Gluten-Free Asian Fare Made Fabulous with New Cookbook
I’ve been playing a lot in the kitchen lately and my latest source of joy is Laura B. Russell’s beautiful new cookbook, The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. Living the gluten free lifestyle is difficult when it comes to eating out, but when it comes to enjoying Asian out of the house, life becomes extremely difficult, even for a seasoned veteran like myself. You just never know for sure what could be lingering in those deep dark sauces. Even when you ask the waitress for the third time for re-assurance if the sauce is gluten free, there is that lingering doubt that riddles your whole experience with a level of anxiety that causes your chop sticks to tremble, and like a gluten junkie, you slide the bowl of steaming buckwheat noodles out from in front of you and order another glass of water so you can pop that emergency xananx. You may go home hungry, but at least you can sleep it off and not wake up with a gluten hangover. I kid you not, this has been my experience from time to time, leaving me with no choice but to avoid eating Asian when I go out. I’ve even considered taking Mandarin classes so I can learn how to flawlessly say, “I will kill you with my napkin if you serve me gluten, so think twice about how you answer my next question.”
Sure it sounds a little radical, but when most oriental restaurants pump their fare full of MSG, which is not gluten free, it’s no laughing matter. When you get sick after paying someone, it makes you even sicker.
Well my darlings, you can put the xanax back in their bottles and don’t pay that tuition fee just yet, because a savior is among us and it just so happens to be Russell’s cookbook. The recipes are easy thanks to her thoughtful, clear spoken approach, and most of all, absolutely delicious. She dissolves the mysteries of those deep dark sauces and ushers you to a fabulous, healthy, gluten free meal recipe after recipe. Her flavorings are subtle yet precise and her techniques are perfectly crafted for the at home cook. Her Gingery Pork Pot Stickers and My Shu Pork Pancakes have become my in-house favorites and tonight, I’m making her Rice Paper-Wrapped Salmon in Green Curry Sauce. I mean, when your seven year old son walks into the kitchen and says, “Mommy, my head is thinking you want to make me some pot stickers…” you know you’ve got an absolute winner on your hands.
It’s a splendid photographed cookbook and the recipes are consistently of the highest quality, a combination that is very difficult to find in the gluten free world. I’m a huge fan and have a feeling that in the very near future, you will be too.
ENJOY!
