Leek Burgers, with Piccolo Tomatoes and Mayonnaise

I made half a dozen of these leek burgers from scratch, with a slightly different process from before. I added two dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour to a large glass bowl, and then added the 500g of minced beef. I had some diced leek in a pan of boiling water on the stove, with the intention of cooking the leek until soft. 

I mixed the ground beef the drizzle of olive oil, and the spelt flour together thoroughly by hand. Do this for ten minutes, and you will get a good texture, much finer than when you cook mince on the stove. I added the egg and the softened leek (after being allowed to cool) And repeated the kneading process for ten minutes. 

I decanted the mixture into a pastry cutter sitting in a glass roasting tray, and repeated the process, and  ended up with six equal-sized beef patties. No need to shape by hand. 

Cooked at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven for at least twenty-five minutes (check progress by eye always!). When  browned and cooked, remove from the oven, and allow to cool on the hob or on a trivet under cover. 

Served with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of mayonnaise, some halved piccolo tomatoes, all dusted with a large pinch of dried coriander leaf. 

 

Banana Loaf

I had some bananas which I'd forgotten about, so I made this loaf with five of them. I used 335g of spelt flour, an egg, the mashed bananas, two pinches of salt, two tablespoonfuls of Allinson's yeast, and two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, and about 150 mls of whole milk. Beaten together with an electric mixer, until smooth. 

Allowed to rise overnight, and then decanted into a silicon bread tray. Cooked on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes at 180 deg C. Then allowed to cool in a dry cupboard for half a day. Great texture and flavour. Great with marmalade!

(NB: I used two tablespoonfuls of Allinson's yeast, because it had been sitting on the shelf for some time. Fresh yeast will be fine with one tablespoonful). 

 

Beef Burgers, with Coriander and Potato

The beef burgers were made with 250g of minced beef (5% fat), one and a half white onions, diced, one dessert spoonful of spelt flour, one egg, a shake or two of black pepper, some salt, and a diced handful of fresh coriander.

Mixed together by hand, along with a drizzle of olive oil. Take at least ten minutes over this, which improves the result. Shape into burger-shaped patties, and place in a roasting dish coated with a wipe of olive oil. You should get about four burgers from the ingredients.

Cook for one hour on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg C (check progress by eye, and by thermometer).

Serve with boiled potatoes, and a dusting of freshly ground black pepper, plus American mustard. Garnish with sprigs of coriander.

Pear and Apple Crumble

Two cored and diced apples, and five cored and diced pears, stewed in a pan of boiling water for an hour and a half. After that the contents of the pan were gently mashed. The lid was removed, and the contents allowed to thicken (judge by eye).

Two dessert spoonfuls of demerara sugar were added to a bowl, along with three dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour. plus 70g of salted butter. All mixed together by kneading. This can take ten minutes or so.

Cooked in the middle of the oven at 180 deg c for between 40 and 50 minutes (again, judge by eye). Served in this case with a couple of spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt. Eat hot or cold.

Apple and Banana Crumble, with Cinnamon

A simple crumble, made with four apples (diced and cored, but not peeled), and one small peeled banana. Stewed in a lidded pot for a couple of hours at a low heat, along with one cinnamon stick (powdered cinnamon will do just as well).

The crumble mix was made with four dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour, four dessert spoonfuls of sugar (in this case preserving sugar, but any granulated sugar will do, including demarara). Mixed together with around 75g of salted butter (best done with your fingers, for around fifteen minutes).

After removing the cinnamon stick, the stewed apple was spooned into a pie tin, and the topping was laid on top. Cooked on the middle shelf of an oven heated to 180 deg. C for forty minutes. Judge progress by eye! Served with several spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.

Roman Army Bread (Spelt Grain)

A loaf I've made before with spelt flour, but not with any of the recipes I've used before from the packet. This one is different, using much less olive oil, and so produces a stouter (if not finer) texture.

I also cut the flour with 150g of oats (the remainder 350g of spelt flour). I couldn't find a jar of honey at the front of the likely cupboard, so I used three dessert spoonfuls of demerara sugar instead of one dessert spoonful of honey. The switch worked just fine.

The recipe called for one dessert spoonful of olive oil (earlier recipes for this loaf have called for 3 spoonfuls), and called for only half a teaspoonful of salt. I used one dessert spoonful of quick yeast. It called for no vinegar at all, but the Romans used vinegar in almost everything, including their sweets, so I added a dessert spoonful, just to be on the safe side.

All the dry ingredients were assembled in one bowl, and gradually added to a similar bowl contained warm water and the olive oil.

Mixed with an electric mixer for seven minutes in the bowl, then decanted into a 2lb bread tin (silicon in this case), and allowed to stand for an hour in a warm place.  Then baked in an oven preheated to 190 deg. C for forty-five minutes to fifty minutes on the middle shelf.

Chocolate Muffins

Chocolate muffins for New Year's Day.

I made these on the spur of the moment, and didn't follow a recipe as such (I've made them before). I used 250g of spelt flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a dessert spoonful of sunflower oil, six dessert spoonfuls of drinking chocolate powder, six teaspoonfuls of black treacle, a dash of nutmeg and half a teaspoonful of mixed spice. Plus two large eggs and two pinches of salt.

I added the eggs to 300 mls of cold water, the treacle, and the salt. Beaten thoroughly. Then I began to add the dry assemblage of the spelt, chocolate powder, baking powder, plus the nutmeg and the mixed spice. Beat thoroughly together along with the sunflower oil. Allow to stand for ten minutes or so.

The oven was preheated to 180 deg C. Add three dessert spoonfuls of the muffin mixture to each muffin case. Cook for thirty minutes, watching progress carefully.

Dark Minestrone Soup (with Black Rice)

A great dish for using up odds and ends in the fridge. This one was made with broken spaghetti, diced onion, carrot, potato, spring onion, diced garlic, some red lentils, chopped celery, a quarter of a red bell pepper, a handful of Thai black rice, plus a little spelt grain, three squirts of tomato puree, and chicken stock.

Prepare the vegetables and the spaghetti, and add to a pot of boiling water. Add the rice and the spelt, the tomato puree and the chicken stock. Simmer under glass at a low heat for an hour and a half.

Serve with a toasted garlic and coriander naan bread. Delicious!

Vegetable and Smoked Bacon Soup

A soup packed with goodness to the point of almost being a broth. Made with onion, carrot, courgette, Brussels sprouts, celery, potato, spelt, oats, and fried smoked bacon.

I started the soup with three small diced carrots, half a courgette, also diced, and a julienned white onion. Cooked for half an hour until soft. I then added celery and 250g of peeled and tailed Brussels sprouts, some preboiled potato, and a handful each of spelt grain and ground oats, and half a teaspoonful of turmeric.

Simmered under glass for another half an hour, and then the contents of the pan were mashed.

I added a little sunflower oil to the soup, some mixed herbs (tarragon, parsley and sage), two small pinches of cumin, and vegetable stock. Add a dash of Worcester sauce if you like. Once it had cooled, the soup was stored in the fridge overnight (soups are always better the next day).

I diced two rashers of smoked bacon, and fried the pieces at a medium heat until crispy. The soup was reheated, and the bacon pieces added and stirred through. Ready to serve!

Minestrone Soup

The ingredients of the soup are: shredded carrot, half a red pepper, one chopped red onion, chopped celery, haricot beans (actually half a standard tin of baked beans), tomato passata (about 150g), shelled peas, spinach and coriander, two pinches of oregano, a handful of spelt grains, and broken spaghetti pasta. Plus a dessert spoonful of cornmeal, chicken stock, and vegetable stock.

Start with the vegetables. Stir fry the carrot, pepper, onion and celery in sunflower oil at a medium heat until tender. Shred the spinach and the coriander and stir into the pan. Add about 200g of boiling water, then add the passata, the peas, and the haricot beans. Add the chicken and vegetable stock.

Add the broken pasta. Add some finely ground cornmeal in water, as a thickening agent (a flat dessert spoonful in about half a pint). Mix the cornmeal and water cold, then add to the soup in the pot. Turn down the heat to prevent adhesion to the bottom, and stir frequently. Simmer for one hour before serving, stirring regularly.

Pepperoni in a Neopolitan Sauce

A simple pepperoni dish served with wheat-free spaghetti.

The ingredients are sliced and diced pepperoni sausage (about 150 g), sliced onion, garlic, hot finger chillies, half a green pepper, sliced, spelt grains, half a carton of tomato passata, diced fresh basil, diced fresh spinach leaves, and some onion gravy granules.

Fry the onions until golden brown, then add the diced pepperoni sausage and the green pepper, and cook for five minutes at a medium heat.

Add boiling water and the tomato passata, and stir together. Add the basil and the spinach, and stir through the sauce. Add the garlic and the finger chillies (remove the stems). Add half a handful of spelt grain, and finally two teaspoonfuls of onion gravy granules. Stir thoroughly until the gravy granules have dissolved.

Simmer under glass at a low heat for about twenty minutes until the sauce is reduced to the required consistency. Serve with spaghetti and freshly ground black pepper.

Leek and Chorizo Soup

A pretty simple soup, made with one large leek, three carrots, 100g of spelt grain, 50g of green lentils, and around 150g of chorizo sausage.

The vegetables were cooked for 45 minutes in water until all were soft. Then they were mashed for two minutes.

Diced chorizo was added, and the soup was cooked for another hour at a low heat under glass.

Add two pinches of rosemary, and a teaspoonful of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, ten minutes before the cooking is complete.

Serve with buttered bread (wheat free or otherwise).

Pork and Bacon Soup

Stir-fried diced portions of pork loin and smoked bacon, cooked until golden brown. Added two chopped red onions and four medium sized carrots, plus a stick of celery.

Stir-fry for eight minutes or so, and add boiling water. Cook under glass for half an hour, then mash the vegetables. Add vegetable stock, and the herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano).

Simmer for another half hour to forty five minutes before serving with panini or potato bread.

Rib Beef Stew with Green Beans

Stew made with cubed beef from a rib beef joint, roasted in the oven at 160 deg C for two hours (the weight of the joint was 725g). If the joint is cooked inside a wrapping of aluminium foil, there will be juices which can be saved for the gravy.

The joint was cubed after it had cooled to room temperature. No electric knife needed.

The gravy was made with half a dozen carrots, two red onions, a pinch of spelt, a clove of garlic, and a stick of celery. The chopped vegetables were cooked under glass for half an hour until tender, and then blended. After blending, add a pinch of paprika, some white pepper, and a pinch each of coriander, rosemary and thyme.

Finally add beef stock, plus the stock from the joint, and cook for another half an hour after adding the cubed beef.

Serve with boiled potatoes, cooked in a little salt, and some steamed green beans (or brocolli, according to choice).

Devilled Kidneys

A UK dish in its heyday in the nineteenth century as a breakfast, often in gentlemens clubs.

Kidney (about 270g), butter, spelt flour, mustard, Worcester sauce, red currant sauce, white pepper, tomato puree, and one medium onion.

Made in this case with beef kidney. Chop the kidney into chunks, removing the white tissue with a sharp knife or kitchen scissors. Add two teaspoonfuls of the flour to a freezer bag, along with the Worcester sauce (four dashes), mustard (teaspoonful), white pepper, and the red currant sauce (half teaspoonful). Add the kidney pieces to the bag, seal, and shake and manipulate the bag until all the chunks are evenly covered in the mixture.

Heat a pan with two knobs of butter. Chop the onion and fry for five minutes at a medium heat. Add the kidney chunks, and stir fry for four minutes, stirring frequently. Add about 75g of boiling water, along with two squeezes of tomato puree. Cook for ten to twelve minutes until the gravy thickens, stirring every thirty seconds.

Serve with toast or potato bread (illustrated here with a toasted panini), dressed with a sprinkling of parsley (optional).

Chicken Broth

A great winter warmer of a soup. Made with chopped turnip or swede, two potatoes, two carrots, two small onions (or a medium sized leek), spinach, chicken stock, sage, a small handful of spelt grains, black pepper, and a third of a cup of green lentils (red lentils will do instead). Plus chopped breast of chicken.

The soup base should be prepared first. The lentils, the spelt grains,and the chopped vegetables should added to a pan of boiling water, and cooked at a low simmer under glass for twenty to twenty five minutes until soft. Then use a masher for one or two minutes to produce the broth consistency.

Add the chicken stock, a large pinch of sage, and a few shakes of ground black pepper. Stir together.

The chicken was pre-fried on the previous evening (bought from a supermarket close to the sell-by date), and stored in the fridge. The chicken breast should be chopped into small pieces and added to the pot. Stir into the broth. Simmer under glass for at least half an hour before serving. Even better on the next day, which is often the case with soups.

Feta Cheese and Rocket Salad

Feta cheese, pitted olives, turmeric rice, chopped red pepper, vine tomato, baby leaf rocket salad, olive oil dressing, crushed garlic, black pepper and a twist of lemon. That might be worth doing with spelt grain instead of, or in addition to the rice.

Feta Cheese and Rocket Salad

Egg and Bacon, with Spelt and Buckwheat bread

Not wheat-free, with a spelt-buckwheat loaf under the bacon. But easy to substitute wheat-free bread. 

Egg and bacon is a reminder that it is not the end of the world if you have to change your diet if you have an intolerance to wheat, or have an immune response to gluten. Some delightful things you can still eat. 

This dish is made with strips of smoked bacon, hash browns, spring onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, a slice of toasted spelt and buckwheat bread, a fried egg, French's American mustard, and black pepper. 

Spelt and Buckwheat Loaf

Bread loaf made with 500 grams of flour: 400 grams of spelt, and 100 grams of buckwheat. The flour was mixed in a glass bowl, together wth 7 grams of Allinsons' yeast, two teaspoonfuls of table sugar, two teaspoonfuls of table salt. 

350 mls of warm water was folded into the roughly mixed flour over three or four minutes. Two dessert spoonfuls of olive oil were then folded in to the dough, The dough was mixed with an electric hand mixer for five minutes, gradually increasing the speed of the blades.  

The dough was allowed to stand for an hour in the glass bowl, which was long enough for it to double in size. It was beaten down, and allowed to stand for another thirty minutes. Then the dough was poured into a silicon bread tin. 

The top of the loaf was given a little texture with a fork, and poppy seeds were sprinkled on to the surface. When the oven was at the correct temperature the loaf was placed in a metal roasting tin to keep the silicon bread tin flat. Into the oven!

Baked for 40 to 45 minutes. 

Spelt and Buckwheat Loaf

The bread ready to go into the oven preheated to 195 - 200 deg. C

Chicken Soup with Sage and Tarragon

A simple and easy to prepare chicken soup.

Chicken, with onion, swede, celeriac, chicken juices and stock. Plus sage and fresh tarragon. Served with black pepper.

Cooked in a glass lidded pan for an hour, at a gentle simmer. The herbs were added ten minutes before the heat was turned off. The soup was served with bread from a home-made spelt loaf, crumbled into the soup. Delicious!

Chicken Soup with Sage and Tarragon