Mushroom ragu on chickpea pancakes

If you're anything like me, a new dietary restriction can send your whole life into a tailspin. No cheese? But what goes on my crackers? Vegetarian? Those steaks won't eat themselves! A few months ago, gluten free would have driven me 'round the twist. But ever since Mum's gone gluten and dairy free, I've managed to wrap my tiny brain around it and honestly, it's not so bad.

We tend to eat a lot of rice based dishes, and use different kinds of flours. Recently, we had a rolled roast of pork belly, stuffed with wild rice and quince. Out of this world and totally devoid of gluten. And potato flour is an absolute revelation. It thickens liquids without clouding it and results in a smooth, silky sauce.

Food at events are a different story. Totally gluten-heavy. Sandwiches, spring rolls, pastries upon pastries, mini burgers (guilty!)? Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty gluten-obsessed. I buy at least a kilogram of flour each week. But when considering dishes for those of us not so tolerant of the bad stuff at our engagement party, I needed to get creative.

These chickpea pancakes pop up in both Italian and French cuisine. Socca in Nice, Farinata in Italy, whatever you want to call it, they're incredibly moreish and, even better, incredibly simple to make. They just taste savoury. You can serve them super crisp or a little softer, as I did with this mushroom ragu. I remember my brother Paul made these for us one evening. They were intended as a light snack, but I made my way through about a kilogram of the stuff. I'm delicate like that.

The ragu is the more complex component of this dish. The fungi need to be chopped as finely as you can manage. They should be sauteed for a good while - they should release their liquid and then cook off a while. Eventually, they'll begin to brown. It's at that point you take the mushroom flavour up a notch by adding some dried porcinis softened in hot water. This takes the intensity from "ho hum" to "ooh ah" in a matter of moments. Cook for an hour or so, and you're good to go.

So this dish is not only gluten free, but vegetarian. If your red wine is animal product-free, it's also vegan. And I gotta tell you, you'd be wise to save some for the guests they're actually intended for - these will be inhaled in a matter of moments. People who have a serious aversion to mushrooms also begrudgingly admitted they were delicious. A people-pleaser if I've ever dished one up.

Ingredients

1 kg assorted mushrooms, finely diced
1 brown onion, finely diced
3 tbsp olive oil
3 sprigs thyme
15g dried porcini mushrooms, or other dried mushrooms such as chanterelles or trumpets
1 cup red wine
1 litre vegetable stock (make sure it's gluten free)
salt and pepper

1 cup chickpea flour (also known as besan flour)
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a heavy based saucepan. Add the onion and saute for 10 minutes over low heat. Add the mushrooms and increase the heat. Cook, stirring regularly, for around 30 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to brown. Meanwhile, soak the porcinis in 1 cup of hot water for around 10 minutes.

Remove the porcinis from the water, retaining the liquid. Chop the porcinis finely and add to the mushrooms. Add the red wine and reduce for around 3 minutes. Add the stock, thyme and the reserved liquid from the porcinis. Cook over low heat for around an hour or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season as required.

To make the socca, whisk the flour with the water briefly. Refrigerate for around an hour. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease some flat-bottomed patty pans and pour in a thin layer of batter. Bake for around 10 minutes or until set. Place the pancakes under the grill and grill until crispy. Repeat with remaining batter.

Top each pancake with a spoonful of mushroom ragu. Garnish with some snipped chives and serve.

Mini burgers: a modern classic appetiser

At our work Christmas party, we had the best seats in the house. Not front row to hear the speeches. Not even the seats overlooking the dance floor, ready to criticise the first person who dared to dance in front of their colleagues. If you can't tell, I'm a hopelessly uncoordinated dancer who reacts with pathetic jealousy every time she sees someone in their own world, happily dancing as if no one is watching. I'm watching alright. I'm watching and judging. Totes well-adjusted.

Nope, our Christmas party posse was next to the kitchen door. As soon as any food left the pass we would appear out of nowhere with our hands out. Tiny buckets of fish and chips, sushi, little dumplings and of course, mini burgers all made it no more that five metres from the kitchen before we'd decimated the platters.

It seems you can't go to a function these days without the ol' mini burger being rolled out. The problem is it's normally dry and mealy - overcooked into oblivion. Really, a good burger should be cooked to medium, medium-rare. But with a patty that small, it's really hard to keep them moist.

Fried chicken fiesta

I'm not sure what the Bureau of Meteorology says, but it feels like it's been over 30 degrees for the 30 days straight (if we were a fancy restaurant, we'd be called 30'30' humans or something). With no aircon and 1970's insulation (ie. none) our flat has a tendency to become something of a hotbox. It's not fun to cook inside these days, so we've been barbecuing our little hearts out recently. So you can imagine how it felt to stand over some sizzling hot oil on a particularly scorching day. To say my forehead was a little shiny would be something of an understatement.

I knew I wanted to do a fried chicken cook up for our friends, but to be honest I hadn't mastered a recipe. No matter - I found some good sources round the traps who knew a thing or two about chicken of the fried variety. Matt Wilkinson, from this post, recommended soaking in buttermilk and mustard. I can't deny he's onto a winner there. He also suggested a quick dredge in breadcrumbs or flour and frying. I went with flour, because another learned meat man, our lovely butcher from Skinner and Hackett, had kindly passed on a chicken spice rub from Peter Watson. It was a cracker when paired with flour, salt and pepper.

My latest purchase: Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables

Matty is an avid reader. If we had his books alone, they'd fill a pretty decent bookshelf. He'll read a book a week, but is generally pretty good at passing them on when he's done. Sharing the literary love. The real problem is my complete inability to say no to a cookbook. I don't hear voices in my head, it's more that the cookbooks grow legs and jump into my hands, take out my credit card and pay for the purchase. They even know my PIN for heaven's sakes!

There was no buyer's remorse with this one. Mr Wilkinson's Favourite Vegetables has actual recipes you'd reasonably believe you can cook and won't stuff up. They're also interesting and creative without being naff. It's one of those cookbooks you open and instantly feel a connection to the dishes: approachable but impressive.