The waves crash up on Tullan Strand in Bundoran, Co Donegal, causing the small pebbles to jump on the sand as the foam creates a natural white carpet on the famous surf beach. Looking out at sea, an array of colours catch your eye – vibrant pink, neon green and royal blue wetsuits float upon the water’s surface, ready, waiting and then jumping when the moment is just right to catch that much-anticipated wave. Welcome to Finn’s world. It’s beautiful, natural, fun and healthy, just like Finn, and just like her new cookbook, aptly named Finn’s World.

With her beach-blonde hair and surfer physique, you would think Finn Ní Fhaoláin has spent her whole life on the Donegal shore, but it is a place she only recently started to call home. In fact, she has called lots of places in Ireland home. Laughing, she says: “My mom is Canadian, my dad is Irish, I was born in Dublin, moved to Donegal when I was one, then lived in Galway, Monaghan, then Galway again, then somewhere else I can’t remember, then Wicklow, Dublin, Galway for college, Cork for my master’s, Dublin again and then Bundoran. But this is where I am staying. I love it here, I’ve made great friends, my boyfriend lives here and I can surf whenever I like.”

Free Spirit

It’s this infectious fun and sense of free spirit that has made her first cookbook such a success. Released in April by Gill, it was the number one selling cookbook in the first month of release, and it is packed with recipes that anyone can put their hand to. Her whole ethos is creating easy, healthy, wholesome recipes that won’t break the bank, allowing you more time to enjoy the things you value in life.

Oh and by the way, everything is gluten-free. Now if you have just let out a small groan, we don’t blame you. The words gluten-free often go hand-in-hand with descriptions such as bland, boring and sometimes downright yucky. However, things really are changing on the gluten-free scene, and it isn’t just producers and supermarkets who are putting in the effort. Books such as Finn’s World as well as Gearoid Lynch’s My Gluten Free Kitchen are really proving that there are lots of tasty options, whether you are coeliac or not.

“This was the whole premise around creating the book,” says Finn. “It was really important to me to create recipes that were gluten-free, but that those who don’t have an issue with gluten could enjoy as well. One of the hardest things about being coeliac is when you are eating out or having friends over. You either have to eat something different, or if they do eat one of your meals, they say: ‘Oh that’s alright for gluten-free.’ I don’t want to be eating something really bland when everybody else is tucking into something really lovely, so it’s about preparing meals that everyone can enjoy.”

Coeliac Realisation

When developing the cookbook, Finn didn’t have to start from scratch, she had a whole bank of recipes already.

“When I was diagnosed, I got a little copybook and on the front I wrote: ‘Oh No, I am a Coeliac’. Actually, that wasn’t what it said, the word ‘no’ was a much more graphic curse word that’s not suitable for a national newspaper, but I’m sure readers can use their imagination and I guess it summed up how I felt at the time.

“I was diagnosed when I was in college and I guess it was a difficult time to find out. If you are diagnosed when you are a child you usually have an adult to take control. If you are an adult, you are a bit more educated and responsible with regard to adapting to this change in lifestyle, and have more disposable income. At the time, I was a student living on the carb-heavy student diet of bread and pasta, so I had to educate myself a lot.

“There were some fairly grim incidences of rice cake sandwiches – terrible, I will never eat them again. In fact, the ladies in the college canteen were great. They brought me around saying, you can have this gravy because its gluten-free, but not this breaded chicken. One day, when they found me picking the breaded coating off the chicken, they ran over saying: ‘No, no, that is going to make you feel really ill.’”

Gluten-Free Goodness

Given that Finn had a huge interest in food, even at that young age, it shows how challenging getting a handle on the gluten-free lifestyle can be.

“I was always really interested in health and nutrition, I started surfing in my early teens, convinced the guys in the Happy Pear to give me a job – long before the Happy Pear was the big brand it is today. I used to even put together a meal plan and make meals for a gym instructor in exchange for personal training classes.

“So when it came to putting my recipes together, I decided first to start a blog. Again, I had a friend, Cian, who was a computer guru and he was training for the Galway Bay swim. He was saying he didn’t know what to eat when doing this training, so I designed him a food plan for him and he designed a website for me, that’s how my blog started.”

This wasn’t just any old food blog though, it really is a snapshot into Finn’s world. As well as delicious and easy-to-make recipes, there is a whole section dedicated to fitness, with her love of all things surf making us want to pull on a wetsuit, and a section about her ocean adventures. Yes, before Finn did a culinary course and embarked on this food journey, she did a degree and masters in Marine Science and has had plenty of adventures on research ships. On top of that, she has now also started up her own catering company and has a second book set in her sights.

Inspiration

“I really am so interested in so many things and there was a time when I was afraid I was spreading myself too thin, being a jack of all trades. And then one day, when I was doing an internship, sorting through a tray of insects and feeling a little bored, I started listening to some Ted Talks and heard this woman Kimmy Ring. This lady is such an inspiration. She is a free diver and swam with a great white shark, she is also a trained chef, a visual artist and painter, and has a TV show with National Geographic, and you know what, she sounds really happy.

“I love cooking, I enjoy putting together cook books, I start my day with a surf and I will always be interested in marine science and want to keep my research current. Who says you only have to do one thing in life?” CL

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Cardboard – Thick Crust Pizza

Makes four mini (15cm) pizzas

1 cup (120g) gluten-free self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling – Doves Farm Organic is tip top: great ingredients and no chemicals

Pinch of salt

1 cup (250g) Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp olive oil

Big handful (30g grated or ½ ball sliced) mozzarella for each mini pizza

1 cup (225g) tomato frito – a wonderful Spanish invention where they have already added the garlic and seasoning to the tomato, if your local supermarket doesn’t have it, passata with some oregano, garlic powder and salt will do

2 chestnut mushrooms

2 pineapple rings in juice – not syrup, no need for that nasty sugar

2 slices Serrano or Parma ham

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2 Line two baking trays with baking parchment – this stops the pizzas from sticking and makes them easier to move.

3 Chuck the flour and salt in a big bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the yoghurt and olive oil. Mix the lot together with a wooden spoon to make a sticky dough.

4 Now the fancy looking bit. Pour about one cup of flour on a big chopping board and smooth it out a bit. For non-gluey hands, quickly dust your hands with flour. I love doing this as it reminds me of ‘chalking up’ for weight lifting. Time to show this dough who’s boss. Working with ¼ of your dough at a time, grab a chunk and drop it on the floured board. Roll it around until you have a floury ball – if the dough feels too wet just add more flour. Warning: this gluten-free version will never be as gluey as regular pizza dough and will feel softer than you’d expect, so none of that fancy swinging it around the place.

5 Next, pop a ball of dough onto one side of your papered-up baking tray (you should fit two small pizzas on an average tray). Cover your rolling pin in flour to stop the dough sticking. Roll the pizza base out by moving the dough a quarter turn clockwise after each roll. This stops the dough from breaking and keeps the nice round shape. Using your hands, flatten the dough in the centre and squish the edges to create a thick-crust pizza.

6 Repeat until you have two mini pizzas for each tray. Pop the trays in the oven for 10 minutes to partially cook the dough.

7 For the toppings, thinly slice the mushrooms and chop the pineapple into chunks. I love Serrano ham for a little twist on the classic Hawaiian – it adds such a great flavour and you can cut thin strips using a scissors.

8 Take the pizza bases out of the oven. Now it’s time to customise. Do you like loads of sauce? Not too much cheese? I like a good dollop of sauce, but plenty of space for plain crust that I can use for dippies later.

9 Spoon on your sauce, spread it out then grab a good handful of cheese and sprinkle over each pizza. Pop the bases back in the oven for five to 10 minutes to let the cheese melt. After this, take them out, arrange your mushrooms, pineapple and ham and pop back in for another 10-15 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.