gluten free option

[amidaiwish]

On sunday i have dh's work colleagues coming to dinner.
We were planning on cooking sausage and mash, green beans and a broccoli dish.
one of the guys has to eat gluten and dairy free.

i assume mash potatoes are out as we would put butter/milk in to mash them and without it they would be a bit dry/blurgh.

sausages - i get really good quality ones from our local organic farmers market. but do all sausages have some gluten in (i will ask).

is there an easy alternative i could cook for him (salmon fillet?) as i don't want to have to do a completely separate meal if i don't have to. (others might be jealous if i serve him up a fillet steak for example!)

Almost all sausages, however good the quality, will have some gluten in them. Only way to know for sure, though, is to ask as you say.

Salmon sounds like a better option!

Nearly all sausages have gluten because of the breadcrumbs/rusk etc that is put in to bulk them up. You can get gluten free ones from some supermarkets (sainsburys do frozen ones in their Free from range).

Most sausages do have gluten in, but you can get gf sausages from many butchers and Sainsburys, Waitrose, M&S etc all sell GF sausages. The Toulouse sausages are very nice indeed.

If you buy some dairy free spread (Pure is a good brand) and some soy milk, you can make the mash df for him. Makes it much easier (and much more pleasant for him) if you all have the same.

And, please not fruit salad for him if you are doing pud. I have a lush choc brownie recipe that is gf/df

thanks
please do send the choc brownie recipe over

can he have rice milk in the mash (i have that anyway for the DDs milkshake)

The toulouse sausages - can i get those in waitrose? are they fresh/frozen?

is it ok if i make the sausage dish as usual (bake the sausages in a Delia recipe apple/onion stew type thing) and cook his separately and just switch them. or is there a risk of him eating any gluten which may have got into the sauce from the other sausages?

or if i did the salmon fillet - what could i do with it? some quinoa? or would mash with non dairy milk/spread be a better option?

Do you think he would prefer to eat the same as us just tailored - or would he prefer to be "safe" with some fish. i've never met him nor has dh. he is coming over from the US office on saturday so we have invited him to join us.

I would cook his meal separately to be on the safe side. Also remember that if you are doing it as a stew type thing, most stock cubes etc have gluten in them and you have to thicken sauces with cornflour or similar. My mum is gf - I spend hours checking labels to try and make sure that she can eat the same as us when she comes over.

I'd make exactly the same for everyone - you couldn't swap the sausages as the sauce would be contaminated. It's really much nicer to be the same, and it reduces the cross contamination risk too.

What is in the stew - remember that gravy granules, stock cubes etc may have gluten in, but its easy to buy 'normal' gf ones

Rice milk will be fine

In Waitrose, you can get a few GF sausages - their own brand Cambridge, the Black Farmer ones (theres an apple type that would go great with your sauce) and their own brand herb chipolatas. Theres also a brand called Musks that do a GF thats available there. All fresh.

Recipe here - use Pure spread and G&B plain choc to make it DF. I really like it with pecans or glace cherries added.

that's fantastic.
thank you all.
i shall let you know how we get on!

really is much nicer if you all eat the same food. We use the hard stork margarine sometimes when cooking dairy free. Haven't tried it in mash but should be fine if you can't get pure.

am gf myself and totally agree how much nicer it is to all eat the same food. I don't enjoy it when someone has cooked a 'special' meal for me. The number of times I've been given fruit salad while everyone else has chocolate pud... I mean I'm grateful that they've gone to the trouble, but it does mean that I tend to invite people to ours and dread going to other people's houses to eat.

GF sausages are usually nicer IMO - they have more meat and no rusk, and rusk ain't exactly tasty. Lots of mainstream stock cubes are GF - knorr and kallo usually are, just check the box to be on the safe side. GF choc brownies sound lovely. Dairy free icecream on the side would be lush (can get it from any supermarket). And I believe I speak for my gluten free people when I say If you feed him a GF and DF meal that is the same as everyone else he will be so very very happy and you will be a shining star amongst hostesses. It has never happened to me. Sigh.

oh blimming heck
now dh has just told me another one is veggie.

so do i do him veggie sausages?
or the pair of them a salmon fillet or similar?!?!?

Do the veggie some veggie sausages, in separately cooked sauce.

Don't assume the veggie will eat fish

apparently he does eat fish.

but yes, maybe i go the gf sausages and veggie sausages route.

I think that's right amidaiwish - at least then everyone has vaguely the same food. I have a vegan gluten free regular guest round at ours, and even though I'm gf myself, that one does cause me some long hard thinking!