Day 38 - Fish Cakes

Recipe from Jamie Oliver Online

Today was the first day of school and it was okay. I have pretty good teachers and everything, but I'm sad because this school thing is really going to make it harder for us to cook because we have to balance our homework and stuff.

But I'm going to do my best. I found a couple of easy recipes for emergencies like when we don't have enough time to cook something big.

Tonight we made fish cakes.

Now I know it sounds really kind of weird, but it looks pretty good. It's basically like a potato biscuit with fish in it. It was medium-ish to make in difficultly. We peeled and chopped potatoes and put them in salted, boiling water. Then when they're halfway cooked, you put the fish in a colander and steam it.

We used tilapia, but the recipe called for salmon.

Once they're both done, you mash them together, add egg, parsley, flour (we used gluten free, of course), and lemon zest. Jamie sure does like his lemon zest.

Then you make it into patty shapes.

Next you get a frying pan that's hot, put olive oil in it, and basically fry them. Ta da, you have successfully made some fish cakes.

Everyone LOVED these.

Jared said: "These are the best things EVER."

Sophie said, "Yummy!"

2 THUMBS UP!

PS: We also made Gluten Free biscuits to go with our fish cakes.

Day 24 - Shrimp and Avocado with Old School Marie Rose Sauce

Cookbook - Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

I, Jared, am back from the lake house and back in the kitchen.

I'm baaaacccckkkk

When I cook, it feels pretty cool. It's fun. It's entertaining and you can do so many different things so that you never get bored.

For me, a kid who has celiac disease, it's quite interesting to see how you can make something like this, for instance, that has a coating of flour and it tastes really good with gluten free flour. It's good to see all the different kinds of things that can be made so much healthier, and sometimes even easier.

So far, doing this challenge has opened up different opportunities in cooking for me and has let me experience new things. That's important because I'm out of my comfort zone, which was gluten free chinese and mexican food. I've tried something new almost everyday since we started (which is more than 3 weeks now), and that's quite good for building character (says Calvin's dad to Calvin in Calvin and Hobbes).

Before this challenge I doubt I would have eaten this Shrimp and Avocado food if my mother had made it because I just don't try a lot of new things a lot. It's kind of weird since I'm doing this challenge, but now I'm kind of forced to try new things since I want to try what I made. It's kind of a win-lose situation (because I don't really like to try new things), but if I like what I try then it's a win-win situation.

So far there have been more win-win situations.

Today I made some Shrimp and Avocado with Old School Marie Rose Sauce. I had never heard of this dish or the sauce before.

Squeezing lime

It was really good! I think I put too much ketchup in the sauce, but I really liked the avocado and the shrimp. You just coat some shrimp in some GF flour and cook and toss it (which I just learned how to do this morning--or I knew how to do but never tried).

Flipping, part 1

Flipping, part 2

You cut the avocado in half and take it out of the skin. Then you put some mayonnaise, ketchup, Worchestire sauce, but we didn't have whiskey, so we by-passed that, together and mix it up. That's the sauce.

Then when the shrimp are golden brown, you plate it (which I learned from Iron Chef) by putting the avocado and shrimp on a plate, then sprinkle paprika on the shrimp and put the Marie Rose sauce on the avocado.

Voila!

That's it.

I give it 1 3/4 THUMBS UP. My mom, of course, gives it 5 THUMBS UP.

So, until next time...