Gluten-free Cooking for Kids

I've recently been craving Mexican Food and was delighted to come across a new cookbook by Thomasina Miers, an ex Master Chef winner and the founder of a small chain of Mexican cantina style eateries called Wahaca.  My daughter Ruthie loves eating at Wahaca which is in central London, not far from Covent Garden.  Most of the food is gluten free and the staff are friendly, knowledgeable and accomodating.  On a recent visit, they went to great lengths to make the children feel welcomed and the whole restaurant sang Happy Birthday to Ruthie.  She thought this was fantastic and unsurprisingly rates this as her number one place to eat in London. 

The great thing about real Mexican food is that the colours and flavours are so vibrant.  Even on a chilly May afternoon you can evoke a sunny cantina like atmosphere.  Although the list of ingredients can be a bit daunting, the actual cooking process is not really time consuming.  And the ;pay off, is the most fabulous, vibrant and truly lip smackingly good food. 

This evening we had some children from school for tea and loathe to serve yet another spag bol supper I swam against the tide and went for an improvised Mexican cantina style meal. We had some tasty oven baked lamb meatballs, a simple avocado and lime salad, a blow your head off roasted chilli salsa and some fresh crisp lettuce.  All of this was served with homemade fresh tortillas, straight off the griddle.   The girls rose to the challenge and although a bit suspicious at first, they soon got down to the business of enjoying themselves.  The beauty of this sort of food is that it is all about using your fingers and there is no need for knives and forks.  Just assemble your taco and away you go.  Ruthie showed the way and drizzled hot salsa merrily over everything before devouring the lot.  The others started a bit timidly at first and were frankly downright scared of the salsa, but once I convinced them ot have a go, they were off.  The whole lot was polished off, salsa and all.  So if you fancy ringing the changes have a go.  I've posted a few improvised recipes and I thoroughly recommend Thomasina's book Mexican Food Made Simple.  Most of the recipes are gluten free and those that aren't are easily adapted.  I've got my eye on the vanilla cheesecake with pineapple caramel next.  It looks so inviting and I can't wait to have a go. 

If you would like more information on the recipes, the lamb meatballs, the hot chilli salsa and the avocado and lime salad  will be posted on the site soon,  If you are wanting to try your hand at making tortillas, then check out The Cool Chile Co. who supply masa harina and tortilla presses along with a wide variety of Mexican chillies and spices.  You can also check out www.mexgrocer.co.uk for a good range of mexican ingredients.