Southern Style Fried Fish Supper

Dan has had a longtime hankering for a mess o' fried fish, so I did a little cookbook and Internet browsing and came up with this delicious, crispy fried fish dinner (looks a LOT better in person than in the photo).

First, I made quick cole slaw in the food processor with carrots, cabbage, a small bit of onion and some parsley, mixed with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Then, I perused gluten-free cornbread recipes and the winning recipe (winning because I had all the ingredients on hand, minus one) turned out to be from Celiac.com. It has a cheesy center and was a nice accompaniment. You can get this recipe "Cornbread #3" on the site or as listed below:

Cheesy Cornbread

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup gluten-free sour cream
1 cup corn (didn't have it on hand and made it without)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded Cheddar

Directions:
Mix together all ingredients except Cheddar. Put half of mixture into a greased 9" square pan. Sprinkle with cheese and cover with remaining mixture. Bake at 375F degrees for 35 - 40 minutes.

Now, all we needed was the perfect crispy fried fish recipe and after a little cybersurfing, I found this great, easy recipe on another gluten-free website, GF-Zing!, and things just worked out wonderfully. I used tilapia and it was wonderfully moist inside and crunchy. Again, you can check out the recipe on GF-Zing! or below:

Batter Fried Fish

Seasoning for 2 pounds fish or scallops (marinate in this mixture for 2 hours):

1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1-2 jalapenos, minced (omit if you don’t like spicy food)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
pepper
juice of 1/4 lemon

GF-Zing recommends using hake, cod or scallops. Cut into 2 x 1 inch pieces.

Then make batter:

3/4 cup corn starch
3 Tablespoons chick pea flour (store this in the freezer)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or other seasoning
1 teaspoon coarse salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
1 Tablespoon gluten free baking powder
3 Tablespoons peanut oil
2 large eggs
3 Tablespoons cold water

Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Dip pieces of fish in the batter and fry in very hot oil (2″ deep) until golden brown. If you use a deep fryer, the result will be superior.

A little homemade tartar sauce and you're in business!