Gluten-free Rosemary Millionaires shortbread

A few weeks ago I re-visited my rosemary millionaire shortbread to attempt to make a gluten free version (well, mostly - I used regular porridge oats in my version, which I think is not guaranteed to be 100% gluten free because of cross contamination or something, but gluten free porridge oats are available).

I also varied the way I made the rosemary-caramel, but it still wasn't very rosemary, so maybe I will up the rosemary next time.

Ingredients

Shortbread

• 150 grams porridge oats
• 75 grams cornmeal
• 170 grams butter
• 90 grams caster sugar

Caramel

• 150ml double cream
• 30 grams salted butter
• a single finger pinch of sea salt
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

Chocolate 

• 250 gram cadburys chocolate

Method

1. Make the shortbread - Normally making the shortbread we have to cream the butter and sugar and then fold in the flour, but as we are gluten free we don't need to worry about being careful this time: just mix the oats, cornmeal, sugar and butter together.
   
   
2. Press the mixture into a tin and cook in a fan oven at about 160 degrees for about 20 minutes - keep an eye on it so it doesn't go to brown, but we really want to cook it fairly slowly for a while so it has a chance to dry out, this will give it more of a brittle crunch to the base (in a hopefully good way)
   
   
3. For the caramel, gently melt all ingredients except rosemary in a pan, once melted add the rosemary and stir through, heat for two to three minutes
   
   
4. Leave the caramel to stand for another 10 minutes or so, whilst the shortbread cools
   
   
5. Poor the caramel through a sieve to remove the rosemary pieces, pour caramel onto the cooled shortbread
   
   
6. Place the caramel topped shortbread in the fridge to cool for another 20 minutes
   
   
7. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on a low power settings (will take a couple of minutes), once it is smooth, pour on top of the caramel shortbread and put back in the fridge to set.

Rosemary Millionaire Shortbread

I also put together some rosemary-salt millionaires shortbread on the weekend.  I originally tried rosemary caramel in a hipster coffee shop in London, and, as you might guess, thought "I should do that".

So its pretty simple, I made shortbread as usual. I made caramel with some rosemary added. Then topped with normal melted chocolate (nothing fancier seemed necessary)

Ingredients

Shortbread

• 225 grams plain flour
• 170 grams butter
• 90 grams caster sugar

Caramel

• 150ml double cream
• 30 grams salted butter
• a single finger pinch of sea salt
• 100 grams light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

Chocolate 

• Two 110 gram bars of cadburys chocolate

Method

1. Make the shortbread - cream the butter and sugar, mix in the flour, and then press into the bottom of a lined baking tray
   
   
2. For the caramel, gently melt all ingredients except rosemary in a pan, once melted add the rosemary and stir through, heat for two to three minutes
   
   
3. Leave the caramel to stand for another 10 minutes or so, whilst the shortbread cools
   
   
4. Poor the caramel through a sieve to remove the rosemary pieces, pour caramel onto the cooled shortbread
   
   
5. Place the caramel topped shortbread in the fridge to cool for another 20 minutes
   
   
6. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on a low power settings (will take a couple of minutes), once it is smooth, pour on top of the caramel shortbread and put back in the fridge to set.

Recipe: Red wine & rosemary lamb shanks

It turns out I have quite a backlog of posts sitting around that I just haven't had the time to publish, so I will try and bang them out quickly now. This particular post seems sensible to go out first as it is the most recent in memory, and chances are given a few more weeks the exact details will be escaping me.

It was Mother's Day here in the UK on Sunday, so as well as a cake (see a forthcoming post!) I also cooked up some lamb shanks. The advantage of lamb shanks is, like much of my repertoire, it is slow cooked, so pretty easy to throw together whilst also looking after children (which is obviously my main purpose on Mother's Day).

It's a pretty easy dish to make, tastes great and as usual we just need to let time do its work.

Ingredients

• Two lamb shanks
• Tomato puree
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 leek
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground rosemary (dried is fine)
• ~100ml red wine
• ~400ml stock - vegetable, lamb, whatever
• 1 tablespoon flour

Method

Takes about 20minutes prep, then 2 1/2-3 hours cooking. 
Preheat fan over to 170 degrees centigrade

1. Add some olive oil to a pan and brown the lamb shanks over a high heat, once browned remove the lamb and set aside in a casserole dish.
   
2. Chop the carrots, leek and celery and add to the pan, adding more oil if needed - there will probably be bits of lamb stuck to the pan in places, de-glaze with oil and the spoon and mix through. Add a pinch of salt and cook over a medium heat until soft, probably 8 minutes or so (side note: this will smell awesome!)
   
3. Add a heaped tablespoon of tomato puree and a teaspoon of the ground rosemary, cook for another few minutes
   
4. Sprinkle over the tablespoon of flour and mix through
   
5. Add the red wine and mix through, de-glazing the pan
   
6. Add the stock, then pour vegetable & liquid mixture over the lamb shanks in the casserole dish
   
7. Cover the casserole dish and cook in the over for about 2 1/2 hours - depending on the size of your shanks, but you should be able to tell when the shanks are tender and soft
   
8. Serve - if the sauce is too runny, then remove the shanks and return the liquid & vegetables to the pan on the hob and reduce until appropriate thickness.