Tag Archive for: senza lattosio

Brown rice crackers with turmeric

Who said healthy snacks can’t be irresistible? These Brown rice crackers with turmeric are not only naturally gluten-free, lactose-free, and vegan, but they also feature the incredible power of an extraordinary spice.

Turmeric, with its vibrant golden colour, is much more than just an ingredient—it’s a true ally for wellbeing. Known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, this spice adds a lively touch to any dish. And in these crackers, its mildly spicy flavour perfectly complements the crunchiness of brown rice.

Perfect for snacking on their own or pairing with dips and hummus, these crackers are the ideal guilt-free treat for those looking for both flavour and lightness in every bite!

Brown rice crackers with turmeric

45.8g carbohydrates per 100g

Ilaria-bertinelli-cracker-di-riso-alla-curcuma

Ingredients

  • 210g brown rice flour*
  • 100g water
  • 100g blended almonds (ground into flour)
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 5g baking powder for savoury recipes*
  • turmeric
  • salt

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Mix all ingredients until you obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough.
  2. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, cut it into strips of your desired size, and bake in a preheated static oven at 200°C for 10 minutes or until crispy.
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Calamari in fish soup with ‘nduja

It is my friend Anna Gallo who takes me on a journey to her native land, Calabria, giving me a beautiful bread bag from the art textile workshop Mario Celestino of Cosenza. And that is how I came up with the idea of preparing a dish that combines land and sea, a dish where squid meets ‘nduja, the undisputed queen of the tip of our boot: Calamari in fish soup with ‘nduja.

Calabria is definitely the region where red is the colour that paints the table, and it does so with chilli, the star ingredient of the ‘nduja, the sausage prepared by mixing pork meat and other spices, but also of the Sardella, a spicy cream made from whitebait, as well as many other specialities, and textiles and local handicrafts.

So let’s paint our tables red and add a little spice to life!

Calamari in fish soup with ‘nduja

negligible carbohydrates per 100g without bread

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 1kg squid, cleaned
  • 100g white wine
  • 30g slivered almonds*
  • 20g ‘nduja*
  • 1 sprig of parsley
  • 2 small sprigs of marjoram
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/2 lemon with edible peel
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • homemade bread**

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Cut the cleaned squid with beaks and eyes removed into strips and sauté them in a frying pan with a little extra virgin olive oil and the chopped clove of garlic. Sprinkle them with white wine and let it evaporate.
  2. Add the ‘nduja and cook for 5 more minutes: taste the squid and turn off the heat when they are soft because prolonged cooking makes them rubbery.
  3. In the meantime, toast the slivered almonds and use them to top the squid, also season with chopped parsley, marjoram leaves and a grating of lemon peel.
  4. Serve the fish soup with slices of toasted homemade bread.

calamari in brodetto alla nduja

Version with gluten of Calamari in fish soup with ‘nduja 

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

 

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Macedonia di pesche con crumble di lenticchie

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Peach salad is a delicious way to enjoy this sweet and soft fruit, enhanced by the contrast with the crunch of the lentil crumble. As I picked peaches from the tree in my garden yesterday, I thought about how I could turn them into a dish that could be used either as a dessert or a fresh breakfast, both perfect versions for hot summer days. Here’s how to do it!

The lentil crumble is a real surprise in terms of its goodness and, at the same time, it allows us to use a pulse flour and almonds in the preparation of a sweet, making it certainly more ‘friendly’ to blood sugar levels.

I invented it a year ago to participate in the Talent for foodcontest, where it had taken me to the finals. This is a slightly simplified version (I removed a few ingredients and changed the proportions) and since then I often use it to top spoon desserts or to mix with the seed mixes that I love to add to yoghurt for breakfast. So, while you are preparing it for peaches, you can double the amount to enjoy it as a snack or many other uses!

Macedonia di pesche con crumble di lenticchie

Peach fruit salad with lentil crumble

      carbohydrates for the crumble 42.75g per 100g

carbohydrates for peaches 6.1g per 100g without sugar

Ingredients for the lentil crumble for 8 servings

  • 55g lentil flour*
  • 55g almonds with peel
  • 3g brown rice flour*
  • 30g whole coconut sugar
  • 20g grapeseed oil or other oil to taste
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 pinch of salt

Ingredients for the peach salad for 8 servings

  • 4 yellow peaches
  • 125g lemon juice (the juice of 2 lemons)
  • 2 star anise berries
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • sweetener* or sugar to taste
  • dark chocolate* (optional)

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

Preparation

  1. Combine the lentil flour, brown rice flour and coconut sugar in a bowl; add the seed oil, egg white and coarsely chopped almonds, then knead with your hands to a crumbly mixture.
  2. Drop the crumbs onto a baking tin covered with parchment paper and bake the crumble in a static oven preheated to 180°C for 10-15 minutes (the time will depend both on the size you gave the crumble and the power of your oven), until the crumble is crispy. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
  3. Prepare the peaches. Put a pan of water on the stove and when it comes to the boil, throw in the ripe peaches and boil them for 3-4 minutes. To check that they are blanched just right, use the tip of a knife or a fork to see if the skin starts to peel away slightly from the flesh. Drain the peaches with a slotted spoon.
  4. Cut the peach skin with the tip of a knife, then the skin should come off very easily. Cut each peach into 4 segments, trying to keep the segments as intact as possible, and place them in a bowl.
  5. Pour the lemon juice over the peaches, add the whole star anise and cinnamon, sweeten to taste with sweetener or sugar, stir, and leave the peaches to gain flavour until the serving time.
  6. When it is time to serve the peaches, take two peach segments for each person and place them in a fruit salad bowl, add the crumble on top and, to taste, top with a sprinkling of dark chocolate cut with a knife and serve.

Macedonia di lenticchie vista dall'alto con ingredienti utilizzati

Version with gluten of Peach fruit salad with lentil crumble

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

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Insalata di pesce spada

Swordfish salad is a fresh and quick summer recipe. Whether for lunch or dinner, it is naturally gluten free and has a negligible amount of carbohydrates, so swordfish salad is a light main course that brings everyone together and helps us find ideas for eating fish at least 2-3 times a week.

It might sound strange to you, but with my children I had more difficulty in getting them to accept and consume fish than vegetables. Therefore, as vegetables are among the most popular ingredients in our family, I thought of using them to make swordfish welcome as well, and the experiment was successful!

Not only has the swordfish been eaten with great voracity, but I have been asked to prepare it this way a little more often… so I will try to comply! Also because the meal will be ready in just a few minutes.

Insalata di pesce spada pronta per essere servita

Sword fish salad ready to be served

Swordfish salad

carbohydrates per 100g negligible

Ingredients

  • 400g swordfish
  • 300g small courgettes
  • 200g cherry tomatoes
  • 40g extra virgin olive oil
  • 30 g pitted Taggiasca olives*
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 basil leaves
  • grated lemon zest
  • rosemary, shallot, chilli pepper, salt and pepper to taste

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

Preparation

  1. First of all prepare the aromatic oil: heat about 20g of oil, then remove it from the heat and add a peeled and halved shallot, 1 clove of garlic and rosemary.
  2. Put a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and cook the julienne-cut courgettes over high heat; season with salt and pepper.
  3. Cut the swordfish into cubes of about 2cm and sauté them in a non-stick pan with the remaining oil.
  4. Now assemble the salad by placing the courgettes, swordfish, sliced cherry tomatoes, pitted olives and chopped basil in a bowl. Stir everything together, then season with salt, pepper, a pinch of finely chopped chilli pepper, a grating of lemon zest and the aromatic oil passed through a colander.
  5. Serve the salad warm or cold to taste. And if you want some ideas for another salad, try this Dominican Salad.

 

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Grandma’s Bundt cake

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Who doesn’t have a Grandma’s Bundt cake to remember? I think nobody. Every family has a recipe to which their memories are attached. I have the memory of the huge Bundt cake that my grandmother used to make every week to sell in slices in the local coffee shop she owned when I was still very young.

And do you know what was the most popular way to consume it? In the morning in your cappuccino or in the evening after dinner dipped in a glass of sparkling Malvasia dei Colli di Parma.

The other special feature I remember about that cake was its baking, which was done in the Dutch oven, as the only other oven we had was the huge wood-burning oven that was only heated when bread was made for the week.

My version of Grandma’s Bundt cake is definitely lighter and in line with our needs, although my grandmother used corn and potato starch for this cake, but to these she added a lot of butter, which I replaced with seed oil and almond flour. See here how to prepare it.

I also like to use the doughnut as a dessert at the end of a meal, and if we don’t want to dunk it in wine as traditionally, I like to accompany it with a cream so that it doesn’t turn out too dry, for example a lemon-flavoured custard, some melted dark chocolate, or, since we are now expecting the warm weather, a scoop of ice cream for a little refreshment.

Grandma’s Bundt cake     

46.72g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 140g brown sugar and coconut sugar together
  • 125g rice cream*
  • 100g corn starch*
  • 100g potato starch*
  • 100g grapeseed oil
  • 100g ground almonds to make a flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 16g baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • stack spray*
  • grated lemon zest

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

Preparation

  1. Whip sugar with eggs in a planetary mixer until white and frothy.
  2. Gradually add the other ingredients while continuing to mix and in this order: flour, almonds, rice cream, seed oil, baking powder and salt. Season the mixture with grated lemon zest, or vanilla or cinnamon to taste.
  3. Spray the Bundt cake mould with suitable stack spray (or butter and flour the mould, using lactose-free butter if you are lactose intolerant) and pour the mixture into it, levelling out. As a variation, you can take a few spoonfuls of the dough and add cocoa that has been diluted in coconut or almond milk so that no lumps form, and drop the chocolate mixture randomly into the mould containing the white mixture to make a variegated cake.
  4. Bake in a static oven preheated to 170°C for 35 minutes.
  5. Take the doughnut out of the oven and let it cool. You can serve the doughnut as it is, dusted with just a pinch of icing sugar, or you can top it with a bit of melted dark chocolate, lemon icing or any other cream you like.

Version with gluten

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

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Quinoa surprises

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Quinoa surprises are a way for me to use vegetables, definitely my favourite ingredients! For each season, we have a great variety of them, allowing us to indulge in their preparation. Yet, sometimes there is a lack of ideas for preparing something tasty in front of which the kids do not turn up their noses.

Round courgettes are loved by young and old alike because they are perfect for filling with anything we like, so mine is just one of hundreds of possible filling solutions.

The version prepared with quinoa, one of Latin America’s super foods (see its history) also popular in our country due to its high protein, Omega 6 and Omega 3 content, makes the recipe a perfect one-course meal for both lunch and dinner. Personally, I prepared the recipe in a vegan version, i.e. without adding melted cheese, and offered it for dinner to my hungry family members, and Gaia’s blood sugar behaved very well throughout the night, which made us enjoy the dish even more.

Quinoa surprises   

carbohydrates 6.2g per 100g

Ingredients

  • 4 large round courgettes (total weight when emptied 1kg)
  • 300g tomato sauce
  • 120g celery
  • 90g carrots
  • 80g quinoa (cooked in 240g water)
  • 70g shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • chili
  • cheese cubes melting (optional)

Preparation

  1. Put quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer, rinse it thoroughly, then pour it in a small pan with three times its own weight of water. Slightly salt the water, put everything on the heat and cook the quinoa for about 15 minutes with the lid on until it has completely absorbed the water. Remove from the heat and let it cool down.
  2. Take the round courgettes, cut off the top part so that the courgettes are divided into 2 parts: a small one at the top and the large part underneath from which you will remove the pulp (you can use this to make vegetable soups). Sprinkle the inside of the courgettes with salt, place them with their tops on the side on a baking tray covered with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 15 minutes. Once taken out of the oven, remove the water that will have formed inside the courgettes, then set them aside while you prepare the filling.
  3. Slice the shallot, put it in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil together with the garlic clove, then add the tomato sauce and cook for 10 minutes.
  4. Put a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and sauté the diced celery and carrot; season with salt and pepper. Now season the quinoa with the tomato sauce and sautéed vegetables; season with salt, pepper and chilli.
  5. Fill the courgettes with the quinoa, pressing it lightly into them. If you like, you can put a few cubes of cheese melting on top of the quinoa before covering each courgette with its own cap (personally, I did not add anything because I did not want to add cheese to this meal), then bake in a hot oven at 200°C for about ten minutes or for 5 minutes under the grill.
  6. Serve the courgettes hot with a drizzle of olive oil.
Le zucchine ripiene di verdure e quinoa

Courgettes stuffed with vegetables and quinoa

Version with gluten of Quinoa surprises

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

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Basmati rice with curry, tuna and peppers

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Even though the air is still cool, I have now entered the mood of summer and colours and I can’t go back to grey, neither with my clothes nor with my food! Basmati rice with curry, tuna and peppers fully expresses this feeling.

And it is nature that helps us to be colourful, because going shopping at the greengrocer’s is a real feast for the eyes with all the vegetables in season. Peppers always make me very happy, not to mention the first cherry tomatoes from the south of Italy.

So I decided to add another splash of colour to the vegetable palette: curry, a spice that everyone in the family loves and that I buy from some Indian friends when they return from their country.

The carbohydrates in the dish come almost exclusively from basmati rice (remember that the cooked peppers are also counted in the preparation as they have 24.3g carbohydrates per 100g of product once cooked), a long-grain rice with an intense aroma and a slightly lower glycaemic index than the types of rice more suitable for risottos… not surprisingly, it does not release the starch that is essential to give creaminess to Italian risotto.

Have fun preparing this one-course meal, a kind of rice salad, a perfect summer recipe that will brighten up your table, your palate and certainly your well-being too. If you like curry, also try the Cous cous with prawn and courgette curry.

Riso basmati al curry con tonno e peperoni

Riso basmati al curry con tonno e peperoni

Basmati rice with curry, tuna and peppers

12.92g carbohydrates per 100g


Ingredients 

  • 300g tuna in oil
  • 300g vegetable stock
  • 220g yellow pepper
  • 220g green pepper
  • 200g Basmati rice
  • 200g peeled tomatoes
  • 15g spring onion
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder*
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper

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

Preparation

  1. Cut the peeled tomatoes, remove the seeds and cut the rest into cubes, which you place in a bowl with the chopped tuna, sliced spring onion, a pinch of salt and 20g of oil. Wash the peppers, cut them, remove the seeds and white filaments and dice them, setting them aside.
  2. In a saucepan, heat 20g oil, toast the rice for a few minutes, add the curry, stir well, then add the hot stock, put the lid on and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Add the peppers without stirring, put the lid back on and cook (another 5 minutes or so until the liquid has been completely absorbed).
  3. Divide the rice into 4 single-serving bowls, let it cool and top with the tomato and tuna mixture.

 

Version with gluten of Basmati rice with curry, tuna and peppers

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

 

 

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Flaxseed dark bread

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I had promised you a journey into gluten free bread, so the must stop is this Flaxseed dark bread. In addition to using a preparation rich in fibre and sunflower seeds, I thought I would also add flax seeds to benefit from all the qualities they contain. Taking care of oneself by eating good bread seems a good solution to me.

Flaxseeds are rich in Omega 3, 6 and 9 essential fatty acids, promote the expulsion of LDL cholesterol and promote the synthesis of HDL good cholesterol, thus preventing the onset of cardio-vascular diseases. They also help control triglycerides, keeping arteries clean and regulating blood pressure. And finally, they contain vitamins B, vitamins C and E, minerals and essential fatty acids: in short, real natural food supplements.

The important thing to emphasise is that in order to be able to digest flaxseeds and thus reap their full benefits, it is essential to break and/or blend them as their extremely hard outer part makes it impossible to digest them if swallowed whole.

At this point, let’s start kneading and wait for the house to fill with the unmistakable fragrance of freshly made bread. Watch the video recipe here.

Le pagnotte di pane nero con i semi di lino

The loaves of dark bread with linseeds

Flaxseed dark bread  

40.37g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 450g gluten free wholemeal bread flour mix, brand Massimo Zero**
  • 370g water
  • 40g linseeds* (soak in 100g water)
  • 20g extra virgin olive oil
  • 17g brewer’s yeast
  • 5g salt
  • brown rice flour* for dusting
  • extra virgin olive oil to brush the surface

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

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

Preparation

  1. Soak the linseed in 100g of water, let it soak for about ten minutes and whisk it lightly.
  2. Pour the dark bread mix into the bowl of the planetary mixer, add the blended flaxseeds then mix for a few minutes at low speed.
  3. Dissolve the brewer’s yeast in the lukewarm water and pour into the planetary mixer. Mix at medium speed for about 5 minutes, then add salt and oil and mix for a few more minutes. When the dough is smooth and homogeneous, stop the planetary mixer and place the dough on a lightly floured cutting board.
  4. Again with the help of a little brown rice flour, flatten the dough slightly and let it rise, i.e. pre-rise, directly on the cutting board for about 15 minutes.
  5. With the help of a rasp, divide the dough into two parts, lightly roll each half to form a sort of cylinder and put it to rise in a rising basket in a warm place for about 1.5 hours.
  6. Once the bread has risen, tip the two loaves onto a baking tray covered with baking paper or a perforated silicone mat. Brush the surface with extra virgin olive oil, make a cross cut and bake in a static oven preheated to 230°C for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 200°C, then bake, leaving the bread in the oven for a further 35 minutes, checking the bread because the baking time varies slightly depending on the oven.
  7. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool before cutting it.

Version with gluten of Linseed dark bread

Replace the Massimo Zero wholemeal bread with Petra 9 flour or QB Multicereale flour and mix it with 300g water instead of 370g.

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Pink chickpea hummus

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We finally have a chance to get out of the house and enjoy nature, the temperatures have risen and the colours around us charge us with energy, so the plates get coloured too: Pink chickpea hummus with chickpea Sfogliette.

This is the effect that colours have on me. Chickpea hummus turns pink to accompany a gift from Sarchio: delicious chickpea Sfogliette that have only good qualities as they are organic, gluten free, baked in the oven and with just the right amount of carbohydrates for a snack or a nice aperitif with friends.

I barely finished taking the photos after recording the video recipe before the family gathered around the small bowls to fill the little crispy sheets with creamy hummus, impatiently waiting for dinner.

Remember also that you can indulge in ‘colouring’ the hummus with your favourite flavours by using vegetables or spices to make it even tastier.

 

Pink chickpea hummus with chickpea Sfogliette

10.64g carbohydrates per 100g

67g carbohydrates per 100g Sarchio chickpea Sfogliette


Ingredients 

  • 230g cooked or canned chickpeas
  • 60g water
  • 40g tahini (sesame seed cream)*
  • 30g extra virgin olive oil
  • 20g red beet
  • 20g lemon juice
  • chives, optional
  • salt and pepper
  • Sarchio chickpea Sfogliette*

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

Preparation

  1. Take the red beet and cook it in boiling water for about 40 minutes or until soft when pierced with the tines of a fork. Take a small amount for this preparation, while keeping the other to use as a side dish to season with oil, vinegar and salt.
  2. Put the chickpeas in a blender with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth and even.
  3. Complement this beautiful and colourful hummus with chives or other spices to taste.
  4. It is ideal to serve as a dip or topping for croutons and Bruschetta.
Il colore brillante dell'hummus di ceci

Il colore brillante dell’hummus di ceci

Version with gluten of Pink chickpea hummus with chickpea Sfogliette

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

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Soft potato focaccias

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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.

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