Eating and cooking ‘without’

I’ve bragged enough about it: it seems that my stomach is lined with concrete.
Ok, i’d still have to get through the snack streets in Beijing and try those scorpios and other silk worms [photo courtesy of my dutchie] before i can tell for sure…

You get the picture: when it comes to food, it seems that if i dare eat it, I can take it!

I have always been overly proud about that, a bit condescending to the delicate stomachs among my friends even.
I didn’t grasp how lucky I was until short…

You see, Mommy [and daddy] can have it all, but petit Tom cannot.. yet..

It took three and a half excruciating months before we finally found out that petit Tom was allergic to cow milk, which I devored every single day (butter, cheese, yogurt, creme fraiche, I love them all!).

I haven’t eaten any dairy for more than three months now… It’s been hard ( I still dream of stinky cheese at night ), but the smile on my baby’s face is worth all the stinky cheeses in the world.

My first reaction was despair: all that suddenly vanished from my plate (and the idea of being stucked with margarine), the look of disdain on the waiter’s face when i tried to order something dairy free, the hours spent at the supermarket decifering all the labels… what an eye opener!

But well you know me… It didn’t take me long before i started to reorganise my pantry, create new recipes and do extensive research into the do’s and don’ts of dairy free diets. In the bottom of my heart i hope that Petit Tom will some day soon get to share a piece of French stinky cheese with me, on a piece of baguette generously covered with beurre sale, bien sur… Until then, i’ll keep making up delicious dairy free treats*.

Just like this lush apple and pear crumble inspired by Clothilde from C&Z and her butterless crumble… A crunchy, nutty bite that melts in your mouth. Who needs butter, really!

Apple and pear crumble [dairy free]
Crumble pommes-poires [sans laitages]

serves 6 to 8 pers.
prep: 15 min. cook: 25 min

Ingredients:

For the crumble topping:
. 50 g flour;
. 50 g finely ground almonds;
. 100 g rolled oats;
. 70 g cane sugar;
. 40 ml olive oil;
. 40 ml hazelnut oil;
. Pinch of salt;
. Pinch of ground vanilla, cinnamon and ginger;
. Lemon zest;
. 1 Ts shaved almonds;

For the filling:
. 4 apples, peeled, cored and in chunks;
. 3 pears (doyenne de comice), peeled, cored and in chunks;
. 1 Ts cane sugar;
. Pinch of ground vanilla, cinnamon and ginger;
. Drop pear liquor;

. Preheat the oven at 180 deg c.

. Prepare the crumble topping: mix all the dry ingredients together. Pour the oil and mix with a wooden spoon until the oil is incorporated and the mixture is crumbly. Reserve in the fridge until further use.

. In a frying pan, heat up the sugar and oil and throw in the pear and apple chunks, the spices. Toss a couple of minutes on high heat until the flavours and juices get together.

. Remove from the heat, add a drop of pear liquor and pour in a greased oven dish. Sprinkle evenly with the crumble topping and shaved almonds.

. Bake for 20 to 25 min. at 180 deg C/375 deg F or until the top is nicely golden.

Bon appétit!

* And I am not the only one! there’s a bunch of remarkable people out there (a lot on the web) who share their tips and tricks and delicious recipes… Will come back on that soon.