Gluten-Free Breaded Pork Chops

This is a very yummy recipe that I served with au gratin potatoes.

I know I know, processed food is bad.  But frankly, I adore Shake & Bake (both the taste and its ease).  And I love pork chops. However, as of yet, General Mills is not making a GF Shake & Bake, and I miss it. I find this be a pretty close substitute, using gluten-free flour and bread crumbs.

Pork Coating Mix

• 2 tbsps yellow cornmeal
• 2 tbsps GF Flour (a mediumly heavy mix, probably a brown rice and bean – I used Fava bean flour)
• 2 tbsps GF Breadcrumbs, Italian style if possible. I use Aleias.
• 1 tsp poultry seasoning (or sage)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl or, ideally, shake around in a plastic bag big enough to hold a pork chop.

You will also need 2 large pork chops and 1/4 cup milk

Cooking Directions

Rinse the pork chops in water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Then dip them in milk. You want all the sides to be coated. Don’t let them drip off too much – you want them to be wet. Drop them in the bag with the coating mixture and shake.  (You can just roll them around on a plate with the coating mixture, but shaking’s way easier and less messy).

Place on a shallow baking or roasting pan, and cook in a 425 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until the juices run clear and the center is opaque (165 degrees F (75C)). I find pork chops to be a little tricky – they seem to go from not cooked to overdone in about 1 minute and a half, so keep an eye on them and use a meat thermometer.

I served with au gratin potatoes, applesauce and carrots.

Fresh from the garden

Straight from the garden.

I planted strawberries in the garden this year.  They are the “everlasting” type and they are still popping out berries, even though it’s mid July.

Yum!

What’s in your garden?

Gluten-Free Cornbread

For this cornbread I use a mixture of flours.  For gluten-free baking, it can be difficult to get the right flour mixture.  I do recommend Bob’s Redmill flours. I used Bob’s 1 to 1 mix, plus a little fava bean and some buckwheat (which despite its name contains no wheat and no gluten).

When choosing flours, you can either choose a flour and add xantham or guar gum, which add the stretchy bit that is usually contributed by gluten, or choose a baking mix, which generally includes gum already.  You can skip the xantham gum, which is kind of bitter and smelly, but just be aware that whatever you’re making will be a little more crumbly.  You can address some of this with a bit more liquid or fat, and can more easily get away without it in heavier foods (think pound cake) than lighter ones (think biscuit).

Ingredients

• 1 cup GF baking mix or flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten until fluffy (you can also use 2 egg whites)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. (205 C)

Grease and flour a 8×8 or 9×9 inch glass pan.  If you like you can add a piece of waxed paper, which makes removal a lot easier.

Mix dry ingredients. Stir in the milk, eggs, oil and butter, until just moistened.  Pour into pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned on top, it springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken on a bed of Rice and Sausage with Gluten-Free Cornbread

Gluten-Free Roasted Chicken on its bed of rice and sausage dressing.

Our town has recently opened a Farmer’s Market, which we were both delighted about and anxious to support.

On its inaugural day, I got off the bus in the town center, anxious to see the goods, and got a little giddy over the fresh hand-picked strawberries and other veggies.

(Side note: if you have not had fresh local strawberries rather than those overgrown, rather hard imitators that bounced across the country from California, you don’t know what a strawberry is supposed to taste like. These were as they should be, smallish, deep crimson red, tender without being soft, and very juicy.  A friend of ours that lives about three blocks from the town common where the market is bought a quart. Her three boys had eaten the entire quart before they reached the house. They taste gold-plated and unfortunately have a price to match, but it was worth it anyway.)

The second week of the Farmer’s Market bought even more bounty from a new booth where you can get pork and chicken products.  I succumbed to both a free-range whole chicken and some homemade hot sausage (still uncased).

I rarely buy whole chickens, so wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do with the lot, but came up with this as a  solution.

The chicken I simply roasted, and essentially made a stuffing/dressing to put the chicken on out of veggies, sausage and rice.  We served it with some buttered carrots (also from the farmer’s market), and fresh cornbread. Directions and recipes follow.

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Roasted Free-Range Rosemary Chicken

Before placing it in the oven, rinse the chicken in water and pat it dry with a paper towel.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Rub with olive oil (lighter and less prone to burn than butter) and spices.  We do have Rosemary fresh in our garden this time of year, and I used some fresh for the dressing, but for the roasted chicken simply sprinkled on dry. Just shake until it looks right. I just used Rosemary to keep the flavor simple. Another nice addition might be to rub the chicken skin with garlic before putting on the olive oil.

Place in a dutch oven or shallow roasting pan, and pin or tie the wings to the body.  Roast uncovered at 375 (or 400 if the bird is under 2 1/2 pounds (190 or 205 degrees C).  A small bird (2.5 pounds) will take about 1 – 1 1/4 hours unstuffed. A 3-4 pound bird can take 2 hours. Stuffed birds will take 15-30 minutes longer.

Once the chicken is cooked to a safe temperature (175 degrees F, 80 C), let it set 15-20 minutes before carving.  Since mine was free-range, the usual ability to tell whether a bird is done by wiggling its leg doesn’t work here.  Make sure you use a meat thermometer.

I had another problem with the leg as you can see from the photo. When I got the bird at the Farmer’s Market,  I popped it in my bag quickly, and didn’t notice until I took it out to cook it that it was missing a leg!

I’ve got my bandages to keep me warm.

Apparently it came off in processing, but when I saw it I couldn’t get rid of a vision of a poor chicken hobbling around the barnyard with a crutch under one wing. Shades of Foghorn Leghorn.

Serve on a bed of dressing.

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Sausage and Rice Dressing

For the dressing, I just made it up as I went along but the ingredients were roughly as follows.

• 1 pound sausage (hot or sweet, depending on your preference)
• 1 1/2 cups rice (dry)
• 1 small onion
• 1 celery stick
• 4 oz mushrooms
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• Fresh Rosemary to taste, removed from the stem
• Fresh Parsley to taste, chopped or snipped

Combine the rice, the chicken broth and water in a saucepan and cook until done.

While that is simmering, cook the sausage in a heavy fry pan until no longer pink.

Wash and chop the vegetables in the meantime.  I cut the onions and celery very small, and sliced and chopped the mushrooms fine as well. Once the sausage is done, remove the sausage to a bowl, temporarily, and remove some of the fat, and cook the vegetables in the remaining fat until the onion is tender and translucent and the celery softens. Once the veggies, rice and sausage are all cooked, mix them together and snip fresh rosemary and parsley over the top to taste and mix in.  I used 2-3 springs of rosemary and  what would be equal to 2-3 tablespoons of parsley.  You can add a bit of salt, if desired.

Spread on a platter and place the chicken on top.  It should look and taste delicious.  We served it with hot buttered carrots and cornbread.

Gluten-Free Sausage Stuffing

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, bar none.  I love it.  No overblown gifts and cards to buy. No nauseating sentiment.  Just feasting with family and friends, and taking time to be grateful that we can give thanks. 

Plus you get the Macy’s parade, which I absolutely adore despite its goofiness.

I also adore Thanksgiving food.  I was born and raised in New England so my family celebrates a very traditional turkey feast with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, carrots, peas, onions, turnip, parsnips, squash, cranberry sauce, yeast rolls and a few other things I’m likely forgetting. 

Then there’s pie.  Pumpkin and Apple, of course, (with real whipped cream and vanilla ice cream), but we also often get chocolate (not so traditional), pecan, cheesecake and host of other things such as Indian pudding (a custardy mix of pumpkin, corn meal, raisins and molasses).  Lastly there is the rather odd concoction of pineapples,whipped cream, and pistachio jello mix made by my grandmother (still! at 96!) It’s commonly known as ‘that green stuff.’  It tastes a LOT better than that sounds, really.

I probably consume about 3000 calories, easy.  But I don’t care.  It’s totally worth it. 

Added to this  childhood feast is an additional stuffing recipe invented by my husband and here converted from life pre-gluten-free.  This has been a favorite for the better part of 15 years, and Hubby really missed it, as did our friends.  Believe me, this is a crowd pleaser.  You will never know it’s GF and neither will any of your guests.  They will still gobble it down.  How do I know this? 

It’s been road tested at both family Thanksgivings, where there is usually barely any crumbs left, along with multiple times at our holiday Thanksgiving with friends, with similar results.  Among these friends are some of the pickiest eaters known to man, so believe me, if they eat it, it’s good.  Part of our secret is we don’t bother to tell people it’s gluten-free, and no one can tell the difference. 

• 1 1/4 loaves of gluten-bread (We use Food For Life Brown Rice Bread, which is the best sandwich-toasting bread.  Note that it’s denser than your average wheat bread).
• 1 package (six short links) hot Italian sausage
• 2-3 ribs of celery and leaves, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped or pressed
• 4-6 oz of mushrooms, chopped
• 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 tbsps poultry seasoning
• 2 tsps rosemary
• 2 tsps thyme
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 16 oz package chicken broth, low sodium, if possible

Cut up the gluten-free bread into small cubes about 1/4 to 1/3rd of an inch.  Toss with herbs and a tablespoon or so of oil.  Keep the crumbs and toast them too! Spread the bread cubes and crumbs out on a cookie sheet and toast for 10 to 15 minutes to dry out the bread slightly and crisp it up.  You can do this step a day or two in advance, if you want. 

While the bread is toasting, cook the sausage.  Remove the skin and crumble or chop in 1/3 inch cubes. 

Saute the vegetables and remaining spices in olive oil until soft, the onions are translucent, and the mushrooms are reduced. 

In a large bowl, mix the cubes and the chicken broth to re-hydrate the cubes.  Don’t dump it all in at once.  Depending on how big your loaf is, you may want a little more or less.  Also, if you want a slightly lighter mix, you can use some water instead.  Fold in the sausage and the vegetables (which will add some moisture).  If desired, put in more spices to taste.

You can use the stuffing inside the turkey or cook in a pan on the side (in which case it officially becomes dressing, although I never call it anything except stuffing).  For the latter, cover with foil for to keep the pan from drying out too much. About 15 minutes before you take it out of the oven, remove the foil.

Cook in a 325 F degree oven for an hour.  We usually cook it alongside with the turkey.  Enjoy.  This stuff is fab.

Turkey meatloaf

Since it’s disgustly cold here on the east coast, comfort food is still on the menu. Another recent foray involved risotto and turkey meatloaf (which I prefer over beef, it’s lighter and has more flavor (or at least a more unique flavor).

Gluten Free Turkey Meatloaf
Ingredients:

• 1-1 1/4 pounds of ground turkey
• 1/2 c. gluten free bread crumbs (you can make your own or I used Aleia’s Italian flavored)
• 1/4 c. cornmeal
• 1/4 c. ground parmesean cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 small shallot, sauted until soft or equivalent amount of dried shallot, rehydrated.
• 1 egg, if desired, beaten

Mix together the ingredients (easiest by hand, although messy) until cheese, crumbs and cornmeal are evenly distributed among the ground meat.  Shape into a loaf. You can use a traditional loaf pan or simply cook on top of a cookie sheet or pizza pan. Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes. Check for doneness. Let sit 5-10 minutes before carving.