A Gluten-Free Lunch In Shanklin
I needed some lunch and was walking back to the station, when I saw Micky’s Munch Box.
As you can see I sat in the sun and ate a toasted cheese and bacon sandwich in gluten-free bread.
With the long lasting qualities of some gluten-free breads like Genius, I think we’ll see more of this type of cafe catering for those like me, who need to be gluten-free.
Tuna, Red Onion And White Bean Salad
I’m not a great lover of salads, as I suppose most have masses of rabbit food, but I will have occasional had a nicoise in somewhere like Carluccio’s or Pizza Express or bought one in a supermarket.
On the side in my kitchen was a pack of red onions and a couple of weeks ago, I searched for something I might make and found this recipe on the BBC web site.
I made it tonight.
The ingredients were very simple and this makes two portions.
2 tbsp of olive oil. I used Carluccio’s lemon oil, that I use a lot on fish.
1 tsp of mustard. I used Tiptree. Not Dijon, but East Anglian
A splash of lemon juice.
1 x 200g can tuna, drained and flaked into chunks.
400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained.
Half of red onion, finely sliced.
50g rocket
This is all the ingredients, after combining the oil, mustard and lemon juice in my Little Chopper.
The Ingredients
Note the Estrella Damm Daura, which is the only gluten-free beer I have at the moment.
As I said, I started by comibining the oil, mustard and lemon juice, which was then tossed with the tuna, beans and onion, and seasoned.
Finally, I tossed in the rocket and served one portion.
My Very Quick Supper
The other will be my lunch tomorrow.
The Times Gets Serious About Free From Foods
The Times today has a piece about the growing market for foods free from various allergens. They state that the market grew eleven percent last year to £340 million.
In the piece, they have a box describing the success of Genius bread. This says that one of the investors in the company was Bill Gammell, a former Scottish rugby union player and founder of Cairn Energy. They also state that he is a coeliac. We need more to say they are coeliacs and also for newspapers to avoid the dreaded D-word.
Does Jam Count As One Of Your Five-A-Day?
Apparently, according to this article in the Daily Mail, one in five Scots do!
but then I admit, that I do like Dundee lamb chops. But then they are gluten-free!
Gluten Free Bread In Carluccio’s
On Friday night after the film, I had a quick supper in Carluccio’s in Islington, where the manager informed me that they now had gluten-free bread.
As I was in a hurry and only having a salad, I didn’t partake.
But this morning, I went back for breakfast on my way to football at Ipswich and had an eggs florentine with gluten-free bread.
Carluccio’s Gluten-Free Eggs Florentine
It was so much better, than one without, as the bread was ideal for soaking up the yolk of the egg.
The bread incidentally is Yes You Can, who would appear to be an Australian company, who don’t have a UK web-site. My only problem, could be that the bread is manufactured in Norwich.
Are we starting to see a tipping point, where no professional cafe or restaurant doesn’t offer gluten-free bread? After all, I found that this was very much the case in my visit to Stockholm a couple of months ago.
I did hear that new menus are being printed in Carluccio’s, but certainly Islington has jumped in to offering the new bread. I’ll try a couple of others in the next week or so.
Ten Reasons I Don’t Like Eastfield
I went to Waitrose in Eastfield this evening, to get some bits and pieces for my supper.
1. The Waitrose there is not for me, as some of the staples I like, like Genius bread never seem to be in stock. I also found out tonight, that it doesn’t have all the small packs of microwaveable vegetables I use.
2. The Marks and Spencer isn’t a patch on the ones in Oxford Street or Finsbury Pavement for food. It doesn’t even stock gluten-free sandwiches, which is rare in a their larger stores.
3. Clothes at Marks and Spencer are probably the normal standard, but unless you get in early in the season, small sizes can be difficult to find.
4. Although, I don’t use it often these days, the Starbucks at Eastfield doesn’t use proper china cups.
5. I went into John Lewis today and it really is a bit small and inferior when compared to the flagship store in Oxford Street.
6. Waitrose and John Lewis are a long way from the main Stratford station.
7. With the exception of Marks and Spencer, I’ve bought no clothing in any of the shops there, as they seem to be almost exclusively aimed at women. The few shops that sell men’s clothes are ones I wouldn’t visit.
8. The only restaurant that I know serves gluten-free food is Jamie’s Italian. Why can’t it have a Carluccio’s like Westfield?
9. As I’m very much a guerilla shopper, who comes, buys what he wants and retreats immediately, the centre is usually too crowded for my liking.
10. In some ways my major gripe is that, if say you want to go anywhere from the main Stratford station, you have to walk through the shopping centre. I always go shopping, when I want to, not when I end up in a shopping centre by accident.
You may think that this has all been very negative.
But I do like the toilets, the only Lakeland near me and the large numbers of cash points.
The Cafe In The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
The cafe in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is all new.
It is run by a company called Unity Kitchen, who have this as their mission statement.
We have a strong social and environmental purpose; we create jobs for people with disabilities, make good food affordable for local people, and run our business sustainably.
They did have a gluten-free cake from a company called Sponge.
The cafe was busy, but it probably needs a few more days to get its systems working better.
Gluten Free Biscuits For All The Family
That’s what it says on the packet of these Prewett’s chocolate bourbons, I bought this afternoon in Sainsbury’s.
Gluten Free Biscuits For All The Family
They are a bit more luxurious and chocolatey than the ones I remember from my days before going gluten-free.
But I doubt they would be for all the family, as someone would snaffle most of them!
What’s Wrong with This New Genius Bread?
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve got the new formula Genius bread from the littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner.
What’s Wrong with This New Genius Bread?
It never seems to go off and last night, I had two slices with Benecol to go with my supper. It’s even still soft this morning, although I did toast it.
But the sell-by date was the 27th of July.
Bread shouldn’t last that long! But it does!
The only real problem I have is that the Waitrose I use most at the Angel, only sells their own-brand rubbish!
A List Of Gluten-Free Recipes
A few days ago I published a list of Lindsey Bareham’s gluten-free recipes.
Here’s a list of the others on this site.
Baked Salmon With Parmesan And Parsley Crust
A Simple Ham And Vegetable Soup
Tuna, Red Onion And White Bean Salad
The Only Four Fishcake Recipes You’ll Ever Need
My First Tomato And Onion Salad
Fish Pie With Swede And Potato Topping
Grilled Pork With Asparagus And Shiitake Mushrooms
Poached Smoked Haddock With Poached Eggs
Cooking Gluten-Free Pasta For One
A New Take On An Old Favourite
Lamb Leg Steaks With Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
Pork Chops With Cyder Apple Sauce
Pan Fried Fish With Lemon Hollandaise Sauce
Roasted Duck Fillets with Marmalade and Chilli Glaze
Tuna Steak With Tomatoes and Mushrooms
Gluten-Free Pasta with Broccoli, Feta and Puttanesca
Grilled Pepper and Sausage Penne
Rahmschnitzel (Veal Escalopes With Cream)
Dundee (or Essex) Marmalade Lamb Chops
Sausage And Red Wine Casserole
Note that a few point to The Times web site, so you might need a subscription for them.
The Anonymous Widower 