Vanessa Weisbrod - The Delight Gluten-Free Cookbook

THE DELIGHT GLUTEN-FREE COOKBOOK

Vanessa Weisbrod

www.harlequinbooks.com.au

= FAN FAVORITE

Acknowledgments

and Our Foodie Staff

The heart of Delight Gluten-Free Magazine is our staff. We are professional foodies who want to eat, cook and enjoy delicious food in our homes, out on the town and around the world. We just happen to be on gluten-free diets. Every single day we go to work with the goal of bringing our readers a gluten-free world filled with delightful options, one flavor-packed meal a t a time.

So how do we do it?

We eat constantly. To create recipes, one must understand the origin of flavors and textures. Whether its traditional American fare or foods from around the world, its imperative that we appreciate what goes into the food we cook.

Theres one rule in our office: Taste everything (unless a food will make you ill, of course). We taste spices, sauces, flours, grains, chocolates, herbs, jams, coffees, liqueurs... you name it and its probably touched our taste buds this year! We sit around our conference table discussing how ingredients taste, how they affect our palates and how we can incorporate them into recipes. Then we go into our test kitchen and start expe rimenting.

This book would not have been possible without an amazing team, all working together. Whether it was developing recipes, spending hundreds of hours in the kitchen testing recipes at least three times each, orchestrating photo shoots, calculating nutritional data, browsing grocery store shelves for new products or copy editing, everyone played a huge role in putting together the content of this book. Thank you to each of the following individuals for dedicating so much time to making this book so beautiful and tasty: Sally Pickle, Janice Cuevas, Jordan Gary, Torie Foster, Jennifer Dunlap, Gabrielle Hoffman, Emily Freedner, Tiffany Janes, Jennifer Stearns and our wonderful interns, Sara Benner and Krist in Grant.

Special thanks to my enthusiastic, energetic and inspiring agent Maura Teitlebaum, who is so generous with her guidance and support. I am so lucky to have you as part of my team. And finally, to my wonderful editors at HarlequinSarah Pelz and Rebecca Hunt. I am truly appreciative of your constant enthusiasm for this book and your dedication to inspiring the gluten-free community to cook delici ous food.

Introduction

Why start a gluten-free magazine? The answer is simple. Everyoneregardless of a food allergy or intoleranceshould eat incredible food every single day. It should look beautiful and taste like heaven. But, most important, the recipes should work every single time in the same way for experienced chefs and home coo ks alike.

If you sit down with people who love food and are also diagnosed with celiac disease or have a sensitivity to gluten, youll often hear the same story. Before their diagnosis, they eagerly awaited the arrival of their favorite food magazines every month and as soon as they appeared, they read them cover to cover, tearing out the most beautiful images of carefully crafted meals. They ate with their eyes first, picking recipes with photographs that made their mouths water. They planned family meals, holiday gatherings and social events around the flavors on the pages. A food magazine was their kitchen bible, offering new ideas and fresh flavors every thi rty days.

And then they couldnt eat gluten. In an instant, more than 90 percent of the recipes in their favorite food magazines were no longer suitable for their special diet. They could take a risk by experimenting with substitutes, but oftentimes that only resulted in failed attempts and lost ingredients. So they let their subscriptions lapse and fell into a pattern of boring meals and uninspired cooking.

Delight Gluten-Free Magazine launched in 2008 with one simple mission: to inspire, educate and encourage food lovers to embrace a gluten-free lifestyle filled with bold flavors, fresh ingredients and beautiful food. We believe that you dont have toin fact, you shouldntfeel deprived if you follow a gluten-free diet, and this belief is at the heart of every issue and recipe we publish.

From day one, the magazine was a gathering of people who loved food and had a shared vision of creating a sinfully satisfying gluten-free experience for readers. The first issue (Winter 2008) shipped to approximately 3,000 people. It was complimentary, so we hoped that readers would love the recipes (which included crusty popovers, butternut squash risotto, French toast, duck breast with chocolate and coffee sauce, chocolate truffle cake, mini pavlovas and tiramisu, among many others), and then subscribe. They did.