Author: Gemma

Closing of Website

Hi everyone,
Thank you for your interest in this website, chemical free chemist.
As you are aware, the website hasn’t been updated in a few years. As such, I will be taking it down in three weeks (23/02/2021). Please take this opportunity to download any of the recipes before they are unavailable.
I wish you well on your food journey.
Dr Gemma

Lemon Meringue Pie


Serves 12
Time: 4 h
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients – Base

190 g Nuttelex Original
1/4 tsp vanilla essence (a)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup (b)
215 g Orgran gluten free plain flour
1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients – Lemon curd

2 cups water
1/2 cup white sugar
5 tbsp gluten free cornflour (c)
5 gelatine leaves (d)
1 tbsp Nuttelex Original
3 egg yolks

Ingredients – Meringue

3 egg whites
1/2 cup caster sugar
pinch salt
1 tsp gluten free cornflour (c)

Foodnotes

(a) Vanilla essence should not contain any preservatives – Queen’s Natural Organic Vanilla Essence is one suitable product but the Queen’s Natural Vanilla Extract is NOT failsafe as it contains preservative 202. Vanilla essence is failsafe at 2 drops per day (Food Intolerance Network Website, 2018)
(b) Golden syrup is low FODMAP at 1/2 tbsp (7g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(c) Use gluten free cornflour, also known as cornstarch, which is a fine white flour. Corn flour from wheat contains wheat and gluten while yellow corn flour or maize flour is higher in salicylates.
(d) Use gelatine without preservatives or additives. If you are sensitive to gluten, choose a gelatine that is gluten free. I used Sliver Grade Bio-Organic edible leaf gelatine but other grades should work.

Instructions – Base
  1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
  2. Beat Nuttelex, vanilla essence, brown sugar, salt and golden syrup together
  3. Sift in Orgran gluten free flour
  4. Mix until uniform consistency
  5. Press mixture evenly onto base and sides of a large pie dish
  6. Bake the base for 20 mins at 180 deg C
Instructions – Lemon Curd
  1. Soak gelatine leaves in ice-cold water for 2 minutes
  2. Squeeze water out of the gelatine
  3. Separate the eggs into whites and yolks
  4. Combine 1 cup of water, white sugar and citric acid in saucepan and bring to the boil
  5. Make a slurry with 2 tbsp of water and cornflour
  6. Add cornflour slurry, remaining water (2 tbsp less than 1 cup) and gelatine to the water, sugar and citric acid mixture
  7. Stir the mixture continuously until it thickens
  8. Take the mixture off the heat and after a couple of minutes, stir in Nuttelex and egg yolks
  9. All the curd to cool slightly and then pour into cooked pie base
Instructions – Meringue
  1. Mix together caster sugar, salt and cornflour
  2. Beat egg whites to a soft peak with an electric mixer
  3. Add sugar mixture, one dessert spoon at a time, beating well after each addition to give glossy peaks
  4. Float dollops of meringue mixture onto lemon curd to cover the surface
  5. Using a spatula, spread the meringue over the surface and make small peaks
  6. Bake lemon meringue pie for 15 mins at 180 deg or until meringue is lightly browned
  7. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours to allow lemon curd to set
  8. Keep refrigerated before serving
Personal Notes

This recipe is adapted from the lemon meringue pie and butterscotch biscuits recipes from Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook. If you can tolerate more than 2 drops of vanilla a day, the pie goes well with So Good vanilla frozen dessert.

I have made lemon meringue pie twice – once for a New Years Eve party and once when going to a friend’s place for dinner, which was then finished off by work colleagues – it has been very well received every time! Most people seem quite amazed that there aren’t real lemons in it and that it is gluten free. It is very sweet though, so I’d recommend making it for an event where it can be shared.

My current conundrum with this dessert is that I want the crusty meringue that comes from keeping the meringue dry but the firm lemon curd that requires cooling in the fridge. I tried slowly cooling it in the oven which made the crusty meringue, but as soon as I put the pie in the fridge, the condensation made the meringue soften. In a chemistry lab this would be an easy fix – put the sample in a flame-dried piece of glassware under a nitrogen atmosphere before cooling it and then there is no water present in the air to condense! The kitchen is a bit more difficult. I would like to try allowing the pie to cool completely to room temperature in the oven and then putting it in an airtight container in the fridge but there may be too much liquid in the pie for that to work and I can’t try it as my largest container doesn’t fit the pie dish. A much easier solution would be to find a different setting agent (also low FODMAP and failsafe!) that sets at room temperature. For now a soft meringue and set lemon curd is tasty enough.

Fried Potato Omlette


Serves 1
Time: 15 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

1 large white potato (a)
1 tbsp canola oil (b)
2-3 eggs
3 cm or 7 g celery (c)
25 g dark green tips of leek (d)
1 pinch citric acid
1 pinch salt

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(d) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.

Instructions
  1. Thickly (double) peel the potato and then slice thinly
  2. Rinse the dark green tips of leek and celery and chop finely
  3. Heat the canola oil in a large frying pan on high heat
  4. Fry the thinly sliced potato until all the potato has started to go transparent and some is lightly browned
  5. Add the green tips of leek, celery, salt and citric acid to the potato and cook until the celery begins to go soft
  6. While the potato is cooking, separate the eggs into whites and yolks
  7. Beat the egg whites until light and fluffy and then gently fold in the egg yolks
  8. Pour the egg mixture over the potato and spread evenly
  9. After a couple of minutes, flip the omlette
  10. When the egg is cooked through, remove from the pan and serve immediately
Personal notes

Usually the omlette falls apart in the flipping stage, probably because my frying pan is much larger than my egg flip, but even if it does, it will taste good.

This is my go-to meal when I’m short on time or resources, or cooking at someone else’s house. I’m actually surprised it’s taken me this long to get it up on the blog, but I guess I must have been more organised in the last few months! It’s good because the ingredients are things I almost always have in the house (especially now I grow my own leeks) and most of my family and friends have them too. If not, eggs and a potato are very easy to pick up at the shop. If citric acid and celery are not on hand, they can easily be omitted; likewise, if fresh chives are on hand, they make a nice addition. So the ingredients are readily available, it’s fast to cook and it’s filling – can’t ask for much more in terms of convenience! I most often have this for lunch on a Saturday morning when I’ve run out of food before doing the weekly shop, or as a light dinner if I’ve flown in late to visit my family and they haven’t had a chance to get to the butcher and buy some fresh meat for me.

I actually made this particular omlette a couple of weeks ago as I had a choir concert on in the evening and I wanted to bring a light dinner with me that wouldn’t require refrigeration for the day. I only managed one bite before the concert as everything was a bit hectic, but it was very welcome immediately afterwards. Because of the eggs, the omlette should be eaten the day it is cooked rather than as leftovers. Cooked eggs build up in amines if left for a day or longer.

This week I need to use up lots of eggs as one of my friends has given me some of her chooks’ eggs and I’m going away soon. I actually made quiche last week, so it might be too soon for another quiche, but perhaps some salads… Last time I tried to make an egg salad I decided to boil all the eggs at once and then freeze the last. I discovered that hard boiled egg whites do NOT freeze well. While the yolk maintains it’s original consistency, defrosted egg white turns rubbery and is quite unpleasant – an experiment that doesn’t need to be repeated. The quiche recipe won’t be appearing here any time soon either as I am liberalising some salicylates back into my diet and so the quiche was filled with high and moderate salicylate vegetables like jap pumpkin, zucchini, carrot and sweet potato (low FODMAP at 1/2 cup or 70 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App 2018). It was delicious though, and I don’t seem to have reacted!

Sausage Rolls

Serves 8
Time: 45 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low or moderate salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

2 packets Genius gluten free puff pastry (a)
400 g fresh beef mince (b)
300 g fresh chicken mince (b)
Dark green tips of 1 large leek (c)
1 large choko (d)
1 tbsp dried chives
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp SoGood soymilk
1 large carrot – moderate salicylate option

Foodnotes

(a) Genius gluten free frozen puff pastry can be found in some Coles supermarkets in Australia
(b) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(c) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(d) Choko is also known as chayote, see photos here. Choko is low FODMAP for fructans at 1/2 cup (84 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018)

Instructions
  1. Thaw pastry in fridge within 24 of making sausage rolls
  2. Remove pastry from fridge 20 mins before rolling out and allow to warm to room temperature
  3. Preheat oven to 200 deg C
  4. Rinse dark green tips of leek and chop finely
  5. Chop thick skin off choko and remove the core. Grate the choko.
  6. For moderate salicylate sausage rolls, peel the carrot and then grate it
  7. Combine the two types of mince, salt, dried chives, green tips of leek, grated choko and, in the case of moderate salicylates, the carrot
  8. Beat the egg and SoGood soymilk
  9. Roll out each packet of pastry as thinly as you can, ideally to 30 cm x 30 cm
  10. Cut the pastry sheet into two equal rectangles
  11. Place one quarter of the mince mixture along the pastry sheet lengthwise, about 3 cm in from the edge
  12. On the opposite long edge score the pastry with a fork and then brush with the egg mixture
  13. Roll the sausage roll up, starting from the side closest to the mince mixture and ending on the scored side. There should be an overlap of several cms of pastry and the scored pastry should end up on the bottom side of the sausage roll
  14. Brush the top and sides of the pastry with the egg mixture
  15. Cut the sausage roll in half
  16. Repeat for the remainder of the pastry and mince mixture
  17. Place the sausage rolls on a baking tray lined with baking paper with at least 1 cm around the sausage roll
  18. Bake at 200 deg C for about 35 mins, or until pastry is golden brown and the inside is cooked through
  19. Serve immediately or freeze immediately to prevent amine build-up
Personal Notes

I’ve been wanting to try sausage rolls with choko instead of apple for a while now, but then chokos went out of season and my new greengrocer doesn’t stock them. But I paid a visit to South Melbourne Market and was rewarded with big, juicy chokos, so they are back on the menu for now! Just be careful with how many sausage rolls you eat – 84 g of choko is low FODMAP but it becomes high for fructans by 168 g (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018). One large sausage roll is low FODMAP and enough for lunch. If you are going to have it for a main meal, I would add a salad as a side – for example the friends-and-family friendly salad.

I cooked my sausage rolls for 35 mins but they were at the bottom of the oven for most of that time, so I suspect they would need less time at the top of the oven – best to keep an eye on them after 20 mins. As much as it is tempting to cut the sausage rolls up and make party sausage rolls, the mince mixture does brown on the ends and this is minimised by cooking large sausage rolls – see the photo of the party sausage rolls I attempted below. If you want party size rolls, I would recommend cutting them up with a sharp knife after cooking. The sausage rolls freeze quite well, although the pastry is slightly soggy on defrosting.

My brother was visiting for a weekend and having some friends over to my place so we cooked these sausage rolls. He made some “normal” ones and I made these, and I definitely didn’t feel like I was missing out! The choko keeps the sausage rolls moist, so they are still nice to eat even without tomato sauce.

Jacketless Potatoes


Serves 1
Time 1 hr 40 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~ vegetarian ~

Ingredients – potato

1 large white potato (a)
1/2 tbsp canola oil (b)
1 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1/4 tsp salt

Suggested toppings

15 g / 1 iceberg lettuce leaf
22 g / 1 red cabbage leaf (c)
8 g / 2 dark green tips of spring onions (d)
1 tbsp chives
12 g / 1/4 stick celery (e)
15 g / small handful of sprouted mung beans
20 g / small handful of bean sprouts
1/4 cup tinned chickpeas, well rinsed (f)
30 g / 5 green beans (g)

Foodnotes

(a) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow
(b) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(c) Red drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (89 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(d) Tip: re-grow spring onions
(e) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(f) Tinned chickpeas, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/4 cup (42 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 160 deg C
  2. Thickly (double) peel potato
  3. Cover potato in canola oil and then wrap in alfoil
  4. Bake the potato in the oven at 160 deg C for 1 h 30 mins, or until a skewer passes easily through the potato and it is soft all the way through
  5. Allow the potato to cool slightly and then peel off the alfoil and cut up
  6. Place the Nuttelex on the hot potato and allow it to melt. Sprinkle with salt
  7. Rinsed and chop desired toppings and serve with hot potato
Personal Notes

This recipe is very versatile and can really be anything you choose. I’d suggest picking and choosing the toppings depending on what is available as they are not all necessary to make a good sized meal. I have also adapted this recipe several times – a particularly successful adaption has been to swap the chickpeas for left over (defrosted) roast chicken pieces – just be sure to defrost and add the chicken immediately before eating. Do not try and freeze the whole meal as the potato does not usually freeze well (speaking from experience!). If you want to make leftovers, I suggest storing the combined toppings and potato separately and in the fridge. When you are ready to eat it again, heat up just the potato and then add the toppings.

My favourite thing about this recipe is that is can be easily done with family and friends or while travelling. It is pretty hard to mess up if you have family or friends that want to cater for you. If you are camping, you can cook the potatoes in the fire (if it is fire season) and the vegetarian toppings mean you don’t have to worry about amines. If you are camping but it is fire ban season, or you need a quick and easy meal, boil the potatoes instead and serve with Nuttlex, salt and the same toppings. I had boiled potatoes with toppings on a recent Easter camping trip (photo below) and it worked really well.

Coffee and Carob Cake


Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

Cake
125 g Nuttelex Original
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup SoGood soymilk
2 tsp decaf instant coffee powder
1 tbsp carob powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Orgran gluten free flour

Icing
1 cup pure icing sugar
2 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1 tbsp SoGood soymilk
1/2 tsp decaf instant coffee powder

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
  2. In a large saucepan, combine sugars, Nuttelex, soymilk, decaf instant coffee powder and carob powder
  3. Stir on low heat until Nuttelex has melted
  4. Allow mixture to sit for 10 mins
  5. Add flour and eggs to the mixture and mix together, first using a wooden spoon and then an electric mixer. The batter should be thin and smooth
  6. Line a square or circular cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with Nuttelex
  7. Bake for 35 min at 180 deg, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean
  8. Sift 1 cup of pure icing sugar and mix in 2 tbsp Nuttelex
  9. Heat 1 tbsp of soymilk in the microwave on low heat
  10. Dissolve 1/2 tsp decaf instant coffee powder in soymilk
  11. Slowly add coffee soymilk to icing and Nuttelex mixture until icing reaches the desired consistency, add more soymilk if required
  12. Once the cake has cooled to the touch, ice with coffee icing
Personal Notes

This cake is based off the melt and mix coffee cake in Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook. The carob gives a slight spicy taste and adds interest to the flavour of the cake, and carob powder is low FODMAP at 1 heaped tsp, or 6 g (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018) so as long as you don’t consume more than 1/4 of the cake in one sitting, it will be low FODMAP! It is so good you might want to though! I like this cake best when it is cooked but still moist inside, rather than the drier, crumbly texture of some cakes. I made this cake for my housewarming party along with the lemon and poppy seed cake and it was also demolished in record time.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

Cake
175 g Nuttelex Original
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp citric acid
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups Orgran gluten free self-raising flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Icing
1 cup pure icing sugar
2 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1 tbsp hot water
1/2 tsp citric acid

Instructions
      1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C
      2. Cream Nuttelex and sugar until light and fluffy
      3. Add 1/2 tsp citric acid to the Nuttelex and sugar
      4. In a second bowl, beat eggs until frothy, idealling using an electric mixer
      5. In a third bowl, sift together flour, xanthan gum and baking powder
      6. Add egg and flour mixtures alternately to Nuttelex and sugar, using a wooden spoon to mix. The final mixture should be very thick.
      7. Stir poppy seeds through batter
      8. Line a rectangular cake tin with baking paper and grease sides with Nuttelex
      9. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and spread out with a spatula. The mixture should be firm and have to be pushed into place
      10. Bake for 40 mins at 180 deg C. A skewer inserted into the cake should come out dry
      11. Leave the cake in the tin for 10 mins, before cooling on a rack
      12. Sift 1 cup of pure icing sugar and mix in 2 tbsp Nuttelex
      13. Dissolve 1/2 tsp citric acid in 1 tbsp boiling water
      14. Slowly add water to icing and Nuttelex mixture until icing reaches the desired consistency. Usually the whole tbsp of water is required
      15. Once the cake has cooled to the touch, ice with citric icing
    Personal Notes

    This recipe is based off the Madeira Cake in Sue Dengate’s The Failsafe Cookbook, which is one of my all-time favourite cake recipes. I’ve tried to make this cake slightly more lemon-flavoured and of course I have added the poppy seeds too, as citrus (traditionally orange) and poppy seed cake is an old favourite. I made this for my housewarming party and it disappeared very quickly!

Staple Beef Pasta Sauce

Serves 6
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

500 g fresh beef mince (a)
35 g dark green tips of leek (b)
80 g celery (c)
650 g / 2 large white potatoes (d)
250 g swede
1 tin brown lentils
150 g green beans (e)
250 g green cabbage (f)
500 mL homemade chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp citric acid
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp canola oil (g)
400 g / 6 serves of low FODMAP, failsafe, dairy free, wheat free pasta or spaghetti (h)
250 g / 1 large carrot – moderate salicylate option

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.
(c) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(d) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes, or other large white potatoes with white flesh. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(e) Green beans are low FODMAP at 14 beans (75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018). Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh green beans and used in the same way.
(f) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(g) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)
(h) My prefered pasta is Ceres Organics gluten free Quinoa Rice Spaghetti, Fusilli or Penne. See comments on pasta here

Instructions
    1. Rinse dark green tips of leek, celery, potato, green beans and green cabbage
    2. Thickly peel potatoes and swede, and chop into small cubes
    3. For a moderate salicylate option, peel the carrot and chop into thin slices
    4. Finely chop celery and green tips of leek, keeping them separate
    5. Top and tail green beans and then coarsely chop
    6. Coarsely chop the green cabbage
    7. Drain canned lentils and rinse well
    8. Heat 1 tbsp of canola oil on high heat in a large pot
    9. Add celery, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp citric acid and carrot (moderate salicylate option) to the pot and cook until celery starts to go clear, about 5 mins
    10. Add green tips of leek to the pot and cook until they soften, about 2 mins
    11. Turn the heat down to moderate-high and add the beef mince. Continually stir until the beef mince is no longer pink, adding a small amount of water if the mince starts to stick to the bottom of the pan
    12. Add lentils, potato, swede and chicken stock to the pot
    13. Add extra water until all the vegetables and meat are covered
    14. Bring the sauce to the boil and then simmer with the lid on until the potato and swede are soft, about 20 mins
    15. Remove the lid and add green beans to the sauce
    16. Around this time, cook the pasta according to packet instructions
    17. Simmer the sauce until the water level is just below the vegetables and meat, about 10 mins
    18. Add the green cabbage, maple syrup and 1/4 tsp salt to the pot
    19. Cook for another 5 mins until green cabbage is soft
    20. Serve immediately with low FODMAP, failsafe pasta, or freeze immediately to avoid amine build-up
Personal Notes

The long awaited pasta sauce is here! Or maybe it is not long awaited, but I’ve definitely refered to it several times. It has been one of my staples – easy to make in large batches and it freezes well.

I have been working on this recipe for a while, tweaking ingredients so that it tastes good and making sure there is no FODMAP stacking going on. I think I finally have it right! As I cooked this sauce I was speaking to a good friend on the phone and I realised that although I call this my staple pasta sauce, it can also go by different names, and they would call it “nutrition mush”. Slightly less appealing, but rather accurate – vegetables, meat and carbohydrates all in one. If the sauce seems to be a bit watery, it can be thickened with gluten free cornstarch, or you can add some rice early on to soak up the water. If adding rice, it can really be eaten as a meal on its own without the pasta.

Just to prove that I really have been working on this recipe for a while, here is a photo of the same pasta sauce but back in February and with buckwheat pasta rather than quinoa and rice spaghetti. Alas, although the sauce tastes better now, the lighting is not as good at my new place.

Toad-in-a-Hole Pancakes


Serves 1
Time: 5 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

1 cooked buckwheat pancake (recipe here)
1 egg
1 tsp canola oil (a)
1 pinch salt
3 chives

Foodnotes

(a) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321)

Instructions
  1. Heat canola oil in a small frying pan on moderate-high heat
  2. Using a large glass cut a hole out of the centre of the pancake
  3. Place the pancake into the frying pan and then crack the egg into the hole
  4. When the egg white has almost finished solidifying, flip the egg and pancake over to seal the other side. Cook until the egg shite has completely solidified
  5. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of salt and fresh chives
Personal Notes

I made this recipe up in a fit of inspiration when I came home hhungry and couldn’t wait to cook dinner. I also happened to have buckwheat pancakes and eggs in the fridge. It is quite filling for a snack, so I imagine they would also make a yummy cooked breakfast for something different.

Lamb Chops


Serves 3
Time: 40 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

6 lamb loin chops (a)
2 leaves of leek, dark green tip only (b)
1 tsp dried chives
1/4 tsp salt
1 small piece of parsely

Foodnotes

(a)Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Dark green tops of leeks are low FODMAP. They are also slightly higher in salicylates than the white part although suitable for failsafe elimination. Tip: re-grow the leeks.

Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
  2. Boil a kettle full of water
  3. Trim the excess fat off the lamb loin chops
  4. Rinse the dark green leek tips and chop coarsely
  5. Choose a baking pan that will fit the 6 lamb loin chops packed cloosely and that is at least 3 cm deep
  6. Place coarsely chopped leek at the base of the pan and cover with lamb loin chops
  7. Sprinkle salt, parsely and dried chives over the lamb chops
  8. Cover the chops in hot water from the kettle
  9. Bake the lamb chops for 25-30 min until cooked through
  10. Remove chops from the oven, drain and serve. Either eat immediately or freeze immediately to avoid amine build up
Personal Notes

Lamb chops are best served with either roast vegetables or mashed potato/potato chips and steamed vegetables (green beans, two brussel sprouts, red cabbage and sweet carrots if you tolerate moderate salicylates). I am a fan of doing roast vegetables as the oven is at the same temperature and so I can cook everything at once.

This recipe is inspired by the way my Mum cooks lamb loin chops – baked with a bit of water and french onion soup mix. The leek and chives are intended as substitutes for the soup mix. A lot more water is required in this recipe to prevent the lamb chops from browning and increasing in amine content, so it is more of a cross between baking and steaming. I have not tested the lamb stock that is produced, but I imagine it is quite high in amines because of all the fat from the chops. Thanks for the inspiration Mum!

If you use cold water instead of boiling water, it will take about 40 mins in the oven to cook the lamb chops.