We often have things like roast chicken, lasagna, rack of lamb, or a hearty stew, but with the weather perking up (its starting to feel sort-of like springtime!), I was feeling a little Mexican inspired, and decided to use pulled pork and let dinner do most of the cooking on its own.

Pulled pork is typically associated with Southern style BBQ, but it is actually quite a versatile meat, and if its cooked relatively plain, the succulent nature of the meat shines through, and you can sauce it as you go,  for bahn-mi type sandwiches, traditional BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, kimchi soup with ramen noodles or more!  AND, its one of the cheapest cuts of meat you can go with, as you use pork shoulder (butt roast) which needs a low and slow approach.

This takes some time, and a little foresight, but only has a couple of steps, and the oven does all the work!  Try it sometime, sit back, relax and breath in the delicious smells through the afternoon.

Tonight’s pork tacos saw the pulled pork lightly sauced with a reduction of the cooking liquid, placed on top of homemade tortillas, and topped with some tomatillo sauce I put up last fall, guacamole and a dollop of creme fraiche.   With a 3 lb or so piece of pork-shoulder, you will have plenty for tacos, and lots left over to use through the week.

General Purpose Pulled Pork

• 3-4 lb pork butt roast
• 1 T ground coriander
• 1 T ground cumin
• 1 T sea salt
• 1 T ground pepper

Combine the salt, pepper and spices, and rub over the pork roast.  Let sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours (or overnight).  Just before cooking, Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.   Drain off any accumulated juices, place in a 5 quart dutch oven with a lid.  Pour in about 1/2 cup – 1 cup of liquid.   You can use beer, apple juice, or stock.  This time around, I opted to use a bit of whisky in the basting liquid.

Toss the whole works in the oven, and check on it every 60-90 minutes, basting the pork roast as you go.   Keep in the oven for about 4 hours until the fat is starting to melt, and the meat shreds easily with two forks.  Let stand for at least 20 minutes before shredding.  Skim most of the fat off the basting liquid, and use to moisten the pork if needed.  Season lightly with salt and pepper as you toss in the liquid.

But before we get into the recipe, here’s a couple of things you need to know about me:

1. I loathe the ubiquitous Food Network eyeroll when tasting food!
2. I do NOT moan uncontrollably when nomming on even the tastiest of treats!
3. I am skeptical by nature — I like to keep abreast of what’s new, but I do need to be convinced to give up valuable pantry/cupboard/fridge space for said new thing!

So that being said, this banana bread recipe is one that might make me do a double take, and the Timtana flour is a definite plus, although the recipe will work with other high protein flours in its place.  Even my husband, who is a dye-in-the wool skeptic when it comes to gluten-free baking, happily snarfed down his share, before asking for more!

As I posted about a week ago, Timtana flour is a gluten-free flour made out of timothy grass by Montana processors.  It is very high in protein, and helps create nice moist baked goods.  It is particularly good in yeast-raised baked goods, but really shines here in the banana bread, adding structure and volume as well as a nice nutty undertone which complements the banana flavour.

This is a plain banana bread, showcasing the natural flavour of the fruit, but if you want, you can fold in  1 cup or so of nuts, raisins or even chocolate chips!

When I started working on this, I used a tried and true recipe I always fall back on from Cooks Illustrated (which is wheat-based).  This is a plain ‘ole banana bread, which I think is just what the doctor ordered, after a couple of months of fancy feasting!  Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than a slab of warm banana bread and a cup of coffee!

If you don’t have Timtana flour, you can substitute another high-protein flour such as teff, garfava or defatted soy.

Printer friendly recipe: Timtana banana bread

Gluten-free Banana Bread with Timtana flour

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to mix.

• 3/4 cup Timtana flour (90 grams)
• 1 cup cornstarch (128 grams)
• 1/4 cup almond flour (30 grams)
• 1 teaspoon xantham gum
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Mash bananas well and add other liquid ingredients in a large bowl

• 3 large ripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 6 Tablespoons grape seed oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)
• 3/4 cup evaporated cane juice or granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients, and mix very well.  Pour into a well greased  loaf pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.  After 15 minutes, slash lightly down the centre to prevent cracking on the sides.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Lentil Soup

(Serves 4)

A hearty, satisfying lentil soup for those chilly winter days.  If you want to make it vegan, omit the bacon, and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.  You can also add 1-2 cups of diced carrots before you lock the pressure cooker lid on.  If you make this without the bacon but still want a smoky flavour, you can add about 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika to the onions and garlic while they are sautéing.

This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free

• 3-4 strips bacon, cut into lardons
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup French Lentils (Lentils de Puy)
• 1 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes (low sodium)
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup white wine (optional)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 whole bay leaves

Over medium heat in a pressure cooker at least 4 quarts,  cook the bacon until the fat is rendered out and it starts to brown slightly.  Add the onion, garlic and salt and sauté until the onions are translucent.  Add all the other ingredients and lock the lid on the pressure and cook under pressure for 25 minutes.  Bring the pressure down and remove the lid.

• 1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar or Balsamic vinegar

Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.  Stir in the vinegar just before serving.

Lentil Soup: Printer Friendly Recipe

I have made a couple of versions that were very tasty that contained eggs, and were light and fluffy, BUT most of these are almost entirely starch — potato starch, cornstarch, tapioca starch or combinations of these.  While cinnamon buns are not exactly health food, I was also aiming for something that was a little less heavy on the starch, and more reliant on some of the more nutritious flours like sorghum, garfava, millet, or amaranth.

Here’s the latest version of my cinnamon buns, making use in this case, of millet flour.  This is pretty close to what I was aiming for, although I think the final version will make use of sorghum flour instead.  I ended up adding garfava flour here for the extra lift that the higher protein flours add.  I think you could also substitute teff fairly successfully.

Gluten-free Cinnamon Buns

• 1 1/2 cups sorghum flour (180 grams)
• 3/4 cup garfava flour (90 grams)
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch (80 grams)
• 1/2 cup cornstarch (64 grams)
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 1 tablespoon xantham gum
• 4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk well to combine.

• 1 tablespoon Ener-g egg replacer
• 4 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 cup non-dairy milk, warmed to 110 degrees

Combine wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, with the egg replacer and water mixed first until frothy.  Add the remaining wet ingredients, then fold in the dry ingredients.  Mix on medium speed for at least 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.

Place the dough on a sorghum flour dusted silpat mat, and place a piece of parchment overtop.  Roll out to a rough rectangle, approximately 18 inches by 12 inches or the size of the silpat mat.

• 1/3 cup Earth-balance buttery flavoured shortening or butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins

Spread the softened butter over the rolled out dough, leaving a 2″ border on one of the long-sides.  Spread the sugar, cinnamon and raisins over the butter.  Roll up the dough like a jelly-roll from the long side, using the silpat to help as you go.  cut into 7-8 slices, place in a greased pie-plate or 9″ cake pan.  Cover loosely and let rise for 60 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, Bake for 50-60 minutes, tenting with foil after about 30 minutes.  Serve warm.

This version is served “naked”, but if you like yours glazed, you can also drizzle a glaze overtop made with confectioners sugar and milk.  Let the buns cool for about 15 minutes before doing this.

I’m sending these over to Yeastspotting There are lots of amazing bakers out there making fabulous things with yeast!  Go check them out!