Gluten Free and me...in Aruba 2013

I think I can safely say that the gluten free trend is strong in Aruba!

First, at least two of the supermarkets carry gluten free items.  I walked into Super Foods, and they had a small gluten free area carrying items like Schar pasta, among other things.  I also saw an advertisement for Ling and Sons, which apparently carries items made by Glutino as well as others.  So buying your own food has become easier.

The second thing, is three of the six restaurants we went to for dinner offered me gluten free bread with my dinner!  That was very cool!

New restaurants we went to:

Matthew’s Beachside Restaurant:  This is a very nice restaurant that sits on the edge of the beach, though not in the sand.  Although they did not have a gluten free menu, the waiter did speak to the chef about which items I could and could not have.  The entrée I had was a grouper dish.  In order to make it gluten free, they substituted melted butter for their creole sauce.  The grouper was very flavorful and quite moist.  I particularly liked the simple side of vegetables they served as a side dish, as they were crunchy but not undercooked, as can sometimes be the case.

Gostoso Restaurante:  This charming little restaurant is behind the downtown area.  The outside looks…like someplace you might be worried about eating in.  However, they had gotten great reviews, so Cathy and I ventured inside.  Wow!  Am I glad we did!  The owner was there, and he talked to us for a while.  He read off a list of specials that all sounded great.  Again, they were able to guide me to gluten free items.  My entrée was a seafood medley that was in a sauce.  Unfortunately, the owner spoke fast so I missed what the sauce was.  In any case, the dish contained lobster, clams, mussels, shrimp, grouper and calamari.  Now Cathy is not a calamari fan.  This is because, if calamari is overcooked, it can become rubbery.  However, this calamari was cooked perfectly.  It was very tender.  The sauce was good and did not overpower the seafood, instead it complemented it.  I have to say, this was one of the best meals I have had on the island, and I highly recommend this restaurant.

Yemanja Woodfired Grill:  For anyone who must be gluten free, this is a great place to go.  They actually have a huge gluten free menu.  In comparing the regular menu and the gluten free menu, it looks like many of their regular items are gluten free.  That being said, you should still ask for the gluten free menu.

As for the food, I had a wonderful fish chowder.  Cathy got the same thing from the regular menu.  She tried mine and she could detect only a slight difference.  It was thick and creamy…exactly what a New Englander likes in chowder.

  

As for the entrée…well…I didn’t like what I ordered, which was a smoked duck breast.  Don’t get me wrong.  It was cooked perfectly with most of the fat rendered off.  The presentation was simple but nice.  I just felt it was too smoked, so it overpowered the meat.  That being said, Cathy and one of our other travel companions happened to order items that were gluten free and they were both delicious, so I would have no problem going back, and you shouldn’t think twice about going there.

Marandi:  Marandi is near the airport, and they have had a couple of different owners.  The current owners also own a restaurant called Que Pasa.  They do not have a gluten free menu, but the wait staff have a list of all of the foods they have that are gluten free.

I received some gluten free bread.  This bread was shaped like a muffin with a very crunchy top, and the bread had herbs in it, which made it very flavorful.  You should ask for separate butter though so you won’t have to deal with cross contamination.

Cathy and I both got the fish soup, which was naturally gluten free.  It was a tomato based soup with a slight hint of curry.  It gave the soup a nice flavor, and it really woke up my pallet.

  

My entrée was corvina, which is a fish from Panama.  Big, flaky, moist with nicely seared skin and some chopped nuts on top which added texture to the dish, which was a delight.

It is nice to see that restaurants in Aruba are catering more and more to those of us who must be gluten free.  What once was somewhat difficult has become relatively easy.

To see where I ate in Aruba in 2012, click here.

Think Like A Chef - Breakthrough #2

Due to circumstances, I was unable to make the planned dinner of eggplant, zucchini, and roasted tomato lasagna.  However, I was still in the mood to cook, and I wanted to make something Italian.

My thought process went something like this:  “I’ll make chicken parm with a side of pasta.  But, I really only try to eat pasta once a week, so I’ll make spaghetti squash…which I have never even tasted before.  Sounds good.  Except I eat chicken at least three times a week.  So, instead I’ll make meatballs.  No…I try to eat red meat only once a week.  I know!  I’ll make turkey meatballs!  Which I have never made either.  This should be interesting.”

Now, I’ve never made meatballs of any kind before, but I’ve watched enough cooking shows to have an idea of what I needed to buy, so I went to the store and bought some ingredients.  First I bought some gluten free bread crumbs with Italian seasoning. 

Aleia's makes very good gluten free products.

Next, I had to decide what kind of cheese.  Now here was the dilemma.  First, I had to choose between Parmesan and Pecorino Romano.  Also, how bad would this taste if I substitute either of these cheeses for the low fat version I can get from that little green plastic bottle?  In the end, because this was my first time making these, I went with real cheese and I went with the Pecorino Romano.  I also bought some parsley, and of course ground turkey.

This led to another dilemma.  Do I get the 93% fat free or the 99% fat free ground turkey?  Personally, I think that meat has to have a little bit of fat to it, so I went with the 93% fat free.

Next, I bought a spaghetti squash, which to my surprise had a harder exterior than butternut squash, and finally some RAO’s marinara sauce.  I went with RAO’s because I didn’t feel I had time to make a sauce from scratch, and RAO’s was rated one of the best jarred sauces a couple of years ago.

My plan of attack was to put the sauce in a pot, heat it up, make the turkey meatballs, and then drop them in the sauce.  This led to yet another interesting decision.  There is a lot of controversy on the right way to make meatballs of any kind.  Look on the internet.  Some people drop them in the sauce raw, some people brown them, then put them in the sauce, some people bake them first, and so on.  Ultimately, I decided to go the Anne Burrell route:  Brown them, bake them, then put them in the sauce.

To make them, first I sweated some onion.  I don’t like raw onion in my turkey meatballs or regular meatballs, even though they are made that way sometimes.   After sweating them for a few minutes, I added minced garlic cloves, continued to cook for a minute or two and then took them off the heat.  I put the ground turkey in a bowl, followed by two eggs, about 2/3 cup of bread crumbs, 2/3 cup of Pecorino Romano, some parsley, some salt, and mixed it up with my hands.  (This of course led to the first of 50 or so hand washings!)  Then I added the onion garlic mixture to the bowl and remixed.  Then I added some water to the mixture in an attempt to keep the turkey balls moist. (Thanks, Anne Burrell, for the tip!) 

Next I heated up some olive oil, and made a very small patty just to check for seasoning.  It needed a tiny bit more salt.

Next I made the turkey meatballs, making sure not to pack them too tightly so they wouldn’t be tough. 

Raw turkey meatballs.  Not perfectly round but...

I then browned them in two batches, and then baked them for twenty minutes at 350 degrees.  I went with twenty minutes because they were decent sized.  After twenty minutes, into the sauce they went.

Now I had to make the spaghetti squash.  Having never made spaghetti squash (or even tasted it for that matter) I watched some YouTube videos on it to see how to prepare it.  I chose the one by Michael Chirello.  In the video, he cut the squash open with a cleaver.  What a show off!  I’ll just take my chef’s knife and….ahem…I’ll just take my chef’s knife and…what is this thing made out of?  Concrete??

So, I used a cleaver, just like that great chef Michael Chiarello, who would never show off by using a cleaver…

In any case, after much struggle, I opened it, put some olive oil on each half, seasoned it with salt and pepper, put the flesh side down, and cooked it for 40 minutes.  Then I took it out of the oven and let it cool.  Then I scrapped it with a large spoon.  Wow!  That’s pretty cool!  It looks like…spaghetti!  I tasted it, and it was a little bland so I sprinkled it lightly with sea salt.

To serve, I took a pan, heated some of the sauce that was in the pot, and then I put the spaghetti squash into the pan.

Really...how cool is that?

Then I put the it in the bowls.  Then I took the turkey balls out of the sauce and put them in the bowl and put a little more sauce on top.  Then I sprinkled some more pecorino Romano, and then some parsley.

The finished dish.  I wish I hadn't covered up the meatballs so much.

I have to say, the whole meal was quite good.  The turkey meatballs were not tough at all, and very moist.  At the same time, the spaghetti squash had a lot of body to it, and stood up well to the sauce, so it gave a nice texture difference from the turkey meatballs.

I will say that this meal was higher in fat content than I usually like.  I think I would like to try it next time by using one less egg, and maybe trying to find a good quality low fat cheese.  That being said, this was a filling, flavorful meal, that I would make again.  I think Chef Colicchio would say I've made good progress.

Think Like A Chef - Studies

Now that technique has been learned, the next part of Tom Colicchio’s book, “Think Like A Chef” is called “Studies.”

The idea that Colicchio tries to get across in this chapter is that a very small idea can ultimately create a much larger, complex idea.  The example he uses is tomatoes.  First he could roast them.  Then he could toss them with some pasta and fresh herbs.  On the other hand, if he chops them, then he could use them as ravioli filling.

If he purees the tomatoes, he could eventually build vinaigrette and use it for a dressing on salad and seared tuna.  Or he could use the tomatoes to cover sea bass, wrap it in caul fat and roast it. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Colicchio also points out that he usually starts this process with vegetables.  They are the initial building block he uses to create a dish, rather than a protein.

The most important paragraph in the chapter starts with this sentence: “To truly understand how a chef thinks, it’s important to grasp this concept: I am always thinking outward, from one idea to many.”  In other words, he doesn’t start off by thinking about a finished dish such as filet mignon with grilled asparagus.  He thinks instead, “I’ve got really nice asparagus, that might go well with the filet mignon I have.”

There are three studies in this chapter, each one starting with a basic ingredient.  The first is roasted tomatoes.

My plan: I finally have a week or two to re-start my cooking.   If all goes well, I should be able to roast tomatoes on Saturday, and then make Colicchio’s Roasted Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant Lasagna on Sunday.  I am excited about that dish in particular, because I need to change it a bit in order to make it gluten free.

I Am Invisible

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered something:

I am invisible.

Now, I know you’re thinking I went off the deep end.  I can assure you, I don’t think I can walk around nude, breaking into people’s houses and spying on them without them knowing I’m in the same room with them.  Not invisible like that.  Invisible like…well…let me step back for a moment.

I have often said that the closest thing I will ever know to jail was the years I spent in high school.  Don’t get me wrong…I dated and made a few friends, like Churchill, Renee, Kevin and my ole buddy Steve (who I haven’t really had much contact with in recent years, other than birthday and Christmas cards, but I think he knows that, if he ever needed me for something, I’d be there, and I think he’d do the same for me).  But for the vast majority of the time, high school was just…painful.  And even 30 years later, I carry a lot of baggage with me from those four years.

Now what does all this have to do with being invisible?

Every once in a great while, I get a bit nostalgic.  I start to look up people on the internet that I knew back then, to see how they are doing.  Not being on Facebook, this can be difficult, so I try to find pictures from reunions.

I found the 30 year reunion pictures recently.  I thought, “Funny, I never got an invitation…not that I ever do or anything…weird.”  Then I noticed a section that said “List.”  I clicked on it and there was a document that said something to the effect that “We don’t know how to get in touch with these people, if you know where to contact them, please let us know.”  And, lo and behold, my name was not on the list.

“Maybe they think I’m dead,” I thought, so I went to that page.  Nope, not on that list.  I went back and looked at the original list.  I must have stared at it for 5 minutes…my name was not there.

The only conclusion I can come to is that, apparently, I was a complete non-entity for much of my high school years.  Wow…I mean…I KNOW I was bullied a lot.  But some people must have seen me, right?  Maybe not.  Maybe those years were really a dream…no…that can’t be it.  I guess except for a handful of friends, and a whole bunch of bullies, I was invisible.

So why am I writing this?  Well, my first blog posting said one of the reasons I was doing this was as a form of therapy.  And now I have a couple things to say.

First, to my friends mentioned above, although we don’t stay in close touch, I really do love you all.  I wish you all nothing but the best.

As for the rest of you, who apparently either chose to bully me or pretend I didn’t exist, I want to tell you a few things about myself.  I’ve been married almost 24 years to a wonderful woman.  I live in a really cool place.  I make a good living.  I have really good friends like Cynthia, Mary and David, Phil and Liora, and of course Leslie and Jan.  I like to cook.  I’m funny.  I love animals.  Yes, I am still short, I still wear glasses, and I still like the Beatles. 

You may have chosen not to get to know me, to see who I really am, but you know what?  That’s your loss, because I’m a nice guy.  Yes, I have faults like everyone else.  But I’m a really nice guy.  And I truly feel sorry for you, because you’ll never know what you missed in not taking a few moments out of your lives to get to know me.

And now, maybe, just maybe, I can start let go of that baggage.

Now, about that mushroom ragout…

Product Review - The Dunkin Donuts Gluten Free Donut and Blueberry Muffin

I found them.

I searched near where I work on the NorthShore...no luck.

But yesterday, I had to get my hair cut near Boston.  I ventured into a Dunkin' Donuts shop, and there they were!  The gluten free donut and the gluten free blueberry muffin.  Here are my reviews of each:

Dunkin' Donuts Gluten Free Cinnamon Sugar Donut

The donut is rather small...about 3/4 the size of a regular donut from Dunkin'.  Obviously, it is wrapped to keep away any chance of contamination.  Both this and the blueberry muffin were found at the front counter.  Obviously, this is a cake donut.

Here is a picture of the calories:

And the ingredients:

Now, I always give Cathy a bite of anything I try that's new.  I'm always curious to see what someone who eats gluten thinks about gluten free foods.  We both agreed on this product.  It had pretty good flavor, but was a little on the dry side.  Not bad though.  I would not go out of my way to get one, but when the urge strikes, I think it is good enough.  And it certainly would be nice, when someone at work brings a dozen donuts in, to finally have an option for me.

Dunkin' Donuts Blueberry Muffin

Sorry, gang, I forgot to take a picture of the actual muffin.  I will say, however, that it is huge...about 1 1/2 times the size of a regular blueberry muffin from Dunkin,.  Unfortunately, there's really nothing else good to say about it.

First, here are the calories:

And the ingredients:

If you've seen the picture of the blueberry muffin on line, you'll note that it says, "artificially flavored."  And that is EXACTLY what it tastes like.  I couldn't actually tell you whether the muffin was dry or moist, because, although there were actually blueberries in there, it tasted like...sugar that wasn't really sugar, but something pretending to be sugar, mixed with something that was pretending to taste like blueberries that had gone bad.  In fact, I gave Cathy a small piece and she could not get it down.

One for two isn't bad.