Oops, a consecutive potato recipe. We would like to potentially squander (when don’t we) this introduction to justify our subtitular (adj.) (from Charles Chanton’s book: Adjectives for Everyone and Everything) qualifier: Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are serious and at times emotionally strenuous conditions. Imagine not being able consume the majority of the West’s most popular food items*. A Life sans gluten presents an unmitigated barrage of challenges that are liable to frustrate even the most Panglossian of eaters, and those affected deserve some reprieve. The gluten-free movement has done a decent job of introducing gluten-free products to the market, but our issue with its prevailing philosophy is similar to the one we had with the soy-“revolution” (which we’ve managed to overcome): substitutions. Instead of producing good food that doesn’t use gluten as an ingredient, we are insistent upon attempting to create foods THAT WERE DESIGNED TO WORK WITH GLUTEN! Gluten isn’t a flavoring, so it’s not a matter a taste. Gluten is a type of protein whose function in food is one of structure and texture. Bread does not rise without a gluten structure that is elastic enough to prevent gasses within a dough from escaping, and even flatbreads benefit from the chewiness and elasticity of gluten (they would otherwise fall apart). We are hugely in favor of producing foods that simply don’t have gluten in them, without trying to recreate something that was developed with the properties of gluten in mind. This recipe was designed using that philosophy. The VAST MAJORITY of simple ingredients do not contain gluten, so why not just make foods out of those ingredients. Simple.
Stuff you will need to get your hands on:
2 TBS Tapioca flour or cornstarch
2 TB Oil
2-3 lbs Potatoes
2-3 Leeks
0.5 cup Water or stock (any kind—it’s just additional flavor)
.5 stick Butter
To taste Salt
To taste Pepper
Dollop of sour cream (or more, we won’t tell) or apple sauce, and green onions of chives for a garnish
Peel potatoes and boil them until tender (cut unto chunks if using large potatoes). Mix the liquid (water or stock) with the starch (corn or tapioca flour)—be sure that they are well combined (clumps are for chumps (even we hate us right now)). In a pot or pan, heat the oil on high heat until it is nearly smoking. Pour the starch mixture into the pan with the oil—it will gelatinize (this technique is often used when making sauces in Asian cuisine). Pour off any extra oil (or not…doesn’t really matter).
When the potatoes are done, place them in a mixing bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat them together with the gelatinized starch until very smooth and sticky.
Roughly chop the leeks and sauté them on medium heat in butter until soft. Add the leeks to the potato mixture and stir, beat, or mix to combine. Add a bit more water or stock to make the mixture a bit more pourable.
Heat a pan with some oil on medium heat and ladle some potato into the pan. It can be difficult to tell when it is ready to flip without spatula-aided peeking, so do so, but it should be golden brown before a flip is attempted. Similarly brown the other side, and it is ready to be covered with sour cream, chives and/or green onions, and/or apple sauce. Enjoy!
*Anything with wheat flour, though some other flours also possess gluten proteins that are problematic:
pizza
pasta
breads
bagels
beer
pretzels
crackers
Many processed foods also contain gluten, such as:
Ice cream
Gravy/sauce thickeners
Chocolate milk
Potato and other chips
Sodas
Syrups
Custards/puddings
Boullion
MSG
Soy Sauce
Mustard
…as you can see, one must be vigilant to avoid gluten
Erubite 