Ratatouille Pizza

Look at that pizza; it’s downright pornographic. You want to make this, trust me. I don’t feel like I need to say anything more – you already know you should be eating this right now.

Recipe
Makes 4 small pizzas

4 gluten free pitas or small flat pizza crusts
1 bulb garlic, roasted
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Italian eggplant, sliced thin into half moons
1 small green zucchini, sliced thin
1 small red onion, sliced thin into half moons
Pinch dried thyme
1, each, small red, orange and yellow pepper, sliced thin
1 Roma tomato, sliced thin
1/4 cup tomato sauce ( I used a homemade red wine sauce; I recommend something rich)
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
Handful of fresh basil
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 F (205 C). Cut the top end of the garlic bulb off. Place in a small roasting dish, drizzle with oil and season with salt. Roast for about half an hour, until the garlic is softened and browned. In the meantime, slice eggplant (immediately salt it), zucchini and onion. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil. Arrange eggplant, zucchini and onion in one layer. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil (paying special attention to the eggplant). Roast for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables have softened and barely begun to brown.

Take out the garlic and vegetable and let cool until you can handle them. Reduce heat in oven to 350 F (175 C). Slice bell peppers, and tomato. Finely chop flat leaf parsley. Heat tomato sauce in a small sauce pan, add roasted garlic. Spread evenly over 4 pizza crusts. Sprinkle parsley over sauce. Arrange all vegetables in a single layer over pizza crusts. Place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the crusts are crispy and the vegetables are soft. Chiffonade the basil and sprinkle it on top of the pizza before serving. Eat hot, warm, room temperature or cold.

 

Pear Gingerbread Cake

OK, I buy pears and then I don’t want to eat them because I hate them when they’re too ripe. That means I often have to bake with pears but there aren’t many things I know how to do with them. A few weeks back when I preparing to move, I spent a day baking up old ingredients and came up with this fun and pretty use for pear. Pears and ginger are a natural combo. Me and my Le Creuset are inseparable. This cake was born of those two combinations.

Recipe

Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose gf flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup black strap molasses
1/2 cup non-dairy yogurt
1 flax egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot espresso (double shot)

Topping

4 pears, peeled and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons non-dairy margarine
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).  Grease a 10 inch Le Creuset or skillet. Whisk together flour and spices and salt in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine oil, brown sugar, molasses, yogurt and the flax egg. Fold liquid mixture into the dry mixture until just combined.  Add baking soda to espresso. Fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared skillet and smooth out the top. Place the pear slices in concentric circles and top with dabs of margarine and brown sugar and ginger, if using. Bake for about one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve however you like.

Cranberry Cointreau Muffins

Let me tell you about how much I love cranberries – a whole lot, man. I moan and cry and whine about how few practical applications there are for these jewel-toned and bitter berries every year the whole stretch of when they’re available fresh in the store. Cranberry sauce is all good, but I want MORE MOAR MORE uses, dammit!

Enter these light and delicious breakfast muffins. Orange and cranberry? Yes, please. In 8th grade cooking class, my teacher explained we should never fold our muffin batter more than 13 times and I never have and my muffins are always wonderful. Why mess with a process that works?

Makes 24 muffins

2 cups all purpose gf flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup Cointreau
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy)
1 tablespoon orange zest
Egg replacer, equivalent to two eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cup fresh cranberries, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400 F (205 C). Place muffins liners in muffins tins. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate small bowl, mix together the liqueur, orange juice and non-dairy milk. Add zest to liquid mixture. Prepare your eggs and add those  and the oil to the small bowl. Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pour in the liquid. Fold with a spatula 6 times. Add cranberries and fold up to 7 more times, stopping as soon as the batter comes together. Do not over mix. Fill each muffin liner 2/3 full. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating half way through cooking time for best results. Let cool and eat.

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