Cooking Gluten-Free Vegetarian with Donna Klein

 Tonight, I began the “Challenge”, cooking out of The Gluten-Free Vegetarian by Donna Klein. While my husband tackled paper work he brought home from the office, I cranked up the propane stove-top, first slow-cooking the Curried Pumpkin Risotto on page 117. In-between stirring in more of the simmering broth ¼ cup at a time, I made the dressing for the Spinach Salad with Orange-Raisin Dressing and Sunflower Seeds on page 58. As I was putting the finishing touches on our dinner, Cliff took a break and helped me out, creating the Orange-Marinated Strawberries on page 197, which we later poured over vanilla ice cream for dessert.

I’d never cooked with Arborio rice before. It's a short, round grain rice with a creamy, chewy texture. I’m delighted to discover it, because I can use Arborio in all my recipes that call for orzo pasta, which is made from semolina or wheat.

For those that go light on spices, you’ll want to cook with a mild curry and perhaps cut down on the amount of cumin and pepper. I can’t eat black pepper, so I used a pinch of finely ground cayenne instead. We ate the Pumpkin Risotto as the main entrée, but it would be fantastic as a side dish, especially during the fall and winter months. Count on needing an hour to make your risotto; you are reducing over a quart of liquid and pumpkin puree as your rice cooks uncovered on the stove-top.

While I was adding and stirring ingredients to the pot, my mother called to share some good news about my Uncle Kenny, who is in the hospital recovering from a stroke. Trying to listen and talk  on speaker phone while ladling broth, I managed to burn my hand picking up the handle of the scorching hot saucepan, which in turn caused me to bang my head into the corner of the cabinetry encasing the overhead fan. My mother said it first, “I better go so you can get back to your cooking!”

The salad recipe I selected from the book worked quite well as a lightly-sweetened complement to the spicy curry dish. The sunflower seeds added the nutty flavor and crunch that I missed by forgetting about the toasted pine nuts set aside to sprinkle on top of the risotto.

Cliff said our dessert tasted like a Creamsicle, which is not a bad thing, because the Creamsicle remains one of our favorites from childhood. However, this is a far healthier version loaded with fresh strawberries and ample marinade to make a slurry of goodness to drink like a smoothie. You know, this recipe might work really well for a gluten-free waffle topping. You could cook and thicken the marinade with cornstarch, use whipping cream or gluten-free vanilla ice cream and top with fresh berries.