I Miss Asian Food

Last Friday night, Chance and I went out for a date. More importantly: a sushi date! Sushi has long been our favorite meal (it was after all what we ate on our first date ever!) but since I have become gluten-intolerant we haven't splurged on it, being too cautin about what is in some of those sauces... But since we hadn't been in so long we decided that we might as well try to go and see what I could eat. I toted along my very own bottle of Kikkoman's Gluten-Free Soy Sauce, found a lovely table at Blue Fish (on Greenville Ave. in Dallas) and turned to our waitress to grill her on her ingredient knowledge. Well after a very thorough analysis of the menu, and only one dissappointment (eel sauce is NOT gluten free - so sad!) we ordered our food. It was awesome. Eel is still my favorite :)

Well, we have never tried to re-create sushi at our house (we leave that to Billy and Ruth Poe - both a 1/4 Asian and amazing hosts!)  but I have tried to cook a few Asian-inspired dishes. Unfortunately they mostly end up tasting like soy sauce or sesame oil, and not much like anything else. On quick & easy dinner nights I will pop some Aidell's Chicken Pineapple Teriyaki meatballs in the microwave, heat up some organic frozen broccoli and throw some jasmine rice in the rice cooker. So last night I did just that! Except I can't eat the delicious Chicken meatballs because they are not gluten free either.. soy sauce has WHEAT in it people! I had no fear though because I concocted a new Asian-inspired dish!

Earlier in the day I was looking up recipes that included: swiss chard + radishes. I found a great salad and adapted to my liking of what I had on hand. Here was the result:

1 small tilapia filet, pan seared (seasoned with salt + pepper)
1 bunch organic Swiss chard, chopped/torned
4-5 organic baby carrots, sliced
a handful of portabella mushrooms, sliced
a handful of radishes, thinly sliced
1/4 c. onion, chopped

Dressing:
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. olive or grapeseed oil
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ginger
1 clove garlic, diced
salt + pepper to taste

Toss the above ingredients into a bowl and lightly drizzle homemade dressing on top! I put fish on top and cut it up too. The dressing was so good - I loved the paprika! Only remember that swiss chard is a very thick leafy green, so be prepared to do some major chewing. I had the organic broccoli and jasmine rice on the side. A new favorite Asian-inspired dish!