The best tuna recipe ever

I know this is rather monochromatic, but it was delicious!

Cooking tuna can be daunting.  Most people like it rare but I'm not one of those people. I like mine cooked just over rare, meaning still a little pink inside. This takes some practice but it's not impossible, to be sure.  What I've figured out is that if the tuna is about 1- 1 1/2 inches thick, I cook it for 3 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second.  There, that's it.  Now you have no reason to be afraid anymore. Go buy some tuna.

Now, if you want to have really spectacular, awesome, mind-blowing tuna, then here's what you need to do. I got this from the Internet, I think. This makes enough for the three of us.

1 Tbs white wine vinegar
1/2 cup white wine
2 Tbs minced shallot
1 1/2 tsp wasabi paste (don't let this spook you)
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3 6 oz tuna steaks, about 1" thick

Simmer the vinegar, wine & shallots over medium heat until it reduces to a couple of Tablespoons.  Strain out the shallots & return liquid to the saucepan.  Add the wasabi & soy sauce.  Over low heat, add the butter one cube at a time, whisking it to emulsify. DON'T LET IT BOIL. When all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, rub olive oil on the tuna and season with salt & pepper. Heat skillet over medium-high heat.  Place fish in the hot skillet and sear 3 minutes on first side, then 2 minutes on the flip side.  Of course, adjust this time if you like yours more rare or more done, although I wouldn't recommend going more toward done.

Serve with the wasabi butter spooned over the fish. 

You may want to serve pasta, potatoes or rice with this because the butter sauce is so fantastic. Most recently, we had this with wild rice and roasted cauliflower.  This sauce is dangerous, folks. I mean, you might find yourself wanting to just eat it with a spoon. I think it would also be wonderful with salmon or chicken.  And don't let the wasabi scare you off.  As it cooks, it mellows and just imparts a cool flavor.  It is NOT spicy at all.  So please don't let that ingredient prevent you from trying this dish.  I promise you that you'll love it!

Would love to hear your comments below after you try it. If you don't love this dish then I'll tap dance down Main Street wearing a rainbow afro. That's how confident I am that you'll love it.  Bon Appetit!

Yet another good salmon

Around here, we eat salmon as often as possible.  We eat it for the obvious reasons...it's good for us, it's versatile, it's tasty.  However, I think the main reason I continue to cook it often and try new recipes is that my 8 year old loves salmon.  I mean, she really loves it. Glazed with honey & vermouth, smoked on the grill, broiled with Dijon and bread crumb topping, any way you can come up with.  I found a recipe on Pinterest months ago for a teriyaki salmon with sriracha cream.  The photo is just beautiful and I have been going back and stalking my own Pinterest board to see the picture. My hold up in making it was that I didn't have any sriracha and when cruising through the grocery store, the thought of sriracha just never popped into my head.

Well, recently, I paid a little visit to one of my favorite places, the Chef'Store.  As I wandered slowly through the aisles, I spotted the sriracha.  Ah hah!  I snatched up a bottle and headed straight for the checkout.  I knew what we were having for dinner that night.  I got home, pulled up Pinterest and got started.  I made the teriyaki sauce from scratch, as outlined in the recipe, but I think you could easily get away with using prepared teriyaki, so don't let that deter you.  It was all very easy to prepare and the result was dynamite. I really love this girl's site too. It's called Damn Delicious and she's got tons of awesome recipes posted there.

Results for the Akre house?  Thumbs up from the little one and an exchange of cool guy nods between me and the hubster.

I think this looks just beautiful!

 One thing I'll say is that this makes way more sriracha cream than 3 people will eat at one sitting.  Probably more than even 6 people would use.  So, whatever could I do? 

Sriracha cream sauce ingredients

 I came up with an EXCELLENT use for the leftover sauce, if I do yell so myself in my shouty capitals. I fried up some green tomatoes and drizzled with the sauce.  You may have felt the Earth move a little that day.  Or, perhaps you heard the loud Hosanna! as I bit into that first one.  Crispy, tart, almost holy fried green tomatoes with an obligatory sprinkling of salt and that spicy sriracha deliciousness mixed all up in 'dere. 

I want another plate of these right now!

As I contemplated the success of this pairing, I began to imagine how else I could use up this divine leftover sauce. Some of my ideas were as a dip for boiled shrimp, mixed with cabbage for a spicy slaw on a fish or shrimp taco or even to shake up a chicken and waffle dealio.  So, don't worry about the amount of sauce this makes.  You'll find all kinds of great uses for it.  I'd love to hear about them.

Hungry Ladies Who Lunch

I had the great pleasure recently to meet up with my food-lovin' blogger friend Laura, -aka- The Hungry Lady. Laura is significantly younger than me, but she tolerated a lunch date with me nonetheless!  It was great to spend some face-to-face time talking about restaurants, her New Year's resolution to start cooking, and other food/wine stuff.  But, more importantly, I got to know more about her besides her love of food.  If you haven't read her blog, do yourself a favor and check it out. 

So, on to the food.


We met at MoMo's Bistro on Devine Street.  I had not been to MoMo's in years and never for lunch.  This was Laura's first time there ever.  The lunch menu was impressive.  Upscale sandwiches, deliciously described salads, a lobster quesadilla.  Laura chose the fish tacos and I opted for the French dip.  I'll start with Laura's...

Let me start with a familial aside.  My father hates tilapia.  I mean, HATES it.  He's sick of hearing the name, sick of seeing it on every flippin' menu, sick.of.it.  So, I couldn't wait to report back to my dad that MoMo's fish tacos are made with a real fish...Grouper.  When the plate arrived, all that I could utter was "wow, how pretty." 

The Hungry Lady sez "Yum Yum"

 It was a fantastic presentation.  Bright purple cabbage, beautifully grilled fish, bright green lime.  While I didn't taste, Laura said these were some of her favorite fish tacos and that the fish was cooking to perfection.  Thumbs up.

My choice sounds as boring as they come.  But, this sandwich will change your mind. What really caught my eye and convinced me that a French dip was in order was that it's made not with sliced roast beef, but with POT ROAST.  Hello?  Is this mike on?  Can you hear me in the back?  POT ROAST.  I have never seen this nor has it ever occurred to me to use this type of roast beef on a sandwich such as a F.D.  Sheer brilliance!  The meat was tender, juicy, flavorful...in a word, perfect.  But that's not all.  It was topped not with a food service-grade bland provolone or swiss. No, no.  MoMo's tops this baby with gruyere.  As it arrived at the table, it just looked dreamy with this soft, fresh hoagie roll with gooey, melty cheese cascading over that awesome meat.  And wait, there's more.  The French dip always comes "au jus."  For those of you who didn't major in French, this means "with juice."  (Ha Ha...I bet you figured that out when you were about 6, right?).  Well, it's been my experience that usually the jus is a sidecar filled with some run-of-the-mill beef broth.  This jus blew the doors off any French dip I've ever had.  Seriously.  Rich, deep flavor that just added that ideal finishing touch to this beautiful sandwich.  

I forgot to mention the fries..homemade and awesome!

So, folks, the bottom line is this.  I really like MoMo's for lunch!  I had a great meal, I got to learn more about a bloggie-friend who I really admire and I got to spread the word to you fine people.  Make a lunch date and enjoy!

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Random Restaurant Memories

I don't know what got me on this wavelength today, but I've been having flashes of funny memories involving dining experiences.  So, for lack of anything better to do, I thought I'd record them here, for posterity of course.

Opa!

There was the time that our family was on the way to Zorba's.  (This Greek restaurant opened in Irmo probably about the time I was in the 4th or 5th grade.  I'm guessing.  But, it's still there and is truly a tried and true Irmo institution.)  We're riding along and my sister was fiddling around with this new belt she'd gotten.  Remember those stretchy belts with the little bent loops that hooked together?  It was one of those.  We got into the restaurant, were seated, had ordered when I looked over and saw it.  I very casually asked Katherine, "Why do you have that belt around your neck?"  We all busted out laughing as she was horrified.  Hilarity ensued.

Very similar to the culprit

Or there was the time that my mom and dad let me take 2 friends to the Summit Club for my 12th birthday.  I guess they figured we'd all order something modest like steak.  But, I had a favorite at the Club.  Lobster Thermidor.  Not only did I order it, I encouraged my friends to do the same.  I'm sure my dad thoroughly enjoyed getting the bill that night.  Happy Birthday to me.

Another good one was during high school.  My dad was the EVP of a bank and the President was this god-awful Yankee nerd.  My boyfriend took me to dinner at Yamato's one evening.  We walked in and there was Yankee nerd at the bar clearly on a date with the mom of a girl I knew from school.  Interestingly, Yankee nerd's wife was not on this date with him.  I casually walked up and said hi to both of them and left them with mouths agape.  It was fun giving my dad that little tidbit of intel. 

Of course I already told y'all about the shrimp cocktail incident...Click here. 

When Neil and I first starting hanging out, we met a bunch of my friends in the bar at Harper's.  Neil and our friend Bryan decided to order dinner.  I didn't pay attention to their orders.  When they arrived, I looked at Neil's plate and thought to myself, "Hm, grilled chicken."  So, he starts eating it and each time I glanced over, the interior of this chicken breast was becoming pinker and pinker.  I asked him a couple times if he wanted to send it back and he said no and kept eating it.  Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore and starting telling him how I was really afraid this meal was going to kill him.  He kept saying that it was just fine and that I should try it.  Yeah, not thinkin' so.  But he insisted and put a bite of this raw chicken in my mouth.  Oh, the horror!  I belted out "That's FISH!"  He's giving me that freak-eye...this chick is unfamiliar with tuna?  But alas, before Neil, I hated fish passionately.  Shrimp, lobster, scallops I loved...but nothing with fins.   Since we've known each other, he has coached me into tuna (I like it more cooked than he does), salmon (WITHOUT the skin), grouper, mahi, flounder and catfish.  I'm evolving.  But I'd still take grilled chicken or shrimp over fish any day!

It can't get any rarer than that folks!

That's it for my random ramblings.  At least for now. 





 

TakoSushi

I am no sushi expert. In fact, until recently, I didn't even participate in the whole sushi thing. You see, despite numerous attempts, I just simply don't like raw fish at all. BUT, then, I was enlightened. Now, thanks to Chef Larry from SakiTumi, I am addicted to the shrimp TEMPURA roll.

Now, I am loyal to SakiTumi, but my husband is a huge fan of the TakoSushi folks. He believes their fish tacos are rivaled only by the Taco Boy at Folly Beach. And, lucky for me, their shrimp tempura roll rocks as well. One nice little detail about theirs is that it has a light sprinkling of red caviar on the outside...nice little salty crunch.

If you're unfamiliar with TakoSushi, give it a whirl. Apparently, they first opened a restaurant in Aiken, SC. My husband became their most loyal of loyals at their 2nd place in Greenville, SC. Now, we have them in Columbia and all is right with the world! It's on Assembly across from the Statehouse, where Doc's Gumbo Grille used to be. (BTW, Doc's isn't gone, just moved to Rosewood) :-)