Sauces For Fish

Fire Up the Grill for Easy Gluten-Free Entertaining

Denver, CO (PRWEB) June 29, 2011

Grilling is the perfect choice for summer entertaining. Accomplished grillers know the secret to flavorful grilling comes from rubs, marinades, and sauces, but store-bought versions may contain gluten (a protein in wheat that’s toxic for millions of people). Instead, it is very easy and economical to make your own, says Carol Fenster, a gluten-free cooking expert who blogs at CarolFensterCooks .

“The nice thing about grilling,” says Fenster, who wrote 10 gluten-free cookbooks, including Gluten-Free 101,” is that it is casual and lends itself to easy entertaining ---even if you’re a novice. Rubs, marinades, and sauces effortlessly transform steaks, pork, chicken, or fish into a fabulous main dish that all your guests will enjoy, whether they are gluten-free or not.

But, first, what’s the difference between rubs, marinades, and sauces? [2] Marinades are liquid and often acidic, with added herbs and spices for flavor. Meat is immersed in the marinade for a specific period of time to tenderize it and absorb flavor. Marinades can be used for steaks, chicken, pork, and fish but marinate chicken and fish for only 30 minutes or the marinade’s acid will make the meat mushy. The marinade may be discarded or boiled to make a light sauce to serve on the cooked meat. [3] Sauces (or mops) are often tomato or vinegar-based and dabbed or brushed on the meat during the final minutes of grilling and may also serve as a dip or sauce to serve with the meat after it’s cooked. They can be used for all kinds of meat; sturdier cuts like beef and ribs can handle thick, heavy sauces while lighter sauces are best for chicken or fish.

When buying store-bought versions, read the label carefully. By law, the ingredient list must state “wheat” if it is used as an ingredient. How is wheat used? Rubs might contain wheat flour to prevent clumping. Marinades can contain soy sauce, which is often made with wheat (although there are gluten-free soy sauces available). Sauces may contain soy sauce for flavor or wheat flour to thicken the sauce so it sticks to the meat during cooking.

Fenster prefers to make her own rubs, marinades, and sauces so she has control over what’s in them. She favors a boldly flavorful and very easy citrus-chipotle marinade for backyard grilling because it is versatile, works well with pork and chicken (but also with steaks or fish) and all the ingredients are naturally gluten-free. The recipe comes from her weekly online cookbook, GfreeCuisine , a weekly subscription-based service that offers gluten-free recipes and also provides a organized grocery list based on the recipes you choose for that week’s menus.

An Edible Mosaic » Quick & Easy Coconut Fish Curry

You might remember when I told you about my cilantro aversion .  It’s funny how tastes can change, even as an adult…long story short, it turns out, I think I’m cured.  (Baby steps though!  You probably won’t be seeing cilantro as an ingredient in my recipes any time soon…and I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat that tortilla soup I made.  *Shudder.*)  Since I had sworn off ever eating cilantro again, you might wonder how I discovered this…read on, Dear Reader! ).  One night, Mike was in the mood for fish curry and since I didn’t have a ton of time to spend making dinner, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try one of the sauces.  The Cilantro & Coconut sauce sounded like it would be good with fish so I decided to give it a go.  (I had no intention of eating it…I just figured I’d have eggs for dinner or something.)

As the curry was simmering away it started smelling more and more delicious.  The savory smell of garlic and onion (which I can never resist) was mixing with the sweet smell of coconut milk…and the spices in the sauce took the aroma over the top.  It was calling to me…no, screaming to me, actually.  I had to try it.