"Party in My Mouth"

There is nothing better than finding a good recipe that is completely new, going with it, and ending up with one of the best meals you remember eating.  For Valentines Day, we decided to stay in and cook, and wow, are we glad we did.

My husband picked up a delicious tuna steak from Whole Foods and I found this amazing recipe (which had the best of reviews) on Epicurious.com.  Without further ado, here is the recipe and pictures of our meal:


African Adobo-Rubbed Tuna Steak

Ingredients
For the avocado salsa:
2 ripe avocados, pitted, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced on the bias
2 jarred piquillo peppers, diced (or substitute 2 jarred roasted red peppers)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. fresh orange juice
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the adobo: 
1 1/2 tsp. toasted and ground coriander seeds
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1 1/2 tbs. dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbs. kosher salt

1 tbs. paprika
1 1/2 tbs. dried orange peel
1 tbs. sugar
4 6-oz tuna steaks

For the cucumbers: 
2 1/2 tbs. sugar, or to taste
1/2 c. Champagne vinegar
1 European cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and very thinly sliced

Preparation
For the salsa: In a medium bowl, combine the diced avocados, scallions, peppers, and garlic.  In another bowl, whisk together the orange and lime juices, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Pour over the avocado mixture and gently toss.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the cucumbers: Mix the sugar and vinegar in a bowl, stirring well.  Add the cucumbers  and allow to marinate for about 15 minutes.

To serve, arrange the cucumber in neat slices across each plate.  Slice the tuna and lay it over the cucumbers.  Spoon the avocado salsa on top of or around the tuna.  Spoon a little of the pickling juices around the cucumbers, and serve.  (Sometimes the recipe cook adds a little grated orange zest for garnish as well.)

For the adobo:
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Rub each of the tuna steaks with 1 1/2 tsp of oil and sprinkle generously with the adobo.  (Reserve any extra adobo spice rub for another use.)  In a nonstick skillet, heat the remaining 2 tbs. of oil until it begins to smoke.  Sear the tuna on each side for only 1 minute - the tuna is served rare.  Transfer to a plate and set aside.

The finished product: tuna with a dollop of avocado yogurt dip and cucumber salad.

We modified this recipe a little bit - my husband wanted to eat the tuna as a steak, so we didn't slice and arrange per the recipe.  Nor did we make the avocado salsa (though next time we use this recipe, even though we loved it this time around, we want to follow the instructions exactly to see how the flavors of the salsa blend with the tuna).  Instead of the avocado salsa we used the avocado yogurt dip we had made (avocado from our Farm Share) - which was actually an awesome compliment to the spicy tuna.  We also wanted to eat a salad, so we used some of our Farm Share lettuce and added the cucumber salad and tomatoes to the greens (modified slightly, too...we kept in the seeds and didn't have Champagne vinegar so we used a combination of red wine vinegar and white balsamic vinegar).

This dish combined amazing spices and flavors - so much so that my husband said several times throughout the meal that it felt like a "party in [his] mouth."  It was a an incredible meal!