Seared Ahi Tuna with a killer Ginger Lime Vinaigrette

Did you know that there are over 60 kinds of tuna fish in the sea, but only about 14 of them are well known to us?

The 4 most common tuna fishes we see, at least here in the Western U.S., are bluefin, yellowtail, albacore, and skipjack. What you want for this dish is “sushi-grade” ahi tuna. Ask your fishmonger if you don’t know which one that is.

I’ve previously blogged about yellowfin and how it’s an excellent replacement for the albacore tuna that we usually use for tuna fish sandwiches.  You know, the stuff we usually get in a can? Yellowfin is a very delicate and delicious fish and is also known as ahi. And ahi makes for some very nice eating. Something that you see a lot of in restaurants is seared ahi, which means that the outside is quickly seared (cooked) while the inside will remain uncooked.

Seared Ahi with Sesame Crust

Until recently, I was never a fan of raw fish and avoided sushi and seared ahi for that reason. Even though seared ahi isn’t completely raw, it mostly is, so it wasn’t something I was going out of my way to make. But the thing about ahi is this: it doesn’t taste as good when fully cooked. It’s tough and chewy, but when it’s only just seared on the outside, the meat is tender and melts like butter on your tongue.

Tyler Florence

Recently I sent my husband out to get some fresh fish for dinner and he came home with ahi. A little disappointed, and not having made it for quite some time, I had to look up a recipe for it. I wasn’t going to overcook it again because I remembered how tough it was last time I did this, so I was going to have to get over this raw fish phobia and pretty quick! I decided to go with a recipe I found on the Food Network from cutie Tyler Florence. I mean, with a face like that, how can you not but trust him? While the fish is certainly the centerpiece, I have to say that the sauce he makes for it is even better! It really is “to die for”.

Start making the sauce as soon as you get home. Let the flavors blend for as long as you can. Then, get the fish out of the refrigerator about 45 minutes to an hour before you want to cook it. Here’s why. Since you aren’t cooking it through all the way, if it’s not brought to room temperature before you prepare it, the fish will be ice cold in the middle and that’s no good.

Because the sauce is super flavorful, what you want to do is season the fish very conservatively. All you need is salt and pepper. Start with some coconut oil on your cooking surface (I used the griddle down the center of my new stove, but you can use any good sauté pan or skillet that you have). You could use your grill, but you’ve got to stay with it because this takes only a matter of a few minutes and if you walk away from it, it’s toast. Frankly, I don’t recommend the grill for this.

Get the cooking surface very hot and then lay the tuna on it, cooking it until you see a layer about 1/16" or 1/8” deep turn white. Flip it over and do the same on the other side. Go a little more if you must, but don’t overdo it! That’s it, take it off. Spoon over some sauce, and the sliced avocado, serve it with some rice if you like, place some steamed bok choy along side it (make sure to spoon some sauce over that as well) and go to town. You’ve got a restaurant-quality dinner right there!

Here is the link to the recipe. The only substitution I made is that I used coconut aminos because I avoid soy sauce.

I have made this ahi a few times now and really enjoy it. Needless to say, I seem to have gotten over my fear of raw fish and have even ventured out into the world of sushi! If you’re still on the fence about raw fish, this is a good dish to start with. Or, you can just make the sauce and serve it over vegetables. I especially love it on the steamed baby bok choy.  Add tofu and turn any veggie dish into an Asian-inspired affair.

Tyler’s killer Seared Ahi Tuna

I hope you try it. It’s such a quick dinner to make on a week night. It literally takes less than 15 minutes to make the sauce and sear the fish. If you do make it, I’d love to know what you think.

Tuscan Tuna Pasta Salad

When the weather warms up, I really like to eat dinners that don’t require heating up anything in the kitchen. It makes the house hot and me hot, so I like to minimize that. Salads are the perfect thing then.

Tuna is something I don’t usually make much, but it is one of those omega-3 foods that should really have a place in our diets, provided it is responsibly caught. You’ll find the company’s stance on that usually on the label - for instance, Wild Planet’s line of fish. You can find this brand at Whole Foods or Sprouts Farmers Markets here in Southern California.

I used to always get albacore canned in water but I recently discovered the taste of yellowfin tuna canned in olive oil and it makes a big difference! The oil keeps it really moist and the Yellowfin variety has a very mild, un-fishy taste to it. I like it better than albacore now.

Yellowfin Tuna

Anyway, the tuna salad most of us think of is usually coated in mayonnaise, and that’s fine once in a while, especially when you have a fishy tasting fish and want to cover it up with mayo and pickle relish. But I have found that I like tuna salad best when it’s made with an oil and lemon juice dressing. It has a cleaner, fresher taste to it I think, and it allows the flavors of all the other ingredients to come through, especially when there’s a lot going on like in this salad.

Tuscan Tuna Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
1 lb. gluten-free pasta
2 cans tuna in oil, drained and flaked, preferably Yellowfin packed in olive oil
1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup shredded basil leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped green onion
Salt and pepper to taste
Lettuce leaves
Lemon wedges

Instructions:

1. Place the oil, crushed red pepper and tomatoes in a jar and shake well to combine. Set aside for 1 hour.
2. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until just tender, following the package instructions. Drain and place into a salad bowl. 
3. Stir in the oil mixture, tuna, olives, and half of the basil. Season with salt and pepper as needed. 
4. Divide the salad among 4 plates, placing the tuna over a large lettuce leaf, and sprinkle on the Parmesan and remaining basil. Squeeze a little lemon over the top before serving.

Alternatives:

Sometimes I add a few more things to spice up my tuna salad even more: cherry tomatoes cut in half, chopped cucumber or celery for a little crunch, a hard-boiled egg, and instead of the kalamata olives, sometimes I use a little olive tapenade which provides even more interesting flavors because it has capers and a few other things in it. Get creative and add whatever suits you. Today I added garbanzo beans which was pretty unique, and tasted better than I thought it would.

Fear no Fish!

If you're intimidated by cooking fish at home, there really is no need. It's a relatively simple thing to do, and what's great is that it takes a short amount of time to prepare and to cook. Plus, the health benefits of eating fish makes it worthwhile incorporating it into your weekly meal plans.

We hear a lot about the "Mediterranean Diet" which focuses on fruits and vegetables, lean protein, especially fish, using olive oil for fat and drinking moderate amounts of wine, and many health professionals consider it to be the world's healthiest cuisine. Eating this way can do a lot to prevent disease. Fish is an important component of the cuisine, providing lean protein and the ever-important EFAs (essential fatty acids) that our bodies need to thrive.

When fish is fresh it should smell like salty sea air. It is best eaten the same day it was purchased (or at least within 2 days). After that it loses its freshness and the smelly fishiness starts to set in. Don't push it - fish is not very forgiving. We want flavor, but we don't want THAT kind of flavor.

If you're new to fish or are afraid of the fishiness factor, marinate it. I like making a little "sauce" of olive oil and fresh lemon juice, a little salt and pepper and setting the fish in it for a few hours. You can get fancy and add some fresh or dried herbs to it as well, but that's up to you. Put the marinade and the fish in a heavy ziplock bag and pop it in the fridge in the morning to eat that night. Just make sure to throw away the marinade and not reuse it.

What type of fish to buy? I like the white fish varieties. I am not a gamey meat kinda gal, so the whiter anything is, like chicken and turkey, the better I like it. Go to the fish counter at your supermarket, or better yet, to a fish purveyor or specialty market where they get fresh fish in daily, and ask him/her for a recommendation on what's freshest and the least fishy. Start there. You can always experiment later. Personally, I like halibut, John Dory (an Australian seabass), sand dabs, tilapia, and sole.

Where does your fish come from? Whatever you end up buying, try to avoid farmed fish whenever possible. The potential health hazards in eating farmed fish are being documented more and more. Farmed fish are given antibiotics to keep diseases in check because these fish are confined to living in pools where disease is rampant instead of out in the wild. They are also usually fed an unnatural diet, which passes along into the meat which we later consume (this is actually the case with beef, chicken and every other kind of meat as well, so sourcing your fish, meat and poultry is very important). Check out this website for more information on what types of seafood are best eaten in your region, in terms of sustainability, toxic load, and what should be avoided due to overfishing. The Monterey Bay Aquarium updates their Pocket Guide regularly so you can download it and carry it with you when you shop or go out to eat.

How to cook it? For smaller, thinner fish such as sole or sand dabs, pan sauteeing is best, and for thicker, denser fleshed fish such as swordfish or salmon, grilling is nice. Poaching is another simple way to make fish and you can do that with just about any of them, from the delicate ones to the sturdier ones. Here are two of my favorite fish recipes.

Pecan-crusted Fish with Beurre Blanc

Nuts with fish are a great combination and a nutritional powerhouse of essential fatty acids. Serves 2.

2 fillets of any type of white fish I listed above, about 4-5 oz. per person
salt and pepper
2 oz. finely chopped pecans
1 Tbsp each olive oil and butter
Beurre Blanc (recipe follows)

Season the fish with salt and pepper. Place the chopped nuts on a cutting board or plate and press the fish into the nuts so that they adhere to one side of the fish. Heat the butter and oil in a wide saute pan until very hot. Place the fish fillets in the pan nut side down, turn down the heat to medium and cook for about 4 minutes per side. Turn over and cook the other side. Transfer to warm plates and drizzle with Beurre Blanc or serve the sauce in ramekins alongside the fish if you prefer.

Beurre Blanc

1/4 cup minced shallots
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar, such as champagne
1/4 lb. cold butter

Combine shallots, wine and lemon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce until the liquid is nearly gone. Don't let it get too brown, but a little darkening is good for flavor. Cut butter into chunks. Remove pan from heat and let it cool slightly. Remove half of the reduction and save to make another batch. Add a piece or two of butter to the pan and stir steadily with a spoon or whisk until it melts. Return the pan to very gentle heat, adding a little more butter, continuously adding more butter until all of it is incorporated. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Keep the sauce warm by either leaving it in the pan if using immediately, or transfer to an insulated container for longer keeping.
Variation: add a Tbsp of chopped herbs such as dill, fennel, tarragon, chives or chervil to the finished sauce.

Salmon with Balsamic Onion Marmalade

The acidity of the vinegar and orange juice nicely compliments the richness of the salmon for a nice balance of flavors. Serves 2.

1 red onion
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (can be an inexpensive variety)
2 salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)
salt and pepper

Peel onion and cut into 8 wedges. Pour 1 tsp. oil into a 2-3 qt. pan over medium-high heat. When pan in hot, add onion and cook, turning once, to lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add orange juice and vinegar. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce heat, cover, and simmer until onion is very tender when pierced, about 45 minutes. Shortly before onion is done, pour remaining oil in a fry pan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add salmon. Cook, turning once, until fish is opaque but still moist-looking in the thickest part, 7-9 minutes total. Transfer salmon to plates and serve with the onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve alongside an asparagus risotto.

Foeniculi, foenicula...or is it funiculi, funicula?

Do you remember that song, "Funiculi, Funicula"? I remember it from my childhood and I vaguely recall my mother singing it. It had happy lyrics with a sing-songy melody. I thought the tune was about fennel, but research reveals it's actually about an Italian cable car. What does this have to do with fennel? Apparently nothing. Except that the Latin for fennel is foeniculum vulgare, which sounds similar. Confused? Never mind.

Actually, fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum. It is a hardy perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves, indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean. But it has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea coast and on riverbanks. Fennel is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with both medicinal and culinary uses. 

Medicinal Uses

Fennel is widely employed as a carminative, both in humans and in veterinary medicine (e.g., dogs), to treat flatulence.  It is often made into a tea to help soothe the digestive system. I love fennel tea for when I'm feeling queasy.

In the Indian subcontinent, fennel seeds are said to improve eyesight. Ancient Romans regarded fennel as the herb of sight.

Fennel may be an effective diuretic and a potential drug for treatment of hypertension.

Syrup prepared from fennel juice was formerly given for chronic cough. As an antispasmotic, fennel acts on the smooth muscle of the respiratory passages as well as the stomach and intestines; this is the reason that fennel preparations are used to relieve bronchial spasms. Since it relaxes bronchial passages, allowing them to open wider, it is sometimes included in asthma, bronchitis, and cough formulas.

Culinary Uses

The bulb, foliage and seeds of the fennel plant are widely used in many of the culinary traditions of the world. The small flowers of wild fennel are the most potent form, and also the most expensive. Dried fennel seed is an aromatic, anise-flavored spice. The leaves are delicately flavored and similar in shape to those of dill, and thus make a lovely garnish. The bulb is a crisp vegetable that can be sauteed, stewed, braised, grilled or eaten raw.

Though fennel is available year-round, it’s at its best from fall to early spring and is usually considered a winter crop. So right now is the best time to eat this vegetable.

If you haven't been brave enough to try fennel because it looks weird and you didn't know what to do with it, give it a try.

Wash the whole thing and cut off the stalks and leaves. What you now have left is the bulb, which tastes delicious roasted, and despite what some recipes say, needs some cooking first. Simply popping the raw fennel into the oven just doesn't cut it in my opinion, so I boil a pot of water and drop in a fennel bulb that’s been quartered, cooking it for about 10-15 minutes to soften it up. With a slotted spoon I then remove the fennel from the water and dry it off with a kitchen towel. Then I place it in a small baking dish brushed with a little olive oil, sprinkle on a bit of salt, pepper and a generous helping of grated Parmesan cheese, and roast it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until the cheese just turns golden brown. It’s a delicious side dish to roasted chicken or sauteed fish.

I use fennel seeds (that I buy as an herb in the spice section of the market) as a crust for meat, especially pork tenderloin. In fact, my favorite way to prepare pork is to take a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from my herb garden, finely chop the leaves along with a tablespoon of fennel seeds, add kosher salt and pepper and blend all these on a cutting board where I then roll the tenderloin in the mixture until completely covered. The pork goes into a sauté pan and gets browned on the stovetop for a few minutes on each side. Then I pop the saute pan in a 350 degree oven and roast it for about 45 minutes. Easy and unbelievably tasty. The herbs and salt create a lovely crust for the pork and provide assertive flavor. You could do this with beef or lamb as well.

Fennel is also delicious with a mild, white fish and a nice way to marry these together is to use the feathery fronds. Place some chopped leaves under a fish fillet on a piece of aluminum foil, add a pat of butter, salt and pepper, and wrap up. Either bake in the oven or place on a medium grill until done (a thin enough piece of fish shouldn't take but 10-12 minutes). Steaming in this way allows a subtle fennel flavor to infuse the fish. Serve roasted fennel and mashed potatoes alongside it.

My mother has a delicious recipe where she quarters the bulb, cooks it in a little vegetable broth in a sauce pan on the stove top, and then makes a sauce for it out of Boursin cheese and cubed ham. If the sauce needs thickening, she adds a little corn starch to the broth. Once the fennel is mostly cooked, she pours the mixture into a baking dish and pops it into the oven for about 10 minutes. This would make a lovely lunch with a mixed green salad.

Fennel has been calling my name at the farmer’s market lately and I could no longer resist, so I picked one up for myself this weekend. I might try something new with it. I found a recipe for roasting it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar that sounded interesting. If the warm weather we've been having continues, I might chop it up raw and make a salad with it.  Or when I find that recipe from my mother, I'll make that. 

There is so much you can do with fennel. If you're getting bored with the same old vegetables you normally eat, be adventurous and try it.

Grilling Trout

In June I wrote a post about my trip to Mammoth Lakes, California, and how we had fresh trout for dinner. Though I gave some hint as to how the fish were prepared that evening, I thought I’d spend more time on it today, considering we recently enjoyed it again.

And I wanted to focus on trout, because it is really a wonderful fish and I don't hear much about it, either from friends making it, or on cooking shows. It's delicate, moist, flaky, and mildly sweet and needs very little to taste great. If you’re not able to head to your nearest lake and fish for your dinner, but you have a Costco nearby, you’re in business. In fact, as my husband pointed out, it's actually cheaper to get it at Costco. By the time you buy your fishing license, get bait, etc. you've spent more (of course there's the whole fishing experience thing, if you're into that). Costco sells a 4-pack of fresh, whole trout, which are the next best thing. Granted, I’m not the one who deals with the head and tail (I leave that to the fisherman at home), but I think I could, if I had to.

Trout is wonderfully healthy and a good source of Omega-3’s.  Omega 3’s are at critical lows in the SAD (Standard American Diet) and we should be eating more of them.  Omega 3’s cannot be manufactured by the body, so they must be obtained from food and fish is an excellent way to add this critical nutrient to a healthy diet.

Omega 3’s offer many health benefits:

• They can alleviate inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and help reduce the amount of medication taken for them.
• They prevent the blood from forming clots, which therefore reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• They protect against heart and circulatory problems and are good for the healthy development of the brain and eyes.
• People who regularly consume oily fish (such as trout) are less likely to suffer dementia or Alzheimer’s.
• Making trout a part of our diet can also help reduce bad (LDL) cholesterol and lower blood pressure.
• In addition, this fish offers Vitamin B12, B6, niacin, potassium, phosphorous and selenium. Fat-soluble vitamins are plentiful in oily fish such as Vitamins A, D, E and K.

Other oily fish are salmon, sardines, swordfish, fresh tuna, anchovies, eel, kipper, mackerel, carp, smelt, and bluefish. As oily fish contain a certain amount of fat it is best to use cooking methods where additional oil is not needed. Therefore, grilling, baking, steaming, and pan-frying are ideal.

And finally, Rainbow Trout is a good choice in terms of sustainability, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s annual Seafood Watch guide.

Ok, so enough about that. We were in the mood for trout again so we headed to Costco and here’s what we did with it.

Grilled Trout with Herbs

Preheat your grill.

Take each trout and rinse it well under running tap water. Pat dry with paper towels.  Place fish on cutting board. Open cavity and stuff with a few sprigs of fresh lemon thyme, lemon slices, salt and pepper. Close up cavity. My husband will use a bamboo skewer, snapped in half, and weave it in and out to sew up the cavity, if you will. This helps prevent the stuffing from falling out when he turns the fish on the grill.

Do this with the remaining fish.  Place the fish on the heated grill and grill about 8-10 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. The rule of thumb is generally about 10 minutes per inch, measuring at the thickest part of the fish, of course.

Remove from grill. Lift fish head with one hand while sticking a fork in under the gills on the underside. Gently pry the skeleton away from the meat by lifting the body up. The meat should easily pull away from the bones. Use gravity. Flip the fish over and do the same on the other side. The head, skeleton and tail will then all be attached to one another and you can throw this out. Congratulations - you've deboned the fish in one fell swoop! Remove bamboo skewers and stuffing from cavity. 

Serve "butterflied" (open) with melted lemon butter.  In my opinion, the best veggie to serve alongside this fish is green beans. Dribble a little melted lemon butter on those, too. Maybe sprinkle on both some sliced almonds for a little texture.

You can also make fish tacos with trout. Simply pan-fry a filet for 5-7 minutes and add to a corn tortilla, along with shredded green cabbage with lime juice. Sprinkle on a little green Tabasco sauce or salsa verde and some “white sauce”, made from a little mayo and sour cream mixed together with a bit of lime juice and grated lime peel.

Mammoth Trout & Forest Bathing

Last weekend was my husband’s family reunion, of sorts. Just the immediate family - mother, father, 3 brothers, their wives and a couple of dogs . The occasion was fishing and the location, a family hangout for many years, Mammoth Lakes.

We drove up from southern California along Hwy 395, through miles and miles of dry, mostly deserted, barren, hot desert. The occasional Joshua Tree dotted the landscape, adding some visual interest to an otherwise monotonous stretch of beige nothingness. Dilapidated buildings, the occasional gas station, rest stop, and home-made jerky stand were all we saw for hours. After sweating through 95 degree heat in a car with non-working air conditioning (!) the road started its ascent after Bishop. As we climbed, the car’s outside temperature gauge literally went down one degree after another every minute, eventually reaching the high 60’s. Ahhhhh, relief! Not only was the temperature change a welcome relief, but so were the sights. As the road gained elevation, the landscape also changed. Brown desert gave way to green pines, sand gave way to craggy mountains.

As we exited the highway into Mammoth Lakes, my husband and I recognized stores and restaurants we’d been to the last time we were here and we were glad to see many of them were still in business. Of course, his memories go back much farther than mine. Childhood summers and winter vacations were spent at the condo his parents had once owned here.

Mammoth in the winter

We were too early to check in to the condominium his family had rented for the weekend, so we drove past the street where we would have turned, and went a bit further up the road to Twin Lakes. Glad to get out and stretch our legs again, we were blasted with gale force winds we hadn’t expected. We took a few pictures, but the wind just about blew us over. Undeterred from enjoying this idyllic place we hadn’t seen in a long time, we got back in the car and continued up the road and crossed the bridge over the lake. You could see the waterfall best from this vantage point. We were both thinking the same thing: someday we would have to camp here. Twin Lakes Campground is small but beautiful, each campsite nestled among trees and shrubs, virtually private from its neighbors. One place I had never seen was the top of the waterfall that feeds Twin Lakes. What an amazing view! (Later I was to learn that it had appeared in a Toyota commercial).


The mountains had the last remnants of snow at their peaks – just enough to remind us that winter had passed but that summer hadn’t quite yet arrived. Despite a lackluster season, snow melt created ample water to feed these lakes. Fishermen in their little aluminum boats bobbed around on their surfaces with rods dangling in the water, hoping to catch something. I was hoping the men in this family would be successful, too. Dinner the second night depended on it!


As evening approached we realized it was time to head to the condo where the rest of the family had probably already arrived. After all the greetings and unpacking the car, dinner was quickly assembled and we tucked in. It had been a long travel day for all of us.

Lake Crowley, 15 miles from Mammoth Lakes

The following morning, as sandwiches and goodies were packed, the men were sent off to fish Lake Crowley. The women headed out to sightsee. We headed to the lakes (I didn't mind seeing them again) and drove past the Mammoth Mountain ski resort up to the summit for a panoramic view of the Minarets, as well as other mountain peaks and alpine meadows. The sky was blue, the air clear, everything breathtakingly beautiful.

Throughout the day we had been getting periodic text message updates from one of the brothers with the # of fish caught. For a while, it was looking kind of grim. I was thinking that maybe we should give them the address of the nearest supermarket to stop at along the way! At the end of the day they came home with enough to feed the 10 people we would have for dinner. Fresh trout for everyone!!

Lake trout

My brother-in-law, Steve, is a really good cook, and he was in charge of preparing them.  He left the fish whole and into the cavity placed a twig of rosemary, lemon slices, salt and pepper and sliced onion. Then he grilled the fish whole for 7 minutes per side and let them rest for a couple of minutes before cutting off the head and tail and filleting them.

We each received half a fish, which was plenty, with all the other food we had. There were green beans almondine, rice salad, and Greek salad. It was a great feast and everything was so good. The fish was of course the main attraction and absolutely wonderful. Moist and juicy and incredibly fresh (like 'hours' fresh, not 'days'). 


That weekend I realized that there is something sort of primal in catching and preparing your own food - a link to times when people had to rely on themselves. Today's "hunting" at the supermarket doesn't provide that same feeling. To go out and "hunt and gather" for oneself provides a greater appreciation and respect for the food we eat, since there would also have been times one would have had to go without.  

I fished with my husband and father-in-law on that very same lake many years ago. I had caught the first fish and at the end of the day had caught the most. There was a sense of accomplishment there, I will admit. But my favorite part of being in the mountains is the time spent outdoors. I find that very primal, too. I recently read that a great way to recenter yourself is to engage in "forest bathing". I thought this was a great term to describe spending time in natural settings. I do feel "bathed" when I see the beauty of sweeping vistas, alpine lakes and meadows, and snow-capped  rugged mountains. It renews and refreshes.