Beginnings

The first post of a new blog is always a difficult thing and this post has proven to be even more so. Its a difficult thing to combine two such different topics, but we're going to give it a go.

Here's an introduction to the food side of things, this blog was originally conceived to be a place to collect and share my recipes. About a year ago I was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. This means if I ingest any gluten (found in rye, barley and wheat) I have an immune response damaging the villi in the small intestine causing absorption problems.

Gluten is in a ridiculous amount of processed foods, which means if I want to eat I have to make it entirely from scratch from fresh produce. The upshot of this is that I've never felt better. While I enjoyed cooking before I'm now so much more adventurous with what I cook, and my abilities in the kitchen have much improved.

However this hasn't been the case for everyone who has been diagnosed with this disease. I know many people that have felt lost after being diagnosed and don't really know what to eat, and so this idea was born. This blog is to facilitate my recipes helping people adjust to living without gluten and learn to love all the food available to them.

My aim with the food I make is to make food that is exciting and delicious in itself, not food thats pretty good for gluten free.

Butternut Squash Soup
serves 4

ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash
handful of fresh coriander
175ml double cream
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste

method:
1. Peel and dice the squash into cubes, scooping out and discarding the seeds.
2. Boil the squash in hot water for around 10 to 15 minutes until soft.
3. Drain the squash but retain the water and out aside.
4. Blend the squash in a food processor with a bit of the retained water until smooth.
5. Add the coriander, oil, cream and chili powder and pulse until throughly mixed.
6. Continue to add small amounts of the water until the soup reaches a smooth consistency while remaining thick.
7. Serve with some fresh coriander and enjoy.

A variation I like to do to this recipe is to roast the squash for 35 mins in olive oil at 200C/400F/Gas 6, and substitute the water for vegetable stock. It gives it a richer taste and colour, and makes a nice change.