Starter suggestions for Celiac

[SR]

The menu so far is Sweet Potato topped lamb for the main course ...

... and probably Tiramisu for dessert, because I have a recipe which always works (I do a individual ramekin for my Celiac hubby and dig out somethihg gluten free instead of sponge fingers), although I admit that it may not be the lightest of desserts to follow lamb, so feel free to come up with an alternative ...

... but the primary request is for a lovely, tangy, light starter which is gluten free.  At the risk of sounding really demanding, I'd like an idiot proof recipe, a list of ingredients, and a one-top-shop to buy them in!  Is that too much to ask??!

Many thanks in advance

[Simple]

Since your main and dessert is quite heavy, I suggest salad.

Start with a base of any type of lettuce and choose one of the following.

Haloumi (fried) - with caper and lemon dressing.  Please get the Cypriot haloumi and not that imposter from Australia.  (with all due respect to aussie cheese makers - that stuff you call haloumi, is nothing like it!)

Seafood - prawns or scallops cooked in, say lemongrass, chilli and garlic

Parma ham and nice olives with a french dressing

How about small greek salads.

You could even do a cold soup but that might be too much with they rest of what you are serving.

All of the above ingredients are available in CS.

If you go the Parma ham route, get it sliced at the deli and make sure it is from "Parma", makes all the difference.

Now, being a coeliac myself - how do you make the Tiramasu?

[Simple]

If no one comes up with anything  that appeals - google Delia! it is the most fantastic site, even for coeliacs!

[SR]

To simple - you are a *star*, thank you very much!

As for the Tiramisu ... well our maid makes very GF wonderful cakes (son and hubby are both Celiacs) and there's often a stale bit left over lying about ... that's what I'd use instead of the sponge fiinger biscuits.  If you make the Tiramisu in a ramekin, it remains attractive, even though you know that the cake is basically going to disintegrate once it's soggy.

If there's no cake, I'll use muffins or maybe just some GF biscuits, or maybe even GF bread or waffles.  My son has GF waffles every day for breakfast so we always have loads of those.  Basically, I'll be raiding the fridge for anything that can soak up a bit of coffee!

[Anti pasto]

You could try an antipasto platter, with some salami, parma ham, cheese, olives, ciabatta bread with olive oil (for the non-coeliacs) crudites, pickled veges, baba ganoush all sorts of goodies that can be pre-prepared. Best to go to Jasons for this type of stuff.

[okeydokey]

Gazpacho soup.

Delia has one just google Delia and Gazpacho.
Easy, light, prepare in advance, use gluten free bread to make croutons (if using). Done.

[Simple]

Thanks for the Tiramasu ideas, I can't wait to give it a try.

Whilst you have me on a roll for starters (my speciality - I can never do deserts.  You only ever get fruit and cheese in my house!), what about asparagus with holindaise (sp) sauce.  Dead simple and always looks good.

[SR]

Thanks everyone, I know what I'm going to do now.

To simple, my husband (though funnily enough NOT my son) has a really sweet tooth, as do I, so desserts are a must for us!  So I'm now on a roll too (albeit in a much less healthy direction) beacuse you may find sometimes you want to indulge yourself or your guests with more than fruit and cheese ....

A couple of favourites that can quite readily be converted into GF varieties are Banoffee Pie and Delia's Little Sticky Toffee puddings with Toffee Pecan sauce.

For the Banoffee, I make the base out of a variety of things filched from the cupboard, eg, ground nuts, GF breadcrumbs, GF cornflakes, sesame seeds, those GF rice crispies things that you can get in Brown Rice P, museli ... whatever I happen to lay my hands on!  All mixed up with melted butter and some corn syrup if the mixture needs to be sweetened.  The rest is as per normal.  I'm a boil-the-condensed-milk-in-the-can-for-2-or-3-hours kinda girl, though I know some people get anxious about that.  I've been doing it now for (argghhh am I really that old?) ...  18 years, without any accidents.

For the sticky toffee puddings, I use a variety of different flours ... usually some kind of combination including buckwheat and cornflour.  I actually can't even really tell the difference myself any more ... the dates keep everything nice and moist and sticky, so the usual disintegration that GF cakes can be a victim of, is not at all apparent.

[Simple]

SR:  thank you very much - I will try both.  I actually have a very sweet tooth as my waistline confirms, but I get stuck on GF desserts.  Thanks again.