The Guilt-free Gourmet - Indulgent recipes without sugar, wheat or dairy [Hardcover]

How can you produce good food without sugar, wheat and dairy? It's not particularly easy but this book seems to achieve it pretty well. I haven't tried all of the recipes, but the ones I have tried have turned out surprisingly well. The cakes and desserts you have to take a leap of faith when making them as the methods and ingredients aren't what you'd use normally, but I must say that the Moroccan orange cake recipe in particular produces an excellent result.

What do the recipes use to sweeten the food? Agave syrup is a very popular ingredient through the book, while xylitol is used in virtually all of the desserts and cakes. Spelt or rice flour is used as opposed to flour made from wheat. Rice milk, coconut milk, soy spread and dairy-free butter or spreads replace other more traditional ingredients. As you might imagine, fruit and vegetables feature extensively throughout the book. A wide variety of herbs, spices, seeds, nuts, salad leaves, vinegars, oils and syrups are also used to keep things interesting and to vary the flavours. Most of the recipes are pretty simple, but the addition of the right herb or spice can and does make all the difference.

The food photography is better than most recipe books, so you have a very good idea of what you're trying to create. The layout is pretty decent also, with two or three simple recipes on a single page if there is room for them. A lot of the recipes also include a "Guilt-free because..." footnote, which basically extols the virtues and health benefits of one of the ingredients. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to try some healthy, unusual recipes. You probably wouldn't cook from it every day, but I think it makes a refreshing change occasionally. Obviously be prepared to go shopping for some unusual ingredients, as even seaweed makes an appearance in the book!

The contents page is as follows:

6 the guilt-free gourmet
10 brunch
26 sharing plates
48 light & fresh
70 foods from afar
88 comfort food
108 home baking
126 sweet treats
142 index

The recipes are:

Super smoothies: mango lucuma lassi; frozen banana, cocoa & maco smoothie; raspberry, blueberry & goji berry smoothie
New York avocado toast
Eggs on rye with spinach & roasted tomatoes
Pancakes with fried bananas
Spelt bread
Porridge
Granola
Bircher muesli
Sweet potato, cavolo nero & plum tomato frittata with basil oil
Sweet potato hummus
Baba ghanouch
Borlotti bean puree
Butternut squash falafels with fig, chioggia beetroot & chilli oil
Root-vegetable fritter with cumin & parsley yogurt
Guinoa with carrot, hazelnuts & pomegranate
Summer squash with mint & pine nuts
Lambs lettuce with herbs
Smoked mackerel sushi rolls
Socca
Chicken & chorizo with mashed squash & romesco
Roast quail with quince & figs
Spanish meatballs
Globe artichoke, fennel & rocket
Crab with mango & coconut
Halibut with fennel, olives & tomato
Quinoa with new-season beans, peas & asparagus
Aubergine, puy lentils & sun-dried tomatoes with mint oil
Polenta pizza
Charred shrimp with nan jim
Mackerel with sprouting broccoli, cherry tomatos & almond aioli
Chargrilled asparagus with walnut mayonnaise
Cannellini bean, avocado & mint
Grated carrots, blood orange & walnuts
Heritage tomato salad
Thai coconut & lemongrass soup with shrimp
Soba noodles with gomadare sesame seed sauce
Soy salmon, wasabi mash & bok choi
Chicken tagine
Massaman curry
Jina's jap chae with sweet potato noodles, beef, mushrooms, spinach & carrots
Tempura vegetables & shrimp with wasabi mayonnaise
Bibimbap
Beetroot burgers with wholegrain mustard mayonnaise
Sausages 'n' mash with red onion gravy
Lasagna
Harissa roast chicken with spiced swede, squash & sweet potato
Red pepper & smoked paprika soup with basil oil & vegetable crisps
Aubergine & tomato gratin
Wild mushroom & leek risotto
Leek, sprouting broccoil & chorizo tart
Pasta with cashew pesto & roasted cherry tomatoes
Jessica's carrot cake
Apple, raisin & cinnamon muffins
Nectarine frangipane tart
Pear & apple pecan crumble
Flapjacks
Orange-zest brownies
Moroccan orange cake
Lemon tart
Chocolate tart
Skye Gyngell's chocolate panna cotta
Cashew butter ice cream
Coconut frozen yogurt
Mojito sorbet
Chocolate truffles
Cheesecake & sweet cherries
Sticky toffee pudding

This is a fantastic book if you need to avoid or cut down on sugar, wheat or dairy or need to cook for those who do, but above all it's a book full of the sort of things you want to cook and eat on a daily basis. Everything I've tried so far has been both full of flavour and and easy to prepare after a long day at work - the chicken with chorizo, romesco sauce and squash mash was a big hit, as was the korean bibimbap. Spend some time cooking with this book and you will make the switch to sugar, wheat and dairy free meals effortlessly.

This book is beautifully produced and every single recipe has a photo of the finished dish. There are very few pages wasted on either annoying photos of the authors (as with celeb chef books) or useless ones of raw ingredients. So far I have produced the Spelt Bread on page 20 and the Beetroot Burgers on page 90. The bread was the easiest I've ever made and looked and tasted great; the burgers were a huge success also - unusual, but the best veggie burgers I've ever made.
Since first posting this review I have now also made the butternut squash falafel - really good results.
This is a sugar-free cookbook, but I do feel the authors may have over-compensated with sugar subsitutes: I wouldn't want or need to add agave syrup to sausages and mash or lasagna, as they do here, or maple syrup to vegetable fritters, or one and a half cups of xylitol to the carrot cake. They may have over-estimated their demographic's need for sweetness. But these sweeteners can be left out (not sure if it would affect the cakes?), and this does not in any way spoil enjoyment of the book - and it does give interesting ideas on avoiding the sue of refined sugar in general. Personally I don't have a sweet tooth but the addition of these sweeteners might be very useful for others: those with young kids, health problems etc.
Highly recommended.