Savill - Deliciously Wheat, Gluten & Dairy Free

Antoinette Savill

Grub Street | London

For Richard, with love

Published in 2015 by

Grub Street

4 Rainham Close

London

SW11 6SS

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Web: www.grubstreet.co.uk

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Copyright this edition Grub Street 2015

Text copyright Antoinette Savill 2015

Designed by Sarah Baldwin

Photography by Regula Ysewijn

Food styling by Jayne Cross

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-910690-11-6

eISBN 978-1-910690-56-7

Mobi ISBN 978-1-910690-56-7

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Cooking and baking is everything to me, it is both focusing and grounding. When I feel tired, it revives me and I get energized. If life throws a wobbly then I gravitate to my kitchen where I can regain calm by browsing through recipes and bake a new cake or wicked dessert. Weighing, chopping, mixing and tasting takes time and becomes absorbing and comforting. The joy of making something special for those you love is fulfilling and satisfying and meets the need to give and share. My kitchen is large and bright, full of sunshine and a feeling of fun which is no doubt why friends and family love to perch around the huge table and devour everything on offer. Writing a cookbook is to me, immensely exciting and I am never daunted by the thought of developing another 100 or so recipes. It is for me, a voyage of discovery and learning which I feel is the whole point of life. I hope you will enjoy these recipes, some of which are tinged with Australasia, with ideas from my new home on a farm in New Zealand. There are so many fabulous new and fresh ingredients for me to experiment with here. The enormous variety of gluten-free products that are available in Christchurch, have widened my breadth of vision and been a total joy to work with.

Deliciously Wheat, Gluten & Dairy Free is about eating the right things and thinking about what is best for us health-wise and time-wise. Simple homely comforts are always needed but treats and indulgences can also have a place in our weekly menus. I think that our well-being can so easily be put back onto an even keel with the right balance of foods. The time spent on cooking and the time spent on enjoying it is vital to our bodies and our well-being. Not only at home but at work there is also a need to consider the way that we live, how we shop and eat with or without a food intolerance. Think about food as nourishment with pleasure and not just fuel so that we can work or study. Avoiding the all too easy route of junk or convenience food which is high in salt, sugar and additives or preservatives. There are recipes here that can easily be taken to work or the place of study which will be satisfying on all counts. I often think that food has its own language to us and that if we listen to it, we can take better care of our body and mind. I have heard endless times from both adults and children of all ages that they dont like certain foods and so they consciously and unconsciously avoid them. I think if we all did this much more often that we would all feel a lot happier and healthier. At the moment added sugar is the demon of the fashionable foodies. Excluded by many to the extent that they eat only sugar-free and raw food desserts and snacks, which is all very well some of the time but fills me with dismay as a permanent way of living. I do think that the old saying of a little bit of what you fancy is the happiest and healthiest route through life. So, this book is also about special treats as they can be a well-earned pleasure and through life we need to be encouraged by small doses of lifes exquisite things. By this, I of course mean gastronomical delights and yummy sweet things. I have reduced the sugar content in my recipes wherever possible and used honey and maple syrup as a healthier option.

Eating food and drinking wine whether on your own, with a partner, friends, family or business associates doesnt need to be ostentatious or showing off to be a little taste of heaven. Just a brief experience of pleasure can lift us for the rest of the day. Food changes our mood as well as keeping us healthy whether we have food allergies or intolerances or just wish to be living to our full potential health-wise. I feel that it is well worth the time that it takes to source good local and seasonal ingredients and to prepare the food with care and pleasure whatever diet we are following. Food is a common language between all people and everyone should be able to eat what is good for their body, what gives them pleasure, for the people who grow it and for the planet, even with special diets and food restrictions. I am not saying that one has to be a saint about it all but that if we can choose recipes that are in season or buy locally-sourced products then we have the bonus of the feel-good factor as well as the do-good factor. We are often estranged from the natural processes by which food is grown and produced and I wish that schools would take this on board and teach our young so that they can ensure that even though some of us have dietary limitations, we should take care of what we eat. In the course of our busy daily lives, how often do we let ourselves relish the act of preparing and eating food?

Our frenetic pace of life means that our meals often fall victim to time, care and appreciation. The steady march of packaged, artificial and unhealthy fast food not only affects our well-being but particularly that of our children. This is why my faster food recipes bear good health in mind as well as being speedy, losing none of the care or pleasure of the preparation or cooking. Its neither instant food nor is it junk food, but food which is suitable for people who enjoy cooking but do not have the time for lengthy prep and cooking. It doesnt matter how busy you are, you still need to eat and so I hope that these recipes will fit into all sorts of busy schedules and lifestyles.

Even if you live in a town or city it is often easy enough to get to the countryside and such a joy to go for a walk in the woods or fields to forage for wild ingredients. We go out with the children, and think it is great fun to put on rubber gloves and pick the nettles or wild garlic leaves, seeing who can pick the most without being stung! Wild ingredients when foraged for, picked off the hedgerows or gathered from pick-your-own fruit farms, are fresh and nutritious. They need to be prepared and cooked on the same day not a few days later when you have a bit of time. This is another reason for making the recipes easy and as fast to prepare as possible.

Careful prep of food does not mean that you are going to be slaving away for hours; sometimes it means that the ingredients take time and care to be picked or collected, and other times it means that one part of the recipe needs long, slow cooking, marinating or freezing but you need not be around all the time and can be getting on with other chores or preparations for your meal or party. Although I love cooking I have always tried to shorten and simplify recipes to make them do-able in the given time between school runs, work and play. If a recipe is too complicated and too long then most of us will be put off even attempting it which would be a great pity.