Tag: low amine

Shepherd’s Pie

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

Ingredients

500 g fresh beef mince (a)
80 g / 3 sticks celery (b)
50 g green leek tips (1 leek) (c)
120 g green beans (d)
150 g snake beans
1 tin of lentils (e)
1/2 cup homemade chicken stock
4 large white potatoes (f)
1/4 cup SoGood Soymilk
2 tbsp Nuttelex Original
1 tsp salt
water
Canola oil (g)
Canola oil or rice bran oil spray (h)

Moderate salicylate optional additions

1 large carrot

Foodnotes

(a) Ensure very fresh meat (as instructed by dietician)
(b) Celery is low FODMAP at 75 g (FODMAP Friendly App, 2018)
(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) 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.
(e) Tinned lentils, well rinsed, are low FODMAP at 1/2 cup (46 g, The Monash University Low FODMAP Diet App, 2018)
(f) 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.
(g) Use canola oil that has no antioxidants (no 310-312, 319-321).
(h) 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. Thickly (double) peel potatoes and cut into small cubes
  2. Boil the cubed potatoes in water until soft. In the meantime begin the meat and vegetable layer
  3. To make the mashed potato layer, drain potatoes once they are soft, and mash with SoGood, Nuttelex Original and 1/2 tsp salt
  4. Rinse, top and tail and chop green beans and snake beans into 1 cm pieces
  5. Rinse and chop up dark green tips of leek, celery and green drumhead cabbage
  6. Drain tinned lentils and rinse well
  7. Thickly peel and dice carrot into 1 cm cubes (moderate salicylate option)
  8. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
  9. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat
  10. Fry the celery in the saucepan until it begins to brown
  11. Add the green tips of leek and cook until leek begins to go soft
  12. Add the fresh beef mince and stir continously until mince is no longer pink. If the mince begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, add water
  13. Add green beans, snake beans, lentils, carrot (moderate salicylate) and 1/2 tsp salt
  14. Cover the meat and vegetables with water, cover and simmer for 20 mins.
  15. After 10 mins, remove the lid
  16. In the last 5 mins add the chicken stock and green cabbage.
  17. Pour the meat and vegetable mixture into a large baking dish or deep tray, spreading evenly
  18. Using a fork, evenly spead the mash potato on top of the meat and vegetable layer.
  19. Spray the mash potato layer with oil
  20. Cook Shepherd’s Pie for 20 mins at 180 deg C
  21. Serve immediately, or freeze immediately as the meal contains meat
Personal Notes

I have made Shepherd’s Pie a few times, but this one using both green beans and snake beans as well as Chicken Stock is my favourite so far. You can substitute the green beans for more snake beans, but do not increase the number of green beans. Snake beans are lower in FODMAPs than green beans. Although this recipe serves 6, it is a safe FODMAP serve if only divided into 5 serves – so if you are really hungry, go for it! I have cooked it to freeze and have meals on hand this week while I am moving house.

Another shameless plug for my cousin’s company Dreamfarm (although they are not sponsoring me!) – the potato masher I use is really efficient and you don’t get the layer of unmashed potato at the bottom. It is called a Smood from Dreamfarm, and you can find one here

Shepherd’s Pie before the mash potato layer
The mashed potato layer with a Smood potato masher from Dreamfarm

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.

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.