gluten-free side dish

The best gluten-free recipes are designed that way from the start: no modifications or substitutions required. This Brussels sprout side is just one of many deliciously meant-to-be-gluten-free recipes from Green Chef, which now offers three certified gluten-free meal plans. Enjoy these crisp, tender, nutty, and savory sautéed sprouts.

Ingredients

¾ cup chopped bacon

9 ounces Brussels sprouts

2½ tablespoons pecans

6 tablespoons shallot

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Medium-dice bacon into about ½-inch pieces.
Place bacon in a dry medium-sized sauté pan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add pecans. Cook 8-10 minutes, or until pecans are toasted and bacon is crispy, stirring occasionally.
Transfer bacon and pecans to a paper towel (keep bacon fat in pan).
Cut ends off Brussels sprouts. Lay flat and cut into about ¼-inch-thick slices.
Cut ends off shallot and remove peel. Halve lengthwise. Lay flat and cut lengthwise into about ¼-inch thick strips.
Return pan with bacon fat to stovetop over medium heat. Add Brussels sprouts and shallot to hot pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 7-10 minutes, or until veggies are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally.
Add about ¼ cup water to pan with Brussels sprouts. Stir. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until water cooks off and veggies are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
Return bacon and pecans to pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.

I was thinking about grains and what would be a defining grain for a country. In my opinion, wheat would define America, we are a “bread basket” country. That’s not so hot for celiacs. When I watch this show on the Travel Channel, “No Reservations” with Tony Bourdain, I notice that rice is the defining food for so many other countries and cultures. In my little gluten-free world, I am so grateful for the wide variety of rice. Even before diagnosis, I could have eaten rice every day. Now I pretty much do eat rice every day.

Whether it’s basmati, aborrio, sushi , wild, brown, short grain or long grain rice, there is a perfect side dish for every meal. I love the frozen brown rice I buy at Trader Joe’s because it’s nutritious brown rice that’s ready in three minutes from the microwave. I love creamy risotto that I often order in Italian restaurants. I love fried rice with peas, bits of egg, pork or chicken. My favorite lunch happens to be sushi rolls from my neighborhood restaurant. I eat leftover rice with a dash of tamari soy sauce and a hefty helping of wasabi.

Rice is one of those critical food staples that prevents hunger in many corners of the globe. As a writer, I like to wake up my brain with daily vocabulary quizzes by going to the Free Rice site. For every correct answer, the UN World Food Program donates 10 grains of rice. It’s one of those addicting, time wasting, things you can do on the world wide web…but it’s educational and it does some good! Couldn’t all of us use a refresher on SAT words like punctilious and perspicuity even if we can’t figure out how to use them in a sentence. Yesterday there was 72,142,820 grains of rice donated, and 59 billion donated to date. Clearly I am not the only one hooked!

Rice is such a versatile gluten-free food, there must be hundreds of different ways to enjoy this staple ingredient. I am signing off to go make dinner, chicken satays with a side dish of, no surprise here, rice!