Gluten-free tuna and mushroom patties with a Stilton zing

Lunch. It’s an important meal and one that Mrs Romance values highly. It’s right up there with breakfast and dinner, and if it looks like she’s going to miss it, Mrs R can get very grumpy.

A good old sandwich is not an option any more thanks to the effects gluten has on Mrs Romance. We’re also on a high-protein diet. These factors, coupled with the fact that neither of us had been to the shops in a while made this afternoon’s food choices tricky.

We had some tuna, a couple of eggs, some mushrooms that needed using up and some Asian greens that were also about to take a nose dive. Things were getting desperate as Mrs R started stomping around the place growling like grizzly.

Our fridge (other than the utopian state of our alcohol stash) was woeful. It felt like Old Mother Hubbard would be round with aid packages at any moment. Still, Mrs Romance’s will to survive (and my will not to suffer from her hunger anger) pulled us through and phoenix-like, our lunch arose from the fragments of our indolence.

Here’s what you need:

• 4 tablespoons of chickpea flour (also called besan flour)
• About 1 cup of water
• 1 egg
• 200g mushrooms – sliced
• 1 garlic clove – finely chopped
• 1 onion – chopped
• 1 tin of plain tuna – drained
• 2 teaspoons of rice flour
• Salt and pepper to season

Here’s what you do:

1.   Dry fry the mushrooms until the liquid has cooked out of them and add the chopped garlic.

2.   Mix the chickpea flour with the water until you have a batter-like consistency. You may not need all the water – or you may need more, it’s sometimes hard to tell.
3.   Crack the egg into the batter and mix well.
4.   Season the batter with salt and pepper.

5.   Mix the onion into the batter, then the tuna and finally the mushrooms. Make sure everything is well-combined.

6.   It was here that I decided to put some of the Stilton my boss had given me into the mix. It proved to be the best decision I have made for some time. I took small blobs of cheese on the tip of a teaspoon and dropped it into the mix and carefully mixed it in.

7.   Now separate the mix into patties and put them on a plate ready to cook.
8.   Get coconut oil (or any other oil really) – about 2 teaspoons’ worth – to a high heat and pop the patties in the pan.
9.   Cook until brown and crisp. You will need to drop the temperature after the first couple of minutes, especially if you added the cheese, as the pan may start to smoke. You also want to make sure the batter is cooked through.

We enjoyed these delicious patties with a bit of bok choy and shredded wombok that Mrs Romance stir fried in tamari (the gluten-free choice for soy sauce lovers).

Lunch was a success and Mrs Romance didn’t even punch me in a famish fury. Crisis averted.

Lunch was so good in fact, that I’ll definitely be making these again. Do you have any winning dishes that you’ve rummaged up from bits and pieces in the fridge? Tell us all about it!

Images, recipe and cooking by Mr Romance.