We had our annual holiday dinner over the weekend with our lovely team (most of whom live in Charlotte), and it was a fun time as always! We invited over (from right) Amy, Meghan, Shawn, Kiran, and their spouses for a potluck sit-down dinner. That’s my husband Jason (and me!) on the left side of the picture.
It’s always interesting coming up with the menu for our group since there are a few food allergies and such to consider. But year after year we keep going back to Asian food (and occasionally Mexican food), which seems to offer a lot of good options when gluten and dairy are to be avoided.
So, below are some pics of all the good stuff we came up with to share with each other! I provided the main dish – Asian Glazed Fish (recipe below) – along with coconut rice, maple roasted sweet potatoes and carrots, and some edamame. We actually had two versions of coconut rice because I’d been working on a new recipe and my husband Jason (who CAN cook, by the way!) thought he could make a version that was better than mine. So I suggested we each make our own recipe and let everyone vote. Occasionally husbands are right about things, but this was not one of those occasions – ha! I can’t help but gloat a tad about my almost unanimous win … I am the recipe developer in the family, after all! LOL. Either way, it was fun.
The other dishes you see here are Shrimp and Spring Roll appetizers (similar to these) with two dipping sauces from Amy, Asian Meatballs from Kiran, Asian Slaw from Shawn (similar to the recipe in my new book with quinoa added), and a variety of desserts from Meghan, including Fruit-Filled Wontons, Chewy Raspberry Meringues, and – the crowd fav – Coconut Macaroons. One thing is for sure … no one went hungry! :)
As promised, here is the Asian Glazed Fish recipe I made. I hope you enjoy it and that these other ideas provide some cooking inspiration for you!
Asian Glazed Fish
Ingredients
For the Fish
- 1 pound mild white fish, (such as flounder, cod, or mahi mahi)
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour, I used a gluten-free 1:1 substitute for this crowd
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
For the Sauce
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce, I used gluten-free tamari
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Optional garnish
- green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Cut the fish into 1-inch chunks and coat all sides with the flour.
- Melt the coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the fish on both sides until it's golden brown and cooked (white and flaky) all the way through, about 5 - 6 minutes. If you chose seafood that's on the thinner side, it will not take as long to cook.
- Transfer the fish to a clean plate and add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper to the same pan. Cook for 1 minute while scraping up the brown bits off the bottom of the pan and stirring. (I found that the gluten-free flour stuck a little more than normal during this step - be careful not to let it burn!)
- Pour in the water, soy sauce, honey, and vinegar and cook while stirring occasionally until it thickens, 2 - 3 minutes. Add the fish back into the pan to coat, garnish with green onions if desired, and serve.
Recipe Notes
1. Gluten-free when using gluten-free soy sauce and gluten-free flour as I did.
2. We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
Easy Slow Cooker Boiled Peanuts
I was just about to start making dinner (fish) and peeked at my Bloglovin’ feed to spy this. I’m making it tonight. One of those wonderful recipes where I have all the ingredients already.
That’s the best! :)
This sounds scrumptious! I have to ask though, what’s the purpose of the flour? Does it make the fish crispy? I tried the fish tacos from your new cookbook which has a similar cooking method. It must have been a cooking error on my part because I got more mush than crisp. Either way this is going on my menu for next week!
In this recipe it helps to thicken the sauce! And yes, it should not be mushy – what kind of fish did you use?
Perhaps my problem with the tacos was the type of fish. I used cod. I have mahi mahi for this recipe.
Preparing a salmon dinner tonight will try this in a few days.
Awesome spread of delicious-looking foods and great people for company as well. In the spirit of Christmas, perhaps you’d like to see this Kidioke, a sing-along musical playing story book that’s perfect for little kids this holiday season.
OK, so now we need your coconut rice recipe, too! :)
I agree – please post it Lisa!
Made this last night for dinner. It was delicious!! My 3 kids (8, 12 and 14) all ate a lot and said “considering it’s fish, it’s not too bad” which is a huge complement from them!
Oh my God! The fish looks delicious. I can’t wait to try it. My kids are already going bonkers over it.
I made this for our family of five last night and it was beyond delicious. My daughters who dislike fish left nothing on their plate. I added the red flakes according to sauce recipe which made the sauce too hot for young kids. I was able to save my dish by adding an extra 1/3 cup of water to the sauce which gave it a kick but helped it to be not too spicy. Thank you for an amazingly good and healthy recipe.