RECIPES

Let me first ramble on about meal times & menus, etc.
Meal times are set by the fishing which is usually foremost on our priority list so it is suffice to say.
Breakfast will be sometime in the morning, lunch will be sometime in the afternoon and dinner will be sometime in the evening.

A TYPICAL MENU FOR A WEEK

BREAKFAST

Sausages, bacon, eggs, toast and coffee

Or B B Q trout

And or cereal

LUNCH

An assortment of cold meats, soup, sandwiches, cheese, fruit cake, etc, lunch is usually consumed on the boat or shore and is quite often munched while fishing.
Please don't drop your sandwich in the lake while netting a fish.

DINNER

( 1 ) Corned silverside,cabbage, carrots, mashed spuds and mustard sauce

( 2 ) Home made spaghetti bolognaise

( 3 ) Thick rump or eye fillet steak, mushrooms, silver beet and pinkeye potatoes

( 4 ) Stir fried chilli beef served with jasmine rice or noodles

( 5 ) Thick loin lamb chops, pinkeye potatoes and broad beans or peas

( 6 ) Curried beef with jasmine rice and pappadums

( 7 ) Beer battered trout with chips and chilli vinegar dip

( 8 ) B B Q trout, potatoes & veg

I am considered to be a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen and can usually whip up any of the above meals while drinking a beer and telling lots of tall fishing tales.

In my many years of guiding I have lost count of how many beer battered trout meals I have served up. This delicacy is now known all over the world and is usually the first request of my regular clients.

NOW FOR A COUPLE OF RECIPES

BEER BATTERED TROUT

Trout -- preferably very fresh - filleted, de boned and skinned.

Beer - I use full strength beer, probably because I have never owned any other type.

Plain flour

Self raising flour

One egg

Salt & pepper.

Put half a cup of self raising and half a cup of plain flour in a suitable mixing bowl. Make a small depression in the flour and drop the egg in, some salt & pepper, whip the top off your bottle of beer and tip some in. Beat the mixture, adding more beer until you have the right consistency. I find that it does not seem to make any difference if it's a little bit thick or a little bit thin. If it's of the thick variety then you will have more beer left to drink!

Cut the skinned trout in half, cutting across the fillet, then cut each fillet in half lengthways. If it's a large fish then the rule of thumb is, the pieces should be slightly larger than your average fish finger.

Get your deep frying oil quite hot -- not too hot. In the meantime you should have your fish pieces sandwiched between two double layers of absorbent kitchen paper towel, dip the fish pieces in the batter making sure they are well coated then into the hot oil one at time till you have four pieces sizzling, they cook very quickly that's why you should only cook them in small batches.

Serve with chips ( I refuse to call them french fries ) and/or salad and chilli vinegar dip

CHILLI VINEGAR

Two teaspoons of sambal oelec

White wine vinegar

Mix together to taste and bingo there you have it

CHILLI BEEF STIR FRY

One whole eye fillet

6 dried Chinese mushrooms

One can of whole baby sweet corns

One red capsicum

Two sticks celery

Soy sauce

Oyster sauce

Sesame oil

Chicken stock cubes

Corn flour

Chinese chilli sauce

Sambal oelek

Dry sherry

Slice beef thinly and place in bowl, add two or three glugs of Chinese chilli sauce + two teaspoons of sambal oelek, two glugs of dry sherry and a few glugs of soy sauce marinate for half an hour, soak dried mushrooms in a bowl of hot water and leave for half an hour.

Slice celery and capsicum. Open and drain baby corns. Drain and squeeze mushrooms. Prepare the sauce by putting into a large mug - two chicken stock cubes - crumbled, two heaped teaspoons of corn flour, fill mug by two thirds with cold water and stir, add a few glugs of oyster sauce and a few glugs of soy. Put some olive oil in a wok and bring to a high heat.

Put in drained baby corns, celery and capsicum. Stir fry for a few minutes, add sliced mushrooms and stir for another half a minute. remove and keep handy. Put a little more olive oil in wok and at a very high heat stir fry the beef for a couple of minutes, return the celery, baby corns, capsicum and mushrooms to the wok with the beef and add the sauce after giving it another stir. Bring quickly to the boil and stir till it thickens. Serve on a bed of rice or noodles