For years, Esther Anzaroot and Lily Nissim made gluten-free food at their homes in Brooklyn and sold it to customers directly. However, their business quickly grew, and they knew they needed to find a better solution.
“We couldn’t keep up with the demand from our at home kitchen business,” said Anzaroot.
This summer, the two women began selling their line of products, which they call Gluten Free Easy, to 100 kosher stores around the nation. Locally, their frozen puff pastry sheets and squares, pizza rounds and pita bread are available in retailers like Cambridge Farms (Valley Village), Ariel Glatt Kosher Market (La Brea) and Western Kosher (Pico-Robertson and Fairfax). The products are soy free, dairy free, certified by Kof-K and available on their website, gf-easy.com.
Anzaroot and Nissim came together to start Gluten Free Easy after Anzaroot’s son married a woman with celiac disease and couldn’t eat gluten.
“I wanted her to be able to taste our cultural foods,” she said. “When we realized that everyone wants their ethnic cultural foods, we decided to offer GF doughs to give customers autonomy in the kitchen.”
Gluten Free Easy, which has a large following on Instagram, shares recipes for delicious foods like cream horns, mini apple pies, ricotta squash pizzas and summer tomato basil tart.
Posting these recipes and showing what can be done with gluten free foods is exciting for Nissim, who wants everybody to be able to eat tasty dishes.
“We love seeing kids enjoy their food and feeling like everyone else, even though they are on GF diets,” she said. “It’s so hard to be singled out when it comes to meals.”
Anzaroot and Nissim hope to be able to expand their business so that gluten-free consumers can partake in all different kinds of foods.
“[We want this] to be available to everyone that is on gluten free diets and to be able to buy it easily and enjoy it,” said Nissim. “Many people have guests who are gluten free, so it’s important to make this available widely to any home cook who wants to cook gluten free for both family and their guests.”
“It’s important to make this available widely to any home cook who wants to cook gluten free for both family and their guests.” – Lily Nissim
And now, here’s a Gluten Free Easy recipe that’s perfect for your upcoming holiday meal.
GF Eggplant and Beef Mini Flatbread Recipe
Ingredients:
For the flatbread:
-2 packages GF Easy Mini Pizza Dough Rounds
– Olive oil for brushing
For the toppings:
– 1 small eggplant, cubed very small
-1-2 tbsp olive oil
-1-2 tbsp neutral oil (canola, vegetable, etc)
– 1/2 pound ground beef
– 1 small onion, finely chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, minced
– 1 teaspoon ground allspice
– 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
– Salt and pepper to taste
– 1 cup tomato sauce (canned or fresh)
– Toasted pine nuts, for garnish (optional)
-chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C). Place the cubed eggplant on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until tender and slightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- In a skillet, heat the neutral oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and minced garlic, and sauté until they become translucent.
- Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook, breaking it apart with a spatula, until it’s browned and cooked through.
- Season the beef mixture with ground allspice, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine the spices evenly.
- Remove the pizza dough from the package and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Brush the pizza dough with a little olive oil.
- Spread the tomato sauce evenly over the dough.
- Combine the seasoned beef with the cubed roasted eggplant.
- Spoon the beef and eggplant mixture over the tomato sauce.
- Sprinkle the pine nuts evenly over the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until the crust is golden and the flatbread is cooked through.
- Remove the flatbread from the oven, let it cool for a minute or two, then garnish with the fresh parsley leaves if desired.
- Optionally serve your delicious Eggplant and Beef Flatbread with tahini sauce. Enjoy!
