Chinese style Halibut with Cucumber

Thank you so much Cliff for this fabulous recipe! 

The fish:

1 lb halibut, cut into bite sized pieces
few drops of sesame oil & sherry
salt & pepper
corn starch for dredging
1 egg white (reserve the yolk for finishing)
The sauce:2 tsp GF soy sauce
2 tsp GF oyster sauce
1 Tbsp water or broth
1/2 tsp corn starch
The pan:
1" cube fresh ginger, cut into thin slices
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 green onion, 2 inch pieces of the green, 2 inch pieces of the white (cut in quarters)
The veggie:
1 over-ripe cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into diagonal chunks (you could also use zucchini)


Cut fish in bite size cubes, season with sesame oil, sherry (drops of ), salt and pepper, lightly coat with corn starch, then coated with egg white.
Prepare the sauce & veggie.
COOKING: with the heat on high and with copious amount of oil put in garlic and ginger to flavour oil. Before it browns add chopped veggies and cook just until tender. remove to a bowl, lower heat to medium. 
Put in fish and poach fish in oil ( do not brown ) until 50 per cent cooked and add white onion wedges. When it is 70 per cent done add veggies again and at 85 per cent cooked stir in corn starch slurry, add beated egg yolk. Cook just until thickened. (this will be quick!)
Serve with green onion on top . 

lotza banana bread

We found an excellent recipe for banana bread (and tweaked it of course)
... looked interesting because 1. There is NO sugar, and 2. There is NO fat! I didn't think it was possible to make something this good without first creaming the butter and adding the sugar!
It turns out a lot like a savory loaf, but with that much fruit, it's rich and sweet. 

2 cups gluten-free flour
2 Tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 cup shredded coconut
2 eggs
2 cups bananas, mashed
1/2 cup blueberries
3 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Heat oven to 300F. Line a 9x4 loaf pan with parchment paper.
In a big bowl, mix together the flour, chia seeds, baking powder, baking soda, xanthum gum, salt, cinnamon, allspice and coconut. Mound the ingredients around the sides of the bowl, making a "well" in the centre to pour the wet ingredients.
In a medium bowl, beat two eggs thoroughly. 
Mash five or so medium bananas to measure 2 cups of mashed bananas. Add the bananas and blueberries to the eggs.
Pour the wet ingredients into the well in the bowl of dry ingredients, and mix with a spoon only until combined. This will be pretty thick!
Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the top & press in lightly.
Bake at 300F for about an hour. Should be nicely risen and will have turned a golden colour. Cool on a rack (and serve with butter. or whipped cream. You gotta get your fat somehow!)

lotza bananas cake

got a freezer full of over-ripe bananas? start defrosting! this recipe uses FIVE of them suckers!

1/2 c sugar
1/2 c soft butter
3 eggs
2 Tbsp coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla
5 very ripe bananas (mashed)
2 c gluten free flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c chopped walnut
1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line a large 11x17 cake pan with parchment paper, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients, set aside. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Stir in eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas in order. Add flour mix, walnut & chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake in preheated oven for 50 - 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.
This is a filling cake! so delicious!

wild & wicked sausage

My friend Amy ordered half a pig from a farmer and needed to borrow our meat saw for some of the work.
"No problem," I said. "Just save everything you aren't going to use from the pig and bring it to me."
The half pig when it arrived, was actually just four pieces. No trotters, not much fat, just a nicely trimmed piggy. But Amy still had a little bag of waste product to give me.
From the little bag of "waste" I was able to return to Amy: a pound of lard, a small bag of cracklin's for corn bread, and (with a gift of moose meat from another friend) I also shared a package of these sausages. 

recipe

1 1/2 lbs lean meat (I used ground moose)
1 1/2 lbs very fatty pork
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp sage
1 Tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp chili flakes
1 grated carrot
2 slices gluten-free bread, crumbed (I have even used leftover GF pancakes)
1/2 cup wine, or apple juice
Chill the meat and when you are handling it, make sure to keep it very very cold. I grind into a bowl set into a tub filled with ice water.
Grind the meats and add the seasonings, carrot, bread crumbs and liquid. Chill to let the flavours mingle. At this point I usually do a taste test by making a couple tiny sausage patties and frying them.
Adjust the seasonings and either stuff casings with the sausage or use it for patties.

bonus recipe: doggy treats

If I ever have a piece of pork skin, I like to cut off as much of the fat as possible (and grind it, to slow roast for lard and cracklings) and then cut the skin into strips about 1" x 4" and roast at 350F until nice and crispy. Reserve the fat for cooking.
The pork rinds for a much better treat for your active dog than store bought biscuits.

lemon bars

these are an intense delicious lemon flavour. cut them small! they are RICH!

crust:
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 cup icing sugar, plus more for dusting
Zest of 1 large lemon
9 tablespoons butter

custard:
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper.

First the shortbread crust: Mix the flour, starches, icing sugar, and lemon zest. Add the butter and cut in with pastry knife or a fork until well blended. Press the mixture into the bottom of the lined baking pan until even. Bake for about 15 minutes or until firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool while you mix the custard filling.
Next the custard layer: In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Add sugar, then baking powder, lemon juice and finally the 2/3 cup flour. Pour into the baked crust and return to the oven. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until just set. Test by shaking the pan back and forth. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 20 minutes.
then comes the hardest part! PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE ... I know it smells amazing, but it will be even better if you let it chill until firm!
Dust with icing sugar, and slice into small squares with a sharp knife. Serve chilled.

Curry Powder

Will is on a low FODMAPs diet. The restrictions, garlic in particular, makes using commercial curry powders and pastes out of the question. We have worked out a few different flavours of curry that we can eat without paying for it later.
What flavour combination works for you?
We heat the seeds in a cast iron pan until fragrant before mixing with the other ingredients and grinding until rather fine. 


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	Madras 1	Madras 2	Curry 1	Curry 2	Curry 3	Sweet curry
Coriander	6	2	4	4	3	4
Turmeric	1	2	2	1	1	2
Mustard seed	1.5	1	2	1	1
Chili (dried)	3	2	2	0.5	1
Cayenne			1			1
Cumin	4.5	1	1	2	3	4
Cardamon	1.5	2	0.5		1
Cloves					1	2
Cinnamon	4	2			2	2
Paprika						1
Black pepper	0.5	0.5		0.5	1
Fenugreek	0.5	1			1
Fennel				1	2
Nutmeg	1
Ginger (dried)				1
Bay leaves					3

Venson Breakfast Sausage

This is such a delicious sausage recipe with just a hint of sweetness from the maple syrup.

8 lbs venison
2 lbs bear
4 lbs pork fat
6 Tbsp salt
3 tbsp dried sage
3 tbsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 cup maple syrup

The meat you use to make these sausages can vary with whatever you have available that season. Use venison, all pork, beef or moose.  Just keep in mind that the more lean the meat, the more pork fat you will need so it doesn't taste like cardboard.
It is very important to keep the meat very cold while you are working. That's why we like to wait until winter to make sausages, then we close the kitchen door and work with the windows open.
Trim and cut meat and fat into chunks that will fit easily into your meat grinder. Add salt & seasonings and mix well.
Place in the freezer for 1/2 hour - 45 minutes to get really cold. Chill your meat grinder as well.
Grind the meat with a fine grinding plate. Add 1/2 cup of maple syrup and mix really thoroughly. Put the ground sausage in the fridge while you clean up.
This make a LOT of sausage, so I froze six pounds in 3/4 pound packages for making sausage patties and the remainder I stuffed into casings using an attachment on my meat grinder. The sausage links were air-dried in the fridge for a couple hours to firm up before freezing in labelled bags.