Polenta Crusted Fish and Celeriac Remoulade

This is a twist on the traditional battered fish. Polenta crust is a good gluten free alternative (omit the potato chips). I’ve always wanted to try making a celeriac remoulade. Imagine my delight when I came across celeriac at my local green grocer this morning.

Does anyone have a "fish and chips" night as part of their family tradition?

Ingredients

For the fish

White fish fillets x4

1 cup of polenta

Salt and Pepper

Grated zest of 1 lemon

For the remoulade

½ celeriac, julienne finely

½ granny smith apple, peel and julienne finely

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tbsp mayonnaise

A handful of chopped herbs (I used parsley here)

Salt and pepper

Method

1.          Make the remoulade by mixing all the ingredients together.

2.          Pat dry the fish fillets.

3.          Mix the salt, pepper, lemon zest into the polenta.

4.          Lightly coat the fish in the polenta.

5.          Fry until cooked.

Beef Bourguignon Pie

This is my tricky way of making the kids eat a beef casserole. Somehow the addition of a crispy crunchy layer of pastry increases the “like” factor.

I made the beef bourguignon a day ahead with the pressure cooker.

Ingredients

750mg gravy beef, diced (can substitute with chuck steak)

1 large brown onion, roughly diced

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 bay leaves

Few sprigs of thyme or use dried thyme

3 tbsp flour

2 tbsp tomato paste

¾ cup of red wine

2 large carrots cut into large chunks

2 stalks of celery, diced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 sheet of bought puff pastry

1 egg for egg wash

Method

1.          Heat the oil in the pan and brown the meat.

2.          Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat the meat.

3.          Add the onions, garlic, herbs, tomato paste and red wine.

4.          In the pressure cooker, cook for 25 minutes on high pressure.

5.          Then add the carrots and celery and cook on high pressure for another 10minutes.

6.          To make individual pies, fill ramekins with beef bourguignon, place pastry on top with a small overhang, crimp the sides down, cut a vent hole on the top. Cut patterns with excess pastry to decorate the pies.

7.          Preheat oven to 180°C.

8.          Beat egg with a little bit of milk, apply egg wash on the pastry.

9.          Bake pies in oven for 15-20mins.

Hamburger

I don’t know if any of you are fans of Steve Martin, my husband and the kids are big fans of all his silliness, including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; one of their favourite scenes from the movie is the hamburger scene at the airport.

My hamburger.

My earliest childhood memories of hamburger was having my first taste of it from a Malay stall at an interstate bus stop overnight. Back then MacDonald’s did not exist. I was introduced to the Aussie version with beetroot when I moved to Australia and I love it.

I was tempted to make the buns myself after the Herston’s challenge on Masterchef, but alas, I couldn’t find the time to do it yesterday. Maybe next time. (*promise*)

Patty mix

Ingredients for the meat patty:

500g premium beef mince

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp dried fennel

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup breadcrumbs

1 eggwhite

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1.          Mix all the ingredients together until you can shape the mince into balls without crumbling. Add a bit more liquid if it does.

2.          Shape them into big balls and flatten into patties.

3.          Place patties in the fridge while getting the other condiments ready.

4.          Pan fry or BBQ the meat patties until cooked.

5.          Cut the buns in half heat on the grill/BBQ.

Build your own burger.

DH's burger.

J's burger. Hmmm.....no veges to be seen.

T's burger, he couldn't wait.