Bahn Xeo with a little twist
There is a gluten free recipe that I came across while researching facts on rice flour. It is a traditional Vietnamese recipe known as Banh xeo. In Vietnam it is used to wrap mince meat or stir fried vegetable and dipped in nuoc nam. I modified it, a tiny bit, to make a gluten free dessert for the restaurant.
It goes like this :
- 430g Rice flour.
- A pinch of turmeric.
- 20g Dessicated coconut.
- 60g Icing sugar.
- 1 tea spoon Baking powder.
- 500g Coconut milk.
- 3 Bananas.
- 50g Brown sugar.
First toast the dessicated coconut until a slight blond color, let it cool down for a while. Then in bowl mix well all the dry ingredients, excepted the brown sugar, then whisk in the coconut milk. Allow to rest for and hour.
Cook a small amount of the batter on non-stick pan placed over a medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Meanwhile cut the bananas in pieces a couple of inches thick, roll them in the brown sugar and roast them for 6 minutes in a very hot oven.
Serve a couple of warm pancakes alongside 5 pieces of bananas and top it up with a spoon of sweet whipped cream.
The batter can be kept for 3 days in the fridge.
“Never eat more than you can lift”
Miss Piggy
Dairy free, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian.
How to choose a fish?
Ask the expert!
While I would never go against the judgement of your local fishmonger, here are few tips to choose a fish in the supermarket, . It works in three sensory steps ; appearance, texture and smell.
First of all let’s check a whole/gutted fish.
-APPEARANCE-
Eyes : bright and bulging, a clear cornea and shining black pupil.
Gills : glossy, bright red or pink.
Skin : glossy, scales adhering tightly ; clear mucus if present.
-TEXTURE-
Firm and elastic to touch (ask the sales assistant to do it for you. You will notice that the marks made by his/her finger on the skin are visible for a second or two if the fish is fresh).
-SMELL-
Inoffensive, quite inexistent, slight sea smell.
Now let’s check a fillet of fish. -APPEARANCE-
Skin : glossy.
Flesh : Raw looking, transparent, no bruising or blood spotting.
-TEXTURE-
Firm and elastic to the touch (ask the sales assistant to do it for you. You will notice that the finger marks left by his/her hands on the flesh will only last a second or two if the fish is fresh).
-SMELL-
Inoffensive, slight sea smell.
Kig Ha Farz or "Dough and Meat"
There is very traditional recipe from a quite small region of Brittany called “Bas Leon” which is situated to the North-Est of the western tip of Brittany. Kig ha farz means meat and dough. It is a peasant dish based on a buckwheat dough cooked in a linen bag, vegetables and low cuts of meat.
There no real written recipes for Kig ha farz as the Breton language was mainly transmitted through word of mouth. I will give you here a recipe that I got from a local farmer’s wife few years back.
There no real written recipes for Kig ha farz as the Breton language was mainly transmitted through word of mouth. I will give you here a recipe that I got from a local farmer’s wife few years back.
This would serve about 10 people :
Meats
· 6 pig Shanks.
· 600g pig Belly.
· 800g Oxtail.
· 600g beef Shoulder.
· 2 or 3 lamb Shanks.
Vegetables
2 large Leeks.
8 Carrots.
3 large Onions.
1 green Cabbage.
6 medium white Turnips.
8 Potatoes.
3 cloves of Garlic.
1 Bay leaf.
10 Peppercorns.
Dough
500g Buckwheat flour.
30g Salt.
20g Sugar.
50g melted Butter.
50g melted Lard.
1/2 pint Milk.
250g Creme Fraiche or sour cream.
2 Eggs.
In large pot place all the vegetables peeled and washed with all the meats. Then cover with water and bring to the boil.
In a large bowl place the flour, sugar and salt. Mix in the eggs then fold the lard, butter and creme fraiche. Finish by adding the milk to bring the mix to a thick Consistancy (you may not need all the milk).
Pour the dough mix in a linen bag (see picture on the left) and close tightly with a peace of sting. Place it in the pot with the rest of the ingredients. Cook slowly for 4 hours.
In a large bowl place the flour, sugar and salt. Mix in the eggs then fold the lard, butter and creme fraiche. Finish by adding the milk to bring the mix to a thick Consistancy (you may not need all the milk).
Pour the dough mix in a linen bag (see picture on the left) and close tightly with a peace of sting. Place it in the pot with the rest of the ingredients. Cook slowly for 4 hours.
When the dough and meat is cook take the bag out and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Then place it on a clean surface and roll it form side to side while apllying some pressure. Then open it. 
Traditionally the bouillon obtained is served as a first course. Then the vegetables, the meats and the dough as a main-course.This is a bit of work but it is an all in one dish. It is suitable for coeliacs as buckwheat flour is gluten free.
Enjoy!
“The way you cut your meat reflects the the way live”
Confucius
Gluten free, suitable for pregnant women, contains dairy.Buckwheat pancakes or "galette bretonne"
If I was asked what is my favourite dish in the whole World I think it would be this one, La galette bretonne. There is a multitude of recipes for buckwheat pancakes in Brittany probably as many as there are of inhabitants. This one comes from my Grand-mother who got it from her mother and so on for generations. Note that it is the base for the pancake itself, I leave the choice of fillings to your imagination.
For about 12 pancakes you need :
- 500g Buckwheat flour.
- 100g melted Butter.
- 2 whole Eggs.
- 1/4L Milk.
- 3/4l warm Water.
- pinch of Salt.
In a large bowl, place the flour and the salt, add the eggs and mix well for 10 minutes. Then add the milk and the warm water, finish by adding the melted butter. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature.
Take a large non-stick pan and spread some of the mix. Cook the pancake on a medium heat for 6min then using a paletknife carefully flip it over and cook it for a further 6 minutes.
You can choose all sorts of ingredients to fill your panecakes, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, smoked salmon and cream cheese, ham you name it.
Buckwheat pancakes are suitable for coeliac gastronomes.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!
“Ne voket bras lod pep hini, Heman zo vel urgrampouezhenn etre nav c’hi”
Breton proverb
Gluten free, vegetarian, suitable for pregnant women. Contains dairies. 
Freeze well.
Buckwheat and gluten intolerance
A couple of years ago I was having a chat with my Dad about the increase in the number of customers with gluten intolerance that I encountered in the restaurant. He told me then, that there was one particularly well known type of flour in my homeland of Brittany that was gluten free. It was Buckwheat flour. I have to say I was surprised, because to me buckwheat flour was in the same category of wheat flour. I decided then to look into it.
Grains or cereals based food is at the base of people’s diet throughout the world. But some of them suffer from a well known condition : gluten-sensitive enteropathy, coeliac disease or sprue that disqualify them for the enjoyment of those lavish cakes, biscuits, breads, porridge, or pasta dishes.
Grains or cereals based food is at the base of people’s diet throughout the world. But some of them suffer from a well known condition : gluten-sensitive enteropathy, coeliac disease or sprue that disqualify them for the enjoyment of those lavish cakes, biscuits, breads, porridge, or pasta dishes.
How does coeliac disease work? The body simply forms defensive antibodies against a portion of the harmless gliadin proteins in wheat, barley, rye and possibly oats. These white cells end up attacking the nutrient-absorbing cells in the intestine therefore causing serious malnourishment. Unfortunately the standard remedy is total avoidance of all gluten-containing foods. This is when buckwheat comes on board.Buckwheat is a plant from the order of the polygonace. This is not a cereal. The different species are polygonum fagopyrum, P tartaricum, P emarginatum. This is a relative of rhubarb and sorrel. Buckwheat is a native of central Asia and was domesticated in China or India about a 1000 years ago. It was brought to Europe in the middle ages. It tolerates poor growing conditions and matures in a little over 2 months. It is commonly harvested in September and October.
Buckwheat kernels are triangular, 4-9 mm across with a dark pericarp. Intact seeds with the hull (pericarp) removed are called groats. It is about 80% starch and 14% protein mostly globulin and contains about twice the amount of oil than most cereals. The poor levels of protein and the absence of gluten make it inadequate to traditional yeast bread making or cake baking. There is the nutrient breakdown for a 100g.
Water 13.4g, protein 11.5g, carbohydrates 71g, fat 2.3g, cholesterol 0, thiamin 0.4mg, calcium 71mg, phosphorus 337mg, zinc 0.3mg, magnesium 251mg, iron 0.4mg, potassium 577mg, calorie 290kcal.
Water 13.4g, protein 11.5g, carbohydrates 71g, fat 2.3g, cholesterol 0, thiamin 0.4mg, calcium 71mg, phosphorus 337mg, zinc 0.3mg, magnesium 251mg, iron 0.4mg, potassium 577mg, calorie 290kcal.
Buckwheat flour contains a small amount of mucilage, a complex carbohydrate a bit like amilopeptine (component of starch), that can absorb water and make dough or batter hold together. The distinctive taste of cooked buckwheat is nutty, smoky, green with a slight fishy note.Buckwheat is a staple food in parts of China, Korea and Nepal and was the basis of the diet
of celtic tribes and peasants in Brittany. In the Himalayan region it takes the form of chillare(a type of flat bread), fritters or sweets.The Japanese make Soba(a type of noddles), the Italians mix it with corn meal to make pizzocherri(a type of polenta) and in Russia it is used to make a nutty porridge called kasha.This is why it makes an excellent substitute to wheat flour for the making of flat breads, sweet or savoury pancakes, noddles or porridges despite its poor level of mucilage and plastic proteins.
Useful links about gluten intolerance:
http://www.glutenfreepassport.com/refcenter/links/associations.html
http://www.csaceliacs.org/
http://www.coeliac.ie/
http://www.glutenfreepassport.com/refcenter/links/associations.html
http://www.csaceliacs.org/
http://www.coeliac.ie/
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