Salicylate Cooking?

So, about two months ago I found out that I have an intolerance to a group of chemicals called salicylates. It was a lucky catch by my mom who follows dashoff's blog and had researched the issue when Diane's son was having issues with his digestion (poor little guy*). My mom noticed that I was having a lot of symptoms associated with salicylate sensitivity and, because I was ready to try anything at that point, I jumped into the low-sal diet. The difference was night and day. After struggling for almost two years with phantom pains, headaches, cold-like symptoms and what we suspected was an ulcer, my symptoms disappeared in two weeks. I am overjoyed to be able to share this with you, but there have been challenges and one of the biggest ones is finding recipes that I can use. Being a culinary student and an epicurean I was getting tired of eating quesadillas and stalks of celery. So tonight I ventured to make a recipe of my own and it turned out...well, fabulously. So, first in a long series of what is new cooking to me I present- French Onion and Beef "Stew" with Homemade Garlic Croutons! (I know, that's a working title people, excessively long but eminently descriptive.) This recipe works really well if you prep everything beforehand, all that mise en place and whatnot.

F.O.B."S".H.G.C.

Croutons

1/2 loaf of sturdy white bread- I used my dad's -cubed in 1/2 in pieces

1 large clove of garlic finely minced

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp sunflower or canola oil

Stew

2 Medium onions sliced lengthwise in 1/4 in pieces

1lb beef (round steak is great) cubed in 1/2 inch pieces

1/8 cup sunflower or canola oil

3/4 cup pear juice divided

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp corn starch

1/4 lb of mozzarella cheese coarsely grated

• Pre-heat your oven to 400F. Toss all the ingredients for the croutons together, spread them out on a sheet pan and put them in the oven to toast.
• In a deep pan (4 or 5 quart is good, preferably NOT nonstick) heat your oil at medium high to start making the stew. Once the oil is just starting to smoke gently add the beef, making sure it has plenty of room to brown. (If you need to, do this in two batches.) Brown it on all sides making sure you get plenty of that yummy brown stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan. When, fully cooked remove the beef and set aside.
• At this point add the first half of the pear juice to deglaze the pan, scrape it all off the bottom, that yummy flavor is the base of your stew. Once the pear juice/brown bits are simmering add your onions. Cover and cook until the onions and pear juice carmelize into a yummy mess-0-flavor.
• Check on your croutons, hopefully they're not burned? Sweet, flip 'em on over and stick 'em back in.
• Now, back to the stew, add the rest of your liquids (pear juice, soy sauce and lemon juice) stir it up! Gently remove two tablespoons of the liquid and in a small bowl mix it with the corn starch, set that aside.
• Simmer the onion/liquids mixture until it is almost all reduced.
• Take your croutons out! They're done!
• Add the corn starch slurry to the onion mixture and when that's all mixed in, add the beef back in. Mixy mixy. Good. Ok, now in bowls it goes like this: croutons, stew, cheese.
• Hand the bowls around and watch every one go, "This is low in salicylates? Amazing!" Just kidding. They won't do that. They don't even know what salicylates are.

So yay, number one recipe done! Hopefully number two will be coming soon.

*Diane is seriously my hero. She has had to deal with wayyy more than I have. You should really link over and read her story.