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Krapfens with jam are one of my absolute favourite Carnival sweets, so much so that every year I force myself to make them only at Carnival, a resolution I never manage to keep!

In my family tradition, Krapfen are always prepared with potatoes and strictly with homemade plum jam, another preparation that is a must when the plums ripen on the numerous trees that colour our farm.

However, if you prefer to fill Krapfen with custard, you can do this using a pastry syringe once you have fried a single disc, perhaps left slightly thicker than in the recipe below.

So along with Chiacchiere and  Fried Creamit is a joy for me to share these irresistible Krapfens that you will enjoy at every bite… maybe even licking your fingers.

Krapfens with jam

carbohydrates 37.91g per 100g of krapfen without sugar on the surface

Ingredients

  • 500g potatoes
  • 280g plum jam*
  • 250g gluten-free cake flour mix, brand Molino Dallagiovanna**
  • 250g gluten-free bread flour mix, brand BiAglut**
  • 120g milk
  • 65g butter
  • 50g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 30g brewer’s yeast
  • grated rind of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • frying oil and caster sugar for the surface

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Knead all ingredients together until you have a smooth dough with a fairly firm texture. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1cm and cut disks of about 8cm in diameter. Place the plum jam on half of the discs, then close them with the remaining discs, taking care to seal the edges well, perhaps wetting them lightly with a finger moistened with water to make the dough ‘stick’.
  2. Let the Krapfen rest for 1.5 hours, then deep-fry them in plenty of oil and roll in caster sugar before serving.
La frittura dei krapfen

The frying of Krapfen

 

I krapfen pronti per essere gustati

Krapfens ready to be enjoyed

Version with gluten of Krapfens with jam

Replace the gluten-free flour (500g) with an equal amount of wheat flour and mix with just 100g milk and 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk.

 

Salads are a perfect solution for summer and this Legumotti salad mixed in a smooth, velvety Swiss chard cream, completed by sweet caramelised Tropea onions will give you the pleasure of a great gourmet dish.

The recipe is naturally gluten free and is rich in vegetable protein and fibre, suitable to be eaten at lunch or dinner, warm or cold; it is perfect as a main course if eaten in a large portion, or as an appetiser or first course if served in smaller quantities.

The Swiss chard cream will be a real surprise that you can use for so many other preparations: use it as an accompanying sauce for flans and fresh stuffed pasta, roast meat, mixed salads and, of course, as a sauce for pasta dishes (gnocchi with this cream are delicious).

Caramelised Tropea onions don’t need to be introduced. The only attention we have to pay is to the sugar they contain, either naturally or by adding brown sugar to caramelise them. In fact, onions behave like some other vegetables (e.g. carrots and peppers) which, when cooked, considerably increase the amount of carbohydrates per 100g: the raw onion contains 5.7g/100g, whereas once cooked, the value rises to 23.6g/100g.

For this reason, I have given you the carbohydrate value of caramelised onions separately so you can better calculate the carb count when adding them to your dish or preparing them for many other applications. Oh yes, because once you have prepared the caramelised Tropea onion, you can use it to season a pasta dish, fill a sandwich or focaccia, accompany a meat or fish main course, or even to complete a spoon dessert that I happened to taste on one of my culinary adventures.

Insalata di Legumotti con cipolla di Tropea caramellata

Legumotti salad with Swiss chard cream, caramelised Tropea onion and topped with grated salted ricotta

Legumotti Salad with Caramelised Tropea onion

24.52g carbohydrates per 100g cooked Legumotti pasta with Swiss chard cream

47.62g carbohydrates per 100g caramelised Tropea onion

 

Ingredients for the Legumotti and Swiss chard cream

  • 250g Barilla Legumotti*
  • 300g fresh Swiss chard already cleaned (without the harder white ribs)
  • 80g spring onion
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic
  • salted ricotta
  • marjoram
  • salt and pepper

Ingredients for caramelised onion

  • 450g Tropea onions
  • 30g apple vinegar
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g brown sugar
  • salt and pepper

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Start with the caramelised onions, which are the most time-consuming preparation. Cut the onions in half and slice each half into fan shapes. Wilt them in a non-stick pan with extra virgin olive oil on low heat and with the lid on; after 10 minutes, add the apple vinegar and brown sugar; season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10 minutes, leaving the pan uncovered in case there is liquid on the bottom. Put the onions aside.
  2. Wash and clean the Swiss chard. Put a pot of lightly salted water on the stove and when it boils, blanch the Swiss chard for a minute, drain it and throw it into cold water. Pour it into a colander so that it drains well.
  3. Chop the leek and put it in a non-stick pan with the extra virgin olive oil and the clove of garlic; add the lightly wrung Swiss chard; season with salt and pepper, a pinch of marjoram and leave to gain flavour for about ten minutes. Remove the garlic, transfer the vegetables to a food processor and blend them to a smooth, homogeneous cream.
  4. Put a pan of water on the stove, add salt and when it comes to the boil, cook the Legumotti for 9 minutes. Drain them and put them in a bowl. Dress them with the Swiss chard cream and serve them on individual plates. Complete with caramelised onions and a grating of salted ricotta cheese. You can eat Legumotti warm or cold as you like: I love them in all preparations, so here is another recipe that may interest you, Legumotti with vegetables.

Version with gluten

The recipe is naturally gluten-free, so no adaptation is required

La panna cotta ai lamponi è uno dei dolci più semplici e flessibili che conosca (credetemi!). E’ naturalmente senza glutine quindi perfetta per i celiaci ed è perfetta anche per chi è affetto da diabete avendo l’accortezza di sostituire una parte o tutto lo zucchero con un dolcificante di propria scelta.

Durante l’estate, la panna cotta è un dolce fresco e pratico che potrete accompagnare con salse preparate con qualsiasi frutto di stagione.

Raspberry panna cotta is one of the simplest and most flexible desserts I know (believe me!). It is naturally gluten free, making it perfect for celiacs and it is also perfect for people with diabetes, taking the precaution of replacing some or all of the sugar with a sweetener of your choice.

During the summer, Panna cotta is a fresh and practical dessert that you can accompany with sauces made from any seasonal fruit.

You can also decide to make it more or less rich in fat by playing around with milk and cream: the important thing is that you have a total of 500g when you mix them together, but you can vary their proportions as you like… bearing in mind that if it is called Panna (i.e. cream) cotta, the original recipe certainly expresses its preference.

Preparation will only take you a few minutes, but you have to allow time for the Panna cotta to solidify, so remember to plan ahead if you want to serve it to your guests, perhaps making it the day before so you have less to do at the last minute.

Raspberry panna cotta    

19.64g carbohydrates per 100g raspberry panna cotta with sugar

Ingredients for 6 servings

  • 250g milk
  • 250g cream
  • 100g sugar or sweetener* as desired
  • 10-12g gelatine sheets* (follow the instructions given for the product you choose)
  • a bit of vanilla from the pod

Ingredients for the raspberry sauce

  • 220g raspberries
  • 30g sugar or sweetener* to taste
  • 30g lemon juice

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan, add the sugar or sweetener and put everything on the heat, stirring occasionally so that the sugar dissolves well.
  2. Separately, soak the gelatine in water to soften it. When the milk is about to reach the boil, remove from the heat and add the squeezed gelatine while stirring with a whisk. Let it cool down, then fill the moulds you selected. Put them in the refrigerator for a few hours until the mixture becomes thick.
  3. Meanwhile, prepare the raspberry sauce. Place the raspberries in a non-stick pan with the lemon juice and sugar or sweetener. Let the raspberries cook for 5 minutes over high heat until they release a bright red sauce. Let it cool down.
  4. Remove the Panna cotta from the moulds and place it directly on the serving platter, decorate it with the raspberries and their sauce either cold or warmed in a microwave or on the stove.

Version with gluten of Raspberry panna cotta

The recipe is naturally gluten free, so no adaptations are needed.

Soft potato focaccias for me are indelibly linked to my paternal grandmother. In fact, for many years, the tradition in our house was to make bread once a week, in large quantities, to be baked in the wood-fired oven on the farm.

The thing I remember most pleasantly is the time when we could eat ‘Torta del forno‘, a version of soft potato focaccias that my grandmother prepared by adding a boiled and mashed potato, extra virgin olive oil and salt to a loaf of bread. The new small dough (or sometimes large dough for everyone’s desire to eat this amazing food) was rolled out with a rolling pin, cut into strips of about 15x7cm and thrown onto the bricks of the wood-fired oven to test its temperature. Indeed, our wood-burning oven never had a thermometer, so based on the colour of the surface of the bread strips we could tell if the oven was too hot, and so we had to wait to bake the bread, or was not hot enough, and so we had to burn more wood inside.

These scones are a tribute to that flavour, although baking in a wood-fired oven certainly gives different aromas and flavours. However, I can assure you that my grandmother really liked this version.

Soft potato focaccias

43.66g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 400g water
  • 300g potatoes
  • 220g gluten free multi-purpose flour mix, brand Massimo Zero**
  • 170g flour mix for bread, brand Caputo Fioreglut**
  • 60g wholemeal rice flour*
  • 30g buckwheat flour*
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 16g yeast
  • salt, oregano, cherry tomatoes, olives, rice flour for shaping

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Boil the potatoes, peel, mash and let them cool.
  2. Knead the remaining ingredients, form a dough ball, brush it with a little oil, cover it with cling film and let it rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in volume.
  3. Knead again with the planetary mixer adding the mashed potatoes, mix quickly well, then take spoonfuls of the mixture, roll it out first with your hands, then with a rolling pin using plenty of rice flour, and with a pastry cutter cut out discs about 2 cm thick and 10 cm in diameter. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper and let them rise again for about 30 minutes.
  4. Brush the surface with a little oil and season to taste with oregano, olives, tomatoes, etc.
  5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 40 minutes.
  6. To watch the video recipe, click here

Version with cluten of Soft potato focaccias

Replace the Massimo Zero and Caputo flours with wheat flour and reduce the amount of water to 300g.

Do you know the irresistible texture of bread baked in a wood-fired oven? When the crust, under the blade of the serrated knife, makes that unmistakable sound that already gives you a foretaste of the pleasure of the taste of bread? Crispy bread in casserole is a gift for the senses: it is for the sight, because the colour of the bread is just right golden; it is for the smell, because the fragrance has the irresistible fragrance of bread; it is for the taste, because in addition to the flavour, the crunchy texture of the crust and the softness of the crumb are simply perfect. And everything is gluten-free!

If we want to find some faults, well, we cannot deny that it requires a lot of resting time, even though we can easily knead it the day before and ‘forget’ it in the refrigerator, and moreover, baking it requires a little more energy than bread baked in the usual way. Yet, if you have a cast-iron casserole dish, my advice is to try it right away because it is a bread that has nothing to envy the products of the best bakers in our towns.

Crispy bread in casserole

46.55g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 500g water
  • 450g flour mix for bread, brand Nutrifree**
  • 50g buckwheat flour*
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 5g brewer’s yeast
  • 5g salt
  • rice flour* for dusting and extra virgin olive oil for brushing

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water; place the Nutrifree mix and buckwheat flour in the planetary mixer and start mixing the flours together, then gradually add the water with the yeast while continuing to knead. After kneading for at least 5 minutes, add the salt and extra virgin olive oil and mix for a few more minutes. Transfer the dough into a bowl, brush with a little oil, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 15 hours.
  2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a cutting board dusted with rice flour. Again using rice flour, fold the dough 5-6 times at least, then give it the round shape of a loaf and leave it to rise for about 2 hours covered with a cloth.
  3. Bring the oven to 230°C with a cast-iron casserole inside (I use my Le Creuset casserole) with a lid. When the oven has reached the set temperature, remove the casserole from the oven by placing it on a trivet because of the very high temperature. You can cut a cross on the surface of the loaf and drop it, literally, into the casserole to avoid burning yourself.
  4. Place the casserole in the oven closed with its lid and bake for 45 minutes.
  5. After this time, take out the casserole from the oven, open it with the help of an oven glove or potholders and turn the loaf upside down. Put the whole thing back in the oven and bake at 210°C for another 30 minutes.
  6. Remove the casserole from the oven and take out the bread; if you feel that the bread is still slightly heavy, place it in the oven without the container for another 10 minutes. Let it cool and enjoy it while listening to the sound of the crust under your teeth!

Version with gluten of Crispy bread in casserole

Replace the Nutrifree bread mix with wheat flour, but mix it with about 300g water.

If the adventures of the Mystery Box received for the Talent for Food contest were surprising, even more surprising was the news that I was one of the three finalists, so I would like to tell you about my adventure from a slightly different perspective than a mere report: how to try to make the impossible possible.

My Talent For Food 2019 adventure and my Lentil flour dumplings

Let’s start with the fact that in my day-to-day life I am a conference interpreter and CEO of a language service company, Interconsul srl – Benefit Company, based in Parma, so on Friday 11 October, duty called as it does every other day, and at 7.45 a.m., after the kids’ hectic school drop-off, I was expected to review the translations to be sent to customers before the weekend. Oh yes, because convinced that I would never be among the finalists of the Talent from the Veneto region, my schedule continued, ineluctable, so I had to switch to weekend mode at 3.30 p.m. that Friday by picking up my friend and food blogger Cristiana Curri at the station (https://blog.giallozafferano.it/chicchecris/) with whom I had organised a cooking class dedicated to the great pasta classics in Roman cuisine on Saturday 12 October in the afternoon. Also, because I like challenges (this is the conclusion I came to), at 9 a.m. on the same day I had a nice course dedicated to savoury recipes using alternative flours to wheat.

A message on WhatsApp: panic!

So what happens when you get a congratulatory message on WhatsApp on a Sunday afternoon as you are driving to Rimini (about 220 km from home) to work as an interpreter at a conference? You wonder what you are being congratulated for, you run through your head what has happened in the last few days, you give up and ask your interpreter colleague sitting in the car with you to answer: “For what?” Return message: “You are in the finals at Talent for Food. Panic. Yes, literally panic, but not because of the competition as cooking competitions always put me in a good mood, but because of the Rubik’s puzzle I managed to create. In my head it is a succession of thoughts to put the coloured boxes of the magic cube into place, and in the end it comes out like a risk-taking game plan: I calculate the Parma-Valdobbiadene journey time on Google Maps (3 hours), I beg Cristiana to change the train ticket so that I can get there before noon to accompany me to Valdobbiadene, and I ask AIFB if it is possible to give up (the most painful part) the discovery programme planned for Saturday morning. You know what? In the end it all seemed… almost simple!

A Friday afternoon in Valdobbiadene for Talent For Food

So I find myself on a Friday afternoon at the DIEFFE Academy of Professions in Valdobbiadene (Treviso) with 50 minutes to prepare, cook and serve a recipe using the ingredients provided by 29 companies from Treviso and Padua that have supplied ‘mystery boxes’ with products from the Veneto region. While cooking with Daniela Boscariolo (blog.giallozafferano.it/timoelenticchie the winner) and Daniela Pennisi (www.laboulangeriepatisserie.it), Angela Frenda – Editor-in-Chief of the monthly magazine ‘Cook’ (Corriere della Sera), writer and cooking teacher – gives the floor to Giovanni Taliana and Armando Serena, Presidents of the Food Group and the Wine and Spirits Group of Assindustria Venetocentro, to Anna Maria Pellegrino, President of AIFB, to Innocente Nardi, President of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg and to Alessandro Marzotto, Hospitality Wine Shop Manager of Santa Margherita Wine Group. Le tre finaliste alle prese con le preparazioni The three finalists whilst cookingFaithful to one of the guiding principles of the contest, in my recipe I combine the culinary tradition of Emilia with products from the Veneto region, which is why I prepare the ever-present stuffed pasta, but this time with Vicenza-style salt cod and artichokes inside, saffron in the dough and sautéed mushrooms as a dressing. What was missing on my plate? A crispy part, but I don’t like fritters, so I couldn’t think of any alternative… I’ll be ready for next time!

I tre piatti presentati

The three dishes presented

 

Impiattamento dei miei ravioli

My ravioli

After judgement, ritual photos, hugs and kisses between new friends and new acquaintances, we headed back to Parma, a stop at a gas station for a hot drink and a super, but brief sleep before a second day of challenges with two cooking classes and… this recipe prepared on the fly on Saturday evening for my super-helpful guest and dear friend Cristiana, naturally cooked with Talent for Food 2019 products!

Lentil flour dumplings with artichoke cream and stracchino cheese

13.32g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for the dumplings

  • 270g milk
  • 90g potato starch*
  • 60g lentil flour*
  • 40g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 35g organic sunflower oil
  • 4 eggs
  • nutmeg, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Gnocchi sauce

  • 250g cream of artichoke*
  • 100g Stracchino cheese or another cream cheese
  • pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs *Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Put 270g of milk in a saucepan together with oil, a grinding of nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and add starch and lentil flour in one go, stirring well so that no lumps form. Let cool, then add the grated cheese and one egg at a time, mixing well. Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag with a round tip, approximately 1.5-2 cm in diameter.
  2. Put a pot of water on the stove, bring it to the boil and salt it. With a pastry bag, drop small cylinders 2-3 cm long with the help of a knife (although the dough is very soft, so the knife is only needed to interrupt the flow of mixture) into boiling water and when they rise to the surface, let them cook 1-2 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl with the stracchino cheese and artichoke cream.  Stir well to melt the cheese.
  3. Serve the Gnocchi hot with a grinding of black pepper.
I miei gnocchetti alla farina di lenticchie con crema di carciofi e stracchino

My lentil flour gnocchi with artichoke cream and stracchino cheese

This is the second recipe dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the National Carmagnola Pepper Fair and is one of our favourites when we are very hungry, have little time and want something tasty and light: Chicken with peppers and goji berries, naturally gluten free and with very few carbohydrates. If you want to look at the first recipe again, here it is: Gazpacho of yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto.

Pepper is a typical summer vegetable, particularly popular in hot countries, although it is now cultivated all over the world. Its versatility in cooking is extraordinary, and from a nutritional point of view it is rich in vitamin C, even richer than oranges, which are often considered the champions in ‘this speciality’.

Well, by combining peppers with goji berries, which by the way belong to the same family, we can enjoy their countless health benefits. Goji berries are to be consumed with caution for those with diabetes because they have a high carbohydrate content, as much as 64g per 100g of product, and also calories, but at the same time are rich in protein, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, lipids such as omega 3 and omega 6, magnesium, chromium, vitamins C, E and B1, carotene, amino acids, fibre, lutein and germanium.

Eating a dish like this one that is a joy for the eyes, for the palate and for our well-being seems to me the best way to celebrate a very respectable birthday!

Chicken with peppers and goji berries

3.49g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4-6 servings

  • 700g chicken breast
  • 380g yellow, red and green peppers
  • 80g leek
  • 30g goji berries
  • 1 sachet of saffron
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt

Preparation

  1. Soak the goji berries in lukewarm water for 30 minutes.
  2. Cut the chicken into strips, mix with the saffron and leave to season for about 30 minutes.
  3. Cut the leeks into thin rounds and the peppers into strips for sautéing. Heat a wok, pour in a few tablespoons of oil and sauté the leek alone first, then add the peppers; season with salt and cook over a high flame for 5 minutes, stirring often. Set them aside.
  4. Put another 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the wok and stir-fry the chicken for 5-6 minutes, then add the goji berries, season with salt and continue cooking for 1 minute.
  5. Remove the chicken from the heat, mix it with the peppers and serve hot or lukewarm accompanied by a mixed salad.

 

Version with gluten of Chicken with peppers and goji berries

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.

 

This recipe was submitted to the Contest ‘Carmagnola Pepper: 70 years in 70 recipes’

Why a Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto? For the memories and for my love of Spain and peppers.

The first time I heard about the Carmagnola pepper was a few years ago when my neighbour gave me a jar of pickled peppers prepared by her parents who used to travel to Piedmont every year in September to buy the raw material.

I have never forgotten those peppers: the bright colours, the sweet but firm flavour and the crunchy texture made me fall in love at first taste. It was that taste that prompted me to find out where this delicious fruit of the earth came from.

Carmagnola and its pepper

Its land of origin is precisely the Carmagnola area in Piedmont and there are various types (the one I tasted was the ‘Corno di bue’, perfect for preserves). The pepper arrived in this area at the beginning of the 20th century and today it represents a fundamental resource for agriculture and the local economy and is a foodstuff known and appreciated in Piedmont and Italy for its intense yellow or bright red colour, its aroma and its wholesomeness.

Every year, in early September, Carmagnola hosts the National Pepper Fair, the largest in Italy dedicated to an agricultural product, offering 10 days of gastronomic, cultural, artistic events, and creative and engaging experiences for all senses and all age groups. Well, this year the fair reaches an extremely important milestone, namely its 70th anniversary, which is being celebrated by collecting recipes that feature pepper as their star. This fresh and fragrant Gazpacho is my way of wishing long life to a product of the earth that often graces our table with its flavours, aromas and colours. All the best, then!

Try also this recipe with Carmagnola peppers: Chicken with peppers and goji berries.

Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

12.58g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 500g yellow tomatoes
  • 3 peppers, 2 yellow and 1 red (approx. 270g when cooked and peeled)
  • 100g sandwich bread** or these Rustic loaves
  • 100g sliced Parma ham
  • 100g vegetable stock
  • basil leaves
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • chilli, salt and pepper

** Ingredients specific for celiacs

Preparation of Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes

  1. Clean the peppers, cut them in half, remove the stalk, seeds and white filaments, then place them in the oven under the grill at 200°C until the skin is slightly dark. Seal the peppers in a paper bag and when they are cold, peel them and set them aside. Cut ¾ of the red pepper into strips and keep aside.
  2. Place the tomatoes, bread, stock and peeled peppers (except for the red pepper in strips) in a blender to obtain a cream; season with chilli, salt and pepper.
  3. Place the Parma ham in the microwave oven on medium power and short time, and repeat the operation until the ham is crispy.
  4. Prepare small bowls with the tomato gazpacho, pepper strips, crispy ham pieces, a few basil leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Il Gazpacho di pomodori gialli, peperoni e crudo croccante

The Gazpacho of yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

Version with gluten of Gazpacho with yellow tomatoes, peppers and crispy prosciutto

For the version with gluten of the recipe, replace the gluten-free sandwich bread with conventional bread.

This recipe was submitted for the Contest ‘Carmagnola Pepper: 70 years in 70 recipes’

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A gluten free potato pizza with olives as an alternative to conventional pizza.

We know that pizza for those with diabetes and coeliac disease is one of the absolute most difficult dishes to manage. It is so because not only are really good gluten free pizzas very difficult to find, but also because people with diabetes have to manage the ‘pizza effect‘, i.e. abnormal rises in blood sugar levels due to the combination of ingredients in pizza (and alas, also high amounts of sugar hidden in the dough and tomato sauce, as well as fairly high amounts of salt), even many hours after eating it.

The potato pizza is a nice alternative; yes, we have to pay attention to the carbohydrates contained in the potatoes, but they are much easier to handle than low quality pizza. Furthermore, it can be a nice idea for a naturally gluten free dinner or snack in the garden! You can serve it with a Swordfish salad.

Gluten free potato pizza with olives

14.27g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 700g potatoes
  • 400g tomato sauce
  • 250g cow’s milk mozzarella
  • 80g pitted green or black olives*
  • 20g spring onion
  • extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Peel the potatoes, slice them thinly and steam them for 20 minutes. Put a little oil in a non-stick frying pan, pour in the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and brown them lightly by pressing them down with a fork or a wooden spoon.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare the tomato sauce. Put a few tablespoons of oil in a non-stick frying pan, brown the finely chopped spring onion, then add the tomato sauce, season with salt and pepper, then cover and leave to cook for 15-20 minutes.
  3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, cover the bottom with the potatoes, then top with tomato sauce and pitted olives in pieces.
  4. Bake in a static oven preheated to 200°C for about 10 minutes, then add the mozzarella and continue baking until the mozzarella has melted.
  5. Serve the potato pizza hot.

pizza-di-patate-olive-senza-glutine-uno-chef-per-gaia

Version with gluten of Potato pizza with olives

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.

 

A tasty recipe prepared with a few simple ingredients where the taste of good things becomes a real pleasure to share with family or friends: Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce and ‘nduja.

We thought we would start with the classic and timeless dish of gnocchi with tomato sauce to give it an even more distinctive flavour. So ‘nduja seemed the perfect solution to us!

Try it!

Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce and ‘nduja

carbohydrates 28.03g per 100g of uncooked, unseasoned gnocchi

Ingredients for gnocchi for 6 servings 

  • 1kg potatoes
  • 200g potato starch*
  • 1 egg
  • salt, rice flour* for dusting

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 600g tomato sauce
  • 40g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
  • 30g shallot
  • 30g ‘nduja*
  • 1 clove garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil and salt as needed

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten-free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Boil the potatoes in water until soft when pierced with a fork. Peel them and pass them through a potato masher. Spread them out on the cutting board so that they cool down faster.
  2. When the mashed potatoes are cold, add the other ingredients and knead.
  3. Form cylindrical strips by dusting with a bit of rice flour and cut into chunks of about 3 cm. Pass each piece over the prongs of a fork, applying a little pressure so that the piece is hollow on the inside and with slight grooves on the outside in contact with the fork.
  4. Prepare the tomato sauce. Slice the shallot and brown it with the clove of garlic in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil; when the shallot is wilted, add the tomato sauce and cook for about 15 minutes; add the ‘nduja, stirring so that it incorporates well into the tomato sauce and add salt to taste.
  5. Boil the gnocchi in salted water for a few minutes until they rise to the surface. Dress them with tomato sauce and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Gnocchi di patate pomodoro e 'nduja

Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce and ‘nduja

Version with gluten of Potato gnocchi with tomato sauce and ‘nduja

The recipe contains only naturally gluten free ingredients, but it is possible to replace potato starch with wheat flour.