
• Extra course (not on the menu so I don’t know precisely what to call it): a smashed potato gratin
• Slow-cooked lamb shoulder, pine smoked summer heirlooms, cardamom jus OR Slow-roasted pork, endive, olive, fennel and lemon myrtle
• Autumn still life
• 68% Alto Beni Zokoko chocolate cadeau, dulce de leche, peanut and milk sorbet OR Verbena crème caramel, golden peach, blueberry and lemon balm
• Petits fours.

The overall dining experience could only be described as decadent. The food is breathtakingly beautiful in presentation and, combined with the sommelier’s wine selection to complement each course, a foodie’s delight to eat. The flavours are delicate and refined as you would expect any good French restaurant to serve.

I’m not sure that I could pick a favourite course but I was pleasantly surprised by the calves’ sweetbreads. Having never eaten brains before, I wasn’t sure what to expect but they tasted like perfectly-cooked tender veal, although a bit softer in texture. Delicious…

At the end of the degustation it feels like you’ve been on a very exclusive journey with your fellow diners. Like a secret shared only with a select few. And taking excellent customer service to the extreme, when signing the bill we were given takeaway bags with lovely breakfast pastries from the Becasse Bakery. It certainly leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling about the evening. A very nice touch indeed.

A Mediterranean feast is also very easy to prepare with the help of a good providore. Our staples for eating this way are:

• olives—we love smoked kalamatas, Sicilian olives marinated in lemon and garlic, and green olives stuffed with either feta or blue cheese
• ciabatta or Turkish bread—1cm slices lightly toasted
• garlic dip (this is essentially fresh garlic cloves ground with salt and olive oil till it’s light and creamy—delicious)
• dolmades—vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs
• baby Roma tomatoes
• marinated Persian feta
• marinated artichoke hearts.

Just today we had a variation of this for lunch. If you wanted to have meat as part of this then you could add some finely sliced salami or ham.

When we are entertaining or having a Mediterranean feast for dinner we add:

• Greek salad
• Grilled haloumi (with onion, parsley & lemon)
• Chicken souvlaki (I use Jamie Oliver’s wicked souvlaki recipe, but substitute pork for chicken)
• Marinated lamb skewers.

There are many ways to make a Greek salad but I have a simple and effective recipe that can be put together in no time.

Greek salad

2 cups salad leaves, torn
1 Lebanese cucumber, diced
200g baby Roma tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters
12–16 pitted kalamata olives
250g marinated Persian feta, drained but retaining the liquid to use as salad dressing
½ a Spanish onion, finely sliced (optional)

Combine these ingredients in a large salad bowl. Drizzle some of the marinade from the Persian feta over the salad and toss to coat. Once the salad is dressed, serve immediately.

Grilled haloumi is something I love. Haloumi has a high melting point so, despite being fried or grilled, it holds its shape and chewy texture.

Grilled haloumi

250g packet of haloumi
½ a brown onion, diced
Juice of half a lemon
⅓ cup of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Combine the onion and lemon juice in a bowl and leave to stand (this will soften the onions and take away any astringency). Meanwhile cut the haloumi into 5mm slices. Heat some olive oil in a fry pan. Fry the haloumi over medium heat until golden on both sides. Remove from the heat and drain the slices on paper towel. Add the chopped parsley to the lemon and onion and toss to combine. Arrange the haloumi on a serving plate and sprinkle the onion, parsley and lemon over the top.

There’s something very enticing about this place. The atmosphere is always warm and welcoming, the dining area is intimate (think fresh flowers on every table and soft lighting), and the staff are friendly—it feels very much like going over to a friend’s place for dinner. And that would be a friend who really knows how to cook! Dinner at the Gunshop Café is consistently good—better than good, excellent in fact—particularly for the very reasonable prices and generous portions. As much as I’d like to, I find it hard to have three courses here because I can’t bear to leave anything on the plate—it’s simply too delicious—and I just can’t fit it all in.

Last Friday night we decided it was time to pay the Gunshop Café another visit. While the website recommends making a booking on Friday and Saturday nights, we turned up just after 8:00pm and were lucky enough to be seated right away. Having said that, our pop-in approach has meant we’ve missed out on other occasions.

Now, what to order, it’s always a dilemma. While the menu is not huge, usually offering five different options per course, everything sounds amazing. The focus is on fresh seasonal produce that’s locally available. The flavour combinations are innovative and there’s always an appealing vegetarian option.

After much deliberation, here’s what we chose:

Entrée

• Scallops with quail eggs—the fat, juicy scallops were gorgeous with the yolk dripping over them like a rich sauce
• Tempura battered zucchini flowers stuffed with spanner crab and roast tomatoes—sweet soft crab meat and tomatoes with crunchy zucchini

Main

• Eye fillet with white bean puree—delightfully tender meat lightened by the creamy bean mash
• Quail with gnocchi—melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi with delicate, nutty meat.

All superb and accompanied by a very good wine list!

The Gunshop Café is a favourite because we always leave feeling that we’ve eaten well and had an enjoyable night. Over the years, we’ve taken many friends there and have never been disappointed. I’m continually looking forward to next time…may it come around again very soon.

One of our regular dishes is thyme and lemon lamb with zucchini and chickpea salad. I can’t take credit for the idea. It is based on a recipe in the CSIRO Healthy Heart Program cookbook but we’ve changed the cut of meat and recipe to suit our own tastes.

This is one of those dishes that is packed with flavour—it’s really surprising given the overall simplicity of the ingredients and the way you prepare them. Not only that, it’s good for you too…

Ingredients

400g lamb back strap
Filling
100g ricotta
1–2 tbs basil, finely chopped
1 tbs thyme (or lemon thyme), finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
Salad
3 zucchini, thinly sliced lengthways (2–3mm thick)
olive oil
16 pitted kalamata olives, halved
1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
1–2 small fennel bulbs, finely sliced
2–3 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbs basil, roughly chopped
1 tbs thyme (or lemon thyme), roughly chopped
3 tbs parsley, roughly chopped

Method

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, basil, thyme, lemon zest and olive oil. Season with freshly ground black pepper (you can add salt to taste).

Remove any sinew from the lamb back strap and tenderise with a meat mallet until 5mm thick. Spread the ricotta mixture across the flattened meat and roll up. Use toothpicks to secure the roll, if required.

Heat some olive oil in an oven-proof frypan and sear the lamb roll for 2 minutes on each side for colour. Place in a moderate oven 180°C for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from the oven and rest the meat for half the total cooking time.

Meanwhile to make the salad, toss the zucchini and fennel in a small amount of olive oil to lightly coat. Place on an oven tray and cook for approximately 8 minutes, until softened.

Transfer to a bowl and mix with the remaining salad ingredients. Cover with cling film and set aside until the lamb is ready.

Cut the lamb into chunky slices (about 2cm thick) and serve with the chickpea salad. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice over the top. Serves 4.

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.

To pack the soup full of flavour, it’s really important to cook the shallots and mint slowly on a low heat. All the crunch should be gone from the shallots. They should be soft and golden, and starting to pull apart into threads. It’s also important to go light on salt in the soup itself. Remember, you’ll be adding prosciutto at the end, which is quite salty. You want a creamy soup with just a hint of sweetness, crunchy croutons and salty, crisp prosciutto for a perfectly balanced dish.

Ingredients:

½ loaf of stale ciabatta
Olive oil
1 large handful of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
12 slices of thin prosciutto
1 bunch of spring onions, ends trimmed and finely chopped
2 tbs butter
500g frozen peas
500ml chicken stock
500ml chicken consommé
½ cup thickened cream
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Break the bread into irregular 2–3cm pieces. Put these into a roasting tray and drizzle with a little olive oil; toss to coat. Cover the bread with the prosciutto slices and place under a hot grill until the bread and prosciutto are crunchy and golden, around 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, slowly fry the spring onions and mint in the butter for until soft. Turn up the heat, add frozen peas and the chicken stock and consommé. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer uncovered until slightly reduced. The key is to reduce the stock up to the point where the peas are still lovely and green, not green–grey, as this will end up the overall colour of your soup. With a stick blender (or in the food processor), puree the soup until it is smooth.

Add the cream and simmer gently until reduced, approximately 15–20 minutes. Season to taste.

Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with bread, prosciutto and mint leaves (serves 4–6).