What can be used as a substitute for tomato sauce in typical italian dishes?

Question

I have a friend that has developed an allergy or sensitivity of some kind to tomato sauce in foods. She has been craving pizza, pasta, and lasagna for a while now and I've been searching for a way to make those sorts of dishes without using tomatoes, but while maintaining a similar flavor i.e. not a white sauce flavor.

Any ideas suggestions?

Asked by Aaron Thomas

Answer

You could use Red Pepper Coulis:

Roast red peppers on grill, gas flame or cut off the sides and place skin side up under broiler until skins are blackened. Cool and remove charred skin.

Sweat onions and garlic in a little olive oil with salt and pepper until softened. Add the charred roasted red peppers and some chicken stock. Simmer until vegetables are very soft and puree with an immersion blender, food processor or regular blender. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Thin with additional stock according to consistency desired/needed.

Add basil, oregano, Italian seasoning blend to season as desired.

Answered by Darin Sehnert

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What are good references for Gluten free baking

Question

I have several members of my family who are GF. Baking for them has become a real challenge. I'm looking for good references to learn to understand how to work with this limitation in my baking. What are good references (online or print) for good GF baked goods?

Asked by acrosman

Answer

This is an excellent site to learn about gluten free baking:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

I have personally tried many of the recipes and they have been excellent.

Answered by James H

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Non-cow's milk replacement for Parmesan cheese in Genovese pesto

Question

My family loves Genovese pesto and we'd started making our own (with varied success). One of our number has been diagnosed as intolerant to cow's milk. This rules out pretty much all shop-bought varieties, so we now have to take the homemade route seriously. To help us out, please can you suggest non-cow's milk cheeses that we could use instead of Parmesan?

Answer

Finding a non-cow subsitute for parmesan is a difficult task - Grana, the closest, is made from cow milk as well so it's no good.
You can try using Pecorino which is made from sheep milk, and has a slightly stronger flavour.
I've never tried it personally, but it's not rare in some regions of Italy to make pesto with pecorino, so it's definitely worth a try!

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Sourdough starter - will it set off my allergies?

Question

I'm very allergic to mold, among other things (all airborne, no food allergies). I also adore sourdough bread. If I were to make my own sourdough starter so I could bake sourdough regularly, would it a) be similar enough to mold to set off my allergies, or b) be likelier to attract mold than anything else in my kitchen?

Answer

No. Sourdough culture is not a mold.

Even when the surface of your sourdough gets moldy (per Adam, above) to get moldy, it's not the kind of mold which releases spores into the air.

I speak as a severe allergy sufferer.

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Is there a milk-free sour cream?

Question

Is there some kind of milk-free sour cream available, to use as substitute due to an allergy?

Answer

There are cultured soy and coconut milk products (generally sold with yogurt) which can be used as a sour cream substitute; it's frequently advisable to add a little extra vinegar or lemon juice as these products don't generally provide as much kick as real sour cream.

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How much gluten will set off somebody's celiac disease?

Question

I have a house guest incoming that has celiacs and I know that it means they can't eat gluten. But does that mean that I need to yank everything that has wheat out of my kitchen for the duration? I need to know if this something that gets set off just by looking at wheat or if it's tolerable in small quantities.

Answer

i am celiac, ideally you should clean your entire kitchen, clean out your silverware and utensil drawers and wash all utensils in the dishwasher. Wipe all surfaces and sinks with bleach wipes. Scrub all pots and pans, to remove gluten films then wash in dishwasher. give all dishes to be used a run through the dishwasher.

off limit items are, seasoned pans (cast iron, or porcelain), earthenware, pasta pots, strainers, toasters, cooking stones, wood spoons or utensils, cutting boards, blenders and crockpots.

to avoid contamination use fresh mayo, mustard, peanut butter jars, etc. do not use any ingredients such as sugar that may have been contaminated with flour from use while baking.

because you are not familiar with ingredients that contain gluten, use only pure ingredients if you are cooking for your celiac guest.

avoid spice blends.

http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html

hope this was a bit of help.

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