oven-baked red snapper & shiitake parcels

This Japanese style recipe is so delicious and easy, yet very very healthy.  It takes no time at all and you are rewarded with an amazingly flavorful meal. 

Ingredients:
4 red snapper fillets (100g each)
1/2 tsp vegetable oil, for brushing
8 caps fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
8 thinly sliced pieces of broccoli
4 slices of lime, sliced thin
4 Tbsp sake
4 tsp GF soy sauce
1 tsp. ginger juice (squeezed from grated fresh ginger)
tin foil

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F
2. Put each snapper fillet on a piece of foil (about a 12"square), and brush with vegetable oil.
3. Arrange 2 shiitake mushroom caps, 2 or three slices of broccoli and a slice of lime on top of each fish.
4. Pour portions of the the sake, soy sauce and ginger juice over each parcel.
5. Gather together the edges of the foil, seal tightly and bake the parcels on a baking tray in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.  Plate each parcel individually and allow your guests to open their own parcel.

WE loved this dish.  The fish is steamed perfectly in a mere 10 minutes

chocolate mango inside-out roll with dipping sauce

what?!  um yes.  so delicious.


Ingredients:

(makes 1 roll of 8 pieces)


For the ISO
1/2 nori sheet
200g raw sushi rice
220 ml water
30 ml rice vinegar
15g sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp hazelnuts, finely chopped
50g mango, cut into strips
50g melon, cut into strips
50g strawberries, sliced into thin strips
100g plain dark chocolate, finely grated

Dipping or drizzling sauce 
Ingredients:
220g plain dark chocolate melted

Directions:
to prepare the sushi rice-
1. Rinse your rice well, between 3-5 washes until it runs clear in a fine mesh sieve. Set aside and drain for 1 hour.
2.  Put the rice and water into a heavy saucepan with a lid. Heat over medium/high heat and bring to a boil.  Don't lift the lid.  It should take about 5-7 minutes to come to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook for another 5-7 minutes.  Turn off heat. Don't lift lid but let rice stand for another 10 minutes.
3. While the rice is standing. Make your own sushi vinegar in a non reactive bowl with the rice vinegar/sugar and salt, stirring until sugar and salt are dissolved.
4. Transfer the hot cooked rice to a flat based bowl. Use a spatula to gently spread the rice out evenly. Using the back of the spatula sprinkle the sushi vinegar over the rice.  Use the spatula to cut through the rice and turn it over in sections to distribute the vinegar.  Have someone else fan the rice (with a fan or a magazine) as you turn it to cool the rice quickly and it will absorb the vinegar mixture.  Don't stir or mix the rice as it will get mushy.  just turn it.

Directions for the inside-out rolls

1. Place the nori sheet on a chopping board and cover it with the prepared sushi rice.  Turn it over and spread the honey over using the back of a spoon, then cover it with the hazelnuts, mango, melon and strawberries.  Roll it up to make an inside-out roll (use a rolling mat and saran wrap to make this easier), then flip it over and roll it in the grated chocolate until coated.
note: there are hundreds of free online sushi rolling tutorials, just look for inside-out rolls.

2. Cut the roll into 8 pieces , drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Serve extra melted "dipping" chocolate along side for any chocoholics.

Crispy Chicken Teriyaki served with vegetable stir fry

This method gives the chicken a really wonderful crispy skin while keeping the meat very moist.

Ingredients for Chicken Teriyaki
3 or 4 chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on)
salt
ground black pepper
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup sucanat
1/4 tsp. finely diced fresh ginger
1 garlic clove (pressed)
1 Tbsp. mirin
1/4 tsp. cornstarch

Directions for chicken Teriyaki:

1. trim excess skin and fat from chicken thigh, leaving enough skin to cover meat. use a sharp knife to separate the meat completely from the bone and discard bone. cut three slashes into the skin diagonally being careful not to cut into the meat. tuck the meat under the skin and arrange thighs on broiling pan. squish them a bit to get even thickness.

2. season chicken thighs with salt and pepper.

3. position the broiling pan under the broiler (we use our toaster oven/broiler for this purpose).

4. broil until skin is crisp and golden brown and the thickest parts of the thighs read around 175ish (maybe a little less) with an instant read thermometer. About 20 minutes.

5. while the chicken is cooking, combine the wheat free soy sauce, sucanat, ginger and garlic in a small sauce pan. stir together the mirin and cornstarch in a small bowl until all the lumps are gone. Stir mirin mixture into the saucepan. Bring sauce to a boil over med/high heat, stirring occasionally. reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has reduced to about 1/3 cup and has a syrupy consistency.

6. let chicken rest on cutting board for 2 minutes. cut the meat crosswise into 1/2 inch wide strips. serve on a bed of brown jasmine rice and stir fry vegetables. drizzle teriyaki sauce (to taste) over chicken and stir fry before serving.

Vegetable Stir Fry Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. macadamia nut or other organic high heat oil
1 small onion chopped
3 cloves garlic (pressed)
2 Tbsp. gluten free soy sauce
1 carrot sliced into strips
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 cups mixed shitake and white mushrooms (trimmed and sliced)
1-2 cups broccoli florets
1 small red pepper diced
1 small green pepper diced
1 jalapeno pepper- chopped small
1 cup sugar snap peas washed and trimmed
1 cup radicchio outside leaves removed, washed and sliced
2 cups bean sprouts
1 tsp. cornstarch stirred into 1/2 cup water

Directions for vegetable stir fry:

1. heat oil in a wok on high heat
add chopped onion, garlic, minced ginger and sliced carrot. stir occasionally for a few minutes.
2. add mushrooms, soy sauce broccoli and peppers.
3. cook until broccoli is cooked and softened, pour in cornstarch mixture and stir entire wok contents around. reduce for a minute or so
4. add Radicchio, bean sprouts and snap peas. stir and serve over bed of rice; with Teriyaki chicken.