03/03/2018
Allergies & Restaurants
What and where we eat?
I have recently been diagnosed with a major casein allergy which means no dairy; butter, yogurt, cheese, milk and I am also allergic to gluten. This surprise situation has caused me quite a lot of irritation on the food front. Restaurants just cannot seem to cope with my allergies and think that I am a vegan even though I tell them I am a meat eater. When they say they can ‘adapt’ a menu to suit me, that often means that they will replace the problem item with more salad leaves or remove a sauce and offer no alternative. Steaks are a particular example where I am left with a dry steak that I really could have cooked at home for a fraction of the bill. I have been surprised and disappointed how little creativity is evident and how poorly many high street restaurants and especially fine food establishments are in catering for people with allergies. Some have even just thrust an allergens tome into my hands to leaf through whilst sitting next to my friends at the dining table. This situation has to get better.
FINE FOOD RESTAURANTS – ALLERGY FRIENDLY
Thankfully there are some restaurants doing it well, leading us to believe there is hope on the horizon for us all. In the vicinity of my home county of Warwickshire I’d like to do a couple of shout outs to two restaurants and their talented chefs who are making a real difference to my allergy free, fine dining experiences:
HAMPTON MANOR
Shadowbrook Lane
Hampton in Arden
SOLIHULL
West Midlands
B92 0EN
Tel 01675 446080
and
NUMBER 9 CHURCH STREET
STRATFORD UPON AVON
Warwickshire
CV37 6HB
Tel 01789 415522
I would absolutely love to hear from you too if you know of a really great restaurant anywhere in the UK offering fine food with flair for allergy sufferers. Somewhere you love visiting for a celebration; a restaurant that really makes that extra effort and demonstrates allergy free fine dining at its best.
Email me at info@7secrets.co.uk please where I am compiling a list for us all on our favourite special eateries.
My new best friend – My Tortilla Press
Since my recent trip to India (where I discovered a whole new world of Bajra, Roti, Dosa and Appam made with a variety of rice flour, millet flour and black lentils and perfect for a gluten free, dairy free diet), I have been wondering what other flat breads are out there that would add a bit of variety to my diet whilst offering an alternative wrapper for sandwich fillings etc. My experience with a lot of ‘Free From’ commercially available products is that they have a very strange taste to my palette, so I have realised I need to put some effort into developing some great new options. One new discovery has been my new Tortilla Press. Ideal for breakfast burritos or chicken fajitas, the Masa Harina (maize flour) tortillas I can produce now have really put a smile on my face.
CORN TORTILLAS
Ingredients
- 150g Masa Harina maize flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 175ml hot (not boiling) water
- Pinch of salt
Method
- Put the flour and salt into a bowl.
- Stir in the oil and gradually add the hot water, using your fingers to bring the dough together and keep kneading until it is smooth. If it is still cracking, add a little more water. If it is too sticky then add a little more Masa Harina flour. Leave to rest for 30 minutes and then divide into 10 balls (flattened a little like burgers) for small tortillas and 5 for larger tortillas.
- Place a ball between two sheets of cling film or baking parchment on the tortilla press and press down to flat-ten. On my first attempt it was then that I could see the dough cracking, so I re-worked it with a tiny bit more water to pull it together. Cook each tortilla in a very hot non-stick frying pan for a couple of minutes on each side, as you press it until lightly browned. Don’t be tempted to press all of them first as they tend to dry out rather quickly. You can, of course, use a rolling pin instead but the press gives a very uniform thickness for even cooking.
BREAKFAST BURRITO
Ingredients for 2 burritos
- 1/2 small green pepper
- 1 small onion or shallot
- Olive oil to fry
- 2/3 eggs
- 1/2 can of drained black beans
- 1 avocado
- Hot Tabasco Sauce or Cayenne pepper (optional)
- Tomato salsa (optional)
- 2/3 Masa Harina tortillas
Method
- Begin by chopping and frying the onion and green pepper in olive oil.
- When softened add the drained, canned black beans then set to one side. Dice the avocado and also set aside.
- Scramble the eggs and add the hot tabasco sauce/cayenne pepper to add a little zing.
- Load a freshly dry fried tortilla with some onion/pepper, black beans, avocado and a spoonful of tomato salsa if desired.