GF Oat Bread, Chana Masala Burgers, Green Bean Soup, Celeriac & Squash Boulanger

Celeriac & Butternut Boulangère
"Pommes boulangère" is a sort layered braised potato casserole 'takeaway' prepared by local French bakers (boulangère) who would cook it in the cooling ovens after a night of baking.   

This version of the recipe idea comes from The Doctor's Kitchen blog by Dr. Rupy Aujla, an NHS  doctor who became interested in nutritional medicine about ten years ago.

We Americans eat a LOT of celery, but usually ignore Celeriac -- the root of the celery plant, which has a very mild flavor as well.  If you can find celeriac at your local Farmer's Market (as we can) or megamart,  you might want to give this tasty braised veg dish a try.  Very simple and VERY tasty!

2   cups Vegetable Broth (or water plus Vegetable Base
1   Celeriac Root, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
1   Butternut Squash Neck, peeled and sliced into thin half moons (save the rest for a soup)
1   large Red or White Onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
Fresh Tarragon if you can find it; otherwise dried
Salt & Pepper to taste
Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Don't have tarragon?  Any combination of Marjoram, Basil,  Thyme, Coriander and Dill will do just fine.

Layer your baking dish with sideways 'stacks', alternating slices of celeriac, onion and squash. Sprinkle the spices over the top.  Add the broth carefully along the side so as to not disturb the spices too much.

Braise for about 45 minutes at 400F.  I used our Ninja Airfryer/Oven on Air Roast.   

GF Oat Bread
The other day, I bought the wrong kind of oatmeal for Sally's breakfasts, and had to find something to do with lots of oats.  This sounded interesting:

2-1/2 cups Oat Flour (grind it yourself in your FP, from rolled oats, then sift)
2-1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Plain Skyr or Greek Yogurt
1 Egg
1/4 cup Honey
3/4 cup Milk or Almond Milk

Preheat oven to 350F

It took about 3-1/2 cups of rolled oats to make my 2-1/2 cups of oat flour.  YMMV depending on the size of your rolled oats.  I sifted them through a wire colander.

To your freshly ground and sifted oat flour, add the baking powder, baking soda and salt.   In a separate bowl beat together the oil, yogurt, egg, honey and milk.  The original recipe called for a cup of un-ground rolled oats to be added to wet ingredients, but I did not do that this time (shame on me!).   

Combine wet and dry ingredients until they just come together.  

Spray or grease a 9x5 loaf pan or 8-9" round pan, and pour in the batter.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until you get 190-220 internal temperature, or a tooth pick comes out clean.  

Cool in the pan, on a rack, for at least 20 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling completely.  Breads like this can be kinda crumbly, so it's best to wait to slice them until after completely cooled.

I gotta say this is VERY tasty!  But the loaf only came out 1" thick!!  No rise at all!  

My baking soda and powder are both new.  I can't believe leaving out a cup of un-ground oats would reduce the bulk of the loaf that much, but maybe.  I'll just have to try it again, now, won't I!

Chana Masala Burgers
Wow!  A Forks Over Knives recipe that didn't need serious adjustment!!  This is our new favorite Veggie Burger!!  Mild "Indian" flavor.  The only drawback is the long baking time, if you decide to do this recipe "by the book"  as I did.  Next time I'll pan fry these in a splash of oil for 7-8 minutes per side like I usually do with veggie patties.

2 medium Potatoes (1 pound)
1 medium Onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can Garbanzos, rinsed and drained
¼ cup Tomato Paste
1–2 Tbsp minced Chili
2 tsp Chana Masala seasoning
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Amchur powder (powdered green mango)
1 tsp Date paste or mashed date
1 tsp grated fresh Ginger
2 cloves Garlic, minced
½ tsp ground Turmeric
Panko to thicken

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel, cook and coarsely mash the potatoes. Cool.

Put the onion in a food processor and process until smooth. Boy is that pungent!!   Add the garbanzos and spin again to get a coarse puree. Transfer the bean-onion mixture to a large bowl.

Stir in everything else.  If your mixture is too soupy to make patties, fold in panko until you get a moldable consistency.  I used about 2/3 cup.  

Divide the mixture into 8 portions (about 2/3 cup each), shaping each into a patty. Bake the patties 20 to 25 minutes. Turn patties over and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until heated through and lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes  until firm.

Hungarian Style Green Bean Soup
Like all good comfort foods, this pan-European soup has few ingredients and is made with love.  To a basic Hungarian Green Bean Soup, I added diced onion and diced cooked potatoes.

1 lb fresh trimmed Green Beans(cut into 1-inch pieces)
1 cup diced Sweet Onion
Salt, to taste
2 cups Potatoes -- peeled, diced 1/2"
2 Tbsp unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp AP Flour
1/4 tsp White Pepper
1/2 tsp Sweet or Hot Hungarian Paprika
1/4 cup Water or Broth
1 cup Sour Cream or plain Yogurt
2 cups additional Water

Place the green beans in a pot, cover with water; add 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the  green beans but Reserve the cooking liquid.

Peel and dice the potatoes and cook them however you want, to fork tender.  I microwaved mine with a splash of water in the bowl.

In your soup pot, make a roux with the butter and flour and cook it to a light amber color. Add pepper, paprika, and 1/4 cup water and stir until smooth.

Temper the sour cream with some of the hot green-bean cooking liquid.

Add the sour cream mixture to the pan along with onion, green beans and the remaining cooking water; whisk the mixture until smooth. Add the additional water as needed.

Simmer until the broth thickens. Serve hot or chilled.