coeliacs - tell me your dream dinner party menu

[ImpossiblyGlossy]

and dont say bloody anti pasti!

or just tell me what is a def no no

My idea of hell, is where someone a) forgets about you b) thinks about you but your meal doesn't really work as a meal eg melon for starter, salad for main followed by fruit salad wth!

My advice would be to make everything gf as it reduces cross contamination risk and reduces the chance of getting ill eg accidentally dishing gf pasta with the gluten pasta spoon (happens so many times). If you want to do something with gluten for everyone else prepare the gf stuff first.

I'm not sure I've helped in terms of food ideas but I generally like all food and it's lovely when someone remembers and makes an effort.

Defo a no no: wheat, rye, oats or barley. Some people can tolerate safe oats but don't get involved with that unless your coeliac says they can eat them.

I am severley intolerant to gluten but I always tell people that I can eat all meat and veg so make any normal starter or main course without wheat/barley/oat flour or bread or pasta in it.

Puddings are a major problem. Many coeliacs as well as being intolerant to gluten also cannot tolerate lactose (milk sugar). We can still eat dairy as long as it has been treated with lactase. You can buy lactofree milk and soya ice cream but unless you are prepared to cook a gluten free cake which isnt easy unless you practice, I suggest you do something like baked figs and marsala and honey.

If your coeliac friend can tolerate lactose then ice cream is OK as well as other cream based recipes like panacotta or creme brulee or creme caramel.

To have dessert - could be anything. I am thrilled when anyone I go to makes dessert rather than just giving me fruit!!

Otherwise keep it simple.

Thanks everyone

What would you normally make for a dinner party ? Its easy to adapt most things tbh

I'd agree with keeping the whole thing gf to minimise cross contamination.

There are lots of things you can do that are easily adaptable to gf and the rest of the dinner party won't mind.

eg

Starter: Home made soup using gf stock
Main: Lasagne, using gf lasagne sheets, plus either salad or veg
Dessert: Home made cheesecake, using gf biscuits for the base

All three are simple to make and you can get all the gf elements from any supermarket.

Do check about the lactose thing first though. My ds is ok with small amounts of dairy generally, but couldn't cope with both the cheese sauce and the cheesecake.

Other good gf mains are risotto or paella, as long as you use gf stock either are fine and you can choose whatever 'flavours' you like in terms of meat/veg.

Finally, if you go for a straight forward meat and veg type meal and want to provide gravy, you will need to make your own from scratch using gf stock and either cornflour (check it's gf) or gf flour to thicken. Packet gf gravy is beyond vile.

An alternative dessert that my ds loves is Eton Mess, naturally gf and usually popular with everyone.

Chocolate mousse is a great pudding to make, gf dark chocolate, eggs and cream.

Oo yes chocolate mousse. I didn't think of that, as ds1 loathes chocolate. (He definitely didn't get that from me! )

DH says

Prawn cocktail
Steak and chips
Chocolate mousse

God. No way am I eating gf pasta. #bad

MoreBeta - GF cakes aren't hard to bake. Dove's farm flours and baking powder/bicarbonate of soda produces results that are impossible to tell are GF. I bake GF birthday cakes for me allergy group, decorated as cartoon characters for coeliac DC's.

For iced cakes, I just use a normal Madeira cake recipe and swap the flour for Dove's farm. I add a little extra liquid, the juice of a lemon, or half an orange, depending on what flavour I want.

For icing, I make my own, as ready made has often been dusted with wheat flour. I use gel colours to colour the icing whichever colours are needed.

It's not as hard as you think to bake GF cakes!

My last cake was a dairy, soy, nut and gluten free Madeira cake decorated to look like the Tardis (for my DS1's 10th birthday). I'll post a pic of it on my profile tonight when I can retrieve the laptop from the teenager.