I love the precision of using weight rather than volume to measure for baking recipes, especially when I’m converting a recipe from wheat-y to gluten-free.  Gluten-free flours have a range of weights (sorghum flour is pretty light; potato starch is pretty heavy), and the goal is to get the weight the same as the weight of the wheat flour in the recipe would be. (Standard, all-purpose wheat flour is 125 grams per cup.) Also, using weight eliminates the differences in volume created by how compressed your flours are stored, how much moisture your flours have in them, etc. You’ll find that I include both volume and weight measurements in most baking recipes so that you can use either method. If you’re having trouble with a recipe, weighing out the ingredients can help you figure out what may be off.  With recipes such as bread, that can be particularly important.

Of course, a kitchen scale also comes in handy if your existing recipe calls for measurements by weight, if you are tracking your food intake carefully, or if you’re just curious how much a kitchen item weighs.

I have a slim kitchen scale that I love! It’s petite–perfect for my little LA kitchen; it is very precise (weighing down to 1 g accurately); and it can weigh fairly heavy amounts (up to 9 pounds, 14 oz.). And a week from now, I’m giving one away to one of you so that you (or your family member or friend or whoever) can also have the consistency of measuring flours by weight, as well.  You have several options on how to enter:

• ‘Like’ Tilth on Facebook and leave a comment on one of the questions on the wall or discussion board there (1 entry). (People who have already liked Tilth on Facebook need only leave a comment to get an entry.)
• Tweet about what you like about Tilth to your followers on Twitter, linking to me (@tilthforhealth) at the same time so that I can record your entry (1 entry).
• Forward the Tilth September newsletter (with recipes, trouble-shooting, tips, and info on upcoming events–sign up to get it here) on to at least five friends whom you think might find it useful, copying me on it as well so that I can record your entry (1 entry). (Don’t worry–I will never spam the people you email. I just need proof of you doing it.)
• Blog about what you like about Tilth and about this contest, including the methods of entry for others to see, and email me (sally@tilthforhealth.com) a link to the post (3 entries).

You can enter as many of these ways as you want. I’ll draw for the winner at 6 p.m. Pacific on Sunday, September 5th, so get your entries in before then!

I’m the first to admit that I’m not generally good at making quick meals for me and my husband.  I keep staples (brown rice pasta, frozen gf pizza crusts, Thai rice noodles, tomato sauce, etc.) around for quick meals when I need them, but I probably don’t make quick meals more than two nights a week.  The rest of the time, I’m perfectly happy to spend an hour plus in the kitchen putting things together.  That may change some day when Dan and I have kids or if I go back to full-time (which, let’s be honest, is usually full-time-plus) work, but for now–yeah, time’s a luxury I often have.

So when Kristen asked me for a quick recipe that uses six ingredients or fewer—and with this project, it had to be a new recipe, not one I already use–it took me some thought to get started.

I love the quickness of a lot of (probably entirely Americanized) Asian meals, so I decided to undertake a few meals geared in that direction to meet Kristen’s request.  The first one, the one I made last night, was my favorite meal at Shoney’s when I was a kid–teriyaki chicken with pineapple rings on top.  (I’m pretty sure this recipe would also be fabulous with tofu. I know from my pre-allergy days that grilled tofu is delicious.) I used a whole pineapple that I peeled, sliced, and cored (cored rather clumsily, with a paring knife), but of course you could buy a pineapple (or half of a pineapple) that’s already been peeled, sliced, and/or cored for you to save time and effort.  What I wouldn’t recommend is using canned pineapple, which takes on an unfortunate tinny taste from the lining of the can.

Beyond prepping the pineapple and marinating the chicken, the whole meal should take no more than 30 minutes–though it is easier if you can send your honey outside to grill while you do the rest.

Teriyaki Chicken
Meal for 4 (plus leftover chicken for another meal)
gluten-free, soy-free

Easy Asian marinade and sauce:
1/4 cup coconut amino acids (or wheat-free tamari, if you can tolerate soy)
1/4 cup agave syrup (or maple or honey)
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons ground (dried) ginger
~1/2 cup water

6 chicken breasts
1/2-1 pineapple, peeled, sliced, and cored

Side dishes: brown rice couscous and an in-season green veggie (broccoli, asparagus, spinach)

In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine amino acids through ginger. Whisk to combine well. Add water to dilute. Pour half of the marinade into a small saucepan. Place the chicken breasts in a large bowl, and pour the remaining half of the marinade over the chicken. Cover the dish tightly, and place it in the refrigerator. Marinate for at least 30 minutes or up to several hours.

Turn the saucepan with the marinade on to medium. When the sauce simmers, whisk it. Whisk occasionally, and simmer until it reduces to half its original volume. Remove from heat and allow to cool. (If desired, reheat the sauce just before serving.)

Meanwhile, heat a grill to medium-high, and prep the pineapple. When the chicken has marinated long enough and the grill is hot, lightly shake the excess marinade from each piece of chicken and add the chicken and pineapple to the grill. Grill both for three minutes on each side; then remove the pineapple to a plate. Turn the grill to low and grill the chicken until it reaches 160 degrees inside (8-12 minutes; chicken should be entirely white through the middle).

While the chicken is grilling, prepare brown rice couscous according to package directions (requires about 15 minutes). Grill, sautee, steam, or roast the green vegetable you are serving alongside.

Serve the couscous with grilled chicken, pineapple, and sauce on top. (If you have huge chicken breasts like we had–despite us buying organic and supposedly free-range chicken–you may want to cut them in half or slice reasonable chicken servings onto each plate.) Plate the green vegetable alongside the Chicken Teriyaki.

Quite frankly, sometimes I get tired of social networking sites and ponder quitting them all. I regularly get invitations to join new ones, but I think Flickr-Facebook-Twitter-LinkedIn is enough . . . if not too much.  Especially when you add in the daily onslaught of email (which I love reading, but boy, am I often bad about responding) and blogging (where I always wish I got more comments and often wonder who’s reading or caring, even when I can see the number of readers).

But sometimes they are worthwhile.  Sometimes I make a connection or reconnection on one of them, and I think, “Ah, this is why I do this.” That happened recently when Carrie (also known as Ginger Lemon Girl) and I chatted on Twitter about her idea for a savory cookie recipe.  When she created one, she ended up making it not only gluten-free but also dairy-free and egg-free to be sure I would be able to try it after her.  Then she emailed me the recipe to get my thoughts. I was, of course, very flattered, and I made the ‘cookies’ that night–with a few adjustments based on her notes.  I emailed her my notes, and we emailed further about other changes we would make.  It was all quite satisfying–the kind of exchange that answers, for me at least, whether purely online interaction can build community. (What, you haven’t been having that conversation? Hmmm, maybe your particular brand of geekdom hasn’t involved double-majoring in sociology and anthropology.)

Tonight, I give you two version of the savory cookies.  One involves ground pork sausage–preferably hot sausage, definitely from non-factory-farmed pigs.  (It’s not just about the pigs, but also about your health and the health of the communities where the pigs are grown.  Read this article if you’re not yet up on what I’m talking about. It will change you.) The version with sausage reminds of sausage balls, which normally are (if you are not Southern, you may not know?) balls of wheat flour, eggs, sausage, herbs, and cheese–baked up and served at functions from weddings to holiday dinners to wakes.  They are crunchy, salty, savory globes of tastiness, and I have missed them.  This version, of course, contains no egg, cheese, or gluten.

The vegan version (simply sans sausage + more salt) is in line with Carrie’s original concept of a savory walnut/rosemary cookie.

Either way, the cookies make a good breakfast or snack food.  I’ve frozen the ones I made and have enjoyed reheated ones with hot tea. I’m grateful to Carrie for inventing the basic recipe for these tasty treats!

Savory Cookies or Sausage Balls
Gluten-Free, Casein-Free, Egg-Free, Soy-Free

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds mixed with 6 tbsp. hot water
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut oil

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 cup gluten-free oats
1/3 cup sorghum flour
2/3 cup potato starch or arrowroot starch
2/3 cup millet flour
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt (3/4 teaspoon salt if vegan)
1-2 tablespoons of water, as needed

Add-Ins:
1/2 pound ground sausage, cooked and drained
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons dried, crushed rosemary or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon thyme

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl mix ground flax seeds and hot water and set aside to gel.

In a large bowl, mix whisk together all dry ingredients. Add the coconut oil into the dry ingredients and “cut in” as you would for pastry, until the mixture resembles small peas and is thoroughly mixed with the dry ingredients.

Mix applesauce with ground flaxseed gel and fold into dry ingredients. Mix together for several minutes until you a wet and slightly sticky dough. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water, as needed, if dough is too dry to mix well.  Stir in add-ins until well-mixed.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat, and drop by tablespoons 1-2″ apart on cookie sheet. (I had 16 cookies per pan). Using a fork, flatten cookies just slightly as you would for peanut butter cookies.  (Cookies won’t spread much, if at all. For true sausage balls, leave cookies rounder and extend baking time.) If needed, with your fingers, shape the flattened cookies into a circle.

Bake for 17-25 minutes, until cookies are golden brown on the bottom and sides. Let cool on wire racks and serve, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer once cool. (Reheat at 350 for 5 minutes.)

My friend Karen is one of the people I’ve met by happenstance.  She worked for a little while with a friend of mine at a bookstore (a stop-gap measure in employment in both of their lives), and she and her husband came to a party Dan and I were also attending.  Karen and I connected there, but her sweet husband had a migraine and they left early.  When we reconnected at the next party, well, that was kinda it.  We became fast friends with many mutual interests and beliefs–among them, a desire to eat healthfully and to support local agriculture.

Then Dan and I moved across the country  . . . less than a year later.  Karen was one of the people I was saddest to leave behind, and we both got teary talking about it a couple of times before my moving day arrived.  So I committed to myself that I would not lose touch with Karen.  I talk to her on the phone about once a week–which is saying something, because I generally hate talking on the phone.  With Karen, time on the phone just flies by as we dig into this topic and that one.

Another way we’re keeping in touch is by sharing recipe suggestions over email.  We have some food allergens in common, we’re both trying to control the impact of sugar on our lives, and we both enjoy cooking and baking.  The recipe I altered today started with one that Karen wrote up and emailed to me after making it herself.  Karen got the (wheat-based) recipe from the cookbook Vegan Brunch.  I believe her version had bananas and chocolate chips, and I went another route using local blueberries and marmalade.  But I knew the base of the recipe was good, because I trust Karen’s judgment.

When I converted this recipe, I was taking a sugary recipe and replacing the sugar with maple syrup.  I increased the amount of flour to compensate, but I didn’t thoroughly consider the effect of the fruit-juice-sweetened citrus marmalade on the liquid part of my ingredients.  So even though this cake baked up where a toothpick came out clean, in the end, it was still softer than I wanted on the bottom layer. (The top crunch layer is golden; it’s perfect.) My husband gobbled up a piece and said the effect was like a delicious, cake-y version of cobbler.  Nonetheless, the next time I make it, I’m going to reduce the marmalade to 1/4 cup (I thought 1/2 cup over-sweetened the cake, but then, I haven’t been eating sugar) and also increase the flours by 1/3 to 1/2 cup. (I’m publishing the recipe as I originally made it, though. Make changes where you will, or go for cakey cobbler.) I was going to send the cake to work with my husband to have his coworkers test it before I published it here.  Instead, when I ran out of the house for a few minutes to the farmer’s market, our dog Lily found the cake, which I’d left covered on our dining table, to be an irresistible temptation.  So–there you have it.  It’s doggie approved, if nothing else.

Blueberry Crunch Cake
Adapted from a recipe from Vegan Brunch

Ingredients:
Topping:
1/2 cup potato starch/arrowroot/corn starch
1/2 cup almond meal/superfine brown rice flour
1/3 cup maple sugar–pulsed in food processor if in large chunks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled, plus 1-2 extra tbsp. if needed

Cake:
3/4 cup hemp milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest of one lemon or orange
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons potato starch
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh blueberries (or use frozen)
1/2 cup all-fruit marmalade (sugar-free)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease an 8 inch x 8 inch pan.

Measure out the hemp milk and add the vinegar.  Set aside.

Make the topping: mix all the dry ingredients and drizzle in the oil.  Mix, and add more oil if it seems to dry; you’re looking for nice big crumbs.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the hemp milk mixture, maple, oil, vanilla, and zest.  Sift in the dry ingredients, and mix until smooth.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

Pour the cake batter into the pan.  Dot the pan with all-fruit jam, and swirl it in with a knife.  Pour the topping mixture on top, patting down slightly.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool at least 30 before trying to eat, or it’ll fall apart.

We were visiting my husband’s uncle’s house last weekend when we noticed his lime tree was surrounded by fallen, uber-ripe, yellow limes.  It’s common in Southern California for people with citrus trees to simply let the fruit ripen and rot without utilizing it.  I can’t fathom that mindset–free, local food! while grocery bills climb! while food pantries go wanting!–so we gathered up the fallen limes and brought them home.

Kristen asked for a recipe with six or fewer ingredients, designed for busy moms.  As I was sipping my invented cocktail tonight pondering what I could make that would fit her guidelines, I laughed to think maybe the drink would qualify (though the ginger does take a minute of work).  So–until I get back to Kristen with an actual meal recipe–drink up and enjoy!

This drink was actually a co-invention of me and my husband.  My friends and I call him a master mixologist.  He occasionally hits a wrong note with his creations (and is happy to make corrections at those times), but 95% of the drinks he makes are amazing.  So once I suggested, today, that we add gin to ginger and lime, he came up with the actual method and amounts.  It’s a peppery, sweet, kicky little cocktail–great for sipping after a stressful day.  So pretty, too!

Mother’s Little Helper

First, make gingered gin. Grate a 2″ piece of unpeeled ginger (easier to grate when frozen). Put the ginger in a mortar. Add gin to fill the mortar halfway. Grind the ginger with a pestle for a few seconds. Pour the gin and ginger through 4 layers of cheesecloth to strain out the ginger. (You can reuse that ginger in the mortar to make more drinks.)

Fill a cocktail shaker to the top with ice cubes. Pour in 1 1/2 oz. gin (we like Hendrick’s), 1 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice, 1 1/2 tablespoons gingered gin, and 1 tablespoon agave syrup. Shake well. Pour through the strainer into a martini glass. Sip and savor.

But these ‘butterscotch’ blondie brownies–they are good.  Dan’s non-allergic and sometimes picky family members ate the whole pan in less than 24 hours.

The recipe is one I adapted from Ricki Heller’s cookbook.  Are you familiar with Ricki? She’s a Registered Holistic Nutritionist who writes the lovely blog Diet, Dessert, & Dogs, where she talks about her life, health, and sweet pups while also providing vegan and often Anti-Candida Diet recipes.  Ricki created her cookbook, Sweet Freedom, to provide people with delicious dessert recipes that are free of wheat, eggs, dairy, and refined sugar.  Ricki’s cookbook is one of those cookbooks you just want to sit and read; it starts out with a chunk of information about how to make substitutions in recipes.  Only about 25% of the recipes in it are gluten-free, but I find gluten-free conversion of already vegan recipes to be pretty easy on those of us who are multiply allergic. (If you are confounded by that process, with Ricki’s recipes you can usually simply replace the glutenous flour with a gluten-free flour mix + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum and bake it up.) From corn pancakes to scones, Ricki’s got baked goods and sweets covered in this cookbook.

Aaaaaaand Ricki’s graciously provided a copy of Sweet Freedom for a giveaway on my blog, so if you want to win it, here’s how you can:

1) Leave a comment here telling about one of your favorite childhood desserts and what you think of it now (1 entry).

2) Write a blog post or tweet that includes info about, and provides a link to, this giveaway (3 entries). (If you use Twitter, make sure you include me @sallyjpa so I record your entry.)

I’ll do a random drawing for the winner on April 2nd.

In the meantime, I recommend making some blondies . . . and then sharing them with a group so you’re not tempted to eat the whole pan.

Butterscotch Blondies With Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Ricki Heller’s cookbook Sweet Freedom

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup mesquite flour
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup sunflower or other light-tasting oil, preferably organic
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon rum or 1/4 teaspoon gf, vegan butterscotch flavoring
1/2 cup (100 g) non-dairy chocolate chips
1/2 cup salted pecans

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Line an 8” (20 cm) square pan with parchment paper, or grease well and then flour the pan. (Parchment or flouring is essential, as the blondies tend to stick to the bottom of the pan without the parchment).

In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the brown rice syrup, maple syrup, oil, vanilla and rum until well blended. Gently stir in the chips and pecans.

Pour the dry mixture over the wet and stir to blend. You will have a fairly thick and sticky batter. Turn the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, rotating pan about halfway through, until a tester inserted in the center comes out nearly clean (a moist crumb or two is fine). Take care not to overbake, or these will dry out! The batter will fall a little as it cools; this is as it should be. Allow to cool completely in pan before cutting into squares. Makes 16 squares. May be frozen.

A friend requested that I post a cracker recipe on this blog.  Gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free crackers are hard to come by in the grocery store, and most of the ones that exist taste like cardboard.  Fortunately, crackers are actually pretty easy to make, and boy howdy, are people impressed when you make them from scratch. When I’ve served homemade crackers at parties, people have inevitably oohed and ahhed over just how very homemade-chic I am to have bothered to make something so basic from scratch.  It’s all rather hilarious.

In part because of flavor, and perhaps in part because of texture, gluten-free crackers tend to be heavy on the nuts.  I’ve done a lot of nut-based postings lately, so I thought I would switch it up and offer a nut-free cracker recipe. I like the flavor of chickpea flour in Indian flatbreads, so I started with chickpea flour and then added what I wanted to taste/feel in them.  I don’t consider this recipe perfected, but the crackers are downright tasty (and my husband says they’re simply great).  I’ve changed up the recipe I’m including here from the one I used to shift the seasonings how I will when I make them next time.  Feel free to change up the seasonings to suit your own cravings.

Crackers
This recipe makes a small batch of crackers. (I made about two dozen.)  For a party, double or triple the recipe.

Wet:
3 tablespoons flax meal mixed with 1/3 cup hot water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons honey or agave
Additional water as needed

Dry:
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup certified gluten-free oats, ground in a blender or food processor
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Seasonings:
1 1/2 teaspoons minced onion flakes
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  (If you have a convection option, this is one time I would use the convection at 325 degrees instead.)

Options: Either put two pizza stones and/or large cast-iron skillets in the oven to preheat with the oven, or use cookie sheets that don’t go in the oven until the dough is on them. (I tried it both ways. The former method may make your crackers slightly more crisp.)

Combine flax meal and water, and fork-whisk it together. When it has gelled, whisk in the olive oil and honey.

Meanwhile, combine and mix together the dry ingredients and seasonings.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones.  Mix using a spoon and then your hands.  Add additional water by the tablespoon, as needed, and mix to get the mixture moist (but not wet) and well-mixed.

Divide the dough into two balls.  Place one ball on a 2’-long pieces of parchment paper or a Silpat.  With a wet palm, pat the dough to spread it out.  Cover with another 2’-long piece of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin (I use the nifty single-hand-held baker’s roller from Pampered Chef), roll out the dough until it is as thin as possible. (If you get it less than 1/8” thick, that’s great! . . . but you may want to reduce baking time.) Repeat with the second ball of dough.  Carefully remove the top sheets of parchment paper.  Score the dough into cracker shapes using a pizza cutter or knife, and, if desired, prick the crackers with a fork.

If using preheated stones/skillets, take them out of the oven.  Put the uncovered parchment sheets/Silpats on the pans.  Put the crackers in the oven.  Bake 15 minutes, or until firm and getting dark at the edges. Remove the parchment to a baker’s rack to cool.  After cooling, if the crackers are not yet completely crisp, or if you store them overnight and need to recrisp them, put them back in a 350-degree oven for five minutes.

I don’t generally make 20-minute meals. I tend to opt for dishes that have me working in the kitchen for an hour plus. But today’s recipe—a dairy-free, soy-free Alfredo sauce—made for one quick lunch yesterday.  I put asparagus in the oven to roast, and I put a covered, large pot of salted water on to boil for gluten-free pasta. While I waited on the water to boil, I washed spinach, peeled an orange, sliced an avocado, and made a mustard-citrus dressing for the salad.  When the water was boiling hard, I put the pasta in and stirred it around.  I flipped the roasting asparagus and then put the ingredients for the pasta sauce in the food processor.  When the pasta was cooked, I scooped out the pasta water I wanted for my sauce, I set the food processor running, and I drained and rinsed the pasta.  I tossed the pasta with the sauce, pulled the asparagus out of the oven, put tongs in the salad, and voila! Lunch in less than half an hour.

Oh, and this easy sauce was tasty enough that my non-gluten-free, non-allergic friend who was over for lunch got seconds.

Easy Dairy-Free, Soy-Free Alfredo Sauce
Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
6-8 servings of dried gf pasta
salted water for boiling

1 cup cashews, soaked at least 2 hours (I left mine on the counter in water overnight)
1/4 cup grated onion
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chickpea miso
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 to 1 cup hot pasta water

Directions
Put pasta in salted water that has come to a hard boil. Meanwhile, combine in the food processor or strong blender (e.g., Vitamix) all of the ingredients except the pasta water. Pulse to finely chop the ingredients, scraping down the sides of the processor with a spatula as necessary.

When the pasta has reached al dente, scoop out 1 cup of hot pasta water. Drain and rinse the pasta. Add 3/4 cup of the hot pasta water to the food processor, and process the sauce for several minutes, until nearly entirely smooth. Taste, and adjust seasonings or add additional water as desired. Reheat gently if sauce is no longer warm. Toss with pasta, and serve immediately.

When we came to Santa Monica from Atlanta for my husband’s interview, I didn’t expect the city to feel Mediterranean. I had been to Northern and Central California but never Southern.  I knew Southern California had lots of palm trees.  I knew that LA had bad traffic, lots of smog, and South Central.  But I had no idea that visting–and then settling in–Santa Monica would transport me back to the month I spent in Greece.  Flowers bloom riotously here.  It rarely rains. (LA would be the desert if it weren’t for all the irrigation.) In winter, the temperature hovers around 70 degrees during the day but, with little humidity, quickly dips into the 50s at night; I hear summer won’t be too different. The farmers’ markets (three times a week!) in Santa Monica have every imaginable delight from both winter and spring produce.  We get local dates. The dwarf blood orange tree my husband gave me for Valentine’s Day is blooming and sending its heady, potent scent through our open windows.  It is actually really lovely here.  Perhaps I would have been more open-minded about living in California during Dan’s job search if I had realized that LA’s cliches don’t speak too much to its realities. (I mean, yes, the traffic is horrendous, but we just live near my husband’s workplace and walk or cycle the gridded streets to get places. And Santa Monica gets ocean breezes, so the smog isn’t bad here.)

Two days ago it was unseasonably warm, about 82 degrees.  I was walking the dog, wearing a tanktop with the sun warming my shoulders, and enjoying the life we’re creating in Santa Monica when I decided one of my next posts should be a Meyer lemon cake.  A simple cake, a bit rustic, with a tender crumb but also the crunch of cornmeal around the edges.  Something that would incorporate a celebration of Mediterranean influences: olive oil, almonds, yogurt, honey, and, of course, citrus. Mmmm Meyer lemons.

You may be familiar with Meyer lemons, since they’ve grown popular in the last few years.  If you’re not yet aware, a Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin orange; a USDA employee named Frank Meyer brought them to the US from Asia in the early 1900s.  With a Meyer, you get some of the acidity of a lemon with some of the sweetness of an orange.  I love Meyer lemons.  They have a pretty short season of harvest–basically the winter months.  I like it that way, because it makes me treasure them while they’re around and look forward to them the rest of the year.  Sadly, in the last couple of years, Whole Foods has begun carrying New Zealand Meyer lemons in the off-US months, but I won’t buy those.  If you decide to make this recipe but can’t find Meyer lemons, either oranges or regular lemons should work well in it.

This cake is not terrifically sweet, which means you’re left to focus on the other sensations it offers.  It’s also not terrifically fancy.  But it’s tasty and satisfying, and it’s easy to make.  It’s homey in just the right away.

Rustic Meyer Lemon Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/2 Cup coconut kefir (or milk alternative stirred with 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar)
Juice and zest of one Meyer lemon (about 1/4 cup juice)
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup blanched almond meal
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons flax seed meal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze:
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a round cake pan (preferably a springform pan), and flour it with cornmeal. (If you don’t want crunchy bits of cornmeal on the edges, flour it with another gluten-free flour.)

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the kefir, lemon juice, zest, honey, agave, and olive oil.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the cornmeal, almond meal, sorghum flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, flax seed meal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a dry whisk, whisk to mix.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and stir gently with a wooden spoon or a spatula.  When the batter is well-mixed and close to smooth, pour it into the prepared pan, and bake it for 25-30 minutes, until cake is lightly browned and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, heat up the honey, lemon juice, and salt in a small saucepan on medium.  When the mixture simmers, whisk it.  Allow it to simmer two minutes; then turn off the heat and let the glaze cool while the cake finishes baking.  After you take the cake out of the oven, brush the glaze over the cake while the cake is still hot. If you want the glaze to soak into the cake, poke holes in the cake with a toothpick before you pour the glaze over it.

It’s preferable to allow the cake to mostly or entirely cool before you release the springform sides and serve it.

I love getting blog comments.  Everyone does, right? I especially love when someone reports that a post has really resonated with her (usually her) or that she has used one of my recipes to make something she thought she had lost.  It’s such a thrill to know that my words and work make someone else’s life more understandable, more meaningful, or more pleasurable.  So I was very pleased, last week, when I got a response to my Like-PF Chang’s Orange Peel Chicken recipe (gluten-free, etc., natch), where Kerr said (in part):

THANK YOU!! My half Korean husband was ecstatic. He even broke out into song once…. =) After 4 years of cooking for our multiple allergen and celiac daughter, we were enraptured to eat something that tasted like it was straight out of our favorite, and sadly avoided, Asian restaurant! Hats off to you!

Then she went on to say: Now… off to see if you have a sesame orange chicken recipe…

That, dear readers, is a challenge to me.  It’s a bit like a dare.  Growing up, I would never turn down dares.  I quit taking on all dares without question after my friend Amy dared me to drink 10 shots of vodka in a row when we were in college.  (I did. I got very sick. She cried. Thank you, Robbie and Jill, for taking care of me that night, and thank you, Amy, for cleaning up after me the next day.) But I still love a good worthwhile challenge, so after I got Kerr’s comment, I started pulling up orange chicken and orange sesame chicken recipes to see how difficult it would be to make them gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and soy-free.

I could have started with my PF Chang’s recipe as a base, and indeed, some of the recipes I found are fairly similar to that; they offer just a thin coating of cornstarch to the chicken.  But I had a feeling what Kerr had in mind is the kind of Americanized Chinese food that many of us grow up eating—where each small bite of chicken is buried in a veritable pile of crispy breading with gooey sauce. (Good trick to save money on chicken, too.) That was what I wanted to create.  Egg helps flour cling, but clearly that was out.  I decided to do a batter to dip the chicken in.  On some of the recipes I read, readers complained that the dish didn’t taste orange-y enough, so I decided to use orange juice instead of water or milk in the batter recipe.  And I wanted the batter to come out crispy but not heavy, so I decided to add a touch of baking soda to the batter, as well. (Many batter recipes call for a bit of baking powder, but the acidity of the OJ may have left a chemical taste from the baking powder if I did that.) I considered double-frying the chicken (fry, rest to cool, fry again) to ensure maximum crispiness from it, but I decided that the recipe is time- and labor-intensive enough as it is.

I often think that entrepreneurs would be successful opening restaurants that would exclusively serve gluten-free/allergen-free favorites from a variety of cultures.  If I opened a restaurant like that, this recipe would have to be on the menu.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I think it’d be fabulous made with tofu, as well.  I likely would have tried if that way if I could eat soy still.

Orange Sesame Chicken
To make this recipe peanut- and sesame-free, fry in coconut oil and omit sesame seeds and sesame oil.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Sauce:
1 1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup chicken stock or veggie stock
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons gluten-free rice vinegar (unsweetened)
2 tablespoons Coconut Aminos (like soy sauce, but soy-free! If unavailable, sub in 1 1/2 teaspoons salt mixed with 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon molasses)
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger or 1 teaspoon dried
2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved (by fork-whisking) in 2 tablespoons hot water

Batter:
2/3 cup cornmeal or superfine brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons orange juice

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thigh
5 cups of peanut oil for frying

Directions
In a small, dry pan over low heat, toast sesame seeds, tossing every minute, until they begin to turn light brown. Remove from pan, and set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients except for the peanut oil, garlic, and cornstarch/water slurry. In a small pot, heat the peanut oil on medium and saute minced garlic until fragrant, about one minute.  Add the combined sauce ingredients. Simmer until liquid is reduced by about 2/3–about 15 minutes.  Whisk in cornstarch slurry.  Let the sauce simmer until it thickens a bit.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Keep sauce warm on lowest stove setting.

While the sauce is simmering, chop the chicken into 1-2” cubes.

Heat up the frying oil in a pot over medium-high. (You want to use a small enough pot that you have several inches of depth to your oil and a large enough pot that the oil is several inches from overflowing.

In a mixing bowl, combine the dry batter ingredients, and whisk together.  Stir in the orange juice.  Drop the chicken pieces into the batter, and stir them in.

Side note: Deep-frying is a particular process that can be dangerous if not done carefully. For frying like this, you want the oil very hot but not smoking.  Smoking oil means you’ve reached a fire hazard.  To test your oil, drop a tiny piece of batter into the oil and see if it bubbles madly and rises to the top of the pan. If so, your oil is ready. If you put your chicken in too early, too much of the oil will absorb into the breading, creating a goopy mess. If your oil it begins to smoke before you add chicken to the pot, turn the heat to low for a couple of minutes to cool it; then reheat to frying temperature.

Using your fingers or metal tongs, pull out individual pieces of battered chicken and place them in the oil. (Do not drop the pieces from high up, or you risk splashing yourself with burning oil.)  Do not crowd the pieces of chicken; cook it in several batches.  Use a metal spatula to scrape off any chicken that sticks to the bottom of the pot.  If the pieces of chicken stick together, do your best to separate them with your spatula or tongs, but don’t obsess; the chicken will still cook unless it’s in enormous clumps.  Cook chicken about four minutes, until golden brown and crispy.  Remove chicken with tongs or a slotted spoon.  Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Toss the chicken with the orange sesame sauce, sprinkle the sesame seeds on top, and serve over long-grain brown rice with steamed vegetables alongside.