Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef

by Shauna James Ahern, Daniel Ahern, Lara Ferroni (Photographer)

The author of Gluten-Free Girl joins forces with a chef to provide 100 gluten-free recipes, heartwarming stories and a day-in-a-life peak into what a professional chef does to put food on the plate.
Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
Ahern, Shauna James/ Ahern, Daniel/ Ferroni, Lara (PHT)
John Wiley & Sons Inc
Publication 2010/09/21
Number of 288
Binding HARDCOVER
Library of 2009051016

Genres: Cookbooks, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Adult, Health, Memoir

288 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 2010

Reviews

[penny shima glanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently (or again), I've been in a cooking slump. When I saw this was released I remembered Shauna offering glimpses of yumminess and delight as she and her chef readied the recipes for publication.

Well, it works. While I've yet to cook from it, I am once again doing more than boiling water and adding gluten free pasta to the pot.

Why does it work? Gorgeous photos, a layout one can cook from, and a nice feature I really enjoy -- suggestions. I am terrible at pairing one dish with another and we often end up with a main dish of X and a salad. Not very well rounded, all in all.

It works best in that it made me really hungry for many different dishes: pasta with anchovies, lemon, and olives, watermelon gazpacho (of course I'd learn of this in October), fig chutney, garlic flan, crusty bread, and smoked salt caramel ice cream.

Do you notice something? Right, that's the point. Not everything here screams gluten-free. I agree with Shauna. Living gluten free doesn't mean no. It means YES!

[Spanky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many high fat, high calorie recipes! I can't cook this way or we'd all be blimps with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Some of them look more healthy but overall it's not the kind of cookbook I would keep on my shelf.

[Chak · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, though I didn't cook anything from it (so haters, take this with a grain of salt, and exit now). I have read it cover to cover, though, which really says a lot about the writing. Many of the recipes include dairy (which I usually don't eat) and/or nightshades (which I never eat). I know it seems strange to give a cookbook four stars without having cooked anything from it (which is why I disclosed that up front), but there are quite a few cookbooks that I own that I use more for inspiration than I do for recipes, and this is one of them.

And what a great source of inspiration it is! The writing is lovely, the pictures are beautiful and inviting, the recipes do so seem delicious, and this is the kind of food you want to eat when you’re in love. It is a cookbook for adventurous home chefs; people who will go out and get duck, veal cheeks, crab, mussels, rabbit, oxtail (which is really cow tail, I have learned), and will want to try a sorbet with shiso in it, or buy their own applewood chips to smoke their own coarse sea salt to make Smoked-Salt Caramel Ice Cream (p. 279, adapted from David Lebovitz). According to the liner notes for this particular recipe, this ice cream is how Daniel Ahern got Shauna pregnant, so consider yourself warned. You’re welcome.

Here are some of the recipes I believe I will make someday (either in exact form, or adjusting for my own dietary restrictions; and all of the capital letters are mine – no title is capitalized in the book):

• Braised White Beans p. 26.
• Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin with Port Sauce and Balsamic Onions p. 54.
• Pasta with Anchovies, Lemon, and Olives p. 58 (and it will be the first time I will ever use anchovies in anything, ever, or willingly eat anchovies, but I am inspired by this one).
• Bacon Wrapped Pork Belly p. 69 – this is a slam dunk, as I am a huge fan of the pig.
• Crisp Pork Belly with Wild Rice, Cabbage, Sour Cherries, and Honey-Sage Gastrique p. 78 (again, I dig the pig).
• Apple Rosemary Muffins p. 111.
• Venison Osso Bucco with Blackberry-Port Sauce p. 112.
• Risotto with English Peas, Fava Beans and Proscuitto p. 138 (even though I say “never again” every time I cook with fresh favas, which are the only kind I like).
• Parsnip and Celery Root Puree p. 141 (wonder if I can substitute Artisana coconut butter for the 1 cup of cream and 1 Tbs unsalted butter?).
• Crusty Bread That Even Those Who Eat Gluten Might Like p. 180.
• Umbrian Lentils with Duck Confit, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, and Cabernet Sauce p. 186 (this looks like a real pain in the ass to make, but maybe I might do it when I feel very energetic for a special occasion, but without the tomatoes).
• Chicken Braised in Red Wine p. 205.
• Mushroom Stock p. 208 (I have looked for a good recipe for this for a long time, and this one looks great.)
• Trout with Almonds, Grapes, Quinoa, and Kale with a Lemon-Marjoram Vinaigrette p. 210 (maybe this will teach me what to do with marjoram – I am flummoxed by marjoram and winter savory, which is not in this recipe).
• Black Cod in Black Rice Flour p. 215 (wait, I’m supposed to source Italian venere black rice, and then grind it into flour? But I am passionately in love with the taste of black cod and only ever make it in a white miso sauce – I need to try this).
• Gluten Free Foccacia Bread p. 224
• Black Rice with Chickpeas, Bok Choy and Tamari Sauce p. 226 (well, this is what I can use the left over Italian venere black rice in).
• Braised Pork Stew with Cabbage and Caraway p. 232.
• Warm Rice Salad p. 239 (Artichokes! Wild mushrooms! Rosemary! Avocado! Sunflower Seeds!).
• Fennel Salad with Rainier Cherries, Radishes, and Raspberry Vinaigrette p. 245.
• Blue Cheese Cheesecake with Fig Crust p. 254 (if I can ever truly eat a lot of dairy at one time again, I am so making this! I feel the same way about Garlic Flan, p. 265!).
• Aioli p. 266

The essays on love and being together (as well as on food and cooking) are wonderful. I especially loved the one entitled "Burnt Garlic" on page 262.

"When you burn the garlic, you have to stop what you are doing and start all over. You can burn the garlic in a relationship too."

Also important is the sidebar on page 14 "The Importance of Mise en Place." It has convinced me to always set up my mise en place, which I used to only do about 1/3 of the time. Now I will do it at least 90% of the time.

[Carol Bakker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two things drew me to Shauna: her response to a celiac diagnosis—saying ‘yes’ to everything she could eat instead of mourning what she couldn’t— and her deep/high/broad respect for her chef husband. There’s almost too much dancing and kissing and gazing and shopping-is-foreplaying.

Beyond the intoxicated-with-love bits, there is solid straight-from-the-chef content. Once again I'm reminded to put mise en place in place. The five classic French sauces clarified questions I'd had. Their recipes are formatted conversationally, with short paragraphs describing the next action.

Quotes that quenched:

The point of cooking food is to enjoy it: the process, the anticipation, and the taste. If you can pay attention and be there instead of focusing on being done, you can cook better food. If you're really in a rush, make a bologna sandwich.

Potatoes with butter is one of life's simplest pleasures.

My cookbook shelf was crowded and I had expected to ‘read and release’ this. The recipes are highbrow, more Julia Child than Pioneer Woman. Ingredient lists include: rabbit, veal cheeks (I'm afraid to ask), venison, pistou manchego (which means 'from La Mancha' - heh! Man of La Mancha could be titled Manchego Man!), duck breast, and pork belly. Right. Although, when I chose to marry a hunter I ended up with rabbit, venison, goose, duck, and pheasant on my counter.

But I’m keeping this one. Because you never know when you'll need a recipe for braised oxtail.

I included this book in my latest blog post, 5 Cookbooks to Read: http://tinyurl.com/hfflv8o.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say? I am disappointed. The stories are fine, Shauna is a terrific writer, but I did tire of "before I knew Danny" prefaces.

What I am disappointed in are the type of recipes included. These are probably great recipes, but they are not practical, imho. In a restaurant, yes! At home, not so much. Not using ingredients that I would normally purchase, such as the featured proteins. If you are an experimenter with a food budget that isn't limited, then this is the book for you!

I can still enjoy the blog, but am glad I checked out the book from the library.

[Eron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Shauna James Ahern's blog and read it regularly. I enjoyed reading this autobiographical cookbook, but didn't love it. As I read it, the details of her life and romance didn't seem like any of my business, nor were the stories told particularly well. There are some good recipes in here, as in her blog, but there were also quite a few heavy, meaty or oil/fat filled recipes that just didn't seem appealing.

[Jennifer Louden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shauna lives one island over and she came to our local bookstore last week. What a delightful joyful love filled gal. I have bought maybe 10 cookbooks in my life (me and cooking, we are still getting to know each other) and frankly, I bought this because I wanted to support Shauna but my Bob, who is a cook, loves the recipes. I love the essays. Its a story book of their falling in love with recipes. Beautiful, uplifting and one warning: a number of the recipes are fairly involved.

[Danika · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, but can't really see myself making many of the recipes. If you want to make really upscale food and impress your friends, I have no doubt this book will help you do that. But for me and the audience I am cooking for (including 2 picky kids) it's too fussy. Most of the recipes had a lot of ingredients and steps, which are kind of a deal-breaker for now. But it's a lovely read and the photos (shot by my friend Lara Ferroni) are wonderful.

[Rachel Maxwell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not impressed with cookbooks that think too much of themselves. I enjoyed the story parts of this book but I'm disappointed with recipes like poussin with red quinoa and rhubarb or braised balsamic rabbit. There were maybe 5 total recipe that dealt with gluten at all. The only part I found helpful or intriguing was the breakdown of what the different flours are good for. I didn't find a single thing I was interested enough in to cook!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am gluten free, so this was of interest to me. I am also vegan, and don't cook/eat heavy foods, so this was is not really for me. I liked her other book, as i am gluten free and like a good love story.

[Ganesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Shauna's writing! It's more nurturing and delightful than any meal I've ever had.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know when you Google a recipe, and it's on a food blog that makes you scroll for. ev. er. before you get to the actual recipe because they want to tell you their life story first?

This cookbook is basically 275 pages of that. There's a story and then a recipe. Another story, another recipe. And it just didn't work for me.

I have no problem with food memoirs, relationship-focused personal essays, and books about someone's experience with disease--I am actively seeking many of those out right now. But when you try to combine all those things and also make it a cookbook? There's just too much going on. I don't read a cookbook for reflections on how the author flirted with her now-husband in a grocery store. It feels like wasted space. And if I want to read your life story, being interrupted by recipes is particularly irksome.

It didn't help that the recipes--while they do look like they'd taste amazing--are on the "fancy" side. The sort that require ingredients that I don't have in my house and will take hours to make. The kind a chef at a fancy restaurant would come up with (not surprising, given the co-author is a chef). And that's just not the sort of cook I am. I did really appreciate the author's approach to food as a Celiac--to embrace all the things she *can* have, rather than trying to just replace the foods she couldn't eat anymore, to try new foods and new flavors. But this book is just not a good fit for my household.

[Madeline Ashby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this three stars simply because I haven't made any of the recipes contained within it. That's about half of the book's utility diminished, for me. My friend had it out from the library and I started paging through it because I love Shauna's blog. Then I started actively reading it as a book. As a foodie memoir and love story it's tough to beat; it ranks with the Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook in that regard. It's also beautifully styled and organized. My favourite parts were Danny's tips -- it was great to have some helpful insight straight from a professional kitchen, related without any pretension.

I don't have celiac sprue or any other specialty food needs (aside from good coffee), but this book emphasizes how limitations can be a path to ingenuity and creativity. I've always tried to be mindful of my friends' needs when cooking; Shauna and Danny's book shows you how easy and joyful that process can be.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the love story, and I liked both the author's writing style and the book's layout. Most of the recipes sound amazing, but are too complicated and time-consuming for the average home cook. I marked off about a quarter of the recipes in the book that I'd like to make. So far, I've made the gluten-free muffins, pancakes, and waffles and they all turned out good. My biggest issue with this book is the lack of editing. Some of the recipes are missing ingredients (they're mentioned in the sidebar or directions but not in the ingredient list) or the directions aren't clear. The gluten-free girl also shares recipes on her blog at http://glutenfreegirl.com. I recommend the chocolate banana bread. Delicious!

[Liaken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first fourth of the book as GF Girl told about her courtship with the Chef. But then ... well, as I continued, I finally thought, "Shouldn't this book be entitled GF Girl writes about the Chef?" It started to feel the same. Every little essay felt like a rehash with some new little bit added in. There were a couple of essays toward the end that felt fresher and more lively. But the book was a disappointment. I loved getting to know GF Girl in her first book, but she's not in this book much at all. Alas. The recipes mostly didn't entice me, possibly because many of them are meat dishes and I'm a vegetarian, but they also felt a little showy, which makes sense since The Chef is, after all, a professional. Anyway ... it wasn't what I was hoping for.

[Ageena · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars, yep 5, because the story is engaging, the recipes I have tried are delicious and this book is on my to-guy-it list. I love the way they talk about food, the artistry, the fun, the adventure, and the recipes that are in the book not only, so far, taste delicious but come with ideas of how to play with them and make them different. This book makes me think of the old saying 'give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.' The Ahern's throughout the book are not merely passing on recipes which work, they do, but are passing on nuggets of knowledge and teaching cooking. Love it!

[Jessica Faust · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not only are the recipes in here amazing, whether you're gluten free or not, but the stories are really lovely and charming. It's not just a cookbook, but a romance between two people and food.

My one complaint is that while every single recipe I've made is amazing, there are some editing errors in the text. There are a few places where they forget to tell you when to add an agreement and a couple recipes with tips that don't match the recipe. All in all though, the recipes themselves are amazing and worth the buy.

[Heather D-G · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book. I especially enjoyed the essays between recipes (and really, those are the reason I wanted to read this book). The recipes themselves are a bit...advanced, which is fine, but not really what I was looking for. They are beautifully presented, and I did jot several notes for myself (mine was a library copy). I'm also a vegetarian, and most of the recipes here are decidedly not, though I knew that going in. Still, very enjoyable as a browse-and-gather-inspiration experience; recommended.

[Sasha Boersma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A love story told through food!

Wonderful read for anyone managing celiac disease or gluten intolerance - love and food can mix with the right person.

The recipes reflect the stories and all sound amazing. The recipes themselves are very Seattle, because it's their story. So a lot of seafood. Recipes are also all slow, thoughtful creations - really only for those who love cooking.

This is one of her earlier books so all baking includes gums (warning for those who avoid those additives as well).

[Ms.soule · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd actually give this book two different ratings. The (true) love story is five stars all the way - engaging, funny, touching, and well-written. The recipes on the other hand I'd give between three & four stars for their difficulty, long ingredient lists, and the frequent use of lactose (something plenty of people who have Celiac are unable to eat in addition to gluten). As a working mother, these recipes were fun to read and dream about, but impractical to add to our repertoire.

[Xan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so much more than a cookbook. It was a resource, an educational tool, and the road map to a journey. But more than any of those things it was a love story. About discovering yourself while redefining your relationship with food, and in doing so leaving your body and mind open to the possibilities of love. The only 'cookbook' I have ever read from the first page to last. I follow Shauna's blog, and I actually follow her recipes to the letter!

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love, love, love the stories in this book. In fact, Shauna and Danny have written a love note/cookbook that is sweet but not too sugary. This eating lifestyle book is balanced by beautiful photography and workable recipes that are best suited for a non-vegetarian/vegan. The author's combined experience and flexibility in the kitchen and years of experimentation with GF make this a wonderful bet for your own kitchen or as a gift to a GF meat-eating friend.

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

there are some outstanding recipes in this book, and the story that goes along with it is entertaining. For anyone who either IS forced to be gluten free, or anyone who suspects that maybe they should be, or for those who cook for people who have gluten issues.... I recommend it.Note: this is NOT a book for vegetarian diets :-) lotsa lotsa meat, albeit prepared in interesting and extremely well photographed ways.

[Kris Gösser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a lot of cookbooks because I love to cook. This was the best one I've read to date. The mix of excellent recipes and stories to go along were well done, but what made it so excellent was the continual attention to technique. I learned more about HOW to cook—just little things like the right way to boil potatoes—than most cookbooks which just give you recipes and generic instructions.

An odd book to review. It's not current affairs or fiction or whatever else. But who cares.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

foodblog/cookbook (GF). half recipes and half love story (which parts I didn't read--they had my approval with "he converted his restaurant to GF without her even asking"). The recipes are (presumably) restaurant-quality and thus call for some specific ingredients--no doubt following such instructions would improve my cooking (at least with practice) but I am not ready to be that exact in my flour blends just yet.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite Christmas present this year from a dear boy. Never thought a cookbook could make me cry; tears of happiness, of course.

Made my first dinner last night from the book - Potato Leek Soup with Truffle Honey. Incredible! I added fennel as well. Really, I'm not surprised that it was great. Thanks Shauna and Chef!

[Leila T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I might have tried one or two recipes from this. I did read the whole memoir-story, and I looked through almost all of the recipes (i'm a vegetarian, and unless a recipe looks like it can be easily adapted without the meat, i'm not interested). But on the whole they were a bit too complicated for my current preferred style of "throw everything in a pot and cook it for 30 minutes" cooking.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm glad to have this in my kitchen. I've been gluten-free for three weeks now, and while I'm not ready for the bread and stuff, I'm trying out other things which is always a pleasure. And I look forward to the breads when my body is ready! Sure, there are things in here I will never cook, but there are a lot of new things for me to try and I love that. Thanks Shauna and Daniel!

[Amie Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than just a recipe book - this is packed with lovely stories alternately told by Shauna and her chef about life, joy, food, and dancing in the kitchen together while cooking. It's got a ton of tasty recipes, and most of them don't rely on replacing regular gluten options with gluten-free subs -- so even if you're GF, you'll get a lot of use out of this one.

[Dru · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delightful read! In fact the pages made my mouth water. Danny and Shauna's conversational style, and their choice of words to describe their culinary experiences were just divine! This is definitely a book I'll go back to for inspiration in my kitchen.