Safeway in Kahului now carries Living Without magazine. This is quite exciting as I’ve not seen it anywhere else. Even the Living Without site doesn’t list the magazine as being in Hawaii at all.
Grab yourself a copy as it is a delightful magazine, even if it is filled with advertisements on nearly every other page. The pictures are nice and bright, the articles are informative, and while the advertisements can be annoying they can also be useful.
If you’re not following me on Twitter already, sign up and follow me there. There are more updates and a lot of quick links to other great blogs and information I find.
See you in the Twitterverse!
Update: Pukalani Foodland now carries all of the gluten free Chex products. Of course wheat Chex will never be gluten free.
Today is Flautas day!
My friend Dacia is here for a visit to the island, and she works at a place called The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. Since the restaurant she works for offers a gluten-free menu and teachers their employees about cross-contamination she is no stranger to the ways of my world, or your world.
Dacia also loves to cook. She even assists in the kitchen at her work from time to time.
So, today she showed me how to make her flautas.
The flautas she makes consists of boiled chicken breasts (boiled with water, salsa verde, cayenne pepper, and serrano peppers) that are finely chopped and grated cheese (we used Tillamook Vintage Extra Sharp White Cheddar) all wrapped in a corn tortilla and fried.
by AmandaonMaui and Dacia C.
12 Corn Tortillas
1lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into 1/2″ wide strips
1/4 cup Salsa Verde
1 Serrano Chile, brunoised
1/4tsp Cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups grated Tillamook Extra Sharp Vintage White Cheddar (or more)
Vegetable Oil
In a medium sauce pan add enough water to cover the chicken breast strips.
Also, add in the salsa verde and cayenne pepper.
Cook, covered, until the chicken is done through. Strain, reserving pulp, and allow the chicken to cool.
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, finely mince the meat and reserved pulp. Stir together.
In a shallow frying pan add in enough vegetable oil to allow a tortilla to float without touching the bottom.
Heat the oil until a drop of water makes it sizzle.
Float a tortilla in the oil for 15 seconds and flip. After another 15 seconds remove the tortilla to a plate covered with a paper towel.
Repeat the above with the rest of your tortillas.
Once the tortillas are done and are cool enough to handle, but still warm, add a small amount of the chicken mixture and a small amount of cheese into the center of a tortilla. Roll up tightly.
Finish the above procedure with the rest of the tortillas and hold in a baking pan.
Bring the oil back up to temperature, and carefully lower a rolled flauta into the oil (bottom side down) using tongs (or as Dacia does it, a knife to hold the bottom shut, and a fork to stabilize the procedure).
When the bottom is cooked and does not open flip the flauta over. Cook until golden brown and remove the flauta to a plate with a paper towel.
Repeat the above procedure with the remaining flautas.
Serve with sour cream (or low-fat/non-fat plain yogurt) and salsa verde or tomato salsa.
A hearty welcome back to me and to you!
November was the last time I posted, and I know I needed the hiatus. School kept me quite busy, as well as the holidays. I’ve also had a house guest for a few weeks, and The Nerd is finally on vacation.
But, it is the new year and it is time to get back into a good routine of things in my life. Some good things I’ve been having in my life during my break from culinary school include more physical activity like hiking, in home exercise, and swimming at the beach. I’ve also had a lot of good time with my friends whom I love dearly. Reading has also taken a stronger place in my world since I’ve not had to spend as much time reading for school.
Posting here is a very good thing too. I want to be here as support for those who are coming to Maui with a gluten-free diet in their life, and for those who live here and are on the gluten-free diet or know someone who is.
I think this year the blog will be undergoing a significant change. I think I will be shortening some of my posts so that I can still update the site regularly without feeling like it will be a big chunk of time out of my busy schedule to post. My ideas include shorter book and recipe reviews, shorter restaurant reviews, and a twitter feed from yours truly. I may also set up pages specifically for restaurant listings with a star rating system or something similar. I’d also like people to be able to submit some of their own restaurant reviews for the island since I can’t go everywhere on the island to sample the gluten-free disasters and delights.
One of my other goals is to become a resource for chefs on the island. I’d like to get more restaurants offering gluten-free options and menus. My house guest has told me that the restaurant she works at in Austin, Texas has a gluten-free menu and their regular menu also lists ways to make various items gluten-free. She said they also are aware of cross contamination and fry their fries in a separate fryer. I’d love to see more restaurants on Maui take these things under consideration as studies have shown that diners eat out at restaurants that cater to their gluten-free friends. I can attest to that as my friends dine where I can dine.
So, without further ado I will now post my first real post of the year: Flautas!
