Kingfish Skewers with Zucchini Salad

I have to confess that I am quite anxious when it come to preparing fish. I have spent too many years mercilessly overcooking unidentifiable white fish fillets, in little foil parcels, in the oven. As we are so spoilt living in South East Queensland with the quality, variety and freshness of the local seafood, I have decided that I need to apply myself to mastering the art of cooking fish.

This Kingfish was caught off Fraser Island late last night, packaged and sold to me at the Carrara Farmer's Market this morning, and was to be gracing our dinner plates tonight. I got to the markets a little late today (11am) and was offered this beautiful piece of Kingfish at 25% off the marked price by the fishmonger from 'Seafood Direct'. Instead of $40 a kilo, I paid $30 for a 1 kg fillet, of which I used only half for this recipe. Sometime the early bird does not get the worm when it comes to great market bargains!

I wanted to prepare something really special, but simple to allow the fish to be the star of the dish.  I vaguely remembered seeing Kingfish being cooked on Masterchef so I entered 'Masterchef Kingfish' into Google and it came up with this lovely recipe. As luck would have it, I had exactly all the ingredients needed on hand - most of them purchased fresh that morning. 

Click here to view the recipe on the Masterchef website.

It was so simple to make, looked really good and tasted truly sublime. I can honestly say I was the best piece of fish I have EVER cooked. I followed the recipe almost to the letter of the law.  I was also keen to try the fresh green king prawns I had bought, so I marinated a couple in the same lime marinade and char-grilled them for 1-2 minutes per side. The zucchini salad was crisp and refreshing and the perfect accompaniment to the softness of the fish which just melted in my mouth. 

I never try and force the girls to try anything they don't want too. I prefer to let them say 'no thanks' to the idea, then watch them salivate whilst I cook, serve and eat it in front of them. The girls turned their noses up at the offer of fish for dinner so I had fed them earlier with some left over beef curry. After tasting from our plates, the girls ended up with a small portion each, and I made up a little entree-sized plate of prawns for Libby to enjoy. 

This is a top pick for a dinner party as it requires very little preparation, cooks very quickly (less than 2 mins) and looks impressive when plated up. At approximately $10 per serve, it is great value too! 

On Mothers Day I was kicked out of the Kitchen!

On Mother's Day I was spoilt rotten and evicted from my own kitchen - not that I minded one single bit! I woke up to breakfast in bed, delivered to me by my darling husband and the girls. Poached eggs and bacon on gluten free toast and a cup of tea, just the way I like it. Yum!

Chris doesn’t cook very often as he travels so much for work but what he does cook he does very well. Last year after being inspired by an episode of Master Chef (he was totally addicted!!!) he asked me to teach him how to poach an egg. After a few attempts, he absolutely nailed it and now is our household’s resident egg poacher. He is the poaching master and I am quite happy to hand over the kitchen to him for this purpose.

Hmmm... All I need now is to teach one of the girls how to make Hollandaise sauce to drizzle on top...

The day before hubby had given me an early Mother’s Day present, in the form of a Dymock’s gift voucher and the girls and I had a lovely time working out how to spend it that afternoon.

Baked Stuffed Capsicums with Caramelised Baby Carrots

For readers who might think from my posts to date that I bake and eat nothing but cakes and cookies, here is a super tasty, nutritious meal that I prepared on Saturday night.

Hubby was tinkering with the cars and doing man stuff in the garage; the kids were alternating between sleeping and studying so I had a bit of time to play in the kitchen. The plan was to serve a beautiful steak with a more fussy side, since I had the time. Sadly the steaks I had taken out of the freezer were just not right. They were the last lot of some bulk steak I had bought cheap at the supermarket. When defrosted they smelt real bad – so straight in the bin they went. Cheap becomes expensive if it goes straight to the bin. I guess it was to be Vegetarian Night instead!

I had bought these red capsicums fresh from the Farmer's Market held on Friday morning in the car park of Carrara Markets. The Friday market is great because I can get the shopping done early and have the weekend free to spend with the family. I still frequent the Sunday markets at the Racecourse in Bundall every fortnight, as there are more stalls and sometimes greater variety than Carrara.

When I saw these perfectly round and even sized capsicums, they practically screamed ‘make stuffed capsicums’ to me. I love wondering around the markets and being inspired to cook by what is in season, grown locally and as fresh as it gets. Stuffed capsicum is one of those great dishes that works well to disguise lots and lots of veggies for the kids. I am lucky in that my children love their veggies but I still try and add as many varieties into as many dishes as I can.

Friday Night's Quick Cupcakes

Similar to the need to have “Autopilot” quick meals on hand, I find it invaluable to keep one or two Gluten Free cake mixes in the cupboard for fast and stress free sweet fixes. Two of my favourite are Basco’s ‘Golden Butter Cake’ and Well and Good’s ‘Chocolate Mud Cake Mix’.

Last Friday night Libby had a friend stay over. The first thing I did when I walked in the door was switch on the oven to preheat and then grab my mixer out of the pantry. Vanilla cupcakes were my choice for quick and easy treats. I like  Basco's ‘Golden Butter Cake’ because it has a nice flavour, performs consistently well and the end product looks and tastes like a real cupcake. I have made trays of these to take to school and no one ever picked they were gluten free. I even had a parent ask me for the recipe!

The girls were upstairs playing in Libby’s room. Before the girls even had a chance to come down and complain about being hungry, I had these little babies mixed, baked and out of the oven cooling. Definitely in the running for Supermum of the year now....

Fast Friday Nights

Friday night – at last the end of the week. The day when the last thing you feel like doing is standing in the kitchen for hours to create something elaborate. You’re tired from picking up the kids late from {insert your child’s choice of soccer, dance, karate, swimming, or pole dancing lessons here...}.

It is important to have some great quick and easy dishes in your regular repertoire that you can put together as if on autopilot. One of my autopilot dishes is Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I could probably cook it blindfolded with one hand behind my back standing on one leg - though chopping the ingredients up in this yoga position would be a blood sport.

Think about those dishes that you have probably cooked for years. Things you can easily just throw together in 20 minutes or less. Make a list. Think about how you could convert a few of them into gluten free versions. Is it just matter of using GF stock cubes? Changing the pasta from wheat to rice and/or corn? Thickening the sauces with GF cornflour instead of standard plain flour?  Once you have started to transform your pantry items on hand from “gluten full” to “gluten free”, you may be surprised at just how easy re-jigging your mother’s favourite beef casserole recipe may be.

A Tale of Two Meat Counters - Buyers Beware

In the last week I have had two shopping experiences I wanted to share...

The first - on Wednesday I needed some prosciutto to dress up a much loved pasta dish that hubby had requested specially - a Creamy Chicken Pasta with Mushrooms and Bacon. I stopped at the Super IGA in Ashmore briefly before going to pick up Cate from swim training.

I usually love shopping here as they have a very good selection of pre-packaged gluten free goods that are always cheaper than Woolworth's and health food supermarkets such as Mrs Flannery's. In December they had the most awesome little GF Christmas Cakes in the bakery section for around $6. Libby loved them. After Christmas they were reduced to $2 so I bought about about 8 and froze them to use later, cut up in school lunches. Just couldn't go past them at that price...Anyway back to the cold meat...

There was no prepackaged prosciutto left so I headed to the deli to buy the 6 slices I needed. I don't know about you but I am normally a bit distracted after placing my order. I am usually daydreaming about the next item I want to buy and what I'm going to create with it; or checking out the specials, rather than watching what the deli staff are doing in the back.

Cranberry Hazelnut and Date Cookies

For my friends who have requested it, here my recipe for these fabulous cookies. Create this unashamedly addictive mixture of sweetened cranberries, dates, hazelnuts and coconut for yourself – I dare you to see if you can stop at one. They’re crispy on the outside but soft and chewy inside.

 Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 cup dried sweetened cranberries, roughly chopped

1 cup dried dates, roughly chopped

¼ cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

2 cups skim milk powder

2 cups of desiccated coconut

Method

 

Beat the sugar, eggs and oil together with an electric beater until well mixed and creamy.  Mix in the nuts, fruit and powdered milk until well combined.

Add the coconut. The mixture will be quite stiff and hold together.

Spoon into balls,  place on baking tray covered with baking paper and flatten slightly with the back of your spoon. Bake in a preheated fan-forced oven at 160C for 12 mins. Cookies should appear browned but still soft in the centre. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 mins before moving to a cooling rack.

This recipe makes about 32 cookies depending on the size you make them. They will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

To get the same look for your cookies as my photos  - take half the dough and roll into a sausage shape with a diameter of about 4-5 cm. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 20 mins approx. Repeat the same with remaining mixture. Remove from freezer and slice into pieces 1 cm thick. Top with a cranberry or hazelnut and bake as per original instructions. Either way they taste just as good!

Lunch at Shi-Loh Jamaican Cafe Restaurant

My friend Maria and I decided to catch up for lunch last Thursday and I was keen to try this place. Having driven past the cafe many times I was intrigued by what Jamaican food might offer. With neither of us having been lucky enough to visit Jamaica in person, we figured the cafe was our next closest thing.

The place wasn’t busy as we were there mid week for lunch. The décor was colourful and cheerful and we were made to feel immediately welcome by our hosts. The feeling was fun and the reggae background music made me feel instantly relaxed and in a holiday mood.

The menu was simple but inviting and some great value lunch specials ranging in price from $10 - $14 were on offer.

To my great relief the mention of my gluten intolerance was meet by enthusiasm and understanding by the staff. Everything is made fresh and from scratch. The food is healthy, delicious and I could have almost my free choice of the menu except for a few dishes.

Torta di Polenta con Limone (Lemon Polenta Cake) served with Lemon Mascarpone

Not long after going gluten free, in a fit of super enthusiasm after reading one too many cookbooks, I rushed out and stocked up my pantry with items I had never heard of before. The cupboard was overflowing with organic quinoa grains and quinoa flakes, chia seeds, tapioca and polenta. Some items I did start to experiment with, but I confess than the polenta was left well alone in the cupboard. That is, until I decided to have a go at this delicious sounding traditional Northern Italian cake.

Easy Gluten Free Banana Cake

This banana cake always hits the sweet spot with my kids and their friends. It is so easy to make... I believe that just because you have to make things from scratch, rather than buying from a shop, doesn't mean cooking has to be hard. I have made this recipe whilst half asleep and completely stuffed up the order in which I added the ingredients. To my delight it still turned out great and I couldn't tell the difference. Big thumbs up for anything that indestructible. The base is oil, rather than butter, so you end up with a lovely moist cake that tastes even better the next day.  This also makes it dairy free. You can substitute the soy flour for a flour of a similar consistency if soy intolerance is an issue for you.


Easy Gluten Free Banana Cake

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup soy flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I like using either Canola or Rice Bran Oil)
1 cup raw sugar
1 teaspoon real vanilla essence (not the fake stuff!)
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3 small (60g) or 2 large (80g) eggs

1. Preheat the oven - fan forced 160C or normal 180C
2. Grease and line a rectangular loaf tin with non stick baking paper
3. Sift the two flours and baking powder together
4. Beat the sugar and oil together with your electric mixer until really well mixed (3 mins.)
5. Add vanilla essence and mashed bananas. Beat on medium high until creamy
6. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well until combined.
7. Slow mixer and add the flour gradually until all combined.
8. Pour into tin and bake in the oven for 50-60 mins.

This recipe makes great muffins - just fill your muffin cases 2/3 full and cook for approx. 15 - 20 mins. Test with a skewer after 15 mins. The muffins are done when the skewer comes out clean.

Welcome to my blog!

For years I couldn’t work out what was making me feel unwell. Every since I was a small child I have suffered from severe stomach pain, fatigue, depression and intestinal problems. Countless doctors had been unable to shed any light on the root cause of my strange and varied list of ailments. Many times over the years I was told I had ‘lowered immunity’ and was just plain ‘run down’.

It was only when searching for answers to my daughter's learning difficulties that I came upon the answer. My youngest daughter was really struggling at school. My husband Chris and I had relentless pursued many paths of investigation to help her including all the usual hearing, sight and mental processing tests. The professional verdict of her child psychologist was ADHD of the inattentive kind. At no stage did it even occur to me, nor her teachers or doctors, that food intolerances might be at play.