Book review: Deliciously Wheat, Gluten & Dairy Free
By Antoinette Savill
Grub Street, £14.99
It's">http://grubstreet.co.uk/product/deliciously-wheat-gluten-dairy-free-2/)**It's hard to read the title of this book without thinking of ‘clean eating queen' Ella Woodward, whose book, Deliciously Ella, was the fastest-selling debut cookbook since records began, shifting more than 32,000 copies in a week.
Antoinette Savill's book strikes a balance between health and comfort, proving that allergen-free foods can be delightfully uncomplicated. A chorizo hash with poached eggs uses only a handful of ingredients, as does a glossy beetroot risotto with goats' cheese and mint.
Gluten-free flours are put to good use in gnocchi, flatbread pizza, raspberry tartlets and a cranberry, pecan and pear upside-down pudding. The extra effort and cost of alternative flours often yields more gastronomically interesting results, and Savill uses almond flour in a strawberry macaron cake and rice flour in a Vietnamese pancake with prawns and edamame bean salad. However, more use could be made of other flours - for instance, chickpea, coconut or various nut flours, which can be easily made in a blender.
More than half the book is dedicated to desserts, which rely heavily on sunflower spreads or lactose-free butter. These substitutes don't often match up to the real thing, but many of the recipes are still appealing: hazelnut and chocolate torte, passion fruit curd, frozen yogurt and macarons with a thick caramel confiture de lait.
Another gluten-free book soon to be published is Linda Bruce-Gardyne's Genius Gluten-Free Cookbook, a round-up of coeliac-friendly recipes, which includes lemon meringue pie made with almond and rice flour pastry.
By Emily Clark
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Recipe: Sauté of pigeon breasts with walnut and orange salad by Antoinette Savill >>
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