APPLE PECAN FLAN

There’s three ways to make this flan. Firstly, as the recipe says, by laying out the pastry sheets, folding over the edges to make the base. Secondly, lining a flan tin or pie dish with the pastry and thirdly, by greasing a pie dish and then covering it with fine, dried breadcrumbs before adding the apples. The third version has the advantage of being gluten free. Either way served with cream or ice cream it’s an easy family dessert.

SWISS STYLE POTATOES

Whether you’re having a BBQ, a roast or just a nice steak, a great potato dish is always appreciated. This is a new one to me, a bit of a twist on French Potatoes au Gratin (Dauphinoise). The difference being the cheese, Swiss Raclette. You can substitute Gruyere, Emmenthal, Romano or Mozzarella mixed with grated parmesan if you can get the Raclette, but the Raclette really is the best.

RICE POLENTA WITH MUSHROOM SAUCE

I think this would be a quite hearty meal. The polenta would be quite filling and the mushroom sauce has half a can of chickpeas in it – so not a lightweight dish. It’s gluten free and if you substitute vegetable stock for the beef stock in the sauce, it could work for vegetarians as well.

ICED CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING

How Christmas puddings have changed over the years. Mum always made her pudding, in a ceramic bowl at least two months before Christmas, soaking the fruit and using suet. Yesterday I made mine, barely three weeks before and to make it gluten free used gluten free breadcrumbs. But there’s also nothing nicer, on a hot Australian Christmas Day than a ice cream pudding. The added bonus is that it’s gluten free and if as suggested in this recipe you use chocolate ice cream it even looks like the old traditional version.

CHEESE AND VEGETABLE MOUSSAKA

Dietary requirements for friends visiting isn’t as easy as it used to be. Back in the day, we just decided on a menu, cooked it and people ate it. That seems like Good Old Days!!! Now there’s a lot more things to consider, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, etc. This recipe works for vegetarians and even the gluten free with a slight change to GF flour in the cheese sauce, so maybe it’s a problem solver.

PORT AND GARLIC BEEF – Gluten Free

This is a recipe that a friend used when she was catering for her husband’s 40th birthday dinner a many years ago. She cooked two 1kg pieces of beef and multiplied the marinade and sauce ingredients to match. It could be prepared in advance and was delicious. At the time she wasn’t worried whether it was gluten free or not, but with us being more conscious of dietary issues these day, it would work really well for everyone now.