Thursday 26 August 2010

Catering for the intolerant

With food intolerances and special diets on the rise it's increasingly likely that, if you like to throw dinner parties, at some point you'll be presented with a list of foods one of your guests has to avoid.

My friends have been presented with various exclusion lists from me over the last 8 years and have been wonderfully accommodating. Whilst I know it can be an inconvenience and sometimes be perceived as fussy eating it, it is a great help and relief to intolerance sufferers when hosts can accommodate a special diet.

Infact supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and even catered ski chalets have all made great leaps in providing special diets, I even was treated to an entirely gluten and dairy free afternoon tea recently.

So as the host how do you cater for the intolerant?

Firstly get an exact list of what they must avoid and then read all packets carefully for the allergens, you'd be surprised how many unexpected foods wheat finds it's way into.

When it comes to choosing a menu keeping it simple is key. A roast dinner is one of the easiest least allergy hazardous meals that most people will enjoy. It is also wise to serve a meal with the sauces and extras on the side - such as stuffing and gravy made from granules (both contain wheat). You can infact buy gluten free stuffing and make up a gravy by thickening the juices from the roast with some cornflour.

Chicken or fish in a tomato based sauce with some rice or potatoes and green veg is another allergy friendly, and healthy, option. I cooked up the tasty recipe below for Delia's chicken cacciatora and served it with rice and french beans for some unexpected dinner guests just last week:
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/italian/chicken-cacciatora.html

For dessert a mix and match approach works well, so for example serve summer fruits with side dishes of broken up meringue pieces, melted dark chocolate and cream or yoghurt, allowing for several different options:

the totally healthy allergy friendly option: fruit only, or fruit with yoghurt for the dairy tolerant

the allergy friendly indulgent option: berries dipped in dark chocolate or mixed with meringue pieces

and the totally indulgent option: eton mess (cream, meringue and fruit mixed together) topped with a drizzle of melted chocolate.

And on that delicious note I'd like to wish you all a wonderful weekend. Us city folk will be enjoying a much needed three day bank holiday weekend so NITC will be back on tuesday. Enjoy!
 

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