Gluten/Wheat Free Cajun Fried Fish and Hush Puppies

  First of all, I got a fryer today! Wahoo, I am so thrilled! I know it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but now we can stop buying pre made sweet potato fries and really expensive breaded fish that even after proper baking never really have that crispy coating. I hate hate hate frying on my stove top as it is such a mess, plus never comes out right (my techinique is terrible, I am way too impatient). Now the Orange, Sweet and Sour, and General Tso's 'chicken' recipes will be so much better!
 And did I mention it was only $40!!! What the heck, all this time I thought fryers were at least $100.

  Anyway, so this is more of a review of Zatarain's Crispy Southern Fish Fri and Zatarain's Seasoned Fish Fri, the latter of which was used to make hush puppies, since we followed the recipes on the box, making substitutions for eggs and milk.

  Here's my review: IT WAS AWESOME! We used Tilapia fillets and cut them into inch wide 'fingers', then breaded them with the Crispy Southern breading and fried them. They were great, and I'm sure fried on the stove top they would have been just as good. I'd love to try it with catfish but we bought a huge bag of tilapia fillets a while ago and I want to use them up first.

 We also followed the hush puppy recipe on the side of the Seasoned Fri breading mix, which called for corn meal, milk (we used almond), 1 egg (we used EnerG egg replacer), 2 Tbs shortening (we used soy and dairy free olive oil margarine) and finely chopped shallots. They were a bit on the spicy side but not so much that anyone here complained.

 All in all, I probably would save this type of meal for once in a blue moon because it just seems wrong to each two fried things on one plate, but they were really really good and I had no idea they were wheat and rice free and could be made so well with substitutions.

Citrus Salmon en Papillote and Dairy Free Stuffed Mushrooms

  Well tonight I decided to try my hand at some more fancy fare. Citrus salmon, stuffed mushrooms, and roasted green beans. It all came out very tasty, but I don't think the stuffed mushrooms were quite worth the trouble. Maybe for a holiday, but not regular weeknight food, for sure.

  Before attempting, you should know the salmon is made en papillote (in parchment). It's a super simple way to make fish that doesn't dry it out, but there's a little bit of technique to folding the paper. I suggest this video to learn how to do it.

Fold and fold and fold some more!

  Otherwise, here are the recipes!

Citrus Salmon en Papillote

4 4oz wild salmon fillets with skin

3 Tbl olive oil

1 orange, lime, and lemon

2 tsp dill weed

S&P to taste

4 12 inch squares of parchment paper

Pre heat oven to 450 degrees. Brush skin side of fillet with olive oil and place slightly off center on parchment paper. Brush the top of the fish with olive oil. If desired, lightly salt and pepper salmon and then sprinkle with dill weed. Place one slice of each citrus across the top of the fish and sprinkle lightly again with dill. Fold the paper into packets. Repeat with other 3 fillets, then arrange packets on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until fish flakes apart.

Place the packets on each plate and cut and X in the top of the paper being mindful of the steam and not to cut the food.

Serves 4

Roasted Garlic Greenbeans

We make these as a side dish at least 3 times a week, so easy and great for you!

1lb fresh green beans, trimmed

2 Tbs olive oil

1 Tbs garlic powder

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread green beans onto baking sheet and sprinkle salt and garlic powder over green beans, then drizzle on olive oil. Using a spatula, stir the green beans until all are evenly coated with oil, salt and garlic. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring once halfway through for even browning.

Serves 4

Stuffed Mushrooms

I found this on Searchfordelicious.com and adapted it to replace the egg and pork, and made my own 'crumbs'

24 oz white button mushrooms

1/3 lb sweet italian chicken sausage

1/2 medium onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup marsala wine

1 whole package Tofutti "Cream Cheese"

1 1/2 tsp EnerG Egg Replacer, plus 2 Tbs water, mixed well

S&P to taste

Gluten free bread crumbs (I used crushed rice chex with salt... it's ok in a pinch but probably not as good as real GF bread crumbs)

Clean mushrooms and dry. Pop stems out and set caps aside. Finely chop stems and set aside also. Brown sausage over medium heat, then remove to a plate to cool. In the same pan used for the sausage, saute onions and garlic over low heat about 2 minutes. Add the wine and allow to evaporate. Add in chopped mushroom stems and cook another 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and set mixture aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, mix Tofutti Cream Cheese with egg replacement mixture until smooth, then slowly stir in both the sausage and the mushroom stem mixture. Place in fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Using a spoon, gently carve out center of mushrooms so there is a clean cavity. Spoon cream cheese mixture into mushrooms, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake for 25 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes to brown the tops.

Serves way more than 4... this recipe could easily be halved and be fine.

It was nice to all sit down to something that felt a little bit gourmet... at least more so than meatloaf and mashed potatoes anyway!