Eat Free. Live Free. G Free.  

A Gluten-Free Mother’s Day to Remember by Carol Fenster

by info@gfreecuisine.com 10. May 2010 07:25
A few years ago, the Mother’s Day weekend I’m about to describe would not (make that “could not”) have happened. I should also tell you that part of my Mother’s Day gift was to eat wherever I wanted throughout the weekend here in Denver.

It started Friday night with dinner at a local pizza restaurant called The Oven. This isn’t just ANY restaurant, but one owned by a chef whose Phoenix restaurant (Tarbell) was a candidate for a James Beard award (one of the highest awards a restaurant or chef can garner in the world of food) and this chef also appeared on the Food Network.

But what makes this restaurant most interesting to me is that I can order a delicious gluten-free pizza. They use Udi’s frozen pizza crusts (available in grocery stores and natural food stores) and cook them over a wood-fire. The 9-inch pizza is delicious and they have gluten-free beer!

For lunch on Saturday, I chose a Mediterranean restaurant called Olivea, whose chef was also a James Beard nominee and whose recipes recently appeared in Fine Cooking magazine. Not only were there several gluten-free entrees on the menu, but this chef bakes gluten-free bread on site. So, I had gluten-free toast with my Poached Eggs on Creamy Polenta. I was in heaven!

Saturday night dinner found us back at another Tarbell restaurant called Home, which like its name implies, offers homey, comfort food. Again, I had many gluten-free entrée choices (and even more if I called ahead to let them know I’m coming). But I was quite happy with huge pork chops sitting atop the restaurant’s special applesauce.

What makes this all so fabulous is that these are top-notch chefs whose restaurants would undoubtedly do quite well without any gluten-free patrons. But they’ve chosen to extend their hospitality to those of us with gluten intolerance and I, for one, am extremely grateful.

But wait…. I haven’t told you about my favorite chef. That would be my son. Like all mothers, I am extremely proud of my son, my only child, for many reasons. In addition, he is also a terrific cook. My present from him was Sunday morning brunch at his house. We had a delicious Frittata packed with mushrooms, black olives, roasted red pepper, shallots, and goat cheese.

Then there was his signature brunch dish, his version of an Eggs Benedict…a slice of toast (Udi’s), topped with a strip of prosciutto, then a poached egg, and the whole thing drizzled with Chive Oil (which he makes by simply blending fresh chives and oil in the blender until smooth). Along with that, we had a long-grain wild rice dish which contained a little bit of crumbled sausage. Add to that some killer-good bacon and fresh berries and again, I was in heaven. (See the plate below in the photo.)

I hope your Mother’s Day was as wonderful as mine, that you spent it with those you love, and that you dined like a queen. I certainly did.

Be the first to rate this post

  • Currently 0/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Tags:

E-mail | Kick it! | DZone it! | del.icio.us
Permalink | Comments (47) | Post RSSRSS comment feed

Comments

Add comment


 

biuquote
  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading



About the Authors

Ann Bender & Karen Hutcherson
Marketers by profession, both Ann and Karen have a fondness for good food and healthy cooking. They understand the importance of the nightly family dinner and developed Relish! a premier menu-planning service (relishrelish.com). Relish! received hundreds of requests to offer the same type of service but to make it gluten-free. Because of the complexity of the product, they solicited the help of gluten-free cooking expert, Carol Fenster, to provide all of the recipes and many of her famous bread and dessert recipes!