Gluten free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free
    I have a few standard meals that I cook regularly, that I don't have a recipe for, that I find easy to make, and that just simply can't be beaten for a completely satisfying home-dining experience. My list includes Roast Chicken and Veges, Bolognaise, Teryaki Stir Fry, Mexican Mince, and this....Fish and Chips. So, it's time to write down some recipes and share the love with all of you.
     If it's not too big of a claim, I believe I may have mastered the art of home-oven-chip-making. The secrets include a decent amount of oil (of course!), leaving the skins on, and smashing them up half way through cooking so you get lots of surface area to form super crispy bits. The fish is a pretty standard crumbing procedure, but with gluten free crumbs.   You can blend up your own crumbs from bread, or I like the Orgran brand corn or rice crumbs- the crisp up really nicely!
     As usual, this ever-efficient mum cooks in bulk and freezes for later! I buy 1.5kg of fish fillets for this and it makes three meals for the four of us. That's two easy meals that can be pulled out of the freezer and thrown in the oven on a day I'm too busy to cook.
    Don't forget to serve it with some home made Tartare Sauce (find my recipe here).

Ingredients

• 1kg boneless firm fish fillets (I often use hoki/blue grenadier or barramundi)
• 1 cup gluten free flour such as rice flour, coconut flour, or corn starch (plus extra if this is not enough)
• 2-3 eggs
• milk (any will do, dairy or non)
• 1 cup gluten free bread crumbs or rice crumbs or corn crumbs (plus extra if this is not enough)
• 2 teaspoons each dried dill and parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 very large or two small potatoes per person
• oil: I prefer coconut oil or duck fat (yes, don't be afraid of saturated fat!!).  Otherwise, use your favourite frying oil.

Method

• Prepare the chips first and get them in the oven, then work on the fish.
• Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
• Pour oil into a shallow baking tray or cookie sheet with small edges. It needs to generously cover the whole sheet.
• Scrub potatoes and make sure they're clean. If you hate eating potato skin, peel it off, but I LOVE the extra crunch that comes from leaving them on.
• Cut the chips into long wedges.
• Carefully place wedges on tray, making sure they all lay flat and do not overlap. Grind some salt and pepper over them all.
• Place in oven for 30 minutes while preparing the fish.
• Cut each fish fillet into your desired sized pieces.
• Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
• Lay out three dinner plates. On the first, place your flour. On the second, crack and whisk your eggs together with a splash of milk (this just makes the eggs go further). On the third plate, place your bread or rice crumbs, generous amounts of freshly ground salt and pepper and a couple of teaspoons each of dill and parsley (or more of one if you don't have both).
• I like to wear food preparation gloves when doing the crumbing so the clean up of my fingers afterward is much easier!
• Dip each piece of fish into the flour, then the egg, then the crumbs. Make sure each coat completely covers the whole piece. You will probably need to top up the plates with more flour, egg and crumbs. I just start with less as I prefer to add more when needed than waste lots of left-overs.
• Lay the fish on the baking paper, making sure there is a small gap between each piece. Spray generously with an oil spray (I use coconut oil or olive oil spray),or drizzle with olive oil.
• After the minute of cooking the chips, remove them from the oven and and turn each wedge over with tongs or an egg-flip
• With a potato masher or fork, gently push down on the wedges, slightly cracking the edges and letting some of the soft inner potato come out. Drizzle a tiny bit more oil over the top of the wedges and grind salt and pepper over the top again.
• Place the fish pieces in the oven and return the chips to the oven for 20 minutes
• After 20 minutes, check your thickest piece of fish to make sure it's cooked through. If not, leave in for a couple more minutes. Remove from oven. If the chips have reached your preferred level of browning and crispiness, remove from oven. If not, leave in oven until done.
• Serve immediately with some yummy  home made Tartare Sauce and lemon wedges.
  
• Place any left over fish in a freezer-safe container with a tight lid and freeze until required. To re-heat, place frozen fish pieces in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celcius for 20-30 minutes, until heated through, or heat in a flat sandwich / focaccia press.
  

Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free
    Just for a change, I thought I'd post something that doesn't involve chocolate! I know many people like to eat fish at Easter, so here's a wonderful non-traditional way to cook up some fish. I found this recipe in an old Australian Masterchef magazine, contributed by Hayden Quinn. I've not made many changes to the original. I've increased his quantities, using 1kg of fish rather than his 600g, as I've found this makes enough fish cakes for two whole meals for our family of 4. I freeze half of it and it makes a wonderfully quick and easy meal for a night where I'm pushed for time. I re-heat them in my foccacia maker/ grill-press and they crisp up wonderfully! You could also re-heat them in the oven.
     There's a great dipping sauce as part of the recipe, too. I usually serve the fish cakes will a little salad/salsa on the side, consisting of diced tomato, spring onion, cucumber, red capsicum, avocado and maybe some fresh steamed corn. I dress the salsa with a simple mix of olive oil, lime juice and salt and pepper. If you don't have lime juice, balsamic vinegar works well too. Yum!

Ingredients

• 1kg boneless fish fillets (flathead, baramundi, hoki/blue grenadier)

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 cm piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped (or two teaspoons minced)

• 2 kaffir lime leaves, centre vein discarded (optional if you don't have them)
• 2 spring onions, white part only

• 1 tablespoon red curry paste (this quantity keeps the flavour fairly mild. Add more if you like spicy)

• 3 tablespoons fish sauce

• 2 small or 1 large egg (or egg replacer )

• 120g green beans, ends trimmed

• 2 tablespoons chopped coriander, and extra for garnish

Method

• In a large food processor, blend garlic, ginger, kaffir lime leaves and spring onions until finely chopped. Add fish and blend well.

• Add curry paste, fish sauce and eggs and blend well.

• Add beans and coriander and blend until just combined, so beans don't totally disintegrate.

• Take small handfuls of the mixture and form them into patties about 5cm in diametre. I say this recipe serves 8. It makes about 32 fish cakes, depending on the size you want to make them.

• If not cooking immediately, cover patties in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

• When ready to cook, heat a barbeque or heavy-based frying pan on medium-high heat. Heat a thin layer of oil (I use coconut oil), and cook fish cakes for about 2 minutes on each side- until golden and just cooked through. Serve with the dipping sauce, salsa, and garnish with fresh coriander.

Make the dipping sauce by combining the following in a small bowl:

•  1/4 cup fish sauce

• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon rapadura or coconut sugar or natvia

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 2 cm piece of ginger, finely grated

• 1 red bird's-eye chilli, thinly sliced (optional!)

• Juice of one lime

• Lebanese cucumber, de-seeded, finely diced

 Gluten free - grain free - dairy free - sugar free - nut free - egg free

This is a beautiful, thick, rich, dish, perfect for a cold evening indoors. You can really use what ever seafood you like in it. I honestly don't remember where I first found the recipe...I wrote it down from a book years ago, and have done lots of tweaking since, so I'm just going to call it mine! It takes about 20 minutes of preparation time, and then simmers for an hour, so you need to account for this amount of cooking time. It's beautiful served with some crusty bread and a glass of the red wine you've used to cook with! This recipe serves 4 for a main dish.

Ingredients

• 500-700 grams seafood, which could include a combination of any or all of these:
  -cleaned squid tubes, sliced into thin rings
  -firm white fish, cut into 3cm/ 1 inch cubes (make sure it's firm fish or it will fall apart with the slow cooking)
  -green prawns, shelled

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium sized onions, finely diced
• 4 – 8 cloves garlic (I like lots), crushed or finely diced
• 2 cups dry red wine, such as Merlot or Barbera
• 2 cups of canned tomatoes (with juice) or 1 bottle (about 700g) passata
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or oregano, plus extra for garnish
• 1/2 small cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves, or 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 small bay leaves
• Juice of one lemon
• Optional vegetables: broccoli, green beans, peas

Method

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan. Turn to low heat and saute the onions until getting soft (5-10 minutes).

• Turn stove to medium heat, add the garlic, and pan fry the seafood. If using prawns, fry for about 2 minutes on each side. If using squid or fish, fry for about 3 minutes each side. If using prawns, remove from pan after frying, cover and keep warm. Leave fish and squid in the pan.

• Add the wine, tomatoes, herbs, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, and a generous amount of freshly ground salt and pepper. Once boiling, reduce heat to as low as possible and simmer, uncovered, until the liquid has thickened. This can take 45mins to an hour. Watch it closely so you don't lose too much liquid.

• I like to add more veges to my dinners, so in the last 15 mins or so of cooking time, I steam some broccoli and /or green beans cut into SMALL pieces and stir them through at the end. You could also stir some frozen peas through the stew for the last 5 minutes.

• Return prawns to the dish, remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, and stir in the lemon juice.

• Garnish with extra herbs and serve immediately.