Seared Ahi Tuna with Vegetable Glass Noodles

You know how most of the time when you go to grab Chinese take-out or sushi, you walk into the restaurant and it just SMELLS AMAZING?  You think to yourself, "Dammit, why can't I ever seem to reproduce that taste/smell at home?"

I have 2 answers to that quandary:

1) You don't use MSG at home,
2) Vegetable oil + a splash of sesame oil + high heat

I'm one of those people that primarily uses only 2 fats on a regular basis - butter and olive oil.  I usually only use vegetable oil for deep-frying.  MISTAKE!  Holy cow did my apartment smell fantastic last night.  In fact, this was so good I'm storing this gem in my "repeat recipe file", a rare honor.

In honor of full disclosure, this is NOT my recipe.  In fact, the glass noodle recipe is almost entirely Hosea Rosenberg's, which you can find here.  Some of the vegetables I used might be a little different, but other than that, its all his.  I purchased the tuna from Trader Joe's Freezer section, so yeah, that's not really "mine" either.  Basically, I was looking for a quick weeknight dinner that wasn't boring.  Wow, I was blown away by this.  So easy.  So delicious.  Especially the noodles.  I beg you to try them. 

For the Tuna:

I just pan seared it for a minute or so on each side for a nice rare middle.

For the Glass Noodles:

Follow Hosea Rosenberg's recipe to a T, it'll make your apartment smell like [insert your local greasy chinese take-out here].

And the creme de la creme, if you like spicy condiments, I highly recommend this little number:

Sriracha Ginger Yogurt Sauce 

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 grated ginger (fresh)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 C rice vinegar
1/4 C orange juice
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp Sriracha
2 tbsp greek yogurt

In a saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the ginger, onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 min. Add the vinegar, orange juice, mirin, wine and Sriracha and simmer until the liquid is almost evaporated and the sauce is thickened, 10-15 min. Turn off the heat and add the yogurt. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

I need to make this sauce again, and put it on EVERYTHING. On burgers? Oh, I bet it's amazing.

Final plating: Thinly slice the tuna and fan out on the plate around a pile of glass noodles.  Dollop some Sriracha Ginger Yogurt Sauce on the side and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions over the whole plate.

"Fried" Cod Sandwich

I'm seriously trying to cook more healthfully this summer.  One way to accomplish that while still enjoying the foods I love is to trick myself.  See, here's the problem:  For me, the summer = the beach.  And the beach = fried seafood.  And fried anything = unhealthy.  Tasty as hell, but unhealthy none-the-less.

But dude, I was really craving a fish sandwich.

So I cheated :)

I toasted some bread crumbs (seasoned with Old Bay) in a skillet and then spread them out on a plate.  I used the same skillet to cook two 4oz cod fillets.  While still hot and juicy, I tossed the fish into the bread crumbs and try to get as many toasted crumbs to stick to my fish as possible.  HA!  Similar texture to fried fish, minus the grease and guilt!  Wheeee!  I win!!

I made a remoulade using homemade mayonnaise, a couple tablespoons of diced cornichons, juice from 1 lemon, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard, a couple dashes of Frank's Red Hot Sauce, and a tablespoon of chopped parsley.  To complete the sandwich, I toasted a sesame roll, slathered on some remoulade, added few slices of tomato and lettuce (from my CSA box), and my "fried" fish.

Delicious!  

While I don't usually make the same things over and over... I will definitely be making this again, if for no other reason than to satisfy my "fried food" cravings.

Fish Tacos with Esquites - otherwise known of as "Day 2 of the LGRFSaDaB diet"

Hi everyone (and by everyone I mean Mary and Bryon... apparently the only 2 people who read and follow my blog...).

Sorry I haven't done any posts lately, but I haven't been cooking much... instead I've been entertaining a visiting friend, taking her around the city eating and drinking everything in our path (ooohhh so much lobstah & chowdah... no complaints here!)

The real horror of this story is that I feel like I've gained a thousand pounds during all of the traveling, weddings, visits, etc... my man claims to feel the same way.  So I'm putting us on a diet.  Not a boring salad and baby carrots diet, more of a "Let's Get Ready For Summer and Detox a Bit" diet.  Although, I'd like to note that I think summer is already here, seeing as we've been having record highs lately... it was 87F yesterday and 85-ish today... in MAY!?!  Unheard of, but again, no complaints here.

On with the food talk, I mean, this is a food blog, no?

Day 1 of the LGRFSaDaB diet - I made Bulgogi-style marinated chicken, served with Boston lettuce leaves, sliced cucumbers, kimchi, and brown rice.  Wonderfully delicious, super low-fat, high in probiotic (thanks kimchi!), fiber and lean protein. What's lacking you might ask?  A picture.  Yeah, I forgot to take one.  Oops!  You can, however, see a picture and the recipe here, where I got my inspiration.

Moving on...

Day 2 - Grilled Fish Tacos with Esquites

First, the Esquites.  Esquites is basically a mexican-style corn salad.  It's been so hot the past couple days that this menu seemed perfect to me... plus, it really took me down memory lane... oh how I occasionally miss the sweltering heat of an Arizona summer... occasionally :)

On with it! I thawed and drained some frozen corn kernels, mixed in some greek yogurt (1/4 cup?), 1 minced garlic clove, a heavy pinch of chili powder, diced red onion (1 tbsp-ish), juice from 1/2 a lime, cheese (artisan mexican cheese blend from Sargento... couldn't find cojita or ricotta salata anywhere but would have preferred one of those), salt and pepper.

Next, I made some creamy guacamole by mashing together 2 small avocados, 1/2 a diced tomato, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, some more red onion (maybe 2-3 tbsps), a fistful of fresh cilantro (chopped), the juice from 2 limes, some cumin (tsp?), salt and pepper.  Man I loooove me some guac!

For crunch I shredded the last of my napa cabbage (leftover from dumplings, spring rolls, etc... I tell you what, this stuff lasts forever) and tossed it with a little vegetable oil and more lime juice (1 lime).

The fish. The grocery store had a sale on tilapia so that what I got and used.  Any "sturdy" white fish would do as long as it can stand up to grilling (snapper, sole, etc).  All I did was sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper, thrown them on the panini press, close the lid... done in 2-3 minutes.

After the fish was done I heated up some flour tortillas and began the taco-making assembly line:

tortilla

cheese

fish

guac

cabbage

Plated the tacos with a lime wedge (lots of limes in this recipe, eh?) and my Esquites.  Hot sauce on the table.  Glass of Chardonnay would have been perfect - we drank Harpoon's Leviathan Imperial IPA instead (it's just so good!)

PERFECTO!