Dairy Free Eggplant "Parm" with Ground Beef

I have always loved Italian food. Cheese, carbs, tomato sauce, herbs, oh my! Once I realized I couldn't tolerate gluten or dairy, my Italian cooking become limited. I missed warm creamy, tomato dishes like baked ziti or lasagna. Then, I started a hybrid of the Paleo/GAPS diet. I dreamed of a dairy free, grain free version of Eggplant Parmesan for months before giving  Coconut flour is great for breading, and I figured a nut cheese would work well when baked with some tomatoe sauce. I sure was right about that! It really helps to make your own tomato sauce.

This dish is food for the soul. Especially for those of us who are so restricted. It takes a lot of effort. You can make the tomato sauce in advance. You can actually make all of the items in advance, and then the night of just layer everything and throw it in the oven. This way it only takes a little more than an hour the night of.


Nut "Cheese:"
1-2 cups of of nuts. (I use a mixture of cashews, macadamia nuts, and sunflower seeds or just cashews.)
1-2 TBSP Nutritional yeast
Garlic Powder, to taste
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Instructions: 
Soak nuts in water for 1-24 hours. Strain. Blend in food processor, adding water slowly to make a ricotta like paste. Add nutritional yeast, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.

Tomato Sauce:
1 small onion, diced
8 tomatos
dried herbs, like thyme and rosemary
garlic
fresh basil
salt and pepper
a few beef bones, preferably with some meat on them
1 small can tomato paste

Instructions: 
Saute onion,garlic, and herbs for a few minutes until slightly browned. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, beef bones, salt and pepper. Simmer for at least an hour (Move on to the next part of the recipe during this time). Add basil and any other  seasonings to taste and simmer for a few minutes more so the basil will infuse.

Eggplant:
1/2 cup coconut flour
dried herbs or seasoning blend of choice, 1 TBSP
salt and pepper
1 egg

Instructions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice eggplant in either direction, making it thin enough so it will cook through easily. Whisk egg. Dip eggplant slices into egg to coat, then dip in herbed coconut flour. Line the biggest pan that fits in your oven with tin foil and bake each side for 25 minutes, or more, until eggplant is browned on the outside and soft through. If your oven is small like mine, you may need to do two batches, for a total of 50 minutes each, or an hour and 40 minutes, plus extra time for removing one batch and adding the other. It's okay if your tomato sauce is simmering this whole time.

Beef:
1 pound ground beef
1 half small onion, diced
herbs and seasoning of choice

Instructions:
While your last side of eggplant side is in the oven, saute onions and spices and add beef until browned.


Eggplant "Parm"
Layer the sauce, eggplant, beef, nut "cheese." Lightly sprinkle with remaining herbed coconut flour. Bake on 350 or 375 for 30-45 minutes. Broil for 15 minutes to brown the top.

Picaro, Mission District, San Francisco

I had been to Picaro once before a long time ago. It was someone's birthday and I think we got mostly seafood paella. As I'm not the biggest fan of either, I was not impressed.

I recently took a out of town visitor to Picaro after a revelation that tapas might be a good way to get gluten-free items. At Picaro at least, I was right on - while they have some breaded and/or fried items, most of their dishes are cooked simply with olive oil, garlic, wine and some spices. Lots of garlic, lots of lemon wedges to squeeze on top. It was delightful!

My absolute favorite, which I will be going back for more of soon, was the grilled artichokes. The artichokes flowers were sliced thinly and nicely crispy. With garlic. And a fresh lemon wedge.

Did I mention garlic and lemon? Yes!

Also yummy was their tortilla de...I can't remember what the name was but it was basically like an omelet without the cheese and instead potatoes and onions. On the menu they says it's a popular item, and I can see why. Comes with a dollop of mayonnaise.

What is a tapas restaurant without sangria? Their's was good, but perhaps a tad too sweet.

Also of note was that the waitress was very nice about checking the ingredients on everything for me. And that most of it was indeed gluten-free and dairy free was excellent. I'll definitely be going back often.

If you are following the paleo diet, note that some items come with rice, but mostly the dishes are vegetables, meat and seafood, seasoned without sugar.

Masala Dosa, Inner Sunset, San Francisco, CA

Since I've been diagnosed with Celiac disease, I've been very shy of restaurants. Generally the only restaurants I feel comfortable eating at are fancy, expensive ones, because service is top notch and that includes attending to the needs of the food allergy ridden. I also feel relatively comfortable at restaurants with a gluten-free menu becuase they often have a more knowledgeable staff. Now, the latter is tricky because you have to wonder what definition of gluten-free they are operating under. Five years ago, I tried a "gluten-free" diet, because I had heard about how hard gluten was hard to digest, but it never occurred to me that there could be gluten in fish sauce or chicken broth. Even if you read ingredients carefully for gluten-ingredients, there is then the issue of gluten-contamination, which may not be a big deal for your average gluten intolerant person, but for a Celiac, this trace contamination can be as harmful as eating a cookie. How can I be assured that the chefs are aware of these issues? That they make sure not to prepare my food on surface with flour or bread crumbs? The answer is: I can't. But as awareness increases, I can just do my best to talk to the wait staff, and maybe someday get assertive enough to call ahead and talk to the chef and other staff. But for now, I cannot be sure.

With that frame of mind, I agreed to meet a friend at Masala Dosa for lunch with some apprehension. I often find my gluten-free friendly spots with a simple yelp search. Though, sometimes it can be hard to tell how good the options will be. I found a review for Masala Dosa that referred to a gluten-free menu, so I thought there must be something good there for me. Sure enough, the dosa section of the menu noted that all dosas were gluten free except for one kind. Fun! I had options!

Often times in restaurants where the owners and waitstaff do not speak English fluently, I have a hard time inquiring about whether the food is really gluten-free. With a lack of public knowledge of gluten-free issues, plus a language barrier, it can be hard to get the reassurance I need. I asked the waiter, a very nice guy with an accent, about whether any meats were prepared with flour, or if there was any flour added to the sauce. He said no, but he seemed to understand the importance of the questions, and said he would double check with the chef. He came back confirming that all the curries were gluten-free - no flour on the meat or in the sauce. Since I didn't get to talk to the chef, I have no idea if they really "got it." I can only trust that the waiter conveyed the importance.

My friend and I shared a masala dosa with chutney and a spinach and chicken curry. While not the most amazing Indian food I've ever had, they were both very tasty! The flavors were fragrant and rich and the quality of the food was quite good.

As I don't seem to be having a gluten reaction, I think the food was free of gluten contamination. I will definitely be going back to my new gluten-free Indian hot spot!

I can't eat dairy either, though I think it's easy to avoid the creme sauces and the paneer. I wonder about which items include butter that is not stated in the description. I'll have to ask about that next time.