Onion Free Stock!

Stock is a major pain, as it is usually composed of some vegetables and meat bones, and primarily lots of onions. However there are alternatives!

Shop Bought:

Massel's make a brand of stock cubes called "Massel 7's" and they come in chicken, beef and now vegetable style. They are also kosher, halal and gluten free. Not entirely sure exactly what IS in them seeing as so much isn't in them. They have good flavour though and are fine when you need a cup or two of stock. The chicken one is a bit of a disturbing yellow colour though...

Homemade stock:

This way you can guarantee what you put into your stock. I have experimented with both chicken and beef stock but must admit I am stumped when it comes to vegetable stock. I would think this method would also work for seafood stock.

Ingredients:
1kg pre-cooked chicken, beef or seafood bones (either from a roast, or else buy chicken frames and a couple of wings OR beef bones OR prawn heads and roast them in the oven until cooked and browned). If the bones aren't cooked first your stock will be gritty or gelatinous.
Celery 2 sticks
Carrot 1 large
Peppercorns
Bay leaves 2

Pop everything into the slow cooker, cover with water and allow to cook on high for 2 hours, then low for 6 hours. Alternatively, bring to the boil, then simmer on the stove for 2 hours.

Strain, then use straightaway or freeze in portions. Don't keep it in the fridge for more than a day or two, as it doesn't go through high temperature treatment like shop bought stock does.

Hope you enjoy your onion-free stock!

A lot of the time I adapt existing recipes to make them onion and garlic free. I find that as long as the garlic from the original recipe is 1-2 cloves then you will be okay to substitute garlic olive oil.

The original recipe is from the Delicious cookbook "Faking It" also available from the Taste website. It's a lovely winter dinner, and will please people of all ages. If you like chilli, add some dried chilli flakes in with the celery.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil (I use Cobram Estate)
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
5 stock cubes, Massel 7's chicken flavour plus hot water 5 cups
500g plain chicken mince
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
100g pasta of your choice (I used alphabet pasta!)
Fresh basil

Crusty bread and parmesan cheese to serve

Method

1. Heat the garlic olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery and cook until softened.
2. Add the tomato paste and stir for 1 minute
3. Add the canned tomatoes and 2.5 cups of the reconstituted stock to the saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes while you make the meatballs.
4. Mix the chicken mince with the bread crumbs and form into bite sized meatballs
5. Heat the remaining stock in a saucepan. Add the meatballs and simmer for 10 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from the saucepan with a slotted spoon, leaving the stock behind.
6. Add the pasta to the stock, and cook for the time indicated on the packet. Drain, discarding the stock
7. Using a stick blender, blend the tomato soup until smooth. Add the shredded fresh basil at this time if using. Add the meatballs and pasta to the tomato soup and heat for 5 minutes.
8. Serve with grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Onion and garlic free snack foods!

Often we are restricted when we are looking to purchase ready-made foods. Most contain onions and garlic powder or "spices" (whatever that means!) and so we can't eat them. However I am going to start a list of brands and foods and even shops that sell onion and garlic free packaged foods.

Stock Cubes
"Massel" 7's stock cubs are onion free. They seem to be exclusively stocked by Woolworths supermarkets and only come in Chicken and Beef flavour.

Potato Chips
Most plain flavours of most brands are fine but do check the label as we have come across some. We have also found many brands add onion powder to their Salt and Vinegar flavours.

Pre-packaged Dips
A revelation! Chris's Dips have just released a new line of "Heritage Dips" and one of the flavours is Smoked Gouda and Roasted Almond. Delicious and onion free! A bit pricey, but hey, you get to keep the terracotta tub in comes in

I will update this as more information comes to light!

Back in Flavour Country!

This is something that has saved our taste buds from ruin and boring-ness! Many people just told me to "leave the garlic and onion out" of a recipe. Yeah, nah.

Cobram Estate makes Garlic Infused Olive Oil, and it is the only brand that I have found in Australia, so far.

They are available from most supermarkets, and there are other flavours such as lemon and herb.

It is a great substitute when a recipe calls for 1-2 cloves of garlic to be sauteed at the start of a recipe, or when a salad dressing or sauce calls for both oil and garlic.

This can't be used when garlic cloves are left whole in the recipe or when you need more than 2 cloves, but on the whole it has been very welcome in our kitchen.

Welcome! A welcome recipe

Many people suffer from unexplained bloating, reflux and diarrhoea and a cause of this can often be some foods, particularly FODMAP's. See more about these at the Gastroenterological Socity of Australia here http://www.gesa.org.au/consumer.asp?id=190

This is a very large list of foods that some people react badly to. Before embarking on any kind of restrictive diet, it is important to talk to your GP and a qualified dietitian to make sure that you will not get unwell.

My partner finds that legumes, onions and garlic are the worst offenders, and so he excludes these from his diet (unless we are going to some kind of event like a wedding or a really good restaurant where it's worth the pain!). Therefore, as Minister for Food at our house, I am always looking for ways to make nice food that doesn't have onions, garlic and legumes. Many people have a wider list of FODMAP intolerances, but the most common offender is Allioms (that is onions, garlic, chives, garlic chives, leeks, eschalots and shallots to name a few).

Here's my latest recipe for bloat free dining! Tested and verified by myself and the other half.
This recipe uses our secret weapon, Garlic Infused Olive Oil. It can be substituted for any recipe that calls for 2 cloves of garlic or less, particularly in salad dressings and when the recipe calls for 1-2 cloves to be cooked in oil at the start of the recipe.

Recipe is modified from taste.com.au

Sumac Lamb with Carrot Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 x 180g lamb leg steaks
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp sumac plus extra to sprinkle
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp Garlic Infused Olive Oil (we use Cobram Estate brand)
1/3 cup Greek style natural yoghurt
2 large carrots, grated
1/4 cup sultanas
1/2 cup pine nuts or slivered almonds (whichever you prefer)
1/2 cup instant couscous, prepared to packet directions and cooled
1/2 bunch coriander, leaves picked
1/2 bunch mint, leaves picked

Method

Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill pan to high
Brush meat with oil and sprinkle over the sumac
Cook to your liking ( I like mine rare!)

To make the salad, combine carrot, sultanas, nuts, cooled couscous coriander and mint in a bowl.

To make the dressing, combine the yoghurt, 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of garlic olive oil and ginger in a bowl.

Serve the lamb with the salad on the side and plenty of dressing, it's delicious on the meat too.

Well I hope you enjoy and I am looking forward to blogging more FODMAP friendly recipes soon!