For the past year and half, Hamid Salimian and Jennifer Peters have turned their house into a test kitchen.
The husband and wife chef duo have developed a new line of gluten-free baking products called NextJen Gluten Free. And once their website gets up and running in the next week or so, theyll also be posting the 45 recipes that theyve created to best showcase the products.
Hopefully consumers will have an easier time because weve done all the legwork, Salimian said as his wife presented their smoked salmon canapés at the 6 Course Discourse Jan. 20.
Peters (La Belle Auberge, Raincity Grill) is gluten-intolerant but wasnt willing to give up all the breads and baked goods she loved. The gluten-free all-purpose flours she could find on the market didnt quite sift it for her.
All recipes calling for flour arent created equal. Whats good for the cookie isnt always good for the pastry. She and Salimian (Diva at the Mets executive chef and now at teacher at Vancouver Community College) tried out different combinations for different recipes, coming up with the best mix. (A frozen puff pastry still eludes her but shes working on it.)
The products will be available through their website, NextJen.ca, as well as soon-to-be-determined retail outlets.
This weekend sees the return of the Gluten Free Expo. Given that BC leads other provinces in the number of people who follow a gluten-free diet, organizers are expecting a crowd. (Last year they seemed a tad overwhelmed.) Its January 25 and 26 from 10am to 4pm at the PNEs forum. Go to GlutenFreeExpo.ca for details on speakers, products and tickets ($12 or $15 at the door.)
