CF Eats: a working lunch and gluten free bread baking

Since my foraging course at Vale House Kitchen last week, I have become *slightly* obsessed with Nettle soup. No, not a confession I thought I’d be making either but imagine a cross between rocket and spinach made into a creamy emulsion with double cream, potato, garlic and stock… it’s amazing. I’ll post the recipe when I make my next batch.

But, when ‘knocking up a batch of homemade soup’ just isn’t feasible, namely Monday-Friday when I am working, I have discovered the brilliant Amy’s Kitchen as a pretty close to homemade substitute that is gloriously gluten-free.

I was sent this tin, the chunky tomato, to try last week. And have since whipped up to Waitrose and filled my trolley with lentil, lentil and vegetable and more chunky tomato – and they’re all organic, too. The chunky tomato is made with cream, so imagine a less synthetic and much less sweet Heinz cream of tomato, that actually has texture and chunks of real tomato in it. Yum.

Amy’s Kitchen is a 25 year old US brand, so hardly ‘new to the market’, but weirdly just hadn’t made it on to my ‘gluten free’ radar. It was founded by a couple in Chicago and sweetly named after their daughter. I like the ‘homely’ ethos as well as the ‘free from’ credentials. Everything is made ‘with ingredients you’d find in your own kitchen’; I love their benchmark that ‘if a child can’t pronounce it, it’s not going in’. Brilliant.

Everything is vegetarian and gluten free, and they also do lactose free ranges. It’s not just soups, there are ready meals, curries and pies, too.

I have begun, just like my mum did when I was little, making batches of bread on a Saturday morning for the week. Just straightforward 400g loaves for now, that slot neatly into the freezer. With my trusty Kenwood Chef mixer and dough hook attachment it is super super simple. Plus, using Doves Farm’s brown bread gluten free flour, and simply following the recipe on the reverse, it is just a one hour prove then straight in the oven for one hour. No ‘proving, knocking back, then second proving’ palaver.

I’ll wait till I’ve perfected the recipe before I do a full post (it’s getting better with each batch!), it’s made with milk and olive oil so has a dense but moist crumb and a great crunchy crust. It’s delicious with cashew nut butter for breakfast, or here with houmous and soup for lunch. I’m so glad I’ve got a reliable bread recipe under my belt, it was one of my real bug bears about being gluten free, not being able to quickly knock up a sandwich, and now I can!