ROASTED BUTTERNUT RAVIOLI - GLUTEN FREE

I found this really nice recipe for gluten free pasta/ravioli on Gluten Free Girl & The Chef.
I made it quite a long time ago and made up my own filling for the little ravioli pockets. And even though it been a long time since I made them my daughter has been asking for it again.

I need to make them again soon. They do take a little work and time to make - but its sooo worth it!

I did a roast butternut filling and in others I did a tomato mince filling. 

Start by making the Ravioli (I found this recipe on Gluten Free Girl & the Chef)

RAVIOLI 

DOUGH INGREDIENTS

2-1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Health connection Gluten Free Flour Mix)
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil
5 eggs
1 egg yolk

METHOD

Place the flour in a bowl.
Add salt, oil and eggs.
Mix until you have a dough.
Then place on a lightly floured surface.
Knead dough by folding over and turning over and kneading for a few minutes, until the right consistency appears (somewhat like bread dough). If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add remaining egg white
Place the dough in a bowl and cover.
Allow dough to rest for at least 20 minutes


ROASTED BUTTERNUT FILLING

FILLING INGREDIENTS
1 medium butternut peeled
1 small onion peeled
1 Tablespoon olive oil (or oil of choice)
salt
1 garlic clove skin still on
a few Tablespoons fresh cream

METHOD
Chop your butternut into chunks (the smaller they are the quicker they'll cook)
Place in a medium to large oven roasting dish.
Dice the onion finely and sprinkle on the butternut
Drizzle with olive oil (or oil of choice)
Take 1 clove of garlic with the skin on and crush under a knife or heavy object to just break the skin so flavors can release.
Place in the middle of the butternut tray. 
Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius until golden brown and tender. (stir occasionally)
Take out the oven
Remove the garlic clove
Take your ingredients and place in a food processor/blender and blitz until smooth adding a tablespoon of cream at a time. You want a consistency of mashed banana or heavy cream (not to runny).
If you don't have a blender you can mash butternut with a potato masher or a fork but you won't get as smooth a filling.

COMPILING THE RAVIOLI

METHOD
If you have a pasta machine put the dough through it a few times and then cut into squares.
If you don't have a pasta machine - not to worry. Just roll out the dough with your rolling pin until nice and thin and then cut into squares. You can decide if your want small, medium or large ravioli - just make sure your squares that you place on top of each other are the same size. I made ours roughly 5 cm x 5cm.
Once you have decided on the size of your squares and cut them up. Place a spoonful of the butternut filling in the middle and dab water all along the edge and then place another square on top to seal. I then used a fork to press down lightly on long the edge to make sure they were well sealed. (not sure if this is necessary) I also liked the pattern.

Put water in a pot and bring to a rolling boil and then place a few in at a time.
Once they rise to the top take out and place on a plate with season with salt, pepper and a little sprinkled cheese if desired or a nice sauce - like a cheese sauce or whatever you fancy. I think if would go well with a cream cheese and bacon crumbled on top.

You can see I served it with a mince sauce in the pic above. Use this recipe minus the spaghetti for the mince sauce.


Enjoy

INDIAN by Atul Kochhar COOKBOOK GIVEAWAY

Fancy some Indian?

I received some cook books from The Penguin Group. One of them was this one called Simple Indian by Atul Kochhar. I like the front cover - that beautiful blue of the counter or table reminds me of the ocean. I have only just recently started cooking Indian food so i am by no means a word of authority in this field of cooking. (not sure if I'm a word of authority in any field) but I can firmly say I am definitely not in this one...

So Indian food. Which Simply translates in my brain to curry! I know Indian food is so many more things than just curry but I can safely say curry is the first thing that comes to my mind. (Im sure Im not the only one.) So this cookbook arrived to change my mind - that Indian is so much more than just curry. Just listen to these recipes: Crab Salad with coconut and curry leaves, or Kashmiri apple pudding, or Baked yoghurt with figs in syrup... YUM!

So while I'm off trying these delicious goodies and cooking my way through this book. I have 2 copies to give away.

THE GIVEAWAY:
2 copies of SIMPLE INDIAN by Atul Kochhar

There are 3 ways for you to win - you will get an entry for each thing that you do

YOU HAVE TO BE A FOLLOWER OF BETTY BAKE BLOG 1) Be a Follower of Betty Bake Blog
1) 1 entry for being a follower of my blog
2) "like" Betty Bakes facebook page (just come back and say so here) - 1 entry
3) Tweet about this giveaway - add @bettybakeblog to your tweet (just come back and say so here) - 1 entry

*please leave a separate comment for each thing you do (facebook like, tweet, etc) in comment section below

this is SOUTH AFRICA give away ONLY

this competition closes midday Friday 30th September 2011

BANANA TARTIN & CREAMY RISOTTO WITH BACON AND JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES

For those of you who remember when I did the READY,STEADY, COOK at The Earthfair Market in Tokai a while back... OK quite a while back. Well I had so much fun and chef Ian and I won (YAY!) Here are the winning recipes so you can make the delicious food at home. I remember it being really delicious  and have made the Risotto several times since then - so you should really try it! I know the Banana Tartin isn't wheat free but you could always leave off the pastry.
 
These recipes are compliments of chef Ian Cawkwell - Thanks Ian.

RISOTTO

INGREDIENTS
100 grams risotto rice 

1 onion chopped 

2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 pack streaky smoked bacon

20 grams sun dried tomatoes 

50 grams Jerusalem artichokes peeled and sliced 

500ml cream
250ml white wine (roughly a glass)
Stock (not sure exactly how much)

100 grams Parmisan cheese (we used pecora sheeps cheese)

METHOD

In a pan sweat off  the onion's, garlic and peeled Jerusalem artichoke.
Chop and add the bacon and continue till cooked. 

Add rice and white wine,keep adding stock until rice is cooked 

Add cream and sun dried tomatoes and reduce for 5 mins 

Now add the cheese 

Dish and serve with a crunchy salad

BANANA TARTIN

INGREDIENTS

50 grms melted butter 

100 grms sugar
3 Bananas
Brandy/Whiskey (optional)
1 Roll ready made Puff Pastry

METHOD

melt together until golden brown add small tot of brandy/whiskey ect 

add 3 sliced bananas 

cover with puff pastry and bake in a preheated oven of 180 degrees celcius for about ten minutes

Turn out and slice
Serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream 

LIVING GLUTEN-FREE EASILY

Being Gluten-Free doesn't mean you can't make yourself a delicious cake like this... you just need to know how.

Living gluten-free can be quite a big adjustment at first, especially if you eat a lot of baked goods and pastas. I decided to write this post because sometimes I get emails or tweets from people asking what to change in their diets to become gluten-free.

So here is what I did and maybe it will make the transition easier for you to.
Start with your basic shop: Go to the store and select fruit, veg and salads that you like. Buy as much as you think you will need for your week (I shop weekly so I have fresh fruit and veg and salad).
Buy things that you like - no use buying veg or fruit that you hate - cause then you just torturing yourself and you won't want to make the change to gluten-free.Make sure you skip the bread and bakery section!!!
Now buy your meat (chicken, fish, lamb, beef or pork) and dairy (milk, yoghurt,cheese, cream etc). Look at the veggies you have in your basket and think can I make a veggie bake? take your favorite vegetables, peel, chop and add some cream or a cheese sauce and top with a little cheese and bake in the oven.
If you can't have dairy think roasted vegetables with olive oil,rosemary, salt and garlic. Add some salad and meat and you have a meal. For variety try different vegetable and salad combinations. In summer you can eat more salads and add fruit to them too. Think Pear with walnuts and lettuce and a nice salad dressing. And in winter you can eat more baked and steamed vegetables.

Lunches: When it comes to lunch boxes - swop out your bread for rice cakes, corn thins, and 100% rye biscuits (be aware rye has a teeny tiny bit of gluten in it). In winter think soup. In summer fruit and yoghurt.


Pasta: You can replace the regular wheat kind for a 100% rice pasta or corn pasta Be sure to use straight away after boiling. And the pasta strands tend to brake up when reheated. but that doesn't mean you can't have your favorite mac and cheese.. just swop out your usual pasta for the corn or rice based pasta and make the usual way.


Baking: I know you want chocolate cake - who doesn't? And more than likely you won't be able to just buy cake or bread at the store that is gluten free.But you certainly can make whatever you like with gluten-free flour.

When baking I use these 2 gluten-free flour mixes.

Nature's Choice Gluten Free Cake Flour

Health Connection General Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix

Health Connection Wholefoods - General Purpose Gluten Free flour Mix: 
Ingredients: rice, potato, tapioca, chickpea flour and Xanthan gum.

Nature Choice Bio Friendly Gluten Free Cake Flour: 
Ingredients: brown rice flour, soya flour, sago flour, potato flour, tapioca and sea salt

I prefer the health connection flour for things like pizza bases and bread-related type things.
I prefer the nature's choice flour for cupcakes,cakes, general baking and light things like pancakes.

Don't be afraid to try different products. Be sure to read the labels and make sure you can have the ingredients that are contained in the product you are buying.

If you are gluten-free what products do you prefer using?

Best of luck! You can totally do it!