What’s Cooking

I do not pretend to be a great chef or a gourmand.  I enjoy cooking when I have time to prep and prepare… and that is not often.  I have a few standard recipes that people seem to like, and so I make those when we have company over.  I always tell myself that I will be better at having people over and quit worrying about what I cook or how my house looks.

I dream of hosting small dinner parties with lots of laughter and wine, happiness rolling off of people as they tell delightful stories and debate the issues of the day.  Instead, I have sticky table mats and lucky charms rolling around under the table.  I am however, convinced, that none of this matters.  We should get back to the time of pot luck dinners and having friends over and letting the kids run around barefoot outside while the parents enjoy adult conversation.   However, the days march by and the invitations to come over get stuck between signing report cards and baseball practice.

One of the reasons that I was so excited when the New York Butcher Shoppe came to town is that it offered an alternative to having to actually cook a good meal for friends. They offer pre-made gourmet meals that require very little effort on my part.  I have been selectively trying different options as I have had time and I have two clear favorites.  The first is their prepared tenderloin.  It was a little pricey and would have served four people.  It truly tasted like fine restaurant fare.  It was after that delight that I discovered something I have never cooked before– tuna.

They have sushi grade tuna at a very reasonable price (about $5.00) a steak.  I had no idea how easy tuna is to prepare or how good.  I had honestly never tried it before a few weeks ago and thought that it all tasted like canned tuna smells.

I bought the steaks and looked through a ton of recipes, and finally just essentially took a few recipes (mainly this one from Food Network) and switched and substituted a few things. You may want to try the Food Network one to get started though, mine is just a hodgepodge recipe.

# 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
# 1 garlic clove, grated
# 2 limes, juiced (I used lime juice because I am lazy and I had it available)
# 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I always use more soy sauce than it calls for)
# Pinch sugar (I used 4 or 5 pinches of brown sugar)
# Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
# 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
# 1 (6-ounce) block sushi-quality tuna (available at New York Butcher Shoppe)

I stirred all of the ingredients together.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the tuna generously with salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot oil and sear for 1 minute on each side to form a slight crust. Pour 1/2 of the mixture into the pan to coat the fish. Serve the seared tuna with the sliced and the remaining sauce drizzled over the whole plate.

The result is very good, and it is quite easy to prepare. Now, all I have to do is actually invite people over…