Chef's gluten free cookbook offers recipes from simple to exotic

Hazelnut encrusted salmon. Lasagne lovers’ delight. Flaky buttermilk biscuits. These are among the some 100 recipes in Robert Landolphi’s new cookbook.

What makes this book of recipes special is that it was written for those who are allergic to the gluten in wheat and other grains.

“The recipes in my Gluten Free Every Day Cookbook are the kinds of dishes that people who have celiac disease and are on a gluten-free diet thought they’d never be able to eat again,” says Landolphi, a certified culinary arts instructor, chef, and culinary operations manager at UConn. “You don’t have to give up the foods you love.”

Celiac disease, a disorder that begins in the small intestine, is triggered by gluten, the main protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Gluten is found in breads, cereals, and pastas. Processed foods, coatings, soups and sauces and dressings may contain hidden sources of gluten.

The disease causes an immune response in the cells lining the small intestine, preventing absorption of nutrients. It leads to varied physical symptoms.

Landolphi says his gluten-free journey began when his wife became ill.

“In 1996 my wife started to develop a variety of symptoms: rashes, tingling in her fingers and toes, and hair loss,” he says. Eventually her reproductive system shut down.

Even after many visits to specialists and myriad tests, doctors still couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. They had no idea her symptoms were food related.

Four years after her symptoms began, a relative sent her an article that discussed an under diagnosed disease – celiac.

“My wife thought she’d try a gluten-free diet to see if anything changed,” says Landolphi. It did. Her symptoms disappeared. A test confirmed her celiac disease.

Armed with his love of cooking, a culinary arts degree from Johnson and Wales University, “and a desire to keep my wife healthy,” he says, he started experimenting.

“I tried various combinations of flours, such as sorghum, tapioca, corn, and rice flours, and other gluten-free ingredients and developed a smorgasbord of dishes that my wife could eat,” he says.

Landolphi started to give cooking demonstrations for support groups, friends, and stores such as Wild Oats and Whole Foods.