Seared Ahi Tuna with Blood Orange and Avocado Salsa

After a very random week-long craving for fish, I decided to pick up some sushi-grade Ahi tuna. However, with the exception of shellfish, my experience cooking fish has been pretty limited and I wasn’t too sure how to prepare it. And to be perfectly honest, I have no idea how I came up with this dish. The idea just popped in my head and I had all of the ingredients at hand, so I just decided to try it out. And of all of the recipes I’ve thought up, of this one I am the most proud. Hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

 

Ahi Tuna Orange Marinade:

• ¼ cup Rice wine vinegar
• ¼ cup Soy sauce
• 1 Tbs. Honey
• Juice from 1 large orange (approx. ¼ cup)
• 1 tsp. champagne mustard
• 1 Tbs. blood orange-infused olive oil

 

Combine tuna marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix until completely blended. Put 1-2 Sushi-grade Ahi Tuna fillets (approx. 1 lb) into a zip lock bag, add marinade and seal tightly. If you can vacuum seal it, that’s even better. Put the ahi tuna in the fridge and let it marinade for around 30 minutes.

 

Blood Orange & Avocado Salsa
- 2 blood oranges (cut into small pieces)
- ¼ of a regular orange (for color - cut into small pieces)
- 1 avocado (cut into small pieces)
- ¼ red onion (finely chopped)
- 2 Tbs. rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- 1 ½ Tbs. honey
- ¼ of an orange – just the juice
- A VERY small pinch of chili flakes or paste – just to add depth. Do not add more than a pinch or you’ll overpower the Ahi tuna.

 

Combine the orange, red onion and avocado in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, honey, orange juice and chili flakes and blend well. Pour the mixture over the orange and avocado pieces and gently fold with a spoon, without mashing the avocado. Place in the fridge until ready to search.

 

Set the stove to medium-high and preheat your frying pan. Add just enough olive oil or butter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. Take the Ahi tuna out of the bag and place it in the pan. Sear each side of your fish for approx. 30 seconds (1 minute max).

 

Remove the Ahi tuna from the pan. You can plate each serving of tuna on a bed of spinach or lettuce (I prefer spinach). Spoon the salsa over the tuna and serve.

 

I paired my seared ahi tuna with a sparkling pinot noir and it was perfect. But If you can't find a sparkling pinot noir, then a sauvignon blanc will work as well.
Enjoy!

Truly * Tastefully, Tara: Skillet Chicken Parm

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Sausage is Souper!

Dear Readers,

I must admit, I’m currently experiencing what’s commonly known as the post-holiday blues in a serious way. That magical time of the year between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and New Years Day is over. All the parties, all the special food, all the visiting with loved ones you don’t see very often has fizzled down into the doldrums of the chilly winter here in the Northeast. To that I say, bah-humbug!

BUT winter is a really great for preparing and eating the heavier foods you don’t want to eat in the summer because it’s too hot to have the stove or oven on too long. With temperatures in the low 30s yesterday I thought it would be a great Sunday for Sausage Meatball Soup. 

You’ll find as you get to know me, I don’t often follow recipes. I usually know if I can make something just by tasting it. My husband used to tease me because when we go out to eat together, I’ll go completely silent if my dish is delicious to concentrate on the flavors so I can to try and decipher the recipe. He used to laugh about that, until I started making the same dish for him just as well or even better. Now he just gives me my time to taste and eagerly awaits the day I make it for him at home.

Such is the case with the sausage meatball soup I made yesterday. I didn’t use a recipe and I haven’t actually eaten sausage soup in years. The thought of it just popped into my head and I thought I’d try it out to see how it would taste. The results were delightful…try for yourself.

Truly & tastefully,
Tara

Sausage Meatball Soup

• 1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, loose – not in casing (or you can take it out of its casing in a pinch)
• 3 cups fresh chopped baby spinach
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 64 ounces of chicken broth
• 1/2 cup powdered parmesan or Romano cheese (or more to taste)
• Pepper and salt to taste (keep in mind you probably won’t need a lot of salt because of the cheese)
• ** Optional ingredients for the carb. hungry – 2 potatoes diced into bite sized chunks, a large can of drained and rinsed hominy

 

Sausage Meatball Soup Prep:
Sit down and relax for the first activity, it’s a bit time consuming but well worth it. Roll the pound of loose sweet sausage into little bite sized meatballs. They should be able the size of a quarter, if a quarter was spherical. Brown the sausage meatballs in your soup pot, you shouldn’t need oil because the sausage is fatty, but if they start to stick just pump a few squirts of cooking spray into the pot with the sausage. for a couple of hours. Somewhere near the end of that 2 hour simmer time frame, add the ½ cup of parmesan. You want to make sure to add the cheese when the soup is not boiling or it will melt and stick to your pan and serving spoon. About 10 minutes before you’re about to serve, stir in the chopped spinach and serve when the spinach has wilted. **If you want to add the carb-ie ingredients, put the diced potatoes and hominy in the pot at the same time as you add the chicken broth.

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Roast Duck Breast with Currant-Balsamic Sauce

After watching a cooking show that featured duck breast (kicking myself for not remember which one), I decided to cook up my own duck breast, for the very first time, for Christmas dinner. I didn’t follow the recipe for the show, but memorized the basic steps for the duck breast preparation and got some great sauce advice from my twitter friends (@ChefBevLazo and @burdladii). Keeping their advice in mind, I came up with the following duck breast recipe – which blew the minds of my dinner guests (and that was the best Christmas present ever!).

I served the duck breast over mushroom wild rice and kale greens infused with a blood orange olive oil. This is a super-simple recipe, but tastes incredibly “gourmet”.

Ingredients for Roast Duck Breast with Currant-Balsamic Sauce:
- 6 duck breasts
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- ½ cup Dried currants
- 1 cup Balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbs. Salted butter
- 1 Tbs. sugar (or less if you’re not as crazy a sweet/savory fanatic as I am)

Hardware:
- A large Oven-friendly pan
- A small to medium-sized sauce pan

Roast Duck Breast Preparation:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Take a very sharp knife and hash-cut the skin of the duck breasts – avoid cutting into the meat of the duck. Crisscross slicing the skin (down to the meat – about ½ an inch) will help render the fat.
- Salt and pepper both sides of the duck breasts.
- Set the stove top setting to medium low and pre-heat the oven-friendly pan. Drizzle the olive oil in the pan (make sure to swish around for a light coating). You can test when the pan is ready by adding a single drop of water. If it sizzles, you’re ready to add the duck breasts.
- Place the duck breasts in the pan, skin-side down, and let it cook for about 25 minutes or until most of the fat is rendered and the skins are golden-brown.
- Remove the pan w/duck breasts from the stove-top and put it in the oven. Roast the duck breasts for approx. 6 minutes for the perfect medium-rare results. *** Save the fat from the duck breasts (pour into a heat-safe dish). Duck fat is an AMAZING ingredient to use for other dishes, like stove-cooked potatoes or hash browns (I’ll include a recipe for very, very soon).
- After roasting the duck breasts for 6 minutes, take the pan out of the oven and immediately move the duck breasts to a plate, so that they can rest.

Currant-Balsamic Sauce Preparation:
- Pre-heat your sauce pan to medium
- While you’re slow-cooking/searing the duck breast skins, take your sauce pan and add the balsamic vinegar and currants.
- Bring the balsamic vinegar to a light simmer (not boiling) and let it simmer until the liquid is reduced to half (about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the butter and sugar and continue to simmer your sauce until the liquid lightly covers your stirring spoon (make sure it’s not “watery”).
- Remove the sauce from the heat.

Final preparation:
- This part is totally up to you, but I would personally recommend serving your roast duck breast over a bed of wild rice or risotto – or kale/spinach.
- You can slice your duck breast into pieces, as you see if the photo, or serve them whole. Place each duck breast on a plate and drizzle the current-balsamic sauce over the duck.

Voila! Your dish is done.

Enjoy!

For a more carb-friendly meal, you can serve the roast duck breasts over the kale/spinach and sub the rice with a side of butternut squash (a fantastic carb-friendly-sub for potato that makes you feel like you’re inhaling carbs, without the punishment).

Moussaka for the Holidays

I absolutely love moussaka. I used to have it all the time when I lived in NewYork - it was on alomost every diner menu. And it was always done well. The Béchamel topping was always thick and firm, but not dry. But finding moussaka in San Francisco was almost impossible. Even if a restaurant did offer the dish, it was never prepared properly. So, I taught myself to make it - just the way it's served in the Big Apple.

It's inexpensive to make and the layers of seasoned lamb, eggplant and Béchamel sauce creates such a warm and comforting dish. If you have a restricted budget, but still want to enjoy a gourmet meal, make Moussaka! The name alone is empowering.

Ingredients for Eggplant Moussaka
- 2 Lbs ground lamb
- 2 eggplants (sliced into ¼ inch thick pieces)
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 12 oz. tomato sauce
- 1 cup red wine
- 2 Tbs. ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
- 1 Tbs. olive oil
- 2 cups milk
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3/4 cup of butter
- 1 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
- ½ cup swiss gruyere cheese (grated)
- 3 eggs (beaten)
- Salt and pepper to taste

Hardware
- Large frying pan
- Medium sauce pan
- Cheese grater
- 2 pyrex dishes, approx. 9x5x5

Lamb preparation:
Set stove top to medium heat. Pre-heat a large pan, add olive oil and combine ground lamb and onions. Break apart the ground lamb as it browns. Once the lamb is browned, add the tomato sauce, red wine, cinnamon and parsley. Stir regularly (not constantly) until the liquid is cooked off (not completely dry, but no running liquid). In the pyrex dishes, start with a bottom layer of eggplant, then a layer of meat, another layer of eggplant and then finish with a layer of the meat. Make sure to firmly press the contents down into the pan. Set the pans aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Béchamel Sauce preparation:
Set stove top to medium heat. Pre-heat the sauce pan. Melt butter. Slowly add the flour and stir/mash to work out all the lumps. Slowly add the milk while stirring to work out any potential lumps. When the milk has been added, the mixture should be smooth. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and slowly add the egg, stirring aggressively to ensure the mixture stays smooth and well blended. Reduce the stove to medium low and begin adding the grated cheese, stirring regularly. Once the mixture is combined, let it thicken just a bit (so it’s not runny, but can be poured). Remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the mixture over the lamb and eggplant.

Place the dishes in the oven and cover lightly with tin foil. Let the moussaka bake for approx. 60 minutes. Remove tin foil, increase oven temp to 450 degrees F. and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove the moussaka from the oven and let cool for at least 45 minutes.

Slice the Moussaka like a cake and serve. Enjoy!

Roast Beet Salad with Orange Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

This Roast Beet Salad with Orange Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette has been one of my staple dishes for years.

I’ve had friends swear they hate beets with the fiery passion of a thousand suns (I might be embellishing – just a little). Nothing brings me more happiness than to make my friends eat their words – and they did, after trying my roast beet salad. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the dressing, but their plates are always wiped clean in the end. Whatever gets the job done…

Roast Beet Salad Ingredients:

• 4 medium-sized Beets (Fresh beets are a must. Canned beets are flavorless and disgusting.)
• 1 Orange
• Spinach or endive (to cover the bottom of the dish)
• Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese or Blue cheese
• Candied Pecans

Preparation:
How to roast beets: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Rinse beets to remove any dirt or debris. Wrap each beet securely in tin foil and place on a cookie sheet. Put the cookie sheet in the oven and roast the beets for 45 minutes (1 hour if the beets are large). Remove the beets from the oven and let them cool for at least 1 hour. Unwrap the beets and peel off the skins. I would suggest wearing rubber gloves to do this so that your hands don’t get stained. If you don’t have rubber gloves, you may want to peel each beet under running water. Beet skins should come off easily.

Slice each beet into eighths. Peel skin off the orange. Slice the orange into 4 quarters. Put one orange slice aside for the dressing. Take each orange wedge and slice into ½ inch thick pieces. Rinse and dry the mixed greens or endive. Line each salad dish with greens and place beets and oranges atop. Add the candied pecans and sprinkle the gorgonzola/blue cheese crumbles evenly over each plate.

Orange Raspberry Balsamic Dressing Ingredients:

• ¼ cup Raspberry-Balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup Blood Orange-infused olive oil (preferred, but regular olive oil works too)
• 1 Tbs. Champagne mustard (or honey mustard)
• 1 Tbs. Fresh Orange Juice

Preparation:
In a small Tupperware dish, combine ingredients. Seal the dish with a lid (air-tight) and shake vigorously.

Drizzle the dressing over each salad dish. Voilà la! Your roast beet salad is ready to serve!

Enjoy!