Sole, the original Fast Food

If you are looking for a fast dinner option that is relatively inexpensive, and can be gussied up any number of ways, look no further than sole!  Here on the West Coast of BC, its fished year-round, making it a local, fresh (not frozen) fish option.

It comes in flat fillets that are really easy to roll up with all kinds of fillings, and once prepared, it takes only about 10 minutes to cook in the oven at 375 – 400 degrees.  You can do double-duty in the oven, and roast some vegetables such as carrots or zucchini with onions, garlic, olive oil and seasoning, and then use the cooked vegetables as filling!  OR, you can make a spinach-ricotta filling, OR caramelized onion and peppers … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.  Because the sole is such a mild flavoured fish, it serves as a backdrop for all kinds of flavours.

Just remember when you lay out your fish fillets,  lay them with the spine-side up (its easy to spot, as its much smoother than the outer side) – you won’t need any toothpicks as the proteins in the fish contract more along the spine side, making the roll even tighter once it cooks!  Self Sealing!  Bake on parchment at 400F for 10-13 minutes.

You can see these ones were rolled up with zucchini and garlic slivers, seasoned with salt, pepper and a dusting of  Herbs de Provence, drizzled with olive oil.

Let me know in the comments below what fillings you like to pair with your sole fillets!  I’m also thinking about doing a video demo on how to roll these up – link will be posted here if I do.

Spatchcock … come on now, say it with me!

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Gluten free Beer Battered Fish n Chips

yes, Virginia, I said gluten-free fish n chips!

This all began with a sampling of gluten-free beers from our local liquor store, and a post from Jon Madsen over on Google+.  Jon is an amazing home cook, turning out made-from-scratch versions of literally everything he and his family eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and I mean literally everything!).  This particular evening, he had made some beer battered fish n chips which got Jeff musing about how he would like some fish ‘n chips!

Lamb Tagine! for an African Food Cookalong

its cookalong time, and this month over on Google+, Shinae Robinson organized an African Food Cookalong.

These cookalongs run for the week (Sunday-Saturday), and are a great way to try cooking something a little different than your usual fare, and check in and see how others are going about it!  This month’s endeavour was African food, and because Jeffrey has developed a sensitivity to peanuts, I decided not to make the groundnut stew, but do a tagine and roasted vegetables.  There was a chicken and a vegetable tagine recipe for the cookalong, but wouldn’t you know it, when I stopped in the supermarket the day before, there was a lovely lamb shoulder roast that had been drastically marked down!!! Clearly, we were meant to be eating lamb tagine .

Shiny! and clean!

We're now making #glutenfree  sausage rolls in ever increasing quantities here, and I'm getting tired of the fussing around with the rolling pin and cutting to size.  Don't get me wrong, it works just fine for a dozen sausage rolls, but when they start to add up, its not exactly the most efficient way to get things done.  In my wildest dreams, I would have a sheeter … and a big kitchen with lots of stainless tables … and a lovely Rational or Garland oven that could take 5 sheet pans at once … but I don't, and a pasta roller is the next best thing to a sheeter

This isn't an expensive one, but for not many bucks, it did come with a couple of cutting heads (lasagna, capellini, fettucini, spaghetti) and a ravioli attachment.  I just want it mainly for the roller, and we've gone new here because you never ever immerse your pasta machine in water! ergo the one I have is covered in gluten!  

I'll use this for the sausage rolls, but it will also make rolling out crackers a snap!  and maybe even some gluten-free pasta

#blog   #realfoodmadeeasynews  

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