Gluten-Free Dining in Boston

If you are looking for gluten-free dining options in the Boston area, check out Nebo. I just received an email from them, and I felt compelled to share. Here's what they wrote:

I am writing to inform you of our new Gluten free menu. About 4 yrs ago my sister Christine and I opened nebo restaurant at 90 N. Washington St. in Boston’s North End. Nebo is a traditional Italian restaurant offering dishes based on recipes that were passed down from our mother and grandmother. After being open for about a year, two of our closest friends were told they had Celiac disease. We then realized just how many people this disease has affected and the need for an alternative for their dining restrictions. Determined to serve our friends their favorites, we set upon making our menu available in a gluten free form. We are thrilled to say that we have now produced 90% of our menu with the same great taste as our regular menu. We don't think there has been an accomplishment that has brought us more pleasure. If you would like us to forward a copy of our Gluten free menu please send a menu request to nebofunctions@gmail.com .

Sincerely,
Carla and Christine Pallotta
Chef/Owners

-Just a taste of our menu-
misto fritto - crisp shrimp, calamari, smelts, mediterranean aioli
sale e pepe - sea salt and white peppercorn marinated chicken wings
polenta con scampi - sauteed shrimp in a lemon butter sauce over grilled polenta
burrata - cream filled mozzarella, proscuitto di parma, balsamic fig glaze

-Gluten free pasta specialties-
bucati - fresh mozzarella, pacchino tomato, pecorino romano, basil, evoo
cappesante - seared sea scallops, light mascarpone cream sauce
aglio olio - gulf shrimp, pei mussels, garlic, evoo, chile flakes
salsicce e rabe - homemade sweet sausage, broccoli rabe, pecorino romano
bolognese - slow cooked meat ragu, tomato, cream, pecorino romano
amatriciana – pancetta, sweet onions, spicy marinara
*or simply, fresh tomato basil sauce
A variety of 20 gourmet Gluten free pizzas are available

Nebo’s stylish décor, reminiscent of modern Italy, is all natural wood, chocolate suede and brick surrounding a 120 person capacity dining area and a full bar showcasing a magnificent marble top, glass shelves and plasma televisions. This creates the perfect setting for the enjoyment of one of our specialty martinis or a bottle from our “Wine Spectator Magazine” award winning wine list. Nebo’s list features 150 Italian wines and a cellar list for the true wine enthusiast.

Monday – Wednesday 5pm until 11pm
Thursday – Saturday 5pm until late night
Full menu served during all business hours
Extended hours for “The Garden” event nights
Parking on street or adjacent to restaurant

Nebo Restaurant
simplicity demands the finest ingredients
90 North Washington Street
Boston, Massachusetts 617-723-6326 Fax: 617-723-6327

This email warmed my heart. The idea that friends would take such an interest as to create an entire gluten-free menu in their restaurant, well, it practically makes me cry. I wish Carla and Christine Pallotta much success, and I hope to someday make it to Boston to check out Nebo. In the meantime, if anyone reading gets the chance to visit, please let me know what you think!

Got Beer?

Well, almost. It's going into bottles as we speak. Now it has to sit and get itself carbonated. I'll report back in three weeks to let you know how it is.

Gluten-Free Biscotti

Biscotti - something I never would have made pre-gluten-free, thinking it was too much bother. Now, it's a staple in the house. The crispy, crunchy texture holds up especially well when travelling. And they don't take a lot of work, though they do require a large chunk of time. So plan ahead...

This recipe is based on the Walnut-Orange Biscotti recipe in Rebecca Reilly's Gluten Free Baking. Really, if you don't have that cookbook, you just don't know what you're missing. I had to change the flours because of my personal intolerances. I also left out the orange zest, because I really don't handle citrus well. And the walnuts, well, gag. Who eats those? (shudder) If you would like the original recipe, here it is, though it is not properly credited to Rebecca Reilly.



Gluten-Free Biscotti

1 cup rice flour (I use it straight out of the bag, not mixed with anything)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup lightly toasted, unsalted pumpkin seeds

Mix together the dry ingredients (except the pumpkin seeds), and set aside.

Cream the butter until white. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Blend in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Slowly blend in the dry ingredients. Add the pumpkin seeds. Cover and refrigerate the dough at least one hour, but preferably overnight. I've tried it both ways, overnight is the best.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces. Using your hands, roll each piece into a log about 1.5 to 2 inches thick. Don't worry that it looks too small, it will puff and flatten while baking. Place 2 logs on one cookie sheet, leaving lots of room in between, and put the 3rd log on the other sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Slice the logs on a diagonal, about 3/4" thick. Place the slices, cut side down, on the cookie sheets. Lower the oven temp to 350 degrees and bake the slices for 10-15 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack, and store in an airtight container.

Boldly Going Forward 'Cause We Can't Find Reverse

I was scared. I knew it would be awful. I knew I would hate it.

Happily, I was wrong.

Star Trek is my favorite movie of 2009. As a rabid, geeky fan of the original series, I was against the idea of reinventing the franchise. Heck, I wouldn't even watch the Next Generation series for a long time. I've never watched the others - Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise. The original Star Trek was sacred.

And the commercials...oh, they were awful. I just knew it would end up being a summer action flick, full of gratuitous violence and special effects. So it was with much trepidation that I sat in the theatre to watch the latest incarnation of one of my all time favorite stories.

But I had to see it. I had to know. And as the first few minutes played, I breathed easier. My beloved Star Trek had been skillfully reworked into an intelligent, witty, and yes, action-packed new story.

Thank you, J. J. Abrams!

But now I have a new worry: Will the sequel live up to the original?

Oh, no...

In honor of the movie, and because I've had this tune rolling around my head since I left the theatre, I wanted to share this video of Star Trekkin, the addictive song by The Firm. I know, it's YouTube again. I might be getting into that site after all. As if I needed another way to waste time on the Internet!

And here are the lyrics, so you know what you are singing as it goes in an endless loop through your brain.

Enjoy!

More gluten-free beer?

What, there's more?

David found this nifty video that is very similar to how he made his (our) gluten-free beer. It's actually a gluten beer in the video, but the process is similar. So here it is, in case you are interested in seeing all the action.

Beer Making Video

Also, I have been informed that bleach can be used as a sanitizer in beermaking. However, it is not recommended, because it must be thoroughly rinsed out to remove all residue before you can proceed.


In other beer news, the gluten-free bucket o' beer in the tub has been racked into a glass carboy for a secondary fermentation. So now we have two large glass containers of fermenting alcoholic beverages in our guest bathroom. Just thought you would want to know.


And don't forget, when you bottle your beer, you will want to label it. Noontime Labels will be happy to help you with that!

Let's brew gluten-free beer!

Note: Sorry to leave you hanging...I really did have every intention of posting this last week.

Before we get started, I have a present: a gluten-free beer kit. For you. I know. We get tired of having to make everything ourselves. I hear you. So if you've got the desire but just don't want to follow one more damn recipe, then this kit is for you. You still need the bucket and such, though.

All right. This is how it's done. You've assembled everything you need, according to the list here. You have your ingredients, you have the pot, and you've kicked everyone out of the kitchen. You're set.

These are the directions my personal Brewmaster graciously wrote down for me. This is not a substitute for doing your research first. But it might be helpful to know what someone else did.

Gluten-Free Beer

Put the hops in the nylon hop bag (be sure to tie the drawstring so it remains closed). Bring 2 to 3 gallons of water to boil. Add sorghum extract and bittering hops and maintain boil for 60 minutes. The amount and times in which you add the hops will determine the bitterness, hop flavor, and hop aroma; adding the hops at the beginning of the boil will bring no flavor but will give bitterness, adding hops at 30 to 45 minutes into the boil will add the hop flavor and a little bitter, adding hops at the end of the boil (finishing hops) adds hop flavors, and dry hopping (adding hops after the wort has cooled) will add hop aromas and a little flavor.

Adding the sorghum extract:

This is the type of bag you will use to add hops. This one contains Teff, see modifications below:

Add flavoring hops at 30 to 45 minutes into boil for flavor.

Boiling beer:

After 60 minutes remove from heat and add any finishing hops. Place the pot in a sink full of ice to cool and cover (to protect it from airborne bacteria, molds, and yeasts). The liquid (which is now called “wort”) needs to be cooled to at most 80 degrees when you pitch the yeast. You will be adding more water in a bit, so don't worry too much right now if it's a little above 80 degrees still.

Cool that beer:

Rehydrate the yeast by adding the yeast to a bowl of lukewarm (not hot) water. Dry yeast is usually made using molasses; DO NOT use liquid brewers yeast because that contains gluten.

Rehydrating yeast:

Now, thoroughly clean and sanitize everything that will be touching the beer (bucket, hop bag (if dry hopping), thermometer, hydrometer, your hands, etc…). The MOST important thing about making your own wine and beer is cleanliness. You’re creating a liquid specifically designed for microbes to eat (the yeast), so any other microbe that comes into contact is going to start munching away and multiplying, potentially ruining your beverage. The only way to prevent that is to keep everything clean and sanitized so only the yeast you inoculated with will thrive.

When the wort is 80 degrees (or close to it), pour it into the plastic bucket and add water to get 5 gallons (to better aid the yeast, you can put some of the water in a container and shake it in order to get more oxygen in it before adding it to the bucket). A bucket made specifically for wine and beer making is recommended since the lid will have gaskets for sealing the lid and an airlock, and the bucket will have a spigot at the bottom which makes racking and bottling much easier.

Bucket o' beer, next to a carboy containing a fruit wine on its primary fermentation. Stored in the bathtub for easy cleanup in case of any unfortunate accidents:

Place the thermometer in the bucket to ensure the wort is between 65 and 80 degrees. Cooler temperatures will mean a longer fermentation and warmer temps will make a shorter fermentation. Depending on the yeast you use, warmer temps can bring unwanted off flavors. Generally 70 degrees is a good temperature (but our house, in southern Florida, is seldom below 80).

Measure the Specific Gravity of your wort with the hydrometer by placing it in the wort, and write the number down. The hydrometer measures the amount of solids in the liquid; as the yeast eat the sugars in the wort they create alcohol (among other things) and this decreases the specific gravity of the wort. By taking a beginning measurement and an ending measurement you can calculate the amount of alcohol in your beer. It’s also important as a way of knowing when the yeast are done (3 consecutive days of the specific gravity not changing indicates the yeast are done).

“Pitch” the yeast by dumping your re-hydrated yeast slurry into the bucket.

Cover with the lid, and within a day or two you should hear bubbling activity. It’s OK to have an occasional look, but not too much because every time you remove the lid you’re exposing the beer to potential risk of contamination.

After one or two weeks you have beer, although it is still flat.

The next step is bottling (or if you have a carboy you can rack into that for an additional week or two before bottling). There will be a significant amount of “trub” in the bottom of the bucket which you do not want in your beer, so you will need to “rack” the beer off of it. You can either rack right into bottles or into another container. In order for your beer to become carbonated, the fermentation process will need to be continued in the sealed bottles. Therefore, either each bottle needs to have “priming sugar” (dextrose) added it, or you place the entire amount of sugar for the batch in the other container, rack into that so it all mixes together, and then fill each bottle with the primed beer (this is the preferred method for consistency).

The usual amount of priming sugar is 5 oz. for 5 gallons. After 2 or 3 weeks you now have finished beer. Allowing it to age a few months will only improve it as the flavors become more integrated and the bitterness mellows a bit.

These directions are by no means complete, and I highly recommend reading and learning about home beer and wine making via the internet or your local library before beginning.

My beer making process:
I did everything above with these exceptions:

I steeped roasted teff in 155 degree water for 30 minutes prior to adding extract (and removed the grains before boiling), with ½ tsp amylase enzyme. This was an attempt to get more “malty” flavors.

I added 3 oz. of lactose and 3 oz. of maltodextrine to the boil to add mouthfeel (sorghum beers tend to be light bodied). Also put 2 oz. of Chinook hops in at start of boil.

I added 1 oz. Fuggles hops, 24 oz. molasses, and 3 lbs. honey at 45 minutes into boil.

I added brewed coffee (4 scoops finely ground in 8 cups water), 2 Tbsp cocoa, and 1 oz. Fuggles hops to fermenter bucket.

Supplies needed to brew gluten-free beer

Okay, now that we've read a little about how to make beer, and we haven't been totally scared off, let's talk supplies.

According to my personal Brewmaster (don't you wish you had your own personal Brewmaster?), you absolutely need a food-grade bucket with a lid, a large pot with a lid, and some bottles. Lots of bottles, because you are making about 5 gallons of beer, bottles hold about 12 ounces, and well, you need a lot. And a bottle capper thingie, if you aren't using self-capping Grolsch-style bottles. Which by the way hold about 16 ounces, so you need fewer.

Everything else is somewhat extraneous. Like those kitchen gadgets you see in stores. But gadgets are cool. Gadgets are fun! And most importantly, gadgets make your life a lot easier.

Here are the things David uses to make beer:

7-8 gallon plastic bucket (food grade) with lid
Large pot with lid
Large spoon
Hydrometer (recommended)
Thermometer (recommended)
Airlock (recommended)
Nylon hop bag
Large nylon grain bag (optional)
Cleanser (Oxyclean, B-Bright, EasyClean)
Sanitizer (potassium metabisulfite, iodophor…NOT bleach)
30-36 16 oz bottles (or about 50 12 oz bottles)
Racking cane
Siphon hose
Bottle filler (recommended)
Carboy (optional)

The ingredients you will absolutely need:

6 lbs. sorghum extract
Hops
Dry brewer's yeast (not liquid brewer's yeast, it contains gluten!)

What he added to the current batch brewing away at this moment:

1.5 lbs. roasted malted teff ( ½ medium toast, ½ dark toast)
6 lbs. white sorghum extract
2 oz. Chinook hops
2 oz. Fuggles hops - See? Fuggles!
1 packet Nottingham dry brewer's yeast
3 oz. lactose
3 oz. maltodextrine
4 scoops fresh ground coffee
24 oz. molasses
3lbs. honey


Don't have any of the above lying around? You can get your supplies at your local home brew shop or you-vint store. Or go online to:

Midwest Beermaking Supplies

Grape and Granary Supplies

Fine Vine Wines Supplies

Strange Brew Supplies

Next time, how to put it all together!

Before you brew gluten-free beer...

Gluten-free beer is easy to brew at home. It's pretty much the same as regular, gluten-filled beer. Yeast, hops, malt, and water. Mix, ferment, bottle, ferment a little more, that's it. It takes less than 4 weeks from the time one thinks, "hey, why don't I..." to when one says, "oh, that's good stuff!"

If you can boil water, you can make beer at home. Really.

But there are a lot of little nuances that one should know about before embarking on a brewing adventure. No matter what type of beer you are making, there are a few universal principles to follow. As in many aspects of life, some time spent in preparation will greatly increase one's chances of success.

Here are a few resources that my own personal Brewmaster (David) recommends:

How to Brew by John Palmer

Brew Your Own Magazine

Winemaking Home Page by Jack Keller

Winemaker Magazine

Aussie Home Brewer Forum

Beermaking Discussion on WinePress.US Forum

Brewers Roundtable Homebrew Forum

Brews Brothers Forum

Also, check your local area for home brew clubs, home brewing supply stores, U-Vint wine shops, and the like. There are people out there who are passionate about home brewing, with a wealth of information that they are just dying to share with you.

Coming soon: Everything you need to know about brewing Gluten-Free Beer, aka: The Recipe!