Tuna Steak Two Ways. With Gremolata. Or With Fruit Salsa.

Today I'm cooking tuna and here's how to do it:  Get out your cast iron skillet.  Heat it up somewhere around 375°- 400°,  film the pan with some peanut oil (for high smoke point), add in a chunk of butter (for flavor), and when the butter gets all bubbly, carefully place in your tuna steak.  Cook 2 - 2½ minutes on the first side.  Turn it over and go for two minutes on the flip side.  Remove from hot skillet and plate, else it keeps on cooking.  If you want more of a sear or a blackened steak, crank up the temperature to 425° - 450° and cook for 1½ - 2 minutes the first side, 1 - 1½ on the flip.  Depending on the thickness of your steak and how hot your pan is (Get an instant-read laser thermometer.), you'll have a rare to medium-rare tuna steak.  Practice enough and you'll get the feel for this.

Now, about seasoning.  You can go simple, with just kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, and you'll be just fine.  OR, you can sprinkle sesame seeds and use a teaspoon of sesame oil in with the peanut oil, OR, if you'd like a little heat, you can try some gochugaru seasoning (Gochugaru is Korean red chile pepper flakes.) OR you can crank it up with some togarashi seasoning (a combo of red chile, black and white sesame seeds, nori, poppy seed, and lemon and orange zest).

For starters, I have your basic seared tuna along with a couple condiments for you to try  - a gremolata and a fruit salsa - which complement the tuna steaks most agreeably, adding both freshness and brightness to the dishes.

Now that you know how to cook your basic tuna fillet, lets make the condiments.

First, the gremolata. 

Gremolata is a classic Italian condiment, zesty and herbal, typically made with parsley, garlic, and lemon zest.   Once you’ve made the original version, you can get creative and make variations on the theme.  For example, try substituting basil or mint, or even spinach for parsley.  Scallions, nuts, and various citrus zests (lime or orange) would be welcome flavorings also.  Any leftover gremolata can be used over vegetables, stirred into pasta dishes, added to your next batch of meatballs, or, with a little balsamic vinegar and more olive oil, used as a salad dressing.

I'm going with a fairly basic gremolata here.

Rosie's Gremolata

1 cup packed parsley, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

zest of ½ lemon

juice of 1 lemon

2 TB olive oil

Combine all ingredients.  Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Top gremolata with red chile flakes.

For the tuna, I pressed lemon zest, kosher salt, and Lawry's seasoned pepper into the fillets, then seared them (in oil and butter) as directed above. 

I have my tuna, seasoned and ready, my gremolata is waiting, and, for a side dish, I picked some asparagus out of the garden.

I cooked up some basmati rice, steamed the asparagus until just crisp-tender, seared the tuna, then spooned the gremolata over the tuna and asparagus.

The next day, I finished up the gremolata with more seared tuna, steamed broccoli, and wild rice.

 

For my second tuna dish, bright colors and fresh flavors in my fruit salsa complement the fish perfectly.  I marinated the tuna steaks for about an hour in a mixture of 2 TB ginger juice with pulp and 2 TB soy sauce.   Whenever I buy ginger root, I slice it into one-inch chunks and freeze it.  That way, I always have ginger on hand.  Also, I've found that the best way to get juice out of ginger is to freeze it first, then peel it, and nuke the chunks for about 20 seconds.  You can easily squeeze the juice out by hand, or use a garlic press and get the juice and scrape off some of the pulp. 

 Sear fillets according to above instructions.  Serve with fresh fruit salsa.

 Fruit Salsa 

3 strawberries, diced

1 kiwi, peeled and diced

1 tsp sugar

TB cider vinegar

1 TB soy sauce

1 – 2 tsp chopped cilantro

Combine all ingredients and spoon over tuna fillets.

 

I marinated the tuna for about an hour in 2 TB each ginger juice with some pulp and soy sauce with a teaspoon of sesame oil.

My pan was hothothot,

with oil and butter.

Carefully place in the tuna fillet

to avoid splattering.

Cook about 2 minutes first side.

About 1½ on the other side.

At the last minute of cooking, I poured in the marinade.

Remove tuna from heat, plate, and pour cooked marinade over top.

For my side dish, I wanted something a little different.

I'm going with a snap pea stir fry. 

 

Vegetables for Stir Fry

snap peas

mushrooms, sliced

multi-colored peppers, chopped

onion, chopped

 

Heat your skillet over medium-high.

Film pan with a light coating of peanut oil, a little sesame oil, and butter. 

When the butter is sizzly, toss in the mushrooms and cook for about 90 seconds.

Add in snap peas and a sprinkling of sugar.  (½ - 1 tsp) Cook for a minute.

Add in peppers and onions.

Toss around.  Cook about 30 seconds and you're done.
Season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

I served the tuna on a bed of wild rice, with snap pea stir fry on the side, and fruit salsa on top.

Enjoy!

Rosie's Back In the Kitchen. And G Is For Gremolata.

OK, I know. Enough of the Hawthornelets and my trips and my riverwalks and my ballgames and veterans memorials. When is Rosie getting back into the kitchen? Well, I dipped my toes in the kitchen today, so to speak. I'm just making a light hors d'oeuvre today: Fresh grape tomatoes from my garden stuffed with gremolata. And what, exactly, is gremolata, you ask?

Well, it's a delicious combination of parsley, rosemary, almonds, garlic, lemon zest, crushed red peppers, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt and pepper.

I have a little mini-processor into which I threw some coarsely chopped parsley, rosemary, and garlic and the lemon zest and pepper flakes.

Add in the almonds.

And pour in a splash of red wine vinegar and some olive oil and process until you get the right consistency. I must thank Maxine for the red wine vinegar. Apparently a chemistry professor at the university where Maxine teaches make his own vinegar, which starts out with a "mother", then goes further into some involved process. I'm not sure if any distillation was involved, (Of course not. This is a Baptist school.) but the flavor is wonderful.

And here's my gremolata.

I picked some tomatoes from the garden, took a little slice off the bottoms so they sit up without falling over like little roly polys, scooped out the seeds, then stuffed with the gremolata mixture.

And this is one little mouthful of deliciousity.

You have the herbiness of the rosemary and parsley, the crunchy nuttiness of the almonds, the heat of the red peppers, the fresh acidity of the tomatoes, and finally the the citrusy goodness of the zesty lemonocity which kind of wraps all the different flavors up in a lovely little package of yumminess.

Not only can you SEE all the flavors, you can TASTE them too.

I know I've done "G" before - for Gyoza- but decided gremolata was too good to leave out and figured not many people have actually tried this easy and delicious treat. Now, you may be asking yourself, "Where else could I use this wonderful accompaniment?" Well, ask no more. Tyler Florence has a recipe for Osso Buco Milanese with Gremolata. I've actually made this before and it was quite good. Maybe I'll blog the osso buco when I decide to go for a nice dip in the kitchen. Until then, the Gremolata will have to tide you over.

Rosie Makes Gremolata.

Rosie is making gremolata today.
 What is gremolata, you ask?
Gremolata is a chopped herb condiment
 typically made with parsley, garlic, and lemon zest
and traditionally served with osso bucco.
 I'm stuffing tomatoes with it for a little appetizer.

Here's my mise en place:

1/4 cup parsley
2 TB basil
 zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove
 1/4 cup toasted almonds
 1 TB fresh rosemary
3-4 TB olive oil (ELBOO - That's extra light Bertolli olive oil!)

I grated my zest.

Minced my basil ...

... and my parsley.

I added the zest and minced herbs to my mini processor
 and put in minced garlic, ...
 (The reason I mince, chop, and zest things ahead of time,
even though they're all going into the processor anyway,
 is that I get a much better consistency and texture when I do it myself.
Processors are nice, but they can't do everything.
 Had I put everything into the processor to begin with,
 some things would be over-processed
 and other things would be under-processed
. You want a nice amalgamation.)

... a little red wine vinegar (Maxine's home made stash.), ...

... salt and red pepper , ...

... and toasted almonds.

Strip off the rosemary from the stem ...

... and add that to the mix.

Pour olive oil in while processing until you get the right consistency.

Like this.

Here are my little tomato appetizers.

The brightness and freshness of the gremolata
 is wonderful with the just-picked tomatoes.
 You've got a lot of flavors working together
 here to create a lovely fusion.

This is summer at its best.
 Stay tuned for another fresh herb delight - chimichurri sauce.

Rosie Takes Advantage Of Her Garden Asparagus.

Rosie writes food articles for several publications on the Outer Banks.  This just appeared in the latest issue of Albemarle Tradewinds.

I love spring.  My garden is finally coming alive again.  It's been chugging throughout the winter, though I always have something blooming somewhere, but now it's coming out in full force.

Every year, I look forward to the return of the ospreys and the appearance of my asparagus.  That way I know it's spring regardless of what the calendar says.  Calendars really don't mean anything down here.  It's April and the temperatures were 76 one day, then in the thirties the next.

My first preparation of asparagus is with a gremolata. Gremolata, in case you didn't know, is a fresh herbal concoction combining garlic, parsley, and lemon zest, traditionally served with osso bucco, a classic Italian veal dish.  It's herbalicious goodness at its best.

 

 

Sautéed Asparagus with Almond Gremolata

2 TB almonds, toasted and chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 TB fresh chives, chopped

1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

Pinch kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

½ pound asparagus, trimmed

2 TB unsalted butter.

Combine first eleven ingredients in small bowl.  Sauté asparagus in unsalted butter over medium high heat until crisp tender.  Spoon gremolata over asparagus and enjoy.

Whenever we think of pesto, we think of the ubiquitous basil and pine nut pesto.  I like to push the the nut and herb concept a bit and go for different, unexpected flavors.

Asparagus with Pistachio and Mint Pesto

For the pesto:

¼ cup pistachios, toasted

1 small garlic clove, minced

Zest of 1 lemon

Pinch kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

½ cup fresh mint leaves, packed

⅓ cup of your favorite extra virgin olive oil

Rosie’s Note:  I like to pack flavor into whatever I’m preparing, so for my olive oil, I’m using a Lemon-Infused Oil from Outer Banks Olive Oil Company, located in Mile Post 6 Plaza, next to Chip's Wine and Beer, and also in Duck.

For the asparagus:

½ pound asparagus, ends trimmed

1 TB Lemon-infused olive oil

Pinch kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper.

Heat oven to 425°.

In a dry skillet, toast the pistachios for about 2 minutes over medium heat – until fragrant.  Set aside and let cool.

In a processor, pulse the pistachios, garlic, zest, salt, pepper, and mint until you get a thick paste.  With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil.

Toss the asparagus on a baking sheet  with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast asparagus at 425° for about 8 minutes, until crisp-tender.  Toss with pesto and serve.

Please enjoy!

No doubt, more asparagus recipes will coming your way soon.  Gotta strike while the iron's hot!

Seafood Dinner Tonight. Big Surprise There.

Last night, Mr. Hawthorne came home with some lovely wahoo fillets.

He seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Then sauteed them in extra-light olive oil and unsalted butter.

On all sides.

Perfectly cooked. But YOWZA! They tasted like CRAP. Waaaay too fishy. I don't know what happened. We love wahoo, but hated these fillets. So, we put them away, until today, when Mr. Hawthorne tried to redeem the wahoo. We're talking fish cakes.

First, he diced onion and green and red peppers.

Then, he added the torn wahoo to the mix.

Some panko breadcrumbs went in along with 1 slice, torn, of whole wheat bread.

Two beaten eggs.

A glop of mayo.

Some yellow mustard.

A bit of Old Bay seasoning went in then he formed the fish mixture into patties and rolled them in more panko.

Saute in extra light Bertolli olive oil and unsalted butter.

Turn over.

Oh golly. This was good. No fishy taste. Just good fish. The sauce is mayo, coarse ground mustard, smushed capers and a bit of caper joos, lemon juice, and a tiny bit of sweet relish. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I'm preparing THE FIRST OYSTERS OF THE SEASON!

I'm going to be broiling oysters with toppings. And here's my first topping mixture: Chopped spinach Red pepper Onion

I melted a bit of unsalted butter in the skillet, then added the spinach.

After coating the spinach with the butter, I added a little bit of water and let the spinach steam. Then drained whatever water was left.

Next, I added in some more butter.

And added the peppers and onions.

Saute for a minute or two.

Then add in some cream.

Season with salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg.

Here are my lovely oysters.

I shucked away until I got a pan full of oysters.

Now, I decided to make three different toppings: 1) Corn salsa with jalapeno tostados and Monterey Jack cheese. 2) Gremolata with cheeses. 3) Spinach mixture with Swiss cheese and panko breadcrumbs.

On the left, I have the corn salsa we bought at the Amish Market in Yanceyville, NC. Mr. Hawthorne saw a lady there putting 5 jars of this stuff in her cart and he decided he must have some. It's good stuff. In the middle, I have some gremolata topping.

On the right, I have my spinach/onion/red pepper/cream/nutmeg mixture.

For the corn salsa topped oysters, I'm going to add crushed jalapeno tostados and Monterey Jack cheese. For the spinach oysters, I'm going to add Swiss cheese and panko.

Here are the corn salsa and tostado toppings.

Close up.

Close up of spinach topped oysters.

Another close up, since they looked soooo good.

Corn salsa and tostado topped oyster.

Another one, just because it looks gooood.

I topped the spinach oysters with Swiss cheese and Panko.

The gremolata topped oysters have tostado and panko on them, plus cheese.

Close up of spinach oyster with cheese and panko.

Corn salsa and Monterey Jack cheese and tostado.

Spinach.

Corn.

Spinach.

Spinach oyster ready for the broiler.

I put them under the broiler (at 350 degrees - I have a very HOT broiler) for 5-6 minutes.

Corn salsa, tostado, Monterey Jack cheese oyster on the left, gremolata oyster in middle, and spinach, Swiss cheese, and panko oyster on the right.

Enjoy the views.

Delicious.