Steeliac

Category: Product review

  • Pieminister gluten free pies

    Pieminister gluten free pies

    We had a lovely meal testing out these Pieminister gluten free pies. One was chicken, leek, ham and thyme (Ranger), and the other was a vegetarian pie containing goats’ cheese, sweet potato and spinach (Heidi).

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    What’s to say? Once heated, the pastry was excellent – lovely and crunchy round the top edge and not remotely crumbly. They were very easy to split in half and kept their shape.

    The fillings of both were generous and full of flavour. A slight tang from the goats’ cheese in the Heidi Pie, and some lovely big chunks of chicken in the Ranger. Clearly quality ingredients. Overall, very enjoyable indeed.

    Size-wise, it felt slightly greedy eating a full size pie (we each had two halves) but half a pie wouldn’t be enough, unless you’re a light eater. Which I’m not!

    Pies and pasties are something I’ve really missed. I have made my own on occasion but the pastry has always been substandard. So I found these very satisfying and great for a hearty midweek tea with a big pile of veg.

    Pieminister also make a gluten free steak and ale pie. Next time…

  • Little Moons ice cream mochi balls

    Little Moons ice cream mochi balls

    I discovered a new favourite treat that I wanted to share. These ice cream mochi balls by Little Moons are VERY good indeed.

    For those not in the know, mochi balls are a Japanese dessert. They consist of balls of ice cream (or other confectionary) wrapped in a layer of soft, pounded, sticky rice cake (that’s the mochi part). It’s difficult to describe it and make it sound good, but it’s slightly sweet and gives the ice cream ball a bit of chew. It’s also the perfect consistency for all those lovely sesame seeds to cling to.

    I really love sesame ice cream but it’s quite unusual so I was very excited to find these. They are just the right size for a little sweet treat, although I had to be very restrained not to eat all 6 at once!

    They come in a variety of other flavours that I haven’t tried, all of which are gluten free (mango, vanilla, matcha green tea, raspberry and coconut). But then I’m more than happy with the sesame.

    Little Moons are available from Ocado, but I found them in the freezer section of Waitrose.

     

  • Fresh gluten free bread in Sainsbury’s

    Fresh gluten free bread in Sainsbury’s

    It’s been an exciting week for coeliacs in Sheffield* as our local big Sainsbury’s stores started selling freshly baked gluten free bread! And we all raved about it because it’s extremely good. 

    It was Sunday afternoon when we made it to our local Sainsbury’s (Archer Road) so the shelves were rather decimated, but we were able to pick up a few things to try: 


    We bought a farmhouse loaf, a few packs of rolls (white and seeded) and a baton, which is small and baguette shaped but soft instead of crusty. (Loaf £2.30, others £1.50)

    The bread is baked in its plastic wrap to avoid cross contamination while cooking and is displayed above the regular fresh bread so no crumbs can drop into it. 

    I was keen to dive in to this bready feast as quickly as I could, so we immediately sliced and buttered one of the seeded rolls. I was not disappointed! The bread is soft and has a great texture – not at all crumbly. So far so good. 


    Next morning I sliced the loaf so we could have toast for breakfast. Impressed again! It sliced really well with no big holes through it. The texture in the middle was soft and it had a nice crust. 


    It made great toast – very much a breakfast treat for me. But it was also good enough to make a sandwich for my older boy’s packed lunch… that didn’t fall apart when I picked it up! 


    So a huge thumbs up from me. I hope it sells well enough to keep it in store.

    Participating Sheffield stores are Archer Road at Millhouses and Wadsley Bridge near Hillsborough. 

    *Not just Sheffield – there are 200 stores nationwide selling these products. 

  • Newburn Bakehouse wraps 

    I’ve said previously that I think Newburn Bakehouse (by Warburtons) are shaking up the gluten free bread market with some products that are way superior to what was already on the market. I think the little sandwich thins are excellent as the bread to filling ratio is much better than an inevitably dry textured gluten free bread roll.

    I am also a fan of the wraps, which now also come in mini form. These have a pleasing, slightly sweet taste and roll up fairly well. You can’t generally fold the bottom up without them cracking, but overall, they make a very decent wrap.

    They also have a great secondary use, these wraps. I frequently cut them into small slices and grill them for a few minutes on each side until they go a bit crispy and slightly curled, then they make really good dippers for all sorts of things. You have to be careful not to let them go too brown though, as they burn easily.

    Cut into triangles, they have given boring old egg and beans (one of my super-quick after school teas) a new lease of life as… egg and beans with crispy sails!

    There’s just something about standing food on its end that makes it more fun, and seems to have transformed a meal that used to get a groan into one that gets a cheer, which is nice.

    They’re also great with hummous or other dips and soft pates, particularly when you don’t want something too salty. To be honest, you can dip them in anything. I think we once made really thin ones to be dipped in soft boiled eggs, and I’ve even used them to make quick mini pizzas instead of using a regular base. Very versatile!

     

  • New products: Hobnobs & crumpets

    New products: Hobnobs & crumpets

    There seems to have been a significant leap forward in gluten free products recently. Over the last few months we’ve had Newburn Bakehouse’s crumpets, Pizza Express’ margherita pizza and McVitie’s Hobnobs. And all well timed for me, having a newly gluten free seven year old.

    I have to say, Newburn Bakehouse has really surpassed itself with the new crumpets, which are miles better than any other gluten free crumpets on the market so far. I could tell just from looking at them they would be good. They are so close to the real ones, it’s amazing! The appearance, texture and taste are all great. They will definitely be a staple of my freezer.

    McVitie’s GF Hobnobs are a welcome addition to the gluten free treat range. As you would expect really, the recipe won’t be much different for gluten free hobnobs as they are mostly made of oats – a large part of the production will be about avoiding the cross contamination, so I expected these to be spot on. And indeed they were in flavour, but the appearance was a little different.

    The biscuits are fractionally smaller than the regular Hobnobs, and have smooth instead of ridged chocolate. I’m assuming that’s so they can’t be confused with the regular Hobnobs. There was a disappointing 8 biscuits in the packet instead of the usual 13-14, but we’ve come to expect that, haven’t we?

    Crucially, I can confirm they made excellent dunkers in my cup of tea!

    I’m wondering what will be the next big thing… Exciting times.

  • Pizza Express gluten free margherita: product review

    Pizza Express gluten free margherita: product review

    It’s taken a while, but I’ve finally got my hands on one of the new Pizza Express gluten free margheritas. After repeatedly being unable to find one at our local big Sainsbury’s store on Archer Road, I got in touch with Sainsbury’s via Twitter and found out you can log a product request, which I duly did.

    They also told me that the GF pizzas are available at the Dronfield store. So we dropped by at the first available opportunity with the intention of picking a few up for the freezer, but only found two! Well, it’s enough to be going on with…

    I pimped the topping with some bits and bobs from the fridge and put it in the oven at the recommended 200C. The packet suggested 7-9 minutes but I thought the bottom was still a bit soft, so gave it an extra minute or so. (I realise this is dull information, but there’s not so much to say about the cooking process of a pre-prepared pizza.)

    We were very pleased with the results though. The base is thin and not too doughy, and it tasted really good. Of course, it’s very similar to what you get in the restaurants, so it met my expectations easily.

    It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to have a decent pizza at home. In the pre-coeliac days, we used to make pizza dough ourselves in our bread maker as a family treat, so it’s something I’ve missed. I have had a delivery from Dominos in the past but that’s incredibly expensive, particularly now there are two gluten dodgers in the house. The price for this was £4, so no more expensive than the standard Pizza Express cook at home range, which is nice for once!

    I’ve had some success with Orgran pizza mix which you can actually get on prescription, but sometimes it’s just nice to have the convenience.

    I still keep meaning to try making my own gluten free pizza base, but for now, this one will do nicely.


  • Product review: Helen’s Brilliant Scone Mix

    Product review: Helen’s Brilliant Scone Mix

    We had a load of relatives visiting at the weekend immediately after we got back from a short holiday, so I needed some quick and easy bakes. I had to order ingredients online without my recipe books, so I opted for my trusty Delia chocolate cake because I can remember the list of ingredients* and I found these packets of gluten free Helen’s Brilliant Scone Mix. I thought I’d give them a try as I could customise them a bit with some additions.

    To make up the mixture I started with a beaten egg, then added buttermilk (you could use whole/soya milk) and melted butter (or vegetable oil). When combined, I tipped in the contents of the packet and stirred until the mixture thickened. It became surprisingly elastic! To my first batch I added raisins and chopped dates, and to the second, chopped ginger (from a jar with syrup).

    The mixture is quite sticky and needs to be spooned onto a baking sheet, but it easily made ten decent sized scones. I lined my trays with grease proof paper for ease of removal after cooking. I sprinkled a bit of sugar on the first batch for a crunch but forgot on the second.

    I baked them at 200C for the full 15 minutes and they came out looking rather lovely. You might notice there are only nine date & raisin scones in the picture below, as we tested one to check they were adequately cooked!


    These are the ginger scones (below). They turned out a bit more coloured but possibly the oven was slightly hotter. I thought they turned out looking nicer than the picture on the packet, which I thought more resembled bread rolls.


    The texture inside the scones was lovely and soft – more spongy than a regular scone, but definitely more scone than cake – and the outside had a good crust. They cut in half easily and held together well when spread with jam and clotted cream. And they went down very well indeed.

    I do intend to try make my own scones at some point but I would definitely buy this mix again if I was in a rush or wanted something quick.

    *I make my own chocolate filling by melting chocolate and mixing with cream, as it’s a lot simpler than Delia’s egg one. However the souffle sponge is lush layered with chocolate and cream fillings.

  • Product review: Bol quick cook pots

    Product review: Bol quick cook pots

    Wednesday evenings are generally when hubby goes out mountain biking, so tea has to be a quick and light meal, either leftovers or something thrown together after work.

    This week I happened across a new fresh ready meal in the supermarket, so convenience won out over cooking, and also provided a good subject for the blog.

    Bol was founded by Paul Brown with the aim of creating healthy meals for busy people to eat well without compromise on taste, health, quality or price. The recipes take inspiration from different places round the world.

    There are about 8 different recipes in Bol’s quick cook pots selection, four of which have no gluten containing ingredients. The two I bought were Mexican sweet potato chilli and Keralan coconut chicken, and the other gluten free options are Sri Lankan lentil sambar and Italian tomato courgetti.

    I am generally happy to buy foods with no gluten containing ingredients, but I appreciate others may be more cautious. Having read the ingredients on the packs, I assumed they were ok, as the packaging does not indicate any risk of the meals containing gluten. However, having just looked at Bol’s website, the FAQs state that their meals are prepared in kitchens that do handle wheat, barley, rye and oats. So a big caution here if you’re coeliac. That’s a bit frustrating as I’d expect to be warned of cross contamination risk on the packet. I’ll update the post if I’m ill!

    The ingredients are layered in the pots, so from the side, they appear full of colour and loads of fresh vegetables. (Bol’s website shows this well.) Both of the pots took 3 1/2 minutes to cook in the microwave.

    First we tried the Keralan coconut chicken. This one had an aromatic fragrance and plenty of colour from the beetroot, green beans and coconut sauce. We were impressed by the taste – plenty of spices – and the variety of textures.

    The beetroot in particular brings great colour and sweetness to cut throught the spice, and the rice had a nice bite to it. We thought there was a generous amount of chicken in nice big pieces, and it was soft and tender. Overall, a really lovely, fresh tasting meal.

    Next up was the Mexican sweet potato chilli. The first thing we noticed on opening the lid was a pungent smoky aroma. We both love smoky food so were looking forward to trying this bowl, but it didn’t quite match up to the Keralan chicken for us.

    The prominent flavour was a smoky earthy one that lingered in the mouth, and slightly overpowered the rest of the flavours. The sweet potatoes were the white coloured ones, but I think the orange coloured ones would have given a sweeter flavour. We did like the beans, and the combination of rice and quinoa, but overall didn’t enjoy this as much as the first dish. This chilli was also supposed to be spicier (3 chilli rating) than the Keralan chicken (2 chillis) but we didn’t really notice a difference.

    Price is roughly £3 per pot. Available from Sainsburys, Ocado, Tesco and Waitrose.

    It looks like Bol are also introducing a range of salad in a jar, which seems to be all the rage at the moment. There are 4 recipes but only the Persian and Mediterranean have no gluten containing ingredients.

    Well, here’s hoping there’s no cross contamination…

     

  • M&S picnic

    M&S picnic

    Wednesday was the evening of our annual village “Play on the green”*, which we have established a nice tradition of taking a picnic to, and trying hard not to put off the actors with our munching and opening bottles of fizz.

    Last year, a cork flew onto the stage and clipped the lead actor (only a tiny bit), who was very sporting about it and threw it back at us with a smirk at the end of the play. We were mortified but it was very funny indeed. This year, we were very careful about opening the bottles, and luckily no actors were harmed during the performance despite us getting a bit of a prosecco shower from the third bottle**.

    My lovely friend furnished us with this very fine picnic from M&S along with a few home made dishes (the hummous and the lentils), all of which was entirely gluten free. (How lucky am I to have friends like that?)

    The M&S bits included prosciutto, spicy prawns, regular prawns, cheese wrapped in ham, mozzarella balls in pesto, olives, mixed dips, sweetcorn dip, rosemary and apricot toasts, vegetable crisps, salted tortilla crisps and spicy tortilla crisps.  All very nice.

    One thing I’d not tried before was the rosemary and apricot toasts. These are thin slices of crispy toast, packed with seeds, rosemary and dried apricot pieces. They looked really fun and we all agreed they were tasty, but didn’t quite go with the rest of the food. They have a really interesting texture because they’re crispy and crunchy but you get a bit of a chew from the apricot.

    We thought they would probably go brilliantly with pate, or even a bit of cream cheese as a light lunch. I’d definitely get them again.

    For pudding we had strawberries with the most outrageously decadent pink champagne and strawberry cream to dip them in. We had the same at last year’s play, and I haven’t had it since, so we were all very excited to see this turn up on the table.

    It’s worth a trip to M&S just for the cream! I might have to find a reason to drive down Ecclesall Road very soon…

    *The play was The Scarlet Pimpernel, performed by the wonderful group of players from The Company, based at the University of Sheffield’s drama studio.

    **Well, honestly it was the fourth, but that just makes us sound unruly when in fact we are very civilised and highly sophisticated.

     

     

     

  • Top 5 products I couldn’t do without

    We all know there are plenty of gluten free products in the shops these days. In the bigger supermarkets, the Free From sections are full to bursting with cakes, biscuits, bread and pasta that are specially made without gluten.

    But there are a few things I buy frequently that aren’t in the free from section. They’re just regular products that happen to be made without gluten. So they’re not twice the price of everything else, although some are premium brands. Most are available all over the place so are very easy to get hold of. They’re my reliables.

    In no particular order, here are my top 5. I would love to hear what yours are.

    Green & Black’s chocolate

    I try not to eat too much sweet stuff, but sometimes you just need a couple of squares of chocolate. Usually in the evening when we’re sitting on the sofa enjoying the quiet time. I’m not particularly an expert on which chocolate bars I can and can’t eat, as it’s less tempting to not know. And when I found out that I could eat Green and Black’s, I didn’t really need to find out about any others anyway.

    Green and Black’s don’t shout about being gluten free because a few of the products do contain gluten and they warn about cross contamination on their website. However many bars are listed as safe on the Coeliac UK website.

    Bars that are ok according to Coeliac UK include the dark chocolate, milk chocolate, mint, orange, burnt toffee, butterscotch, ginger, hazelnut and currant, Maya Gold, sea salt, chilli and more. But there are some that aren’t ok, so it’s worth checking before you buy.

    Magnum

    When I’m out with friends or family and everybody’s having an ice cream, it’s so good to know that I can safely eat a Magnum. If I can’t have a good old fashioned cone, it’s nice to still get a quality ice cream without having to have a long conversation about which products I can and can’t have. And luckily, they’re stocked by most ice cream sellers.

    I think most of their products are gluten free, and they are labelled as such on the packets, which is helpful.

    Some of the flavours approved by Coeliac UK are: Classic, double caramel, double chocolate, Infinity, almond, black espresso, white, dark and mint.

    Tyrrells crisps

    Continuing the unhealthy food theme, my regular crisp purchases are generally the big bags from Tyrrells (which I always share with the family, of course!)

    I think all their flavours, as well as their veggie crisps, are gluten free, and labelled as such on the back of the packets. A quick look at their website didn’t turn up any flavours that we can’t eat – even the quirky favours like coronation chicken and butter & mint(!)

    Tyrrells also make popcorn, or Poshcorn as they call it and they are all gluten free too. Hurrah!

    Spanish potato omelette

    I tend to pick one of these up every time I do a big shop. It’s one of my ultra convenience foods. You don’t even have to heat it up, although it’s nicer if you do.

    The omelette (tortilla) is brilliant for breakfast (on it’s own or with bacon and/or tomatoes and spinach for something a bit heartier). I frequently take a piece to work for lunch when I haven’t got the time or inclination to faff about making a salad.

    It’s also really great as an appetiser, cut into small squares, with a few olives and chorizo. Completely versatile and scrumptious!

    The one in the picture is a brand called Floristan, which I can’t find a website for, but another brand I have seen is Unearthed. Both equally good.

    (The ingredients are egg, potato, onion, olive oil and salt.)

    Merchant Gourmet Puy Lentils

    Last but by no means least, the glorious ready cooked puy lentils by Merchant Gourmet. (We call them poo lentils because we’re very juvenile.) I really like lentils, and always keep an assortment of dried pulses in the store cupboard, but when I discovered these, I was won over. They’re just totally hassle free. You can warm them up in the microwave in the packet for a minute, and then serve.

    I usually warm them through then toss them with some extra virgin olive oil and seasoning in a bowl, and use them as a filling accompaniment to meat or fish. They’re also great in curries, casseroles, as a side dish when we have a BBQ or lobbed in a salad as part of my packed lunch. Delicious.

    There’s a fabulous Ottolenghi recipe which uses puy lentils in root veg mash with maple syrup and shallots braised in red wine. That’s definitely worth a try and you can find it here.