Wednesday 15 February 2017

Gluten Free Deep Fried Fish

There are so many people diagnosed with celiac disease that feeding them has become a profitable market and it's much easier now to get half-decent tasting food. I don't feel deprived, although, occasionally I miss a really good craft beer and pub style chicken wings or fish and chips. The fish and chips craving seems to come on those miserable, cold winter days when your body says, "feed me carbs! Now!"
My Christmas present to myself was a little T-Fal deep fryer and its purpose was to fulfill the carb craving by deep frying little spring rolls made of rice paper, shredded meat, carrots and cabbage. I figured the healthy inside made up for the fried outside. It's amazing what you can talk yourself into believing.
In a fit of trying to make myself eat more healthy food, I bought a package of frozen cod fillets. So, naturally, I looked for the most fattening way I could cook them. When I stumbled across this recipe on reclaimyourhealth.com.au, I thought I'd try it but didn't hold out much hope that it would taste like fish and chip shop fish. BUT IT DOES!!! It's probably even better than some shops sell and the unfortunate part is that, now that I've tried it, I'll want it often. So much for dreams of boiled cod and veggies.
This will make enough batter for 6 large fish fillets. I quartered the recipe to cook one and still had enough left over that I could have cooked 3 more.

Best Gluten Free Fish Batter
2 cups rice flour (I used a blend without Xanthan gum from Bulk Barn)
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (optional)
350 ml sparkling water or soda water
1 egg beaten (quartering this was impossible, so I used a whole egg and a little less water
1/2 cup rice flour for coating
Oil for deep fryer - coconut oil would be a healthier choice

Mix together the rice flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl and the water and beaten egg in another. Pour the water mixture into the flour  and mix until smooth. It shouldn't be a thick mixture, more like a pancake mixture.  Dredge the fish in the flour, shake off excess and dip in the batter until coated, shaking off excess. Deep fry in preheated oil 4 - 6 minutes until crispy.
Make sure your oil is good and hot before putting your fish in and this will prevent too much oil soaking in. Rest the fish on a paper towel when removed to blot up excess oil.

Maybe I'll lose weight when it's warm again.



Sunday 12 February 2017

I'm back!

Have you ever noticed that as you get older, time seems to compress? I can't believe that it's been two years since I posted.
Started doing agility trials with my dogs, practice a lot, sold my store this fall, bought the SC2 kiln I've always wanted, am making a lot of mistakes teaching myself enamelling and that's basically my life the past few years. Now that I've got my head around the fact that I'm free, it's time to start creating. Hopefully.
I've always wanted to make the little clothes out of metal, maybe because growing up I wanted to be a fashion designer. Didn't happen but I made really good cutouts for myself as a kid, haha. So...looking through my idea book, I saw a sketch of a dress. It's bloody cold, so I decided to make shorts and a top on a hanger. Wishful thinking. Can't visualize well from a sketch so I decided to do a prototype. I used 26 gauge brass, thin enough to cut with scissors. Sketched the shorts and top at the bottom of the piece of metal, folded it and cut around the first pattern. Remember, this was a prototype so I could have done it much neater. Once it was cut out, it needed some serious filing, since the metal was so sharp. Then I took some 18 gauge hardware store copper and designed the hangar, just by bending and making a loop. Next time, I'll put a small straight stretch under the loop and a couple of rings of binding wire around it to look more like a hangar. That's why I need a physical prototype.
Once I got all of that done, I realized that done properly, all of this could look really good and definitely wearable without enamel and without a kiln. And without soldering, which is how I was going to join the back and front.
Cut out the back and front of your design,  fold in half. It doesn't matter what gauge metal you use, but the heavier the gauge, the more careful you will have to be folding.
Bend your wire for the hangar.
Place the hangar to hang the outfit. I used the blade of a pocket knife to open the design enough to slide it in. Then use E6000 or Krazy glue to glue the front to the back, under the hangar. Put something heavy over it until glue dries.
Paint with nail polish or permanent markers. It wouldn't hurt to put a coat of clear resin over it to keep your colours safe.
Hang!
If you want one for winter, how about a pair of red long-john combinations?
How easy is that?