Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 04 September 2022

• Quick and Easy
• Sides
• Gluten Free

We’ve experimented with battered chips before, not knowing that they are actually a ‘Thing’ in the West Midlands. So instead of our potterings, here’s a more traditional (But Gluten free) version.

Ingredients:-

2 Large Potatoes
1 Egg, beaten
5 tbsp sparkling water
6-7 tbsp Cornflour
A pinch of Baking Powder
1 Tsp of Turmeric

Method:-

(1) Skin the spuds and cut them into think chips.
(2) Parboil in Salted water.
(3) Drain and allow to cool.
(4) Fry for a short time at 160c, but not long enough to brown.
(5) Drain over kitchen paper.
(6) Mix the batter.
(7) Dunk in batches and fry until the batter colours and is crispy.

We served ours as part of an all day breakfast. But they will work as a side for any dish, apart from Ice-cream. That might not be a great combination….

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 29 August 2022

• Takes a bit of time
• Gluten Free
• Duck Legs

The other afternoon after I got back from a short shift we had the usual “What do you fancy for dinner” conversation. But neither of us had a plan. On occasions like this I usually go to the supermarket, find something appealing and we build a recipe around it. But these Duck Legs were clearly mispriced and deserved something a bit special. Even the staff thought the price at £1.75 was wrong, but that’s what the system said, far be it from me to disagree. We had the remains of a bottle of Red Wine from a few months ago when we had a guest. So a bit of Googling and recipe alteration resulted in this!

Ingredients:-

2 Duck Legs
2 Tbsp plain flour (gluten free for us)
1 Tbsp sunflower oil
2 Small Carrots , chopped
1 Onion , chopped
2 Garlic cloves , roughly chopped
½ a Bottle cheap Red Wine
4 Sprigs of Thyme & 2 Bay Leaves
140g Smoked Bacon lardons
120g baby button mushroom
Salt & Pepper to season

Method:-

(1) Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Tip the duck into a large bowl and season. Scatter over the flour and toss until coated. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish with a lid and  slowly brown the Duck on all sides. Remove the duck to a plate, then add the carrots, onion and garlic to the dish and cook for 5 mins until just starting to colour.
(2) Nestle the duck amongst the veg and pour over the wine. Add the herbs, season, then bring everything to the boil.
(3) To serve, heat a pan and sizzle the Lardons for 5 mins. Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms and cook for 3-4 mins. Return the duck and sauce to the dish and simmer for 10 mins until the sauce has reduced a little. Serve each person a duck leg with some sauce spooned over.

We served this with Broccoli on a bed of mashed Potatoes. It really didn’t need anything else and was really tender.

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 28 August 2022

• Sides
• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Experiments
• Gluten Free

We’re always experimenting, that just how we are! We’ve found two issues with the various GF Batters. If you use Egg as a binder, it sticks, but it’s very heavy. If you use just Cornflour etc. there’s no protein to ‘Fix’ the batter as it hits the hot Oil. As a result you end up with lots of particulates in the Oil. These burn the next time you fry and ruin the Oil.

I think we’re found a fix!

These measures made enough better for 2 Cod Loin fillets and 6 Garlic button Mushrooms. But as long as you scale 1 / 5 - Gram Flour / Cornflour it should work.

Ingredients:-

1 Tbsp of Gram Flour
5 Tbsps of Cornflour
Salt & fresh ground Black Pepper to season
2 Tsps of Baking Powder
2 Tsps of Turmeric
Soda Water

Additional Cornflour to dredge

Method:-

(1) Add the dredging Cornflour to a bowl.
(2) Set your fryer to 160c and allow to heat up.
(3) Mix the main batter ingredients dry.
(4) Add enough Soda Water to make a batter which will stick.
(5) Dredge to items you intend to Batter in the Cornflour.
(6) Fry until floating and golden brown in batches.
(7) remove each batch to drain.
(8) Re-dunk to re-heat just before serving.

The excess batter formed Scraps and floated making preserving your Oil much easier. Although this seems a low frying temperature the protein in the Gram Flour will burn at 180c and the batter will be dark and slightly bitter. But both the Fish & the Mushrooms held their moisure and the Garlic Butter stayed in the batter. Also the few Battered Mushrooms left this morning would easily have refreshed with another brief frying - Bonus!

 

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 25 August 2022

• Sausage
• Pork Mince
• Experiments
• Gluten Free

OK making your own Sausages might not be everybody’s cup of tea. But we enjoy it and it’s something which requires two sets of hands and therefore results in a good deal of laughter in the kitchen. This can’t be a bad thing?

Ingredients for the Sausages:-

1.4kg of Minced Pork
Salt to season
2 Tubes of Tomato Puree
A good handful of Dried Basil
Water

Method:-

(1) Mix everything in a big bowl.
(2) Fit the extruder attachment the your mincer.
(3) Extruder into casings and twist into Sausages.
(4) Spend another hour cleaning the kitchen, as you’ll have mince all over the place!

Joking aside. This mince was 20% Fat and because we don’t add any ‘Packers’ to our mix the Sausages had quite a dry / grainy texture. The taste was great, but we used the wrong mince.

So while the mincer is within easy reach and has not been lost in the back of the cupboard, I’ve bought a lump of Shoulder which is a much better / fattier cut for Sausages. This afternoon we’re having a go at Hmong Sausage which are flavoured with Ginger, fresh Coriander, Garlic, Lime etc….

The recipe for our Gluten Free Yorkshire Pudding Batter is here