Fish N Chips

I have such a love of food. I know that's a shocker to all of you. Rewind back to Saint Patrick's Day...we were talking about different things to eat that would celebrate the day. Now, I don't typically do this kind of thing, but I love the history of foods...why we eat them and where they come from. I realize that fish and chips are said to have originated in England, but this was what we decided on anyway. For me, it's all a train of thought...this is my problem with all recipes I develop...one thing leads to another to another and then another...you get the picture. Anyway, when I mentioned fish and chips to the illustrator, he nearly leaped out of his chair with excitement. You see, he hasn't had this for about 2 1/2 years. This is a meal that he frequently got out since I don't normally fry foods at home (or at least I didn't, now it's about a once a month thing) and since he has been diagnosed with celiac, he hasn't been able to have it. These are things I forget about. The thought of things I can't have doesn't even bother me anymore. I shrug it off, but for the illustrator, it's a little harder since it is all still new to him. The poor man can't have Guinness, so we went for the meal he would have had with it.

So, since I was in completely unchartered territory with fish and chips, I did some research. I found the perfect recipe that works like a charm. I followed Tyler Florence's recipe for fish and chips and it was perfect for what I was looking for. I'm telling you, rice flour (I always use Bob's Red Mill) is such a great product and the use of seltzer/club soda here worked so well! The batter crisped up perfectly, stuck to the food really well and was not greasy at all. The only thing I changed was that I use peanut oil to fry. It doesn't smell up the whole house, which is a huge bonus to me (the fish did, but every once in a while your house should smell like Captain D's, right?). Not only did I do fish and chips, but I threw in some onion rings too since Max is a huge fan of onion rings and the fryer was already going.

Yes, this was a process, but for a fun dinner to make my men happy, I loved doing it. I use an electric skillet when I deep fry so I can control the temperature. That definitely helped since you have to do a double fry on the french fries.

I tasted the fries and the onion rings and they were really good. I'm not a fan of fried food in general. I just don't like the flavor frying gives foods, but these were really good.

For those of us that live without our favorites, it's nice sometimes to step outside of our comfort zones and try to make things that we miss, but are kind of afraid to make. I really liked how well these turned out and while I won't be doing this all the time, there is comfort in knowing that we can do this anytime we want to.

I have been doing a lot of stepping outside of my comfort zone lately. How about you guys? Any fears you've defeated lately? I am not a risk taker, so I don't typically do that kind of stuff. Ask me to bake something and I go for it, but I can be a real chicken with other things.