The restaurant itself, is gorgeous, very quaint and gave you the general impression of being at home, well at home with someone cool and quirky. The wine is served in carafes which is always nice and it certainly does have a very italiano feel.

The waitress was absolutely gorgeous and explained to us that pretty much everything on the menu could be adapted to be gf. Instead of the normal brushetta they made mine on grilled polenta, divine. I could literally order everything on the menu. In the end we went for two fig and prosciutto Cicheti (Brushetta), then we had Grilled sliced flank steak, porcini cream, roasted pumpkin with rocket and prosciutto, zucchini and parmesan salad (amazing), wet polenta and then flourless orange cake with mascarpone and affagota. It all can to £50 including wine, water and service.

Truth is I cant wait to go back, bf loved it…. epic.

One of the easiest meals to make when you feel like a little flair but without the effort, is a Spanish Tortilla. The BF and I have travelled fairly extensively around Spain and as a gf traveller, the tortilla which can be found in most tapas bars is often a life saver. I think there is something about Spanish cooking which just translates for those on a gf diet. It’s all about the ingredients, there is no fuss and pretension and sourcing is often local an honest. To be fair, not all Spainish food is friendly, I have found it to be one of the places easiest to travel around.

So here is my version of the Spanish classic.

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 onion
2 large potatoes
1 chorizo cooking sausage
1 bag of rocket
Olive oil

Start by chopping the onion , then roughly dice the potatoes. Slice the chorizo. Put the potatoes in a pot of boiling water and cook through. In the meantime, put the onion in a pan with a dash of olive oil and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the sliced chorizo until browned. Add the potatoes to the onion and chorizo and cook for a couple of minutes so that the potato absorb the flavour of the oil. Beat the eggs and add a dash of water to lighten the mix. Turn the heat on low and add the eggs, cook for about 5-8 minutes until the bottom half is cooked through. Then pop it in the oven on 200 degrees and leave in until the top has browned. Serve with a side of rocket dressed in olive oil.

Anywho we decided the perfect way to spend a Sunday would be at one of our favourite local-ish places for Sunday lunch. There is something about Sunday lunch in London which is infinitely charming. Relaxed, unobtrusive and warmly inviting and plenty of time to relax with a paper and mentally prepare for the week ahead. So off we went on our Sunday mission and after a few quick stop-offs at Harvey Nicks and a peruse around Knightsbridge we headed to The Pantechnicon on Motcomb st.

The restaurant is sister to the über lovely Belgravia gastropub The Thomas Cubitt.  The Sunday lunch is gorgeous, very rustic and the menu will have you in fits of panic about what you cannot possibly bear to miss. The place itself is  casual dining come gastro come brassiere. I am always a little wary of Sunday lunches so instead of going for the whole hog I went for one of the grills. I let the waitress know about my allergy and they let the chef know to avoid any confusion. In the end I had a gorgeous rib eye with rosemary and garlic mash and a red wine jus. I also ordered some green beans as a side.

As usual the food was divine and with a couple of glasses of house prosecco, I was in a very good place. The in-laws and BF opted for the full roast and as you can see from the pics they were not disappointed.

On Sunday I would recommend getting there fairly early as the place gets very busy. The staff are friendly and efficient and the cost for sunday lunch is around £25pp including drinks. I would heartly recommend a visit, great for gf and regular folk alike.

http://www.thepantechnicon.com/

Well problem solved when my lovely friend Clare gave me a box of gluten-free cupcakes from Bake-a-boo. I have been to Bake-a-boo before after another celiac friend gave me the heads up on its superior gf cupcakes. Bake-a-boo is based in West Hampstead,  it’s a quaint little place and ideal if you feel like indulging your girlishness for a day.

The cupcakes are faboush. They come in a variety of flavours and are soft and sweet and everything a good cupcake should be. I have to say and I hate to be partial but the Raspberry is my favourite.

The website is here http://www.bake-a-boo.com/. I am telling you if they delivered I’d be a much larger ladiee.

The restaurant draws it inspiration from across Italy, stretching from the gorgeous islands of Sardinia and Sicily through to the heartlands. Having travelled extensively around Italy and knowing its the one place that being gluten-free just isn’t a drama, I was excited to see what Bocca could serve up. The waitress who served us was lovely. the BF had explained in advance that I was celiac. She simply ran through the menu of the haves and have-nots – I am happy to report there was a lot of haves!

The plates are served small or large, so it in effect becomes an Italian tapas.  You can still eat in the traditional way of starters and mains, but we opted to share so we could scope out the whole menu.

 We started with

• Shaved radish, celeriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates & truffle oil
• Home made wild boar salame & pecorino Fiore Sardegna
  Sardo

Followed by

• Finferli’ (girolle mushroom) & Asiago risotto
• Roast suckling pig
• Cannellini beans all’uccelletto Toscana (with a little tomato & sage)

And finally

• Watermelon granita
• The amazing milk-free espresso gelato

The risotto (above) was for me a triumph, one of the best I have had and the pork with canellini beans was epic. We had a lovely bottle of the house prosecco, which was crisp and light.

A great venue for GF folk and wont break the bank at about £100 for two. Worth noting as well we were so full after this we could barely walk! But we did manage to meander over to Cafe Boehme for a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir and then off to Covent Garden for the French film Heartbreaker….. what a day!

http://www.boccadilupo.com/files/main%20menu.pdf

<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/1346071/restaurant/London/Bocca-di-Lupo-Soho”><img alt=”Bocca di Lupo on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1346071/minilink.gif” style=”border:none;width:130px;height:36px” /></a>

Through the wonderful blogs on celiac disease that populate the internet, I stumbled upon a lovely little Italian restaurant in North Lambeth. Its called Cotto and is a traditional Italian pizza and pasta joint. Its falls into a category of places I call cheap and cheerful. The owner is a celiac himself so will literally bend over backwards to make sure you have a lovely evening. My BF and I often go as it’s just a short bus ride from our place.

You can see from the pics that they do a pretty mean pizza and the pasta is excellent (both pictured are gluten free). When you arrive you just need to let them know you are celiac and then you will be greeted with warm service and a generous helping of gf bread. It is worth noting that this is a family run restaurant, a rarity in London, with the family making up most of the staff. Prices are about £8-10 for a main, so certainly wont break the bank.

Here is the link. http://www.italiancotto.co.uk/

If you have kiddies as well with allergies and are visiting London, this is a great place to take them. Also the desserts are divine!

Cotto gets two thumbs up from me.

I made this recipe recently for a pre-ascot champagne brunch.

Ingredients (serves 6)
6- 10 sausages (I like Black Farmer Chipolatas)
20 button mushrooms
6 streaky bacon rashers
1 punet of cherry tomatoes
6 -10 eggs
1 bunch of spring onions
1 large handful of chopped basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 200°C. Chop spring onions and basil and mix together in a bowl and set aside.

Arrange the sausages and mushrooms in a large roasting pan. Drizzle over some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in oven, turning once, for 10 minutes. Add the bacon and bake for a further 10 minutes. Add in the tomatoes until cooked. Arrange the mixture in the pan to create spaces. Crack 1 egg into each space. Bake for 4-5 minutes or until the eggs are cooked to your liking.

Sprinkle over spring onion and basil mixture and serve.

And off we go champers in hand!

Ingredients (Serves 2)
6 Slices of Genius gluten-free bread
2 eggs
1 big dash of cream or milk
250g of Strawberries
2-3 mint leaves
50g of sugar (dash of water)
Squeeze of fresh lemon

Beat the eggs and cream together in a bowel. Turn on a frying to a medium heat. In a separate pan put in the sugar, water and strawberries and cook down on a medium heat, until the strawberries have cooked through and started to break down and the sugar is dissolved. Add in the chopped mint leaves and a squeeze of lemon juice to take. Set aside. Take the bread dunk it in the egg mixture and fry in the pan until browned on both sides.

Serve the toast on a plate with the warm strawberry compot. Delish.

So some info (http://nom-nom-nom-3.blogspot.com/p/faqs.html):

What is Nom Nom Nom?
It’s a fun competition for bloggers, writers, photographers and food enthusiasts. Over one day eight teams of two will shop for ingredients & cook a three-course meal for four, to be judged by a panel of experts. Afterwards, there’s a public “Viewers Choice” vote for the bloggers who produce the best online record of their meals. 

Who’s behind Nom Nom Nom?
Nom Nom Nom 2010 wouldn’t exist without Cookery School (with the help of Annie Mole from London Underground Tube Diary).

So team Katman & Robin(see source it, cook it, eat it link left) was created. We decided to go for an asian fusion menu to best display the glamour of summer and the sexiness of fresh seasonal ingredients. Also asian food is a natural option for us gluten-free folk as there is so much focus on flavours through herbs and spices and less obsession with complication and over processing.

We decided on a menu of:

Summer rolls with Hoisin and Nuom Chuc

Spicy Beef Salad

Strawberry sorbet, lemon rice wafers and prosecco

The day itself passed in a flash and Robin and I were at times so relaxed (figuring out ways to flout the no drinking in the kitchen rule) people no doubt thought we were bound to have a disaster. But as the pictures will attest we did indeed manage to plate up three pretty gorgeous summer creations…..

Despite obstacles including a hangover, banning of alcohol from the kitchen and insane amount talent from the other 9 teams, we came in 2nd place. It was a real victory to us and we could not have been more surprised/amazed etc.

There is going to be an online vote for viewers choice, so details coming soon. Great day, great laugh, all in all brilliant.

Special thanks to my partner in crime Robin, to the crew at the Cookery School and AnnieMole.

Katman & Robin in action

Bunch of posers

Concentration….. someone bring me a vino stat!

Holy sh*t Batman, we came second

Prizes. Phillips, this is kitchen porn, oh my

The full swag. I do love me some free produce

The competition (good looking bunch)

OCD apparently, totally Nigella

Robin kicking this salads arse

If a picture tells a 1000 words, this one says shut up and eat me

The main event, summer stylin’