Gluten free staffordshire oatcakes

It's snowing today, Ive got a stinking cold and a husband laid up with a bad back. The only sensible response to all of that is oatcakes with bacon and cheese for breakfast. Oatcakes freeze beautifully and make a very fast, filling meal. They can be quickly reheated and are a fantastic way to make leftovers into a treat.

 It's hard to say how many this recipe will make. I made around 15 last night, plus a few that went in the bin! It depends on how thick you make them, how wide, and how many go wrong before you get the hang of it.

8 oz/ 225 g gluten free oats
8 oz/ 225 g gluten free flour*
1 Tbsp/ 15g dried active yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 pint warm water
1 pint warm milk (you may need more to thin the batter)
1/2 pint / 284 ml buttermilk

Grind the oats into a fine meal in a blender or food processor. This only takes a minute or so and doesn't have to be perfect. Or you can buy oatmeal but I've never seen a gluten free one. Add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Stir to mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the warm water, milk and buttermilk and whisk until it's a smooth batter. Cover and leave for an hour in a warm spot.
 Wipe a frying pan with a little oil and heat it up.  I use a non stick chapatti pan I got from Wilkinson's. It's amazing for pancakes, tortillas, oatcakes... all sorts. Traditionally you should use a cast iron frying pan but mine has bacon in it! You need a medium high heat for these. If your batter seems to be a good consistency (thicker than pancake batter but you need to be able to spread it easily so not too much thicker) then great! You may need to add some extra milk. I find it best to try out an oat cake then adjust as necessary. Put some batter on your pan - how much depends on how big you're going to make your oatcakes. I suggest starting with a fairly small one - a few spoonfuls of mixture. For a full size oatcake a ladle full does the trick nicely. Use the back of a spoon to gently spread the mixture out into a circle - pushing the mixture outwards does this best. You want the mixture to be about 3mm thick while cooking and to have holes forming. While it's cooking, the oatcake is sticky and tricky to move. Wait until the top is set and dry looking (if the bottom is over cooking before this happens, reduce the heat) then flip it over and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Just like pancakes, they tend to get better as you go along!

 The traditional filling is bacon and cheese. However just about anything is great in an oatcake! Sausage, mushrooms, onions, leftover cooked chicken, roasted vegetables... If you insist, you can even have them sweet with pancake type fillings. I tend to fill mine with leftovers and cheese while still hot so the cheese melts.

 One of the best things about oatcakes is how well they freeze and how fast you can make a meal with them from frozen! Cool your oatcakes right down before freezing them with a piece of parchment between them so you can take out however many you want. Wrap them up tightly or put them in a big ziplock bag with the air sucked out to prevent freezer burn.
 When you want to cook them, you can defrost them if you are organized. If you are more like me, take them out and put one in the frying pan. Cook for a minute on the first side, then flip. I then add my filling and transfer it to a plate to roll and eat when the cheese starts to melt. You could also put them in the microwave (I don't have one), steam them between two plates over a pan of water (traditional) or warm them in the oven for a few minutes (just watch they don't dry out).

* I favour the mock better batter blend from the book 'gluten free on a shoestring - quick and easy'. It gives good all round results but sadly is quite pricy. Doves farm plain also works. I would suggest that tapioca starch makes up part of the gluten free flour as its great for making things bendy. If you are using flour with out it, I recommend adding a tsp of xanthan gum to the batter with the flours.

Pakoras

I made some vegetable pakoras to go with our curry this evening. They are a great way to use up leftovers of any type - vegetables, cooked meat - what ever is lurking in the fridge. Tonight I used some chopped chard, onion and sweetcorn.

For the batter
125g gram (chickpea) flour
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
125g water
Ghee or other oil for frying

For the filling
2 cups of chopped vegetables or meat. I recommend cooked chicken and spinach, or half slices of onion

Put the gram flour, spices and baking powder into a bowl and stir well to remove any lumps. Beat in the water to make a smooth batter. Fold in the filling of your choice. Heat the ghee in a frying pan over a medium heat. Put the batter into the oil in spoonfuls, forming rough patties. Try not to fry too many at once as is makes them hard to turn and greasier. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then turn and fry for 2-3 minutes more. Remove from the pan to a plate lined with kitchen paper. Serve with raitha or chutneys.

Spicy Stuffed Chicken

We had these for dinner last night. They were delicious but not perfectly shaped - you need to wrap them extremely tightly and use plenty of clingfilm. I served them with salad and raitha.
Makes 5.

6 chicken breasts or boneless thighs- skin on.
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 small onion
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp passata
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp coconut flour or dessicated coconut
salt and pepper
coconut oil or ghee for frying

Remove the skin from one of the pieces of chicken and cook (either fry, microwave, steam - whatever's easiest). Chop the onion and fry until translucent in the oil. Add the spices and fry for a minute. Then add garlic, ginger, passata, lime juice and chicken and cook for another minute. Add the coconut. Set aside to cool a little. Put the mixture into a food processor and pulse into a rough paste.
Put the chicken pieces one at a time between two pieces of clingfilm and hit with a pan or rolling pin until about 4mm thick. Divide the mixture between them, putting it in a line along the middle of the meat side. Using a large piece of cling film, roll each chicken piece into a sausage, skin side out, wrapping tightly in cling film and twisting the ends to form a sealed package. Put the wrapped sausages into the fridge to cool for at least two hours. Heat a pan of water to the boil and add the sausages. Simmer them for 20 minutes. Take out of the water. Carefully unwrap then packages and put the rolls into a pan with a little coconut oil to crisp up the skin. Serve sliced thickly.

Edit - you can also use 5 chicken pieces and left over cooked chicken or turkey. I did this with a small amount of left over turkey after all the curries and soups for some variety!

Spanish rice casserole

I made this from this recipe on A Year of Crockpotting. It called for a pound of browned meat but I had loads of left over roast turkey from the weekend so I chopped that up and used it instead.

1 lb meat - any kind (browned mince or chopped leftovers)
1 onion, chopped
1 cup brown rice
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 clove garlic, crushed
Large pinch mixed herbs
salt and pepper to taste
water or stock

Brown your mince if not using leftovers. Add it to the crock pot with the onion, rice, garlic and herbs. Drain the liquid from the tomatoes into a measuring cup and put the tomatoes in the crock pot. Make up the juice from the tomatoes to 2 cups with water or stock and add. Cook on low for 2-4 hours, until the rice is tender. Season to taste.

Potato cakes

These make a great lunch or breakfast with some veggies and a slice of cheese, or a great side dish for a main meal. Always worth making extra mash so you can have these the next day!
Don't worry too much about quantities. I've never measured this out so I am guessing. Just use what you have. You can also add chopped cooked meat and/or veggies to the cakes for extra flavour and goodness. Sliced spring onions or leeks are particularly good.

2 cups cold mashed potato
1 egg
2 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper
Oil for cooking (I use lard)

Beat the egg and mix into the flour and potato. Season. Heat a frying pan and when it is hot add the fat and turn down to a medium heat. Add the potato mixture in spoonfuls and flatten them to form cakes. Fry until golden and crispy then turn and repeat!

Fried Mush

Another nourishing traditions recipe! The kids loved this and it was very easy to make from leftovers.

1 1/2 cups cooked porridge
1 egg
Cooking fat

Mix the porridge with the lightly beaten egg. Try in small cakes until golden on the outside and cooked through. Lovely served with honey or maple syrup. Could also be made savoury with porridge cooked in stock and served with ketchup or salsa.

Bread and butter casserole

This is my new favorite recipe! Versatile, delicious and all the kids eat it. What more can you ask!

4 slices bread of your choice (I use sourdough)
Butter
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 oz cheese, grated
Toppings - eg cooked sausage, sauteed mushrooms, peppers, onions, sweetcorn, tuna, peas - whatever you have that needs eating!

Cut the bread up into squares of about 1". Place in a buttered oven proof dish. Add the topping of your choice. My current favorites are sausage, peppers and onions or tuna, onion and sweetcorn. Sprinkle over the cheese. Beat the eggs and milk together and season. Pour over the dish. Allow time to soak into the bread and then bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes.

Another variation I make on this dish when i don't have any toppings is to spread the bread with butter and Marmite before cutting it up, then just adding the cheese, eggs and milk.

Fruit smoothie, leftovers

Breakfast

For the kids - breakfast cake defrosted overnight and warmed under the grill
For me - Fruit smoothie

Fruit smoothie

Another one from eat fat lose fat

1 cup yogurt
1 cup fruit
1 tbsp maple syrup (I used a banana instead)
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp melted coconut oil

Blend the fruit into a puree and add the yogurt and yolks and blend again to combine. Pour the coconut oil in slowly through the liquids funnel thing with the blender on.

Lunch

Cheese omelet and salad

Dinner

Leftovers. I reheated yesterdays gravy and poured it over chopped leftover pork. I served this with peas, sweetcorn and bubble and squeak cakes.

Bubble and squeak cakes

Cold mashed potatoes
Cooked cabbage
A little flour
Cooking fat (I used lard)
Seasoning

Mix together the potato and chopped cabbage and season. Sprinkle in about a tablespoon of flour and stir through. Form into cake shapes and fry in the fat until browned on the outside.