Bread Ahead

Eureka! We've had a bit of a breakthrough in the bread section, thanks to desperation brought on by a toast and jam craving.

I like to think that my grandfather, Basil, had a bit of a hand in it. He used to bake his own bread and I still remember pounding dough with him in our kitchen back home as he taught me the secrets of his Nutty-Wheat Bread. The 'Nutty-Wheat' part might be out, but the rest of his recipe has made its way into my first successful gluten-free loaf.

Every g-free bread recipe I've tried tells you to just add the instant yeast to the flour, mix in the wet stuff, leave to rise, bake and voila! They've never risen more than a centimetre and the tiny results weigh a ton. So I took the recipe on the bag of flour I had and made a few changes.

High-Fibre Gluten-Free Bread

2-3 tblsp date fibre*

Add g-free bread flour to the date fibre to make 450g (I used Dove's which already contains zanthan gum)

½ tsp salt

1 tblsp sugar

1 tblsp date syrup (use maple or treacle if you don't have this)

125ml warm dairy-free milk

200ml warm water

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 eggs

6 tblsp oil

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan oven). Mix the flour, date fibre, salt, sugar and baking soda together. When your warm water is body temperature, stir in the syrup (the syrup is vital as this gives the yeast the sugars it needs to activate) and add the yeast, leaving it to come together on the surface of the liquid. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, oil, vinegar and milk together and stir in the dry ingredients. Add the yeast and water mixture and stir until you have a sticky dough. Pour the dough into a greased loaf pan (I used an 8 inch x 3 inch one as a small tin is better for g-free baking), and don't worry about leaving it to rise for an hour. Place foil over the tin, leaving a bit of room for rising, and a tray of water in the bottom of the oven, which, I've been told helps to stop it cooking too quickly from the outside. Put it straight in the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes. Leave to cool before slicing.

Tip: Gluten-free bread never gets the crisp crust of normal bread and will be quite a lot denser. It also dries out really quickly, so keep it refrigerated or frozen. If you're eating it a day or so after baking, it is best toasted or zapped quickly in the microwave.

* This looks much like coarse cinnamon powder

Desert Discovery

Over the last four years we've gotten hourglasses worth of red and golden sand in our shoes, hair, sleeping bags, ears... in the deserts of the Middle East.

I saw in 2006 camping with friends in the dunes of the Empty Quarter (Rub' Al Khali) and have had my stomach in my mouth dune bashing up, down and around Big Red in the Dubai Desert. We've luxed it up in five-star style at Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, and we saw in 2008 cosied round a campfire near Fossil Rock. Finally, this year, we got out to the edge of Oman's Wahiba Sands (Ramlat al-Wahiba) for two days of 'camping'.

I hesitate to call it camping as there were no tent poles, sleeping bags and water bottle showers required, and no huddling around a gas burner with an enamel coffee cup. Al Areesh Desert Camp comes complete with double beds and bathrooms, all in the comfort of your own Barasti hut ('Barasti' being palm fronds).

Surrounded by nothing but terracotta sand and blue skies, the boys were ready to kick up a bit of dust and all went off dune bashing (Gav determined to get the Jeep to redeem itself by not getting itself horribly stuck for once) while I went to see what else the dunes had to offer before sunset.

Nowhere does life and death become more apparent than when you're out in the desert.

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well"

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -

I had to include these photos of Bree's to show the rush Gav clearly got out there (above) and what these crazy folk get up to while 'bashing' dunes (below).

The final cue for the temperature to drop a few degrees and everyone to gather for a Bedouin dinner under the stars.

Brian and Bree had to experience just how uncomfortable a camel ride really is before we headed back to the city.

Canyon Crawling

After all that cornbread, our bodies gave thanks when we headed off mid-week with Brian and Bree to explore yet another one of the beautiful spots Oman has to offer. If you headed out every weekend for a year you might still struggle to conquer all the wadis, mountains and dunes that are out here, and if you think that if you're seen one desolate rock face you've seen them all, you'd be wrong.

This time, we had Wadi Bani Awf in our sights, with our first pit stop being Little Snake Canyon. This relatively easy hike takes you through a few ankle-deep pools and, unless you have some serious waterproof gear, the end of your walk will be at the icy cold main pool that snakes its way between the cliffs. Who said the desert was dry?!

We had planned that this would be the end of the road for one day, but curiosity got the better of us, and we drove on to the end of the main Snake Canyon and soon found ourselves at the oasis of a village that is Balad Sayt, with its terraced fields and friendly locals.

Still determined to see more we thought we'd throw in some hairy 4x4 cliff climbing and made our way to the top of the Western Hajar mountains... a spectacular sight to calm some slightly frazzled nerves.

Giving Thanks

Oman's week-long Eid and National Day holiday is over and the saddest part is that we've had to also say farewell to our Coloradan (I think that's what you call someone from Colorado) cronies, Brian and Bree, as they head off on an exciting new venture in Concan, Texas.

It has been an amusing few months getting to know them - very much a case of "You say toe-may-toe, I say toe-maa-toe", "You say pe-caahn pie, I say pee-can pie". And they've introduced us to the gastronomic treats that are fish tacos and Thanksgiving.

We started off this week rolling, with our first Thanksgiving lunch. And I thought Christmas was a feast until I had my plate piled with turkey, cranberry sauce, corn bread dressing (with Bree made gluten-free with a recipe I gave her), mashed potato, sweet potato... I've discovered that there is an art to maximising the amount of food you can place on a plate, but my belly was having none of it.

I'm proud to say I got into the spirit of things and made my first All-American pumpkin pie (gluten-free pastry and all). It wasn't exactly a Martha Stewart wonder pie, but it didn't go down too badly :-)

Laze-agne

What is it about lasagne that's so darn good!? Personally, it's the fact that - when cooking for two - one dish means dinner's in the bag for a few nights to come. And everyone deserves the occasional evening in front of the TV with a ready-meal.

For the Filling

1x 250g box of g-free lasagne sheets (I used Casalare)

550g beef mince

1 onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 tblsp g-free tomato paste

1 small bag of frozen chopped spinach

2 carrots peeled and sliced

2 celery sticks peeled and sliced

A glug of good olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

A small bunch of fresh oregano

A small bunch of fresh basil

Sautée the onion and garlic in the olive oil until translucent, then add the mince. Once this is browned, add the tomatoes, plus one tin of water, the carrots, celery and tomato paste. Season and leave to simmer for 40 minutes, adding the oregano leaves and some of the basil right at the end. In a separate pan sautée the spinach with a little salt and pepper, making sure you get rid of any excess water.

For the Sauce

50g flour (I use Dove's all-purpose flour. You can use a mix of rice flour and corn starch instead)

2½ tblsp olive oil (use butter if you can have dairy)

500ml milk (use soya or rice milk if you need to)

A dash of nutmeg

1 bay leaf

Heat the oil and add the flour, stirring it into a roux. Once the roux is glossy and pulls away from the pan take it off the heat. Warning: if you add the milk directly to this it will quickly cook into a doughy mess. Let it cool slightly, then add the milk, whisking continuously. Add the bay leaf and nutmeg and stir over a low heat until you have a glossy sauce that coats the back of a spoon. Remove the bay leaf.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Put a third of your mince mixture in the bottom of your lasagne dish. Cover with pasta sheets. Tip: Hold your hand over each sheet for about 10 seconds, as they tend to curl when they touch the hot sauce. Spoon a layer of spinach on top, then a third of the bechamel sauce. Repeat with the mince, pasta sheets, spinach and bechamel. With your last layer you won't put spinach on top of the pasts, just the bechamel sauce. Top with tomato slices and fresh basil leaves and bake covered for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 30 minutes until the top is golden. Dig in.

Christmassy deliciousness

Yes, I've started my Christmas baking already! I don't think I've been this excited about Christmas since I was six and still believed it really was Father Christmas who was eating the mince pies we left next to the fireplace. That's probably because it's our first one as Mr and Mrs. It will also be the first one I've had with my family in five years, and Nicks (that would be Nicky, not Saint Nick) will be jetting over from SA just before Christmas to see the sights of Muscat. So we'll have a full house and I can't wait.

One of my favourite memories of this time of year is the heavy Christmas cake tin my grandparents would lug from Zimbabwe down to Durban every Christmas. We'd eat that cake every day for tea for the month of December, well into January, and getting to the last slice was heartbreaking as it meant it was all over for another year. As you can gather, I'm a fruitcake fan. But not everyone is, and you'll always have someone who picks out all the cherries or the peel. So this year, I've decided to make a fruit cake that, I think, is a little more grown up. The sort of cake you sip with an espresso while catching up - Italy's panforte.

This cake is naturally dairy- and egg-free, easily gluten-free. It's traditionally made with almonds and figs and honey, but you can use whatever nuts and fruit you want, and I thought I may as well make use of what the Middle East has in abundance... dates and date syrup. Date syrup, for those who don't know, is dark, rich and treacle-like, so is perfect if you don't want things too sweet.

Panforte from the East

1½ cups nuts (I used ½ pecan nuts, ¼ pine nuts, ¾ walnuts)

½ cup mixed peel

½ cup chopped dates

¼ cup chopped dried apricot

¼ cup currants

½ cup gluten-free flour (I used half white rice flour and half corn starch)

1½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

2 tblsp pure cocoa powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup date syrup (use honey if you don't have this)

170g sugar (if you're allergic to cane sugar used fruit sugar)

Preheat your over to 180C and line an 8-inch cake tin with a round of baking paper, greased and gusted with a little g-free flour. Coarsely chop the nuts and mix them with the dried fruit, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour in a large bowl. In a saucepan, heat the date syrup, sugar, salt and cocoa powder until the sugar and cocoa has dissolved and the sauce starts to get a little foamy on top. You don't want it to boil. Pour it over the fruit and nut mixture and stir it in quickly making sure everything is coated. Then pour it into the cake tin and press it down firmly. Bake for about 25 minutes. You don't want to let the sugars burn.

Wait for it to cool and slice with a sharp serrated knife. If you've never had panforte before, don't expect light fluffiness. The ones I've had before should have "do not eat it you have denture" warnings, but, made with date syrup, it isn't quite so toffee like. This is firm and chewy with a moist fruity, dark chocolatey centre. I might have to make another one.

Fresh From The Farm

Last weekend, we spent the day at a friend's family farm near Barka, a town not far from Muscat. It was a perfect day out in the open, surrounded by date palms, fruit trees, herbs, vegetables, playing kids and friends.

I ended up with bunches of fresh mint and rocket, thanks to the lovely Jacquie. Most of the mint has gone into a coconut, lime and mint attempt at ice cream. The rocket went into today's lunch.

One of the first things I cooked when Gav and I found out that gluten was out, was a sort of fried onion and mushroom, rice, tun, herbs concoction. It changes every time I make it, depending on what's in the fridge... peppers, salmon, chilli, you name it. Hence the reason Gav and I call it 'Rice Surprise'. So while Gav was away this weekend, I had the house to myself, DVDs to watch and a 15-minute meal was in order.

Wild Rice Surprise

1 cup brown basmati, red camargue and wild rice (this is a Waitrose mix)

1 tin pink salmon (use fresh if you have the time)

1 spring onion sliced

½ red chilli sliced

Fresh rocket leaves

Sheep's milk feta (this is one form of dairy I'm not allergic to)

Sliced lime

Boil the rice until cooked, then rinse under cold water. Once cool, stir in the chilli and rocket. Flake in the salmon and top with crumbled feta, spring onion and a dash of lime juice. Eeezy!

Muscat - a brief introduction

I've had friends and family waiting for pictures of Muscat for months, and I'm pleased to say that I'm finally getting on top of things. I have an archive of so many to choose from and have so many more I want to take I never know where to start, but I think the logical place is with the trip Gav and I took out here last November (my goodness, that's exactly a year ago!) to decide if it was somewhere we could see ourselves living. Admittedly, we lapped up the luxurious side of things a bit with a stay at The Chedi, but the idea of living in a city with a great outdoors (and year-round blue skies, it seems) that isn't hidden by glass towers was what had us convinced.

I love the symmetry of Omani design. You'll see it in everything, right down to the rows of date palms.

Al Fahal Island in the distance.

Two Can Pecan Ice Cream

I remember the first time Gav made me dessert. It was a surprise and he vanished into the kitchen leaving me to wait for the masterpiece he was going to create. A bit of banging and crashing later, he emerged with two bowls of ice cream covered with grated dark chocolate and After Eight chocolates as garnish. We decided that that there was nothing left for him to do but open Gav's Parlour of Incredible Ice Cream Ideas.

Now that dairy is out for a while, we just have to be more creative, so having licked the last tub of mango ice cream clean, I asked him what our next concoction should be...

Coconut and cinnamon? Coconut and cinnamon and pecan nuts!! Yes, pecan nuts. And maple syrup? YES, maple syrup!!

Pecan & Maple Dairy Free Ice Cream

Note: this recipe only makes enough for two. I would imagine that you can easily double things up to make more.

1 tin coconut milk or cream (depending on how rich you want it)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 cup pecan nuts

¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup

3 tblsp 100% pure maple syrup

3 tsp corn starch

¼ tsp xanthan gum*

Mix 2 teaspoons of the corn starch with a little coconut milk/cream and then pour this into a saucepan. Add the rest of the coconut milk/cream to the saucepan, along with the cinnamon and ¼ cup of maple syrup and stir over a medium heat to make a custard. Add a little more corn starch if you'd like to thicken it more. Once this is ready, leave it to cool and then pour into a freezer-safe container and freeze for an hour. While it's freezing, heat the 3 tablespoons of maple syrup in a small saucepan with the remaining teaspoon of corn starch, so it becomes a little thicker and put aside to cool. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and give it a whiz in the blender. Return to the freezer and keep doing this until it become firm and creamy in the blender. Then stir in the pecan nuts and smooth the mixture out in an ice cream container. Use a skewer to made a few holes in the ice cream and pour the maple syrup into these, then give it a bit of a swirl.

* xanthan gum is used in a lot of gluten-free recipes. It increases the viscosity of liquids and acts as a stabliser. Most shop-bought ice cream contains guar gum, however, a lot of people with digestive problems react to this.

When this freezes again it goes very hard, so leave it out for a few minutes before demolishing.

... for Ice Cream!

Features 2008