The Mailbox: Concerns about zip-bag omelet

Last week's Mailbox featured a popular recipe for zip-bag omelets, in which eggs and other ingredients are placed in a plastic zip-bag and boiled to cook. Several makers of plastic sealable bags say their bags are not intended to be boiled. This method of cooking is not recommended until further research is done on cooking with plastics.

• 

Italian bread crust with potatoes

I've recently returned from an Italian vacation and have been looking for a recipe for a simple snack that I saw in almost every bakery. It was a thin bread crust with very thinly sliced potatoes over it. It was delicious hot or at room temperature. It was perfect to pack in a bag lunch.

I've checked the Internet and looked in some cookbooks but can't find a formal recipe. I'd love to have one, plus information about its origins.

I'd also love to have a recipe for those expensive but delectable Italian Amaretto cookies that are sold in the tin boxes by Lazzaroni. They are light and crunchy, and I think they are made with bitter almonds or apricot pits. I have never found an authentic-sounding recipe. Thank you.

-- Sue Fitz, Davis

• 

Good Earth's Planet Burger

I really miss the Planet Burger served at the long-gone Good Earth in Sacramento. It had adzuki beans, ground nuts and cheese, and was delicious. Any chance someone has this recipe? Thanks so much.

-- Loni Reynolds, Spokane, Wash.

• 

Whole fried clams

Does anyone happen to know of a restaurant in the Sacramento area that serves whole fried clams, not clam strips? Thank you.

-- Vito Kapeckas, Roseville

---

Rice flour carrot cake (wheat-free)

Prep time: 50 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes Serves 12

Venna Ramicone of Tahoe City recently discovered that she was wheat-intolerant. She was hoping for bread and dessert recipes that don't call for wheat flour. This week's Mailbox features cake, bread and cookie recipes that are wheat-free.

This carrot cake recipe comes from Fran Baxter-Guigli of Carmichael, who suggests going to Whole Foods Markets or Raley's and Bel Air Markets to find extensive sections of wheat-free products.

Be sure to check next week's Mailbox for more wheat-free recipes.

Note: The prep time does not include the cool times for the baked cake.

Ingredients

Cake

1 3/4 cups brown rice flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 cups packed grated carrots

8 ounces crushed unsweetened pineapple, packed in juice, undrained

1 cup raisins

 1/2 cup shredded coconut

3 eggs

 3/4 cup sugar

 1/2 cup canola oil

 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream cheese frosting

 1/2 cup butter

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Sifted powdered sugar, to taste (up to 1 box)

 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Instructions

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Sift flour, soda, salt and cinnamon together and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the carrots, pineapple, raisins and coconut and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until very light. Slowly add the sugar while beating; beat until the mixture is very light and frothy. Add the oil in a thin stream while beating.

Pour the egg mixture into the carrot bowl. Stir gently to combine. Sift half of the flour mixture over the bowl and gently fold in. Repeat with remaining flour. Fold in the walnuts.

Pour into greased 7 1/2-inch-by- 11 3/4-inch baking pan or two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes for oblong baking pan or 35 to 40 minutes for the round cake pans. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks and cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

For frosting: Combine butter and cream cheese and beat just until smooth. Add vanilla, mix well. Add sifted powdered sugar to taste and spreading consistency. Add lemon peel. Mix well.

Frost cooled cake.

Per serving using  3/4 box of powdered sugar for frosting: 624 cal.; 7 g pro.; 77 g carb.; 32 g fat (14 sat., 12 monounsat., 6 polyunsat.); 105 mg chol.; 430 mg sod.; 3 g fiber; 53 g sugar; 47 percent calories from fat.

---

Almond and rice flour bread with poppy seeds (wheat-free)

Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 55 minutes Makes 1 loaf (18 slices)

Here is an easy, wheat-free bread recipe for Venna Ramicone.

Cheryl MacVean of Sacramento shares the recipe.

Note: The prep time does not include the cool time after the bread is baked.

Ingredients

 1/2 cup whole almonds with skins

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

 1/4 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons poppy seeds, divided use

 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

 1/2 cup water

1 large whole egg

1 large egg white

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Place almonds and  1/2 cup of the brown rice flour in the bowl of a food processor and grind until a fine meal is formed. (The flour will prevent the nuts from turning oily.) Add the remaining rice flour, the baking powder, salt and 2 teaspoons of the poppy seeds. Process briefly.

Combine yogurt, water, whole egg, egg white and oil in a 2-cup measuring cup. With processor motor running, pour liquid ingredients through feed tube over flour mixture, processing just long enough to mix.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining poppy seeds and bake for 55 minutes. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

Bread slices best after several hours or the next day.

Per slice: 97 cal.; 3 g pro.; 12 g carb.; 5 g fat (1 sat., 2 monounsat., 2 polyunsat.); 12 mg chol.; 153 mg sod.; 1 g fiber; 1 g sugar; 41 percent calories from fat.

---

Unbelievable peanut butter cookies (wheat-free)

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 16 minutes Makes 3 dozen

Former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin shares this cookie recipe, which she says is easy to make and delicious.

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Granulated sugar, as needed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla to thoroughly blend. Drop by teaspoon 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar.

Bake 14 to 16 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool on a rack.

Per cookie: 67 cal.; 2 g pro.; 7 g carb.; 4 g fat (1 sat., 2 monounsat., 1 polyunsat.); 6 mg chol.; 35 mg sod.; 0 fiber; 6 g sugar; 48 percent calories from fat.