Tag: leek

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.

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.

Chicken and Leek Puffs


Makes 8 triangles, serves 4
Time: 1 hr
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients – Puffs

2 x 400 g boxes Genius Gluten Free Puff Pastry (a)
300 g diced chicken thighs (b)
45 g dark green tips of leek (c)
12 g / 6 dark green spring onion tips (d)
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
1 tbsp canola oil (e)
1/8 tsp citric acid
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp gluten free cornflour (f)
rice flour for dusting
1 egg

Ingredients – optional dipping sauce

120 mL water
1 tsp citric acid
2/3 tsp salt
2/3 cup white sugar

Foodnotes

(a) Genius Gluten Free Puff Pastry can be found in some Coles supermarkets.
(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 leeks and spring onions.
(d) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(e) 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.

Instructions
  1. One day before making chicken and leek puffs, defrost pastry in the fridge
  2. Remove pastry from the fridge and allow to warm to room temperature
  3. Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fan forced)
  4. Rinse dark green tips of leek and dark green tips of spring onion. Chop finely, keeping separate.
  5. Cut the diced chicken into smaller pieces
  6. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil to a small frying pan over medium-high heat
  7. Add the chicken to the pan, and stir continuously until the chicken is sealed, about 5 min
  8. Add the leek to the pan and cook until leek is soft, about 2 min
  9. Mix cornflour in with half of the chicken stock and make a slurry
  10. Add chicken stock, cornflour/stock mixture, citric acid and salt to the frying pan. Mix well
  11. Turn the frying pan down to medium heat and cook until the mixture has thickened. The mixture should be creamy with minimal liquid.
  12. Roll out each sheet of puff pastry to a 20 cm x 20 cm square.
  13. Using a sharp knife, cut each sheet of pastry into four 10 cm x 10 cm squares.
  14. Spoon the chicken mixture onto one triangular side of each small square of pastry. Do not overfill.
  15. On each square, fold the pastry over to form a triangle and seal the edges by pressing with a fork. This may be necessary on both sides.
  16. Beat the egg in a cup and lightly brush over the pastry with a pastry brush. If you don’t have a pastry brush, a piece of folded paper towel also works.
  17. Place the chicken and leek puffs on an oven tray lined with baking paper, and bake at 180 deg C for 25 min.
  18. Serve immediately as an entree, snack or main course, with optional dipping sauce. If you don’t eat them immediately, freeze them immediately as they contain meat.
  19. To make optional dipping sauce combine ingredients in a saucepan, simmer on high heat for 1 minute with regular stirring.
Personal Notes

I have to thank one of my colleagues for the idea for this recipe. He was surprised that I made a lamb, leek and lentil pie when his usual recipe was for chicken and leek pie. I didn’t realise chicken and leek were so commonly paired together! So I came up with this recipe – I’m sure it could also be used to make a pie with either Genius gluten free puff pastry or shortcrust pastry. When I made these I actually only had one packet of the puff pastry on hand, and I couldn’t fit all the mixture in the puffs. I ended up eating the filling on its own, which also tastes good. You could eat half the filling at once and it would still be low FODMAP and failsafe – the only significant FODMAP-containing ingredients are the green tips of the leek (safe at 28 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP App, 2018) and the homemade chicken stock, which contains green tips of leek and celery (low FODMAP at 75 g, FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).

The dipping sauce is an adapted recipe from Thai Cooking Class by Somi Anuntra Millar and Patricia Lake, it has a lot of sugar in it but is a nice addition, especially if you serve the puffs as a party snack. The original recipe poured the dipping sauce over finely chopped carrot, cucumber and coriander. I haven’t tried it yet, but if you tolerate moderate salicylates, you could pour the dipping sauce over very finely chopped peeled carrot and peeled cucumber. I tried to make a potato bake to go with the puffs but it did not turn out well – a bit of optimising is required on that recipe before I share it!

This week we had an event at Uni for International Women’s Day – there was a talk from a eminent international Chemistry professor and a shared lunch with the other female students. It was great to put some names to faces in the School and meet some new people. I brought along these chicken and leek puffs and fit right in having a delicious lunch while the others had pizza.

Lamb, Lentil and Vegetable Pie

Serves 6
Time: ~ 1 hr 10 mins
~ low FODMAP ~ failsafe ~ low salicylate ~ low amine ~ dairy free ~ gluten free ~

Ingredients

300 g diced lamb (a)
1 leek (b)
70 g celery / 3 sticks (c)
1 swede
1 large white potato (d)
1 tin of lentils (e)
200 g green beans (f)
160 g green drumhead cabbage (g)
1 packet Genius gluten free shortcrust pastry (h)
Rice flour for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp citric acid
2 tbsp gluten free cornstarch
3 tbsp canola oil (i)
canola oil spray or rice bran oil spray (j)
1 egg
3 cups of low FODMAP, failsafe chicken stock, or water
marbles or 1 cup of rice (not eaten)

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 75g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018).
(d) Use white brushed, coliban, sebago or kennebec potatoes. Check the colour before buying brushed potatoes because they can come in yellow.
(e) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) 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.
(g) Green drumhead cabbage is low FODMAP at 1 cup (94 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(h) Available in some Coles supermarkets in Australia
(i) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(j) Canola or rice bran oil spray should have no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321) or soy lecithin (moderate amines). Propellants such as propane, butane, isobutane are fine.

Instructions
  1. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the freezer the day or morning before and defrost in the fridge.
  2. Take Genius shortcrust pastry out of the fridge and warm to room temperature on the bench
  3. Cut off green tips of leek. Rinse the tips and then chop them finely.
  4. Rinse celery and chop finely.
  5. Thickly (double) peel large white potato and swede. Chop into small cubes.
  6. Drain and rinse tinned lentils.
  7. Top and tail and rinse green beans. Chop into small pieces, about 4 cm in length.
  8. Finely chop cabbage.
  9. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large pot or saucepan on high heat.
  10. Add celery and cook for ~3 mins until soft
  11. Add green tips of leek, salt and citric acid and cook until soft.
  12. Remove celery and leek from the pot.
  13. Preheat the oven to 200 deg C
  14. Add 1 tbsp canola oil and turn heat down to medium.
  15. Add diced lamb to the pot and seal with frequent stirring. If the lamb starts to stick, add 1 tbsp water.
  16. Once lamb is sealed, add potato and swede and turn heat back up to medium-high. Cook for about 3 mins.
  17. Return leek and celery to the pot along with lentils.
  18. Cover the meat and vegetables with chicken stock, or water if you have no homemade low FODMAP failsafe stock.
  19. Simmer with lid on for 20 mins.
  20. Meanwhile, spray the inside of a 25 cm diameter pie dish with oil.
  21. Knead the pastry, divide in two and roll out to fit a base and lid the pie dish.
  22. Place the pastry base (and sides) into the pie dish, then line with baking paper and fill with marbles or rice.
  23. Cook the base pastry for 10 mins. Afterwards remove the marbles/rice and baking paper.
  24. Add green beans and cabbage to the pot and cook for a further 5 mins with the lid on.
  25. Mix the cornflour in a small amount of water so that it does not form lumps, and then add to the pot.
  26. Take the lid off the pot and evaporate the water (~ 10 mins) until a thick mixture is left (it should not resemble soup).
  27. Scoop the pie filling into the pie and cover with the pastry lid, pinching around the edges.
  28. Beat the egg and then brush it over the pastry lid.
  29. Cook the pie for 20 mins, until the lid is light brown.
  30. As the pie contains meat, serve immediately, or freeze immediately.
Personal notes

This pie taste much better with chicken stock rather than water, but water is a good backup if there is no stock on hand. The current recipe makes a very full pie, and it could be made without the swede and potato. I tend to chop the swede up very small because I don’t like the taste of it on it’s own but it’s good hidden in a meal. I recommend making the pie on a weekend rather than weekday as it is quite time consuming. I spread the pastry a bit thin, and it ended up cracking, as you can see below.

At Coles this week, I found a leek with the most green I have even seen in a shop. Very impressive!

Edit: I recently re-read the RPAH charts and discovered that the emulsifier soy lecithin that is often used in canola oil spray is actually moderate in amines. I have since switched to using rice bran oil without soy lecithin.