On Valentine’s Day, I hosted my first cooking class for a couple, David and Amanda, who were visiting Austin for the weekend. David had contacted me, explaining that his wife, Amanda, who was just diagnosed with Celiac disease two months ago, was having a miserable, frustrating time looking for high quality gluten free options and could I help?

Knowing this very difficult passage all too well, I immediately wanted to do all I could to improve her situation for the better. I told him that my bakery was still currently closed as I still completing my cookbook, but that I wanted to help in any way I could.

Inspired, I offered to host a cooking class for the both of them to reveal a few basic techniques to make the transition to gluten free living more accessible, and more importantly, more pleasurable. After David accepted my offer, we worked out an Italian themed menu that would be to Amanda’s liking and here is how it all panned out:

UPON THEIR ARRIVAL:

We surprised Amanda by having one of her favorite desserts, lemon bars!, and a glass of Roederer Estate Champagne awaiting her. The Blackbird lemon bars are made from Meyer lemon curd (see the baking section of the blog for the recipe under the heading “All is Full of Love”) and since it was Valentine’s Day, I cut a single giant heart from the pan for a really lovely presentation.

After toasting over a glass of the bubbly, and spending a few moments to get to know each other a bit, we set to creating their meal.

THE MENU:

Stacked Vegetable Torte
Veal Scallopini with Redwine Mushroom Duxelles
White Truffle Infused Panna Cotta with 20 Year Old Balsamic

Because the recipes are so involved, I am going to post the meal in three parts, with each part correlating to the courses. So keep coming back, especially if you want to try some gluten free veal scallopini!

First we made the dough for the vegetable stacked torte. I already had some chilling in the fridge but absolutely wanted to show Amanda how I combine everything so she could achieve the exact same results. For this crust, I added a couple of tablespoons of goat butter to make the crust extra flakey and freshly chopped thyme to really make every bite sing, and visually, the fresh herbs embedded in the crust looks so beautiful, I couldn’t not include them.

STACKED VEGETABLE TORTE

Yield: 2- 5 inch individual springform pans or 1- 8” springform pan

THE DOUGH:

Goat Butter Pate Brissee (Short Crust)

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons glutinous white rice flour
¾ cup cornstarch
1/2 cup +2 tablespoons tapioca flour
¼ cup sorghum flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 knife points of kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons guar gum
14 tablespoons cultured unsalted butter
2 tablespoons goat butter
3 eggs
2 ½ tablespoons freshly chopped thyme

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients with the cultured butter and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the eggs and mix just until the dough folds in on itself.

Using a plastic pastry scrapper, turn the dough out onto a clean counter that has been dusted with glutinous rice flour.

Knead with the palm of your hand several times until you have a leather smooth ball. Add the chopped thyme and knead until smooth. Divide the dough into two sections, quickly shape each section into a semi-flat disk, and wrap tightly with cellophane.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before rolling out the dough and up to three days or freeze for three weeks.

For this recipe, you will only need one disk of the dough, so store the second disk for another purpose.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, make the dough thusly:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a spacious bowl with a few turns of a whisk. Add the diced cultured butter and begin to cut it in with a pastry cutter, using a butter-knife to clean out the spokes when necessary. Repeat until the mix resembles a heap of damp, engorged seeds. Whisk the eggs and fold them in using two plastic pastry scrappers. Keep folding until you have a firm, somewhat sticky ball of dough.

Turn the dough onto a very clean surface that has been lightly dusted with glutinous rice flour and follow the above instructions.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Next, we began assembling the torte. I prepared the vegetables for the torte before David and Amanda arrived to help conserve time, but I did show Amanda how to salt the vegetables and roast them. For this recipe, you will need:

THE VEGETABLES

2 large organic zucchinis, cut in half and then sliced lengthwise into thin strips.
1 large organic eggplant, sliced
1 organic head elephant garlic, roasted
1 large organic red bell pepper, roasted
1-24oz. can of organic crushed tomatoes with basil, strained
¼ cup kosher salt
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375°F.

First wash and slice the zucchini and the eggplant as indicated above. Next you are going to slightly dehydrate the vegetables so the excess water will not come out during the baking process, causing the layers to separate and the custard to break down.

To do this, set the sliced zucchini and sliced eggplant on a cookie sheet or cutting board and lightly sprinkle with the kosher salt. You do not want to use all the salt, but the size of your vegetables will determine how much salt you end up using. If you coat the vegetables with too much of the salt, it will make the torte extremely salty, so keep this in mind as you work. Allow the vegetables to sit for about 20 minutes or until they are perspiring rather profusely.

Place the zucchini and eggplant between two layers of thick paper towels, like Viva, and gently press down with the palm of your hands to remove the excess liquid. Repeat until all of the slices have been dried.

Now lightly spray a wire drying rack with non-stick spray and then line with the sliced eggplant and zucchini.

Take your elephant garlic and slice off all the tips of all the cloves in one clean cut. Place the garlic in a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and then sprinkle with a pinch of the kosher salt. Pinch the aluminum foil over the top of the garlic so it looks like a little balloon. Set on a separate wire rack.

Cut the red bell pepper in half and remove the seed and any of the white interior flesh. Drizzle the pepper with olive oil and set the wire rack next to the elephant garlic.

Roast the zucchini and the eggplant on the middle rack and the red bell pepper and the elephant garlic on the lower rack, in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. The zucchini and eggplant are done when they look slightly shriveled. The red bell pepper and garlic are done when the skin of the bell pepper has blackened around the edges.

While these vegetables are roasting, strain your tomatoes by pressing on them with a wooden spoon through a fine sieve. Reserve the tomato juices for another purpose as it is delicious.

Spread the tomatoes on a jellyroll pan lines with aluminum foil. When the eggplant and zucchini are done roasting, remove from the oven. Check the red bell pepper and the garlic as they do take a bit longer than the more delicate zucchini and eggplant. If the red pepper is not blackened, continue to roast for about 5-10 minutes more. The garlic is done when the cloves are a dark yellow and their aroma has filled your kitchen. Add the tray of tomatoes and roast for 15-20 minutes.

Remove one of your disks of dough from the fridge and allow to sit on the counter to soften for 15 minutes.

Remove the red bell pepper and roasted garlic from the oven. Immediately place the bell peppers into a plastic bag. Set aside. Remove the garlic from the foil. When it is cool enough to touch, expel the cloves from the garlic pods and transfer to a clean bowl. Mash the garlic with a fork until smooth.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven. Set aside.

THE CUSTARD:

3 large eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

2 cups Asiago cheese

In the meantime, grate your Asiago cheese into a clean bowl and set aside. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together the eggs until smooth. In a steady stream, whisk in the heavy cream followed by the salt and pepper. Set aside.

TO ASEMBLE THE TORTE:

Lightly dust your counter with glutinous rice flour. Cut your disk of dough in half if using the individual sized springform pans. Leave the disk whole if using the 8”. Knead the dough several times until very smooth. Roll out the dough until about 1/8” thick. Nestle the dough into the pan. Gently press the dough into the bottom edge until smooth. Roll a rolling pin over the top of the pan to trim any excess dough. If you divided your dough, repeat to fill the second pan.

Now, begin assembling the torte. First line the bottom of the torte with a layer of eggplant slices in a concentric pattern, completely covering the bottom. Follow with a layer of the Asiago cheese. Next lay down a layer of the zucchini. Using a fork, spread the mashed garlic over the zucchini. Add another layer of cheese. Now, slowly pour the custard mixture over the layers, slowly tilting the pan to evenly coat the pan and to make sure the custard has reached the bottom layer.

Remove the bell pepper from the plastic bag and remove the skins. Now place the roasted peppers over the cheese. Your individual cases should be nearly full. If not, add another layer of eggplant followed by a layer of cheese. If using the larger pan, you will definitely need to repeat layers, but should have plenty of eggplant and zucchini to do so.

Cover the bell peppers with another layer of cheese and then divide the remaining custard between the two tortes. Cover the top of the tortes with a layer of the roasted tomatoes. They should be flush with the top of the pan.

Bake the torte(s) at 375°F for 1 hour. The large torte will need to bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes and the internal temperature is 175°F. The tortes will puff up to a considerable dome which a great sign that it is done.

Photography by Knoxy of Knox Photographics