Please help! Gluten-free party food!

[QuintessentialShadowsOfDoom]

I am planning my mums 75th birthday do.

Her sister has a gluten free diet.

Could you please suggest me some good recipes for mince pies, a basic sponge (for victoria sandwich), other fab cakes, but also something for a cold buffet?

It is a sea food buffet, with some meaty options such as cured hams, cheeses and stuff. I am plannig salads, a pesto pasta salad (can I do that gluten-free?) and gluten free rolls.

Any ideas?

[weaselbudge]

Just make a normal sponge/pastry using the gluten free flour available from places like waitrose - seems to work just the same.
make the pasta salad with gluten free pasta (available from the same aisle)

[MrsGokVantsyourblood]

Use the Breakfast Rolls from the Free From range as they seem to be the best of the bunch. My 4 yo loves them. Most of the Free From bread can be a bit dry and crumbly.

[morningpaper]

rice salads

jacket potatoes are good options - with egg mayo and chilli toppings? Tuna mayo and cheese

Cheese and pineapple on sticks!

[CMOTdibbler]

There are some things you can do GF, and no one will notice - cakes are one of these, and no one can tell the difference between my normal cakes and GF.

But pastry is a v different matter - it tends to be v brittle and hard to work with.

Pasta salad with a good GF pasta (Rizopia is v good) won't be noticed as different.

So I'd do cakes, salads as gf, and then do her a plate of gf quiche, mince pies (you can then use one batch of pastry for both), and gf rolls, and use gluten flour for everyone elses

[tkband3]

Doves Farm gluten free self raising flour is great - it has recipes on the packet, but I have used it in standard recipes (including Marslady's infamous lemon drizzle) with great success. If you'd like the recipe for the most amazing chocolate brownies, let me know and I'll post it for you.

Pastry is quite a hard one to do, but you can buy mince pies (already!) in the big supermarkets.

As weaselbudge says, you can simply use gluten free pasta to make the pasta salad, although beware of the pasta made from cornflour, as it's not brilliant. There's an Italian brand called Salute which Sainsburys do which is very good - but don't overcook it, as it falls apart very easily! Alternatively, perhaps do a rice salad instead?

Another alternative is Quinoa (I have to admit I've not tried it yet), which I know a lot of people use instead of couscous - so perhaps you could do that with roasted vegetables?

Gluten free bread isn't great, but you can get part-baked rolls, baguettes and ciabattas in Tescos and Sainsburys now which are ok. I wouldn't do gluten free rolls for everyone as they're pretty pricey though.

Everything else you mention - the seafood, cured hams, cheese etc - sounds fine.

[QuintessentialShadowsOfDoom]

Wonderful! Thank you all for so many good ideas. As I am overseas, I dont have the same brands as back in the Uk, but I have been to the shop and found both glutenfree pasta for the pesto salad, and flour. Rice flour. I shall try and make a sponge tonight just to see what it is like, and if it is suitable for my marzipan festive cake.

I will be back for more, there are so many good ideas allready, need to mull them over.

[tkband3]

As I was typing, I had a feeling you weren't in the UK (do you live in Norway?)...the chocolate brownies use rice flour if you want to make those . And I've got a recipe for a Christmas cake which uses potato flour - if you can get hold of any, I'll post the recipe for you.

[QuintessentialShadowsOfDoom]

Oh, you must be psychic, yes I do live in Norway, and I did buy potato flour today, along with lots of dried fruits and almonds, as I am going to attempt an English Fruitcake for Christmas.....

[morningpaper]

I made my first gluten-free victoria sponge today and it was VERY GOOD.

I used the Dove's plain flour with the recipe on the packet. I changed the technique slightly and REALLY WHISKED the eggs and the butter/sugar mix and then sifted the flour a zillion times and folded it in v. carefully. It was incredibly light!

[Friendlypizzaeater]

OOh - DS (7) just diagnosed would love the GF Xmas cake - can I have the recipe please.

[tkband3]

MP - I always think g-f cakes are much lighter than normal ones...don't know why, maybe because there's no gluten in them .

GF Christmas Cake

Ingredients:
250g butter or margarine
175g dark brown sugar
2 tbsp treacle
2 tbsp brandy
4 eggs
75g cornflour
100g potato flour
1 tbsp mixed spice
2 tsp baking powder
175g ground almonds
1kg luxury dried fruit mix
finely grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 170c/325F/gas mark 3

First prepare the tin. Grease the base and sides of a deep 20cm cake tin. Cut a double thickness strip of baking parchment 5cm deeper than the tin and long enough to wrap around the tin completely. Make a 2cm crease along the long folded edge, then snip the paper from the fold to the crease at regular intervals. Press one paper strip into the tin, grease and then press the other strip on top, making sure the paper folds are flat on the bottom of the tin. Cut 3 rounds of paper to fit the bottom of the tin and press into the base. (Hope that makes sense - I've not made the cake and am just copying from a book!)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter or margarine, sugar and treacle until pale and creamy. Whisk in the brandy and gradually add the eggs and the cornflour, mixing to combine.

Sieve in the potato flour, mixed spice and baking powder and fold in using a large metal spoon, along with the remaining ingredients.

Pile into the prepared tin and smooth over the top.

Bake in the oven for 2 hours or until a metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean, covering the top with foil if it browns too quickly. Leave to cool in the tin (it may sink slightly).

Tips
This cake will keep just like any other fruit cake, and the flavour develops further after 2 days. Before decorating or icing, turn the cake upside down. If you are using bought marzipan and/or icing, check that they are gluten-free.

If you have a nut allergy, you can replace the ground almonds with 75g more cornflour and 75g more potato flour.

I made Delia's christmas cake last year, and soaked the fruit in brandy for a couple of days before I made it and then poured more brandy over the cake every few days after it was cooked, before I iced it - I presume you could do the same with this one, but as I say, I've not made it yet!

Chocolate brownies

These are the best brownies I've ever made - g-f or not .

125g butter
200g soft brown sugar
125g plain chocolate, chopped
50g rice flour
20g cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150g nuts such as almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts or a mixture (optional - I very rarely put nuts in as I bake them a lot for school).

Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4

Grease and line a 20 x 20cm baking tin

Place the butter, sugar and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into the mix and stir well. Add the eggs and nuts (if using).

Pour into the baking tin and bake for 35 minutes until cooked through but still quite soft in the centre (this is the important bit - when you cut them up, you might think they're not cooked, but they should be still slightly sticky inside).

Cut into slices and cool on a wire rack.

Right, am now off to do some exercise, otherwise I'll have to make and eat some brownies and that'll be no good for my diet .

[Danthe4th]

GFree do the best ready made pastry, But I do a very good sweet pastry just replacing the flour with gf and its very workable.
Black farmer sausages are great, and also m and s do gf cakes(if youre lucky to find them) and there stuffed chicken is also gf which would be nice sliced cold.

[QuintessentialShadowsOfDoom]

tkband3
Thanks so much for the Christmas cake recipe adn the brownies, excellent.

I am now "marinading" the fruit for the cake, and will make it tomorrow.

Do you know if I can cook it in a loaf tin, rather than a square tin, and what the cooking time then would be?