Hello and welcome to Gluten Free Angela. Let's talk about gluten free, shall we? This is my first podcast of the year of 2023, and I thought I would share a funny story with you. There is this image of baking as well. Baking a beautiful cake, but there's a little bit of a funny story. and it's a little bit about sauerkraut as well. Okay, so cake sauerkraut, really. I'm one of these people, I buy magazines. but I don't read them straight away. So they'll go into my um, bag and then when I've got time, I'll have a quick look and I've got National Geographic Traveler Food Magazine in it's Autumn 2022. And I was looking through this and I suddenly realized when I read something in there, and it's what they're eating in Warsaw and it said sauerkraut cake. And I. I made a sauerkraut cake once as well. And I just want to share this story cuz I think it's really hilarious and I have no photographic evidence left at all. But I'll, I'll share this with you. So a little bit about this sauerkraut cake,, and it's saying about this place in Warsaw. Um, What is it saying, selling BRI sandwiches as a hip night market? That's fine. Um, however, the thing toward is the crispy sauerkraut cake topped with sour cream and chives. Now that sounds really quite nice to me. It sounds like a little bit of a Latke with some sauerkraut or something like that. But I really want to talk about sauerkraut cake. I used to go to this cake club and we would have a different theme every month of what to create and I dunno if people remember the, um, clandestine cake club and I used to go there and it was at a time when I could tolerate a little bit of gluten. But I bill, bill afterwards, and I knew that after I'd been to this cake club, I can have some little bits and then I could get home and like, you know, I can't tolerate gluten very well. Um, to, but I'm at the point now. I just can't, I, I really can't risk it at all. Not only does my skin erupt like it, it is just, I, I can't, we all have these reactions to gluten in different ways and mine's just got to the point where I, I, you know, I really can't risk it. And if I do, um, I'll be ill. So anyway, in this Cake Club, this month's theme, Was about secret ingredients. And you know, people think about the, um, the beetroot that they put in chocolate cake, which is fine. Of course we've got carrots, then we've got lots and lots of other things. And, and I remember going to a cake club years and years ago, and, and I'm sorry if you are the person who made this, but back in the days in the. Second World War. I believe they made this tomato soup cake while somebody made one once. And I have never tasted anything as awful in my life. like you had to be on serious rations to, to think that this thing, this tomato soup cake tasted like, a cake. But anyway, I dig. So I found a recipe for sauerkraut cake, and I'm sat there thinking, okay, I need to rinse it a little bit because I can't have this, all this salt in it. So I did rinse the sauerkraut a little bit, but I made this beautiful chocolate cake. Mm. And you know, when you finish making the cake and it, you know, you put a lot of sauerkraut in this cake. And I thought, well, what's the difference between, you know, putting some cabbage in, it's got some pickles in it, of course, you know, into a chocolate cake. Like I made a chili chocolate cake. I put in, um, cayenne pepper and, and, and all sorts. And you know, we put things into cakes. Anyway, I made this chocolate cake. It was blooming gorgeous. It was so nice. It was light, it was delicious. You know when you're layering it up and you, you take like a, a little spoonful out of the middle and you think, oh, I'll fill that with the topping. And it was a beautiful cake. Now, I, I will say I did rinse the sauerkraut, so I wasn't putting all of that, you know, uh, that sourness in as well. but sauerkraut is still sauerkraut, isn't it? So anyway, my, this chocolate cake was absolutely gorgeous. Really, really gorgeous. And I put this beautiful decadent ganache on and layered it all up and it was beautiful. And I put it into this little bake baking box thing. And I have to say it was from one of these cheapy shop. And I put this cake in there because I had something else in the lock and lock one. I thought, oh, that'll be fine. So we used to meet at a different location every month and everyone used to bake a cake and sit down and we'd have a little bit of each other's cake. And then we take home a piece of everything for, for our family, and that was it. And we would turn up and we would disappear within two hours. It is really weird for everybody watching with all these huge great dec cake decorations. We had to speak to the places and say, look, we have a cake club. Can we come along? We will buy teas and coffees and things like that. We won't be out buying any of your cakes or your sandwiches because we could have 15 cakes that we all bring along and we're gonna sample. but you know, the staff are more than welcome to have some of this. So anyway, there were different places around that have no issues whatsoever with this arriving. They tend to be the larger places, and I'd like to say, uh, like thank you to certain places, but this was in a garden center. It was a rather busy cafe garden center. And anyway, as I'm walking through this very busy garden center cafe, Just by two tills. The bottom falls out of my cake carrier. It goes upside down. and the cake smashes onto the floor, explodes on impact shoots sideways, hits people in the shoes, hits like the tills, et cetera. And I've just stood there in absolute horror as I am holding. The top of the cake carrier, the clear bit, but the colored bit, the bottom bit is on the floor upside down, and the cake is just splattered. And I just went, oh. As everyone in the queue who was queuing up for their afternoon teas, their lunches, their coffees, their teas, and everyone just turned around, looked at me and went, there's a step on the till. Looked at me and went, I was just like, oh my God, no. I don't know. And this guy just turned around to me. It's all right, we'll clean it up. And I went, thank you so much as I thought, I dunno how it's happened, but I have no chocolate sauerkraut cake around my ankles. It is hit everybody else's ankle ankles. So I picked the bottom of this carrier off thinking this is going in the bin as soon as I get home. And I went to find the table with everybody else and I just said, I don't believe. my cake has just fallen on the floor and splatted everywhere. And once we'd actually stopped laughing about it, because first of all I was just horrified and then I just found it so hilarious. Uh, the person who would arrange this group said, oh my God, did we get a photo? Went? No. And she went back to try and get a photo to clear this whole mess up. If there had never been a chocolate sauerkraut explosion cake ever in the queue. And as I sat down and just thought, oh my word, I was so proud of this. Sauerkraut cake because it was a beautiful chocolate cake. It had lots and lots of sauerkraut in it. I mean lots. It was so moist. It was so lovely. Um, you know, it had a slightly different texture but no different to, you know, carrot cake and all of those. It was just like, oh my God, this was beautiful And as per usual whenever I do my chocolate ganache. it cost me about 15, 20 quid in chocolate. Just be, just because I put so much blinking decadence on, on the outside of a chocolate cake. It was just hilarious. So I sat there for the rest of this group, you know, looking at other people's cake and thinking, well, I've tried like beetroot chocolate cake. And I've tried that before and I've tried that before. I really wanted to have my chocolate sauerkraut cake and everybody be able to taste it and say, wow, why don't we put sauerkraut in things more often? Now, I don't know about you, but sauerkraut. If there's sauerkraut on, on a menu I just go crazy by this stuff. I love it. And uh, you know, when you, when you do go to places where it is a normal food, it's always served warm on your plate, Um, but for a lot of us, we can, we can heat it up a little bit. Like we, we went away last year and it was sauerkraut and there were little bits of. Um, sausage in there and sometimes there's bits of chili and bits, garlic in there, and oh, sometimes it's just heated, but sauerkraut is just so good for you. Um, so good for the gut health as well, and so many of my friends just have it raw, straight out of the straight out of the jar. um, you know, kimchi, everything, oh my god. Don't even start me off Kimchi cake. Oh my word. I do, I have to try and have a go at this. Um, but maybe a kimchi cheesecake may be better because then we can have the cheese and the, and and the, the, the spices and the chili and stuff like that. You know, like a blue cheese cheesecake. That sounds amazing. I'm gonna do that and I'm gonna do some beautiful little biscuits on the bottom. have you ever tried those angelic biscuits? Because they are so good. The chili one, the chili ones are just lovely. It's a company called Angelic and they're in a red box with flowers on or something like that, but they're lovely. And we have them with, cheese, with really nice cheese on top. So I just love those, crackers. They're gluten free. They're great. I think they're vegan as well. Yeah, it, I mean, it's cracker. Just, I'm in a little, sup of tea. So when we talk about cakes and things and sauerkraut and do you know what, if I went to a, if I went somewhere and I said I was gonna get sauerkraut cake, I just have this feeling that it's gonna be chocolate sauerkraut cake. So if I went and I had like, a savory cake. I think I'd be, I may be a little bit underwhelmed, who knows? But I'll probably, if ever I'm in Warsaw, I'm gonna go to and get this sauerkraut cake from over there. And I get so much inspiration from these magazines. You know, I think what happens to me, first of all, which is what happens to so many, you have to give up gluten and then you buy all these gluten-free, recipe books. and you just think, I'm not really inspired. Cuz some of the recipes aren't that great and what I love doing is just looking at something and thinking, right, that's it. So sauerkraut cake, why can't we have sauerkraut? Chocolate cake. Yes, I've done it once. I must try and recreate that recipe because it was a really good cake. and then having something like kimchi and putting kimchi through. When you make a cheesecake, just don't put in the sugar. And if you put little flecks of chi kimchi in oh my word, how would that taste? That would be absolutely amazing. And again, just put it on a savory base. So the biscuits that you put on the bottom, I mean, you could have something like shortbread because there's a little bit of salt in shortbread, but just use some of the lovely crackers. You don't even have to, like, if you use those little angelic, they're little round ones, but you could put them on the bottom easily. You, you know, they will be absolutely fine. I know I play around with things, but I think. that the new cheesecake this summer is going to be with kimchi. I really do. Cuz we, I mean, I love cheesecake, but every so often it's lovely to have cheesecake as a starter, isn't it? Rather than a dessert. Oh. Why don't we have, you know, th this is a new concept and I think I'm gonna do this one day and we are gonna have cheesecake for start. We will have a main course to be able to, without a rich sauce, et cetera, and then we're gonna have cheesecake for dessert. I think that will be amazing. So, as I said, I got this magazine and I've had it in the bag for, uh, it must be a good two or three months because there will be another one now there'll be another one out that I have to get. So I'll have to pop to Marks and Spencer's cuz they're, or w h Smiths and pick up the magazine. But this is National Geographic Traveler Food, and I've also got National Geographic Traveler. Um, because that's the, the travel magazine, cause I thought that would be good. So this is one of the first things and last night, it was quite late last night, I was in the office and I just thought, let me open this magazine and you would be amazed at how many little post-it notes I've put on this magazine and when I turn a little bit more so sauerkraut cake. I really, really, really caught my eye. And then the next page is about starters, and it's about arancini. And it's a, it's a silly classic. It's the little deep fried bowls of rice that are then put in, um, uh, what is it? Um, bread crumbs, deep fried and served. And I always remember going to Italy, to Rome and, places like that when I was much, much younger. and the arancini was incredible. And, right, so as a filling, and then there's rice, like a risotto, rice thing, and then it's, it's in breadcrumbs and it's deep fried, so it stays whole in the ball. And when you bite into this, so you, you buy them at the normal pizzeria. And if you've ever been to. Most people don't sit down to eat. It's a real thing about going out on an evening, buying an ice cream and walking up and down, uh, the equivalent of a prom, you know, up and down the street. Families just go out late at night. Getting a piece of pizza, a pizza, like an oblong piece of pizza, and it's just wrapped in a little bit of like paper and you eat it while you walk. And the arancini is where you queue up and you take them away. You don't sit down to eat because then it quadruples the price of what you're going to buy and, Italians love to walk late in the evening. So these are, I used to love. And as you bite into them and you. that arancini ball away from your mouth. You get these telegraph wires and it's the mozzarella that's in the middle that just pulls so long and it's just delicious. And I was thinking, why don't we have arancini balls for uss for gluten-free people? Because you can get gluten free breadcrumbs. We can make gluten-free breadcrumbs as well, can't we? So just go and have a look at a great recipe book a proper re recipe book and make the arancini from the right type of rice, having the right egg on the outside and then having the breadcrumbs. Whatever bread you make into breadcrumbs, make sure that you allow them to really dry out. Because when we have breadcrumbs gluten, with gluten in them. They're really dry, aren't they? So don't just take a piece of bread and whizz it up and think that'll do. No, cuz that'll be too, that will be too wet, too damp. You really need them to dry out. Um, oh, actually I'm just looking at the end bit now. It says the sold by street vendors in Sicily. Well, in Rome, when I went to, uh, places like Monte Compatri and Frascati um, they were. I suppose like our fish and chip shops in the uk, you know, there would be a queue, you'd walk in, there would be slabs of pizza to buy big oblong pizzas. They weren't round, they were huge, great oblong ones and they were cut into pieces and then you, you chose which piece of pizza you wanted. And then the arancini balls, they, they were fresh and they were just delicious. And you would walk out with whatever you had and eat it as, eat it as you walked. Um, Oh, they talk about dips. I don't ever, ever, ever remember having a dip while I was walking with these things, and they always taste so much better. Um, so yeah, it says Should be dipped in egg breadcrumbs before being deep fried. Make sure the oil is hot. Yes. and you use risotto, rice, a bo abo rice is the best and the filling. Now this is quite interesting. It said the classic Sicilian filling is Ragu with cheese and peas, but beyond that, um, oh, gorgonzola. I love gorgonzola, but I always remember them with mozzarella in the middle and it was just something quite exotic to me. I remember I was, I think the first time I went to Italy I was about eight or. and two doors away from where my parents lived and where I lived. a lady lived and her daughter had moved out to Italy and she had a family, and we became friends. And I remember the first time I went out to Italy, it was just the most incredible thing and. When I came back from Italy because bearing in mind I did eaten all this Italian food and the other thing as well, I'm talking about Italian bread now. Okay. I know that we can't really have bread in gluten-free world. No bread is like bread used to be, but I remember when we used to go out for trips and we'd take lunch with us. and they'd be really, really, really, really hard and crusty rolls. And the children used to get a roll and they used to take all the soft stuff out the middle and throw it away, cuz they only wanted the crispy outter shell. And it's strange how in the UK everybody likes Crustless stuff. And I remember coming back from Italy with this huge, huge, huge loaf. And I am not joking. It was so crispy and tough. The outside, it was out of this world, so I couldn't eat it. Now, of course, I, well, I could try it, but I, I know it won't be very well. Uh, but I just remember coming back to the UK and as I, at the age of eight, I proudly announced to my parents. and that's it. I'm not eating any English food anymore. I like Italian food. And that was, so remember, this is what, nearly 40 years ago, I suddenly wanted fresh fruit, a natural handmade yogurt, homemade yogurt. I didn't want that flavored stuff that we had ski. I wanted the proper sour natural yogurt. And if we had bread, it had to be really crusty like this with butter and with homemade apricot jam. And I wanted to be able to drive along and we stop at the side of the road and buy fresh apricots. So off somebody who was selling them from their garden. and I wanted things like lasagna and pasta. And back 40 odd years ago, this was really groundbreaking stuff. So bless my mom suddenly thought, right, okay, well let's make a lasagna. And I remember her asking one of the Italian children, how do I make lasagna? They turned around and said, I don't know. Cuz that child was probably about five So my mom made this lasagna and. didn't realize you needed a bechamel sauce, but we ate it and I liked it and it was just like, yes, this is the sort of stuff I want to eat. So I remember, oh, oh, oh. Back then it was absolutely incredible and I, and I loved it, you know, going on that plane without my parents arriving in Italy and just like, wow, this is a whole new culture. You know, children went to school early in the morning. They were in school at about seven o'clock in the morning. They finished at lunchtime. They were home at lunchtime, like the supermarket shut for a long time over lunch. You either went in before 12 o'clock or then they had like siesta time and you had to go back later. When you went out for something to eat, you bought it and you walked and ate. ice creams. If you sat down and had an ice cream, I remember going when I was about 18 and we all went and had ice creams, I think it cost about 20 pounds for an ice cream to sit down that that was really expensive. You know, you could go out and have a meal for, probably for a tenner because everybody. Ate and walked and enjoyed being there with their family. And it's where you bumped into other families and where you had chats, and it was just an incredible time. So when I opened this magazine, I thought, you know what? I've got to tell you the story. Oh, my sauerkraut cake. Nothing like the sauerkraut cake in this place in warsaw. and then arancini and those beautiful memories of going somewhere when you are young and just being immersed in the culture, in the new foods, in the new sensations. And I was just, oh, my word, arancini. I, I will never, ever, ever, ever forget the beautiful arancini that I had. over in Italy and how easy would that be to recreate lots of people who've got like deep fat fryers? Lots of people have got really, um, deep jamming pots, which I have. so I can put them on the stove, put in, oil. Just be really, really careful when you are using oil. It should only ever be, I always, ever, I always say only ever a quarter of the way up the side of, um, whatever pot you were using, be very, very careful and the deep fat fryers are the best things to use. Because they're the safest. Just be really, really careful. but I absolutely love Arancini in thinking how can we look at normal recipe books, normal magazines, and just change them? The only thing we need to change is what we put on the outside of the arancini. So if you want to make a beautiful Ragu sauce and put that in the middle of the rice, and then put that in egg and then put that in breadcrumbs, and then deep fry, you can do, oh, actually hang on a minute. It says, make me so National Geographic have recipe. isn't that great? And I'd never even realized that. So you will be able to have a look at National Geographic, dot co.uk. It's the food travel bit. So have a look at that. and it, it's just so lovely to think, do you know. It's not about being gluten-free, it's about looking at normal things that we love eating and just adapting it and tweaking it so we can still enjoy it every single day. So I think that's enough about I, I've spoken about, do you know what that beautiful cake that I made that I never really ate, nobody really ate. I must recreate it at some point. The sauerkraut cake. And the arancini from, from my childhood, and I have to recreate that. So without further ado, I am going to say goodbye. Until next time, thank you so much for spending next, the last half an hour with me. I hope that you can go and have a look in some of your recipe books from before you had to give up gluten. Hey, do you know what? There's a way that I can adapt that because when we do that, we start to really take control of everything in our gluten-free life, don't we? Um, and if you want to reach out, you can always reach out to me and ask questions. It's gluten-free angela.com, and you'll be able to send a question through there. and don't forget about Bake Club. Bake Club is now live and we've got, um, you know, people getting amazing, amazing, amazing results through Bake Club that they've gone from not being able to ever bake to creating beautiful cakes that their family love. So it's gluten free angela.com/bake club. Take a look and uh, everything that you need is on there. so I think I'm going to make some arancini over the next week or so and I think I may recreate that sauerkraut cake too. There's just something magical about sauerkraut and things like that. And of course, as I've mentioned, I am going to do the cheesecake, starter cheesecake dessert, but what sort of cheesecake dessert will I do at some point during spring? So you take care of yourself. Thank you very much for joining me, and I will be back soon. With more, let's talk about gluten free. This is gluten free, Angela. See you soon. Take care. Bye.