For about six months after I was diagnosed as a Coeliac, it seemed everything I touched in the kitchen turned into an unmitigated culinary disaster.

I’ve previously written about the sweet treats secret that helped me get my kitchen mojo back; but there was another trick that put me on the path to successful cooking adventures - the gluten free cooking class.

The CAE offered some very enjoyable classes with the talented GF pastry chef, Rachel van den Bosch, a few years back, which gave me a great introduction to baking gluten free. But I’m always on the lookout for something new.

Last Tuesday I joined ten other GF-curious cooks for three delightful kitchen hours with French-trained chef Gavin Draper, of Repertoire Catering. He’s running four gluten free classes over the next couple of months, stepping through GF basics; quick family meals; low GI meals and treats; and planning a dinner party.

Gavin’s been in the chef-ing business for 20 years. Initially inspired by legendary French chef Auguste Escoffier, he’s turned his considerable culinary skills to “unlocking the mysteries of gluten free recipes and the different flours”; sharing my belief that everyone should be able to eat fantastic food easily.

I signed up for the basics course, despite now considering myself an enthusiastic amateur cook who can (mostly competently) find her way around a gluten free kitchen – and Gavin delivered on his promise to send us home armed with lots of new knowledge.

The class started with canapés and glass of wine. My inner foodie was a little dismayed to be served a rice cracker topped with guacamole, but the situation was quickly redeemed by a sensational GF Welsh rarebit topped with candied orange, that set the tone for the evening.

Moving in to the commercial kitchen, Gavin launched into a very quick lesson on gluten free bread making (to allow time for it to rise during the class), and offered his first super tip of the night: how to encourage a good rise from the dough. I’m staying secret squirrel on that for now.

He then talked us through about 18 of the more popular flours we can play with. This was one of those things I wish I’d learned five years ago – rather than discovering it by trial and error. I might have saved a few kilos of flour in the process!

Gavin provides a handy guide to the flours, along with his recipes and answers to some common GF cooking questions, so there’s no need to feel overwhelmed.

I particularly love that Gavin’s training is really evident during the class – it’s not all about gluten free, there are quite a few Masterchef moments on French culinary techniques so I feel it really is about the food, not a ‘special’ diet. Seeing him turn his expertise to producing great gluten free food just reinforces my mantra that you can create palate-worthy meals to share, regardless of dietary requirements.

He steps through French-inspired sauce basics, whips up a delectable crème Anglaise and demonstrates an interesting take on the much-maligned orange poppyseed cake before finally indulging our salivating tastebuds with a sit down meal.

Gavin’s a champion of local produce and slow food – much to my delight. The class draws to a close with us tucking into Glenloth herb-marinated chicken, grilled asparagus, a German potato salad with new potatoes from Geelong and a watermelon, elderflower, mint and feta salad. But it is his world-class chocolate brownie, straight from the oven, that ultimately steals the show and sends me off with renewed enthusiasm for my (gluten free) kitchen.

Class 2: Quick Family Meals is on the 22nd of November at Middle Park.

PS I came home with a handy hint for restoring my much-abused Le Chasseur grill pan, too. Now to just get the knives sharpened...

Nothing beats fresh seafood (and hopefully some gluten free chips) and a refreshing beer after a dive. Thanks to importing and labelling restrictions, I can no longer enjoy a bottle of the world’s best Spanish gluten free lager, Estrella Damm Daura - that’s a foodie battle for another day - but I can still indulge in a seafood feast... especially when my dive buddy is a chef who delights in trying out new Ducks products!

Last week the Three Ducks shelves found a space for the Outback Chef’s exquisitely packaged and tantalising spice range.

Jude Mayall, aka the Outback Chef, has created some unique mixes of Australian native spices and more familiar spices for quick curries and BBQ enhancement of the gourmet gluten free variety.

Jude’s Lemon Pepper mix with lemon myrtle and native pepper berry caught my dive buddy’s eye.

The handy recipe on the pack recommends a lemon macadamia dukkah – dutifully made up and served at my recent birthday party with olive oil and Jane’s gorgeous gluten free bread – but Eric had other ideas and surprised me with a cold-cured side of salmon that’s great as an appetiser, for picnics or platters when entertaining!

Eric’s Three Ducks Lemon Pepper Gravlax
Ingredients
1 x 2.5kg side of salmon
500g white sugar
500g salt
2 packets Outback Chef Lemon Pepper mix

Method

1. Blitz salt and sugar in food processor until fine.

2. Put half the salt and sugar mix on a sheet of gladwrap large enough to wrap the fish, and place the salmon - skin side down - on top.

3. Sprinkle the lemon pepper on the flesh side of the salmon. Coat well.

4. Put the remaining salt and sugar mix over the lemon pepper. Wrap salmon completely in glad wrap, cover in tinfoil and put in fridge for 24 or 48 hours to cure. The longer you leave it, the drier the gravlax will become.

5. Serve with Yarra Valley Persian fetta and slice of fresh gluten free bread.

The gravlax will keep for a week in the fridge. If you’re feeling adventurous, try it with tuna.

Leftovers? Get your hands on a packet of Casalare or Pasta al Naturale fettuccine; chop a tablespoon of parsley and half a tablespoon of shallots or chives; add one teaspoon of minced garlic.

Slice the gravlax finely. Cook, then drain, the pasta; stir in all ingredients, plus salt and pepper to taste, add Persian fetta and enjoy (the warmth from the pasta will slightly cook the salmon slices – delish)!

If you've always wanted to cook with Australian bush spices but, like me, wasn't quite sure what to do with them, all of Jude's mixes have recipe suggestions and I'm always happy to talk food if you've got some ideas of your own.

Yours in great gluten free eating,
Ali

Miss Jo is an incredibly stylish individual – she does run a vintage emporium – so it goes without saying that this would be no ordinary Tuesday night meal.

My kitchen was surrendered to a woman bearing a picnic basket of goodness: Champagne, cream, free range eggs and... Western Australian truffles.

Before I could light the atmospheric table candles, the cork was off the Champagne, the whisk was at work making light of the eggs, and smoked salmon graced toasted slices of Jane’s gluten free bread (okay, and a gluten-full bagel for Miss Jo, but we'll forgive her because of this dish).

I’ve had truffle oil before, but never indulged in truffles – and here they were, being shaved in my kitchen. Keen to get my nose close to that gorgeous, earthy deliciousness, I might have been a little too enthusiastic, hovering at earlobe’s distance from the chef.

These aromatic shavings were to crown the fluffiest scrambled eggs I’ve ever laid eyes on. And things got even better when I discovered Jo’s tip for extra-fluffy eggs – a generous splash of Champagne (for the pot, as well as the chef, of course!).

So, I simply must share her recipe with you while Australian truffles are in season:

Miss Jo’s Tuesday Night Truffled Eggs

3 free range eggs
1 heaped tablespoon of sour cream
20mls of Champagne (or a good Australian sparkling)
40g butter, cubed
Chervil
Shaved Australian black truffle
Parmesan shavings
Pepper and sea salt
Good quality extra virgin olive oil
Gluten free bread (Ali's addition!)

Method:

1. 1. Poor a glass of Champagne, put the bottle on ice.
2. 2. Whisk together the eggs in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add sour cream and butter in knobs – don’t whisk. Take a sip of Champagne.
3. 3. Heat a frypan with a little butter until it foams. Add egg mix to frypan and gently fold over medium heat. When the eggs start to firm up, take them off the heat and add a dash of Champagne to lighten and freshen the mix. Take another sip for yourself.
4. 4. Pile the scrambled eggs onto the toasted bread (option: place Tasmanian smoked salmon on the toast first, then top with eggs).
5. 5. Before the egg cools, shave the truffle on top, add chervil and parmesan shavings.
6. 6. Eat immediately, served with a refreshed glass of Champagne, of course.

What’s your favourite Tuesday night meal?

Yours in great gluten free eating,
Ali

*I should also confess, it was post-yoga only for Miss Jo, who runs the fabulous Guava Jelly, if you’re on the lookout for exquisite vintage finds. I was busy trying to be flexible over BAS statements, serene with my stock orders and balance the Three Ducks books...
 

I’ve just polished off one of Nancy’s Scrumlicious vege pies for lunch: a very pie-worthy casing of buttery gluten free pastry and vege goodness.

Nancy won’t give up her pastry secrets, and I don’t really blame her, but I’d love just a hint or two to bring me some more joy in the kitchen.

I find making gluten free pastry to be particularly challenging. Like the time I spent six hours making a packet ‘puff’ pastry, that was anything but puffy, or palatable, in the end.

Buying ready-made frozen sheets can be just as frustrating. I’m still trying to find a brand that behaves properly in the kitchen.

These gorgeous-looking lamb sausage rolls were a bit of an experiment I whipped up when a friend came looking for someone to watch the footy with him. I’m embarrassed to say they were inedible.

The filling was okay – a blend of leftover roast lamb, roasted onion and rosemary – but the pastry quickly turned rock hard and had a very strange texture and non-taste (thankfully we had some Estrella Damm Daura to take our mind off the lack of appropriate footy treats).

Apparently it took Nancy two years to get her gluten free pastry ‘right’ and she took a tip from Margaret Fulton to use butter over margarine, which is something my Nan would have wholeheartedly supported! My tastebuds thank her for it...

But I still need a pastry for my home cooked pies. I’ve perfected a duck and pinot filling that needs a suitably delicious casing – any ideas?

What’s working for you? Any tips or recipes to share?

PS if you want to know more about Nancy’s story, you can find it here, and you can find her pies and quiches in-store at Ducks now!
 

I’ve missed a few nights in the kitchen here and there as the social life, family or work commitments had me dining elsewhere... but I’ve always made time to eat well and enjoy the process of putting a meal together.

For the past four weeks I’ve barely set foot in my kitchen and that has this particular foodie in culinary upheaval.

Granted, I have opened my first shop and that has consumed every waking hour of late (and a good portion of normal sleeping hours). But it has interrupted my ability to prepare decent meals for myself. The only reason I haven’t got scurvy or some other food-related malady is purely because my mum and sister kept me and my army of shop-fit out volunteers fed during the late nights of plastering, painting and shelf-stacking!

Being a Coeliac doesn’t make it easy to rely on the take-away food industry and I confess I’ve not been a fan of ready-made meals like pasta sauces and curries. Also, until now.

One of the joys of opening a physical shop front has been that bricks and mortar apparently give producers and suppliers the confidence to introduce their gluten free wares (our online launch last year didn’t spark a fraction as many treats to sample)!

And being a little short on time has put me in the right head – and stomach – space to explore the ready-made meal market.

I was particularly delighted with last night’s meal. So quick, so simple and so utterly tasty that I’m a convert to sauce-in-a-jar. Feeling especially hungry, I brushed a GF pizza base with a little olive oil and crushed garlic, sprinkled it with parmesan and baked until toasty. Meanwhile, my favourite GF rigatoni bubbled away in a pot and I opened a jar of temptingly-named Roast Vegetable Chilli Pasta Sauce from the Raw Materials team. Ten minutes later, I was in foodie heaven. It was such a rich, heart-warming sauce, flavourful with no acidic bottle-sauce aftertaste. I could feel that vege goodness undoing a few weeks of poor behaviour, and the garlic pizza and glass of Merlot restored my equilibrium.

Now I’m learning patience. There are so many good Australian gluten free products out there that I can’t stock my shelves fast enough.

I’ve had to take a deep breath and celebrate the little ‘wins’, like the delivery of our display freezers to carry scrumptious pies and pastries (from next week) and meeting fabulous smaller producers who have only one thing on their minds – creating sensational gluten free food to share.

That’s where the excitement really kicks in and I can’t wait to share that foodie joy with you over the next few months.

PS the pasta reheated beautifully for today’s lunch, so that’s an added gluten free bonus!

It was particularly challenging last weekend, due to the tropical deluge occurring during set-up and the ongoing downpours to scare everyone away. Plus, the 5.30am start is now in darkness... so I’m saying a slow farewell to summer...

This rainy day seemed to be one for questions. Most noticeably from people newly diagnosed or catering for gluten free family and friends.

Chatting with one mum with a three year old daughter who was diagnosed as gluten free at Christmas time, I realised the challenge breakfast creates, especially for parents. Not having been a cereal fan before being diagnosed as a Coeliac, I was really lucky to quickly embrace delicious mueslis like Brookfarm and the Unexpected Guest, but what about for kids?

I hadn’t really stopped to contemplate what you do with a child who’s not only just exploring the world of food, but also a restricted diet. They’ve already got their changeable likes and dislikes – only ‘orange’ foods this week, a unexpected loathing of peas, etc – so how do you combine that with serving up a gluten free diet as well?

This mum and I spent quite a few minutes talking about easy ways to make gluten free rice puffs tastier (try drizzling with honey and bake for a few minute in the oven), and I even suggested those brekky staples, pancakes and crepes, which also freeze well.

But it got me thinking about what I love about being in the kitchen – and that’s being able to taste and mix up different ingredients and discover the results.

Kids love experimenting, too. So how about letting her daughter create her own muesli? We talked about putting out some bowls of rice puffs, coconut, nuts and other gluten free grains like amaranth and quinoa for her to play with. It might seem time consuming or inconvenient at first, but it’s an easy project to share with your kids, that I hope appeals to their sense of fun and exploration and has good results (maybe even creating a little chef!).

When I’m back at the market this coming Saturday, I'd be delighted if this mum’s got a success story for me. I’m also on the lookout for other breakfast ideas just for kids – so let me know what’s working for you.

PS If you’re after breakfast inspiration, we’re also stocking a sensational gluten free seeded bread, fruit loaves and banana bread at the markets – so stop by to say hi if you’re in the neighbourhood.
 

Luckily the wonderful boys at Purvis Cellars have moved into my neighbourhood because a bbq on a balmy night isn’t complete without a beer or two. A bit of a challenge when you’re gluten free – but they’ve actually got a range of GF beers to whet the palate and I’m once more excited about knocking back a coldie.

I’m used to doing blind beer tasting sessions on my long-suffering non-gluten free brother in law to find an acceptable brew. I’ve had the unenviable party experience of being left with an esky full of gluten free beers even after every other drop of alcohol has been consumed – spectacularly failing to pass them off on what I thought was an unsuspecting crowd. So that’s an expensive lesson.

But no more. Right now I’m sipping a refreshing Spanish lager, Estrella Damm Daura, and completely understand how it won the “World’s best gluten free beer" awards in 2008 and 2009. I think this one will become my post-scuba dive beverage of choice this summer. It’s light and refreshing and has me hankering for my Barcelona travel days – all tapas, seafood and sunsets.

Not to be outdone, the Germans have the organic and gluten free Schnitzer Brau. It’s a sorghum brew, and so, so light (just not on the wallet!). I’m clearly still a fan of a pilsner. Back home, Billabong Brewing have a pale ale that reminds me of hoppier beer days. It’s a bit strong for my feminine taste, but I appreciate its boldness and distinct lack of millet aftertaste. They’ve got a Blonde, too, but I wasn’t a fan of that style before being diagnosed a Coeliac, so I haven’t rushed to try it.

Purvis don’t stock O’Brien’s. But I’m hoping they’ll revisit that decision. I confess the Pale was at the bottom of the esky mentioned above – some time ago now. And I had the poor grace to say as much to the brewer at this year’s Irresistible Gluten Free Show – which had an upside. I learnt that the recipe has been tweaked and am happy to say, O’Brien’s Pale Ale is summer-worthy. I’m already a big fan of their Brown Ale (but it’s the wrong season to be imagining stout pies) and I mentioned to the Purvis team that the Pale now holds its own in the gluten free beer world and has earned a spot on their shelves.

I’ll be going back to try the St Peter’s they stock, too. This is a UK beer that leans towards the pilsner, so just give me some more warm nights as an excuse.

But back to the bbq. Tonight it’s lamb chops topped with some delightful Onion Marmalade from Maleny Cuisine and the potato salad has a gorgeous gluten free mayonnaise from the team at Moredough Kitchens. Yum.
Cheers to summer nights... now I better fire up that barbie...
 

You see, I had my first date with Fine Food Australia. And this wonderful foodie event had a “Gluten Free World”! I was in my element – talking with the creators and distributors of some truly delicious GF products; like the delightfully talented Melinda Trembath of Melinda’s and Sam the baker with a huge heart at Well and Good (check out his bread making video on his site, I love it). And I got to say hi to the very supportive Brookfarm girls - see Chontelle pictured (also meeting Pam Brook, who’s created my favourite GF muesli) and the Byron Bay Cookies team – watch this space for some gluten free Christmas treats and new products...

I could lose my head here, let alone my heart, so I brought a chaperone for the taste testing. Initially I was worried about taking a very heavily pregnant sister through the exhibition, but apparently Kate likes to do nothing but graze at the moment, and so she was in her element (mind you, she did say at times she wished she wasn’t representing a GF company, as she felt she couldn’t go and taste products outside “GF World”, little foodie traitor!) I’d turn my back and she’d be chatting to a new supplier, giving opinions on the products and telling me what I should be stocking;, but we won’t talk about the amount of display icecream and gelato she consumed in the Catering Equipment section.

My second date was a night out at Raw Materials’ Carnival of Food celebration. Three Ducks carries the sensational Moredough Kitchens' stocks through Raw Materials, and they have plenty of other condiments we’ll introduce you to in the coming months. I adore their warehouse and they have a commercial kitchen that I can’t wait to get in to. Imagine walking in to an event to be greeted by the smells of Neil Prentice’s Moondarra wagyu chorizo paella (also using those Moredough Kitchens stocks), the sounds of Spanish guitar and a feast of food and conversation with industry reps and producers of some of Victoria’s tastiest smallgoods, wines and condiments. I was in foodie heaven.

I’m not alone in this love affair with smaller producers and distributors and getting close to the production source. I recently heard a food industry presentation about trends in Australia’s $40bn food service industry – and there were some numbers there that were close to my heart. It seems we’re not all enamoured of the major supermarkets. In fact, seven per cent of fresh produce sales in Australia now come from weekend markets, and ethnic and speciality food shops are on the rise. Independent grocers and specialist producers are also growing their market share.

And this is a market where, for many consumers, provenance really matters. Apparently Woolworth’s has started buying a lot more fresh produce directly from the farm gate – I’m yet to decide if this is a good thing for farmers, I hope so – but I think this reflects our growing desire to know the origins of what goes in our pots and on our plates. And it’s a wonderful desire.

I’m hoping to discover even more talented gluten free artisan producers at the Irresistible Gluten Free Show in Melbourne in a week’s time. I can usually be found at this show trying to quaff extra sample pours of the GF beer to recover from the dense and unpalatable bread tastings... but I take heart in the quality and skill of our smaller GF food producers and can’t wait to be wooed again!
 

I wanted this to be a ‘proper’ product tasting night, complete with tasting notes and scorecard so my wonderful guests would be able to give considered feedback on the 10 gluten free products we were trying.
Finally settling on three categories: Packaging, Taste and ‘Duck-worthiness’, I added tick boxes for love it, neutral and no way and a nice, general ‘comments’ space. I figured this would give a bit of guidance and room for personal reflection – not too many rules.

You can tell I have a background in events... I dutifully welcomed my tasters (with glasses of champers) and set about explaining what they could expect for the evening and what I wanted to achieve from it (namely, frank and fearless advice on potential Three Ducks products and a fun evening). I think it took two minutes before the first curly question came up – by ‘taste’ did I mean for a gluten free product or for regular tastebuds?

For a gluten free product? How to press my buttons! But it’s a very fair question. One of the reasons I created Three Ducks was to champion food to share, regardless of dietary needs. I believe you can find great food that addresses the gluten free necessity, but doesn’t scream it from the rooftops, scaring the non-gluten intolerant at the table. The food – its taste, texture, smell, seasonality and appeal – is paramount for me, along with the joy that often comes with communal dining.

So we cleared that up and moved onto a very productive evening. For the record, there was only one other GF taster at this event – so it could have been a tough crowd! I got quite a few giggles reading through the comments on the scorecards today, but ended up with five new potential products for my shelves.

The one product that had us all breaking a sweat, quaffing milk and reaching for the tasty cheese was the Matchett’s Chilli Fire condiment, which aptly comes with a Heat Rating: Very Friggen Hot! It lives up to its name but surprisingly came out a winner. My GF friend Narelle said “Just like the name suggests! I can imagine it mixed with yoghurt and used to marinate chicken.” Kath followed up with “Very Friggin Hot – they’re not joking, need yoghurt, tasty though!” This was a hit with the girls, so I’m hoping to add it to a GF Blokes hamper package with a warning to serve with a lot of yoghurt.

I’m always on the lookout for products that can be conveniently taken away on my hiking, diving and general outdoors-y adventures, so I’m secretly delighted that my friends at Brookfarm came out a winner as well with their Mt Bogong Walkabout Mix. To be fair, I pre-empted the taste testing here by already stocking this product – but I was pretty confident! Luckily, my taste-testers agreed. This was actually the stand-out product of the night. My favourite quotable quote is: “Very nice trail mix. I want to hike and eat like a bear.”

I’ll be adding Lesley Black’s condiments to my range after both the relish and chutney got big ticks, but the jury’s still out on finding a great GF nougat and meringue. Know anyone creating them?

We finished the night with gluten free pizzas (with varying degrees of success) and a few glasses of wine, congratulating ourselves on a tasting job well done. I have to say we go through a rigorous process to find the best GF products for Three Ducks.

I think I’ve got a taste for hosting a few more of these, so stay tuned for an invite.
 

I’m about to become an aunt, so we started with a baby shower brunch for Kate. Unlike my pancake fiasco at the snow recently, this brunch menu successfully featured gluten free crepes (courtesy of Pamela Moriarty’s ever-reliable cookbook) with caramel apples and a pear and raspberry compote – and ice cream. The pregnant one has consumed more ice cream than I thought humanly possible. Ever-considerate of my dietary needs, she even chased the Home ice cream man down the street in the middle of a wintry hail storm the other day to make sure we got GF ice cream!

I also served up little pots of Brookfarm’s macadamia muesli with vanilla yoghurt and fresh berries and I braved a new gluten free puff pastry to make mini quiche (at about $5 a sheet of pastry, I’m quite delighted these turned out so tasty!). So, the entire brunch menu was gluten free, and rather well received by the ladies who joined us to sip a few Bellini’s and attempt some nursery decorating.

Speaking of decorating, having spectacularly failed at creating a gluten free octopus cake for my friend’s birthday last week (structural issues, don’t ask!), I wisely delegated the baby shower cake to my very talented friend Dina. Her gluten free concoctions are decadently chocolate and nothing short of sensational.

This creation had something for everyone – a bubble bath baby for my Piscean sister, a bathtub form reminiscent of the dad-to-be’s childhood backyard hot tub, three rubber ducks for me and enough layers of chocolate to keep the most determined chocoholic delirious with joy.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to cut the cake that morning, so just as well the afternoon found the backyard full of family and friends for the housewarming BBQ. I like to make my own hamburger patties (of course I use both pork and beef mince, doesn’t everyone?) but my local butcher has a new manager who wisely stocks gluten free sausages and he made a really good sales pitch for trying out his GF patties, too. I’m glad he was so persuasive as they were a hit, right up there with BT’s famous chorizo and squid skewers.

With a bit of planning, all the salads were GF, along with the home made hommus and guacamole and the burgers were topped with Maleny Cuisine’s Onion Marmalade (I was doing some sneaky product testing on the non-GF guests and the practically-empty jar spoke volumes).

So, apart from some bread roles and the beer, it was a largely gluten free event (and let’s face it, most of us aren’t ready for GF beer yet).Most people were none-the-wiser, either, which I think is how it should be and there were certainly no complaints when the GF cake was finally carved up into chocolaty goodness for everyone to share!

Never shy of cooking for a crowd, I’m often the first one in the kitchen getting a hearty breakfast underway to prepare us for the bone-chilling chairlift rides and snow-drenching tumbles ahead.

The gluten free thing isn’t usually an issue when I’m catering. That was until I over-promised on the pancakes during our trip to Mt Buller.

I’d been talking up the gluten free pancakes for about three days. We’d already consumed the eggs and delicious Istra bacon I’d happily hauled up the mountain with us. The final day was dedicated to pancakes. And my wonderful friends were quite happy to go GF as long as it produced fluffy stacks of pancakey goodness.

Yes, I generally make things from scratch. Yes, I have a great gluten free buckwheat pancake recipe. And yes, I also have some excellent ready-to-go gluten free pancake mixes at Three Ducks. But I love discovering new products and this seemed like a fine time to try another one out. I never really stop testing potential products – and my mountain-captive, hungry, non-gluten free audience seemed game to participate.

So, here I am with Pancake Product X*, ready to add water, shake vigorously and pour into perfect circles in the pan. Step one, easy. Step two, also easy. Step three was where the trouble started.

Having added the requisite liquid and shaken, what poured out was a thick blob of gluten free batter that needed to be smeared around the pan to take on a circle shape. It bubbled like all good pancake mixes should and stuck a bit before the flip, but it did resemble a pancake. Time for the taste test; if you regularly eat GF you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say this left us with that unpleasant, floury, teeth-chalky aftertaste common with some GF blends.

Not to be deterred just yet (we had some good toppings ready on the table and I had been promising this for days), I added a little more water to the mix, put more butter in the pan and went for another pour. Slightly better circle, appropriate bubbling in the batter, complete sticking on the flip – resulting in a scrunched non-pancake. 

I was starting to get a bit disheartened here and the snowboarders were restless. So I pulled out another pan of the Teflon kind, buttered it, added some more water to the mix, shook and poured. The circle practically evaporated before coming together in something like a pancake shape, and then it stuck and refused to hold together for the flip. This is when my friend M stepped in to try her hand (and calm down the cook). Same result. Would it be third time lucky with someone else? No. No pancake joy for Tav, either.

Two pans, three cooks, one product that didn’t make the grade. Needless to say, it’s not on the Ducks shelves. Breakfast ended up being a tin of baked beans and a consolatory hot chocolate as I squeezed into ski pants and took to the Holden Chairlift to put the brekky disaster far behind me.

By the way, if you find yourself at Mt Buller in search of gluten free options, the village caters pretty well for special dietary needs. Most of the restaurants offer a GF option or two and the Hoo Hah Kitchen in the Kooroora Hotel does really well here. The Foodworks store also happens to be a bit gourmet and has a surprisingly good range of gluten free products if you want to cater in.

If you’re really lucky, your lodge manager may even be very talented at whipping up a GF treat or two – but that’s a story for another day... time to get back to that product testing.

*not its real name, but it’s definitely not on our product list!

I’m eating a slice now and trying to type one-handed! Recipe creator Anthony Telford suggests baking this recipe in a rectangular slice tray and cutting it into small squares to serve as a sweet treat with coffee at the end of a meal.

If you haven’t tasted Brookfarm’s gluten free muesli, or even their fabulous breakfast bars, yet, what are you waiting for? This was one of my first truly joyous gluten free discoveries and set me on the path to finding great gluten free food to share through Three Ducks.

Brookfarm's Gluten Free Chocolate Muesli Cake

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter

200g quality dark chocolate

250g Brookfarm Gluten Free Muesli

4 large eggs

225g caster sugar

Method

Line a 22cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 160°C.

Place butter and chocolate together in a heat proof bowl over gently simmering water. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature. 

Place muesli in food processor and blitz until it resembles a “nut meal” (it needs a really good blitz to get to this stage, so be patient – it’s definitely worth it for a great result).

Mix the eggs with the sugar until combined. 

Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mix with the muesli meal. 

Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 45-50 mins or until skewer comes out clean (from the centre of the cake) .

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Serve with cream and fresh berries or a dusting of Dutch cocoa powder.

This cake will last one week in an airtight container in the pantry or fridge (if you can resist it!).

The biscuits pages in particular show a colourful progression in my culinary skills – the pages stuck together with hints of ingredients past, in a pre-gluten free world for me. Turning through those pages a few months back, I came across a recipe using hazelnut meal and that got me creating the recipe I want to share today:

Three Ducks’ Hazelnut Jaffa Cookies

Preheat oven to 180°C and line two biscuit trays with baking paper

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter

½ cup castor sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons orange zest

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup gluten free self raising flour

85g ground hazelnuts

50g chopped dark chocolate

½ cup dessicated coconut

Method:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add lightly beaten egg, vanilla essence, and then the orange zest.

In a separate bowl, combine SR flour, hazelnut meal, chocolate and coconut.

Add the wet ingredients to this bowl and mix well to combine.

Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on the trays. Flatten slightly and place in the oven.

Cook for 10 – 15 minutes until golden and cool on wire racks.

Makes about 18.

It was unwrapped on Christmas morning a few years back and I instantly fell in love with its delectable cover and spiral bound pages of sweet treats. I’m a madly enthusiastic cook, but it had been a rough year in my kitchen. I was moving into the world of gluten free cooking after a Coeliac diagnosis and that resulted in a few spectacular baking disasters and quite a few tears of frustration.

At that stage, I had one American gluten free cookbook but was yet to successfully create anything from it; which was a strange experience for someone who could generally follow a recipe with some degree of edible outcome. I’m thinking of my earlier attempts at bread-making resulting in my mostly encouraging sister saying ‘Don’t you feed that to me, and don’t you dare give it to my dog!’ before the bread in question fell off the bench and practically shattered the floorboards.

When my sister Kate bought me that Christmas gift of Pamela Moriarty’s Sharing Sweet Secrets, Gluten and Wheat Free, I’m sure she didn’t realise at the time that it wasn’t just a beautiful cookbook that she was sharing – it gave me back my confidence in the kitchen.

I think I’ve now made nearly every recipe in this book and, because it consistently works, it’s the first thing I recommend as a gift for newly-diagnosed Coeliac and gluten free cooks. In my house, it has helped create joyously-received caramelised apple crepes for birthday breakfasts, emergency biscotti for afternoon tea, a triple choc brownie worthy of the best comfort food title and countless other desserts and cakes to make me smile.

And there’s something else I’m smiling about – I asked Kate why she’d bought it for me and she said it didn’t look scary and wasn’t covered with a title that screamed ‘special needs’ eating. She knows I struggle with publications that combine food images with a list of restrictions, aversions and conditions on the same page. I’ve always been about the food, first, and creating something that everyone can share, without highlighting the dietary restrictions.

Kate said I’d stopped baking that year and that, for her, was a travesty. She then confessed she actually bought the book because of all the treats she wanted me to make for her, a non-Coeliac.

Her secret’s out. Lucky for her, I’m now happily baking gluten free and it’s hard to taste the difference. Yes, I still have the occasional disaster, but that one book introduced me to the possibilities of good gluten free food, explained some of the baking principles and offered tips to survive this brave new gluten free recipe world. I’m eternally grateful she shared that gift.

The lovely Adelle, recipe creator, is off adventuring abroad, but she had time to raid her Nan’s garden before flying out and used the excess mandarins to come up with this treat: 

Adelle’s Mandarin Cupcakes

Ingredients

3 mandarins

6 eggs

1tsp baking powder

1 ¾ cups almond meal

2/3 cup sugar

½ cup mandarin juice

¼ cup sugar (extra for syrup)

Poppy seeds

Method

Place whole fruit in saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and then simmer for two hours. Drain mandarins, cool, remove seeds and puree the peel and fruit. 

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Beat the eggs until light and fluffy. Fold in baking powder, almond meal, sugar and the fruit pulp.

Pour into greased muffin trays (or fill patty cases) and bake for 20 mins.

In a saucepan, heat mandarin juice and additional sugar and reduce by half.

Pour syrup over cooked cakes and sprinkle with poppy seeds while cakes are still warm. 

Makes about 16 cupcakes.

Happy baking!

Cheers

Ali