Lisa’s Hot Picks for April and Cooking with Cippolini Onions

Two weeks until the Safe & Sound dinner at Perennial and packages are starting to arrive of goodies for the gift bag; the cases of Risotto chips are taller than me! I can’t wait to see you all at this special event, and I am so pleased we can donate a portion of the full ticket price to your favorite food allergy charity/support group. Click here for more details.

I just went to the Gluten Free Expo Vendor Fair to find some new products to share with you and my favorites were:

Schar has a lovely shortbread biscuit that is gluten/wheat and dairy free. I was amazed at how close the taste was to an allergen laden shortbread cookie. The ingredients include: maize flour, sugar, non hydrogenated vegetable margarine (oils and fat of palm, coco and rape, salt, emulsifier: E-471 and E-475, acidity regulator: E-330, flavor), eggs 9%, potato starch, honey 2%, modified maize starch, raising agent: ammonium hydrogen carbonate and sodium hydrogen carbonate, maltodextrine, salt, rice starch, natural flavoring.

The next product to try is Gluten Free Mama’s Sugar Cookie mix, she made the most amazing raspberry thumbprint cookies for us to try at the Expo with this mix. This mix is wheat/gluten and dairy free, and Rachel (Mama herself) gives lots of great tips for dairy and egg substitutes. Sorry Gluten Free Mama also produces almond flour so watch out allergenistas with nut allergies. Check out her website for recipes and tips for the best way to use her flours.

Lets’ get to cooking….

I just loved these onions, they are sweet and more mild than pearl onions. Enjoy this simple recipe, a perfect accompanyment to many dishes.

Baby Red Potatoes and Cippolini Onions



2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound baby red potatoes
½ pound of Cippolini onions
2 cloves garlic
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Heat a pot of water to boiling.
Add the potatoes to the pot and cook until they are tender, remove and set aside.
Place onions in water and cook for 3 minutes.
Squeeze onion out of skin, you may have to cut the end off and they will pop right out.
Heat a saute pan over medium high heat for one minute.
Add olive oil and heat another minute.
Add potatoes and onions to pan and season with kosher salt and black pepper.
Cook until browned and flip and repeat.
Add garlic after flipping, make sure not to burn the garlic.