Comfort food in a age of allergies

In the past twenty years or so, we have seen a huge spike in the number of food allergies and sensitives. The people hardest hit are those that develop some sort of sensitivity to wheat since it is used so liberally in our diet and in processed foods. As autumn starts to fade, the days start growing shorter and winter approaches. With the shorter days we find ourselves craving simple foods like stews and this can pose a problem for people with any sort of grain or gluten sensitivity since traditionally stews are thickened with flour. This need not be the case though, and even before the advent of cornstarch, many cultures made hearty dishes thickened with all manner of ingredients. Taking a page from my Irish ancestry, a traditional Irish stew uses the most common of ingredients available to a common farming family, and is a self thickening stew without the use of any grain whatsoever. I have a soft spot for peasant dishes, and Irish stew is easily in the top five of my all time favourite dishes. It may not be fancy, but when properly done it's flavours meld well together and dance on the palette.

Traditional Irish Stew

30 ml of butter

900 gram lamb shoulder, cut into cubes

900 gram potatoes, peeled and large dice

400 gram onions, large dice

400 gram carrots, large dice

1 litre fresh stock (beef or chicken)

200 gram shredded green cabbage

550 gram peas (optional)

Fresh parsley

1 Bay leaves

1 Sprig of Thyme

1 Sprig of Rosemary

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a pan over a fairly high temperature and sauté the meat until it is browned all over, about 3-5 minutes. Add the onions on the same pan for about a minute or two.

Pour half the stock into the pan, turn the heat up as high as it will go and scrape the pan as the stock boils to get all the meat juices. Pour the contents of the pan into a slow cooker and add all remaining ingredients. Set slow cooker on low for 6 hours. Right before you serve the stew, add a handful of roughly chopped parsley.

The potatoes should be cooked enough so the outer edges are soft and breaking apart, and a good stir should mix the thoroughly cooked potatoes throughout the stew acting as a natural thickening agent. A good Irish stew is never thickened with anything other than potato.

Serve as is, or on a piece of soda (or gluten free) bread. Enjoy!

A long break

I was shocked to find that it had been over a year since I have posted anything on my Blog, and wonder where the heck all the time went too. After an extremely busy summer, the dust has settled, and it's time to get back into the swing of things.

The growing season in the area was very short this year, but it looks like the autumn crops are doing well: Blackberries, plums, apples and more squash then you can shake a stick at, so not all is lost. As those zucchini get a little too mature to be a tender side vegetable, I like to turn them into relish. Typically we have more relish then we know what to do with, so most of our friends get a jar in their holiday gift basket. Here's the recipe that was given to me years ago now:

Zucchini relish

12 cups grated zucchini
5 cups onion julienne
6 Tbl pickling salt
1 red pepper julienne
2 1/2 cups vinegar
4 cups sugar
2 small hot peppers (optional)
6 cloves garlic, minced (see note below)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp tumeric
1 Tbl cornstarch
2 Tbl celery seed (optional)
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

After grating the zucchini and cutting the onions and mincing the garlic, mix in the salt and let stand overnight. The next day, drain the fluid and rinse twice in cold water to remove some of the overly salty taste.

Add the zucchini mix and the rest of the ingredients into a thick bottomed pot and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Ladle hot zucchini relish mix into sterile jars and process using normal canning techniques.

NOTE ON GARLIC - There is some controversy about using garlic in canning. Most government bodies in North America suggest when canning with garlic that a pressure canner be used to get a higher temperature. There is a risk of botulism poisoning if you do not pressure can. If you do not have a pressure canner, you have two options:

1) omit the garlic - if you do this, you will be able to can this recipe as you would any other household preserve. Pressure canning has a tendency to kill most of the garlic flavor anyways, and I did this in the past before I had a pressure canner with much success.

2) If you MUST have the garlic, you can also freeze the relish in small batches and pull as you need it. This does change the texture of the end product, but it does work in a crunch.

Autumn is harvest time, and there is still lots of canning to do for the winter months, so get out there and don't be afraid to try something new!