Blueberry Polenta Cake - Gluten Free

The blueberries have been particularly beautiful at the market recently. Inspired by my love of blueberries and childhood memories, I made a light and fruity gluten free cake that we enjoyed together one warm July night not that long ago.

Every summer throughout the years I was growing up, my parents would take us to Florida to see our grandparents. I always wanted to go visit towards the end of June as one of my grandmother's had an old stand of blueberry bushes. These enormous beauties standing amongst her forest of white pines were the reason for my wishing to visit in late June.

Large and succulent berries filled my thoughts as I would ask my grandmother for a bowl to pick them. I always told her I'd pick enough for her to make us a pie, but there were never enough. We couldn't help ourselves, my brother, cousins and me, we had to try them out. We picked the dark blue ones, those that were still slightly green and ate just about everything that touched our fingers. Only leaving those berries on the top of the bushes, we nobly declared that we would leave those for the birds. The truth was we couldn't carry the tallest ladder that would get us to the tops of the bushes.

Filled with remorse as we didn't have enough berries for a pie, we would discuss how we were going to break this to Granny. There always seemed to be a single cup of berries in the bowl, no matter how many berries were on the bush. And my wonderful grandmother, she would smile and thank us for the berries. Then she would say that there weren't enough for a pie she would have to whip up some blueberry syrup for the vanilla ice cream that we could help them churn. First we would have to wash up, she'd say. Since there were too many of us to wash in the house, she'd send my dad out to set up the sprinkler. That way she'd make sure that the sand and blueberry juice stayed outside and not on her rug.

Inspired by a variety of polenta cake recipes, I tweaked and altered until I came up with this version of the polenta cake. It celebrates one of my all time favorite fruits, the blueberry.

Recipe

1/2 cup + 2 Tb butter
1/2 cup + 2 Tb cane sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup almond meal
3 1/2 tsp coconut flour
5 Tb yellow polenta or fine cornmeal
1/4 tsp baking powder
6 oz. or 3/4 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 4 X 10 loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, dump in the almond meal, coconut flour, polenta or cornmeal and baking powder. Stir together.

3. Plop the butter into a mixing bowl and cream on medium speed. Pour in the sugar and mix with the butter. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl and continue to mix.

4. Slowly pour in the dry ingredients in to the mixing bowl and combine on low speed.

5. Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer and dump in the blueberries. Using a spatula or spoon fold the blueberries into the cake batter.

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. Serve with ice cream or blueberry syrup.

What did my family think of the blueberry cake? Neither of the kids liked the cake, but all the adults thought it was delightful. They liked it with blueberry syrup, vanilla ice cream and with ice cream with blueberry syrup on top.

Black Bean Cakes - Gluten Free With A Variety of Lime Cilantro Toppings

As a family we made a New Year's Resolution to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into our daily eating. We also resolved to eat at least one vegetarian meal per week. This is a challenge for some of our small family, because they already get experimental gluten-free meals. However, they have agreed to do this for the good of our health and for the planet.

I had been looking for family pleasing recipes when I found one for Black Bean Cakes that I wanted to try out. This recipe had the makings of something my crew would really enjoy as it contained black beans and cornmeal. The original recipe came from Gourmet Magazine and was used on Sarah Moulton's Food Network show with her recipe for a Spicy Cilantro Sauce.

I adapted the Black Bean Cake recipe so that it was gluten and nightshade plant free. I will list those ingredients as optional in the recipe.

Black Bean Cake Recipe

2 Tb butter
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup sweet yellow corn
2/3 cup brown rice flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, minced
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup cream, milk or vegetable broth
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Sea salt & black pepper to taste
Optional: 1/2 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
Oil for frying black bean cakes in skillet

In a skillet, melt the butter and saute the onion and garlic until soft. In a large mixing bowl, pour in about 1/3 of the black beans and mash with a fork or potato masher. Then add the other ingredients and blend. Place sheets of parchment paper on the counter and by spoonfuls place the black bean mixture on the paper. Pat the spoonfuls into small patties. In a large skillet, pour in your oil for frying until there is enough to cover the bottom of the pan and is about 1/8" to 1/4" up the side of the skillet. Heat the oil. Using a spatula, place 4 to 5 black bean cakes in the skillet to cook. Make sure there is room around the cakes. Cook until golden brown. Place the cooked cakes on a paper towel to drain. Continue cooking the cakes in batches until the are all done.

Spicy Cilantro Sauce

1 cup cilantro, minced
1/3 cup oil
3 Tb gluten free Tamari sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Sea Salt & Black Pepper to taste
Optional: 1/2 jalapeno chile, minced

Mix the ingredients together. Make sure to stir before serving.

Three of my taste testers loved the Black Bean Cakes. My daughter didn't like them, mainly because of the cilantro. When we added the sauce, we all agreed that the sauce was rather unpleasantly oily. The overall flavor of the the oily sauce with the fried cakes was just too much.

We vowed to experiment with sauces on our left overs. We tried three other sauces, a Lime Cilantro Topping with Coconut Milk, Lime Cilantro Topping with Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil, and last was the Lime Cilantro Topping with Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil with Green Salsa. Each of these toppings have the same base, but the liquids are different.

Lime Cilantro Topping Base Recipe

1/2 cup cilantro, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice 1 lime
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Sea Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Lime Cilantro Topping with Coconut Milk: Add 3 Tb Coconut Milk, adjust for taste.

Lime Cilantro Topping with Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil: Add 1 Tb Red Wine Vinegar, 2 Tb Olive Oil. Adjust to taste.

Lime Cilantro Topping with Red Wine Vinegar, Olive Oil & Green Salsa: Take the above recipe and add about 1/4 cup green salsa, start with a little less and adjust for taste.

My son wouldn't participate in the new sauce test tasting, although he kept eating the cakes. My daughter chose to eat taquitos instead. So the tasting results are from my husband and myself. The Coconut Milk Topping my husband didn't care for, although I thought it had a nice mild flavor. However, it didn't enhance the flavor of the bean cakes. Next was the Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil Topping, which we both thought was better than the Coconut Milk Topping although it was still missing something. We got the idea to add green salsa to the Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil Topping and that was a great mix. It complemented the black bean cakes beautifully and wasn't oily.