Family Dinners - Meatballs & Pasta in a Tomato Sauce {gluten free & dairy free}

I'm revisiting an old Recipe of the Week tonight for one of my Family Dinners posts.

It's still as popular with the boys as it was 4 years ago when I first posted this!

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The boys in this house would have something made with mince for dinner almost every night of the week if they could! I would say this is one of their favourite ways to have mince, but then they love it equally as much just with tatties, as a bolognese, as chilli, as meatloaf, lasagna................

Because wheat-free bread is so expensive, I like to make sure I use up every last bit. When the heels are all that is left, I blitz them in the blender to make breadcrumbs and then freeze them. You can just keep adding to the bag in the freezer each time you make a wee bit more. Then just add them to whatever recipe you need them in. No need to defrost.

The picture isn't the clearest, but you get the idea. I took it in such a rush as the hungry hordes were desperate to be fed!

To serve 6

For the meatballs:

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2lb mince

2oz wheat-free breadcrumbs (about 2 slices of a wheat free loaf)

1 egg

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp dried mixed herbs

For the sauce:

1 onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1-2 tbsp sugar, to taste

 generous handful fresh basil

~Preheat your oven to about 180C

~Put all of the meatball ingredients into a large bowl and get mixing together with your hands.

~Once everything is well mixed together, start rolling into meatballs and place on a plate.

~Heat a little oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the meatballs in batches until they are browned all over. I use a lid on the frying pan to help speed this up and stop the meatballs drying up.

~When one batch is browned, transfer them to a large ovenproof dish and put in the oven to keep warm while you get on with the next batch.

~Once all the meatballs are browned, keep them in the oven and add a little more oil to your frying pan.

~Add the second onion and garlic and soften.

~Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and a handful of chopped fresh basil.

~Bring to the boil.

~Puree the sauce with a hand blender if you want a smooth sauce. This step is optional but my boys prefer the sauce smooth!

~Pour the sauce over the meatballs and cook it all in the oven for another 15- 20 minutes or so, depending on how fast your oven is.

~Serve with wheat-free pasta and an extra sprinkling of fresh basil for decoration. Those who can eat cheese also like some grated over the top of this on their plates. 

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Family Dinners - Sweet & Sour Battered Chicken {Dairy & Gluten Free}

Although we hardly ever eat takeaway, and didn't before we had allergies to deal with either, on those rare occasions when we do have a Chinese Takeaway I always, always plump for the battered sweet & sour chicken. I just love it! 

As well as the fact that it is so expensive, it just doesn't seem fair to eat it when some of the boys aren't able to enjoy it

 

I have been making a sweet and sour sauce that they can eat for a while but it was when I discovered the lovely gluten free batter for my lemon chicken  recipe that I realised I could finally make the full version of my favourite takeaway dish that all the boys could enjoy too.


I'm happy to say that they loved it just as much as I do.


Now, while I am including this in my Family Dinners series, I should point out that it's not the sort of dinner you can rustle up in 20 minutes when you are just in the door and everyone is starving. Having said that, it isn't labour intensive either. The reason it takes a little while to cook is that you need to deep fry the battered chicken in batches. When I made this last week, to serve 8, I timed myself and it took around 45 minutes. I don't know how long you like to spend cooking but to me that isn't too long.


Don't be afraid of the deep frying. I do ours in the wok, with the lid on. I suppose ideally you would use a deep fryer, but I think as long as you are sensible then the risks are minimal!


Oh, and if you are catering for allergies, do make sure you buy gluten free soy sauce! Most normal brands contain wheat but it is quite easy to find gluten free versions in the supermarkets.


So, on with the recipe.


To serve 6 - 8 you will need:

6 chicken breasts or around 2lbs of chicken breast, chopped

{For the batter}
3 eggs, beaten
6-8 tablespoons cornflour

{For the sauce}
6 tablespoons rice or cider vinegar
4 tablespoons wheat free soy sauce
8 tablespoons orange juice (from a carton is fine but if you are using freshly squeezed this is about 3 oranges)
4 tablespoons water
2 limes, the juice of them
2 teaspoons cornflour
4 tablespoons tomato puree
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 garlic gloves, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 bunch spring onions, chopped

~Start by filling your pan for deep frying with oil and heating it up. It needs to be really hot before you start frying.
~Whisk the eggs in a large bowl and then whisk in the cornflour. How much cornflour you need will depend on the size of your eggs but you are aiming for a thickish batter. Not too thick, but thick enough to coat the chicken.
~Drop handfuls of the chicken into the batter mix and then carefully add them to the oil. Even if you think the pan is big enough to cook a large batch of chicken, it is best not to do too much at a time or you will cool the oil down too much, causing your chicken to take longer to cook and risking a soggy batter!
~Turn each batch of chicken half way through. It probably takes about 5 minutes on each side. You want it to look nice and golden on both sides.
~When each batch is cooked, drain on some kitchen towel and put in a dish in the oven to keep warm.

~While your chicken is cooking you can get on with the sauce.

~Add the vinegar, soy sauce, orange juice, water, lime juice, cornflour, tomato puree & brown sugar to a bowl and whisk it all together.
~Put a little oil in a pan, add the garlic & spring onions then lightly brown them.
~Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and heat up gently.
~When all of the chicken is cooked pour the sauce over the chicken.

~Serve with rice and prawn crackers.

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Family Dinners - Carrot & Courgette Soup

Now I realise you might be thinking that soup isn't a particularly filling meal for dinner. That it's perhaps more of a lunchtime meal rather than a dinner time one. But we do sometimes have soup for dinner, and whenever we do I also serve it with plenty bread, oatcakes and cold meats. We also always have a nice cake for pudding if we have soup for our dinner. So no one feels hungry!

This recipe is an old one of my mum's and is perfect for this time of year when you might, like I do, have a rather fruitful courgette plant in your garden. It's also a good way to sneak some greens into someone who might be a little less inclined to eat them normally - I had fed this to Calum quite a few times before he found out there was green stuff in it!

Measurements aren't exact, as long as you have around equal quantities of the carrots & courgettes.

Oh, and courgettes are the same as Zucchinis.

You will need

1lb courgettes, sliced

1lb carrots, chopped

2 bay leaves

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp tomato puree

2 pints boiling water 

~ Put a little oil in your pan, add the carrots & courgettes and then soften for about 5 minutes.

~Add the rest of the ingredients and boil for around 30 minutes.

~Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.

~Season with salt and pepper to taste.

~Serve with warm bread and oatcakes.

~Following with cake is optional!

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Family Dinners - Slow Cooked Pork in apple, honey & mustard sauce

One of the most common questions I get asked when people hear about the boys' food allergies is, 'What do you all eat then? It must be so hard!'

 

I reply that we eat very well. Good old fashioned meals, cooked from scratch, and it's not very hard at all.

 

That got me thinking that it would be good to share some of our favourite dinners. Simple family dinners that don't need fancy ingredients or hours of preparation in the kitchen. They are dairy free, wheat free, egg free and nut free.

 

But certainly not taste free.

 

So let's get going with the first one.

 

The slow cooking of this makes the meat so soft and tender.

 

Although it takes over four hours to cook, for most of those 4 hours you aren't actually doing anything. If you don't have a slow cooker you could also make this in a casserole dish in a low oven for around the same length of time.

 

One thing to watch out for if you are gluten free is the mustard you use. Some types will have gluten in them so do double check the ingredients. I use Dijon mustard as it tends to be fine. You could use a whole grain mustard if you aren't concerned about food allergies but they do often have gluten in them. Like I said, and you probably always do if dealing with allergies anyway, just double check ingredients lists!

 

Serves 4-6

 

You will need:

8 pork loin steaks

1ltr carton of apple juice (cheap &cheerful is absolutely fine)

1 onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, well chopped

2 tbsp cornflour

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

3 - 4 tablespoons honey

 

- Put your pork loins, sliced onion & chopped garlic in the slow cooker (or your casserole dish, if you don't have one).

- Pour over all of the apple juice then cook on HIGH for around 4 hours, or on LOW for about 6-8 hours.

- Once the cooking time is almost up, ladle out about 1 pint of the cooking liquid, put it into a small pan and heat it up until nearly boiling.

- Mix the cornflour with enough cold water to dissolve it and make a loose paste.

- Add the cornflour paste to the heated up liquid and mix in. It should thicken up nicely. If you think it's too thick then take a little more of the liquid from the slow cooker.

- Add the mustard and the honey to the sauce and mix in well.

- Serve the pork covered in the sweet appley sauce and put out the extra sauce in a gravy jug on the table.

 

If you want you can serve it with some fresh apple sauce as well as some potatoes and veg of your choice.

 

 

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