"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!

Meat and Potatoes (or, Just Potatoes)

My husband made himself breakfast for dinner one night.  I had gone out with some friends and wasn't hungry, but I wished I was because his cheesy eggs and hash browns looked amazing.  Thank you, Farm Share, for these potatoes!

Tip: to get hash browns that are crispy on the outside but thick and cooked on the inside, bake potatoes first.  When they are cooled, cut them into cubes and fry them in a little bit of butter or olive oil.  (Maybe this is obvious to others, but it took us a while to get the cooking combination right!)

Tatsoi Stir Fry

Tatsoi is a leafy green that we received in the Farm Share the week of 2/10.  Our Farm Share newsletter included a recipe for a cold salad tatsoi that had a ginger/sesame base, and from that we drew inspiration to make a sesame/ginger stir fry with more of our vegetables from the share.

Using a wok, we heated up a little oil, threw in the carrots, then we added some water chestnuts, mushrooms and bamboo shoots.  To season, we added minced fresh ginger and some red pepper flakes, along with toasted sesame oil and soy sauce.  Lastly we threw in the tatsoi, barely wilted the veggies, and then served on a bed of brown rice.

Gorgeous Grapefruit!

Avocado Yogurt Dip with Jalapeño and Cilantro

We used the avocado from last week's Farm Share to make this wonderful dip, which is not only good straight up on a tortilla or pita chip but also amazingly complimented a spicy tuna dish we made for our celebration of Valentine's Day (feel the love).  I'm looking forward to drizzling it on some veggie wraps this coming week.

Avocado Yogurt Dip with Jalapeño and Cilantro
(From Epicurious.com)

Ingredients
1 16-ox container plain nonfat yogurt (scant 2 cups)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 large avocado, peeled, halved, pitted, coarsely chopped
4 tsp. minced jalapeño
1 small garlic clove, minced

Preparation
Set strainer over medium bowl; line with double layer of cheesecloth.  Place yogurt in cloth-lined strainer.  Cover with plastic wrap; chill overnight.

Discard liquid drained from yogurt.  Transfer yogurt to processor.  Stir cumin in small dry skillet over medium-low heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add cumin to processor, then avocado, 3 tbs. cilantro, jalapeño, and garlic.  Process until smooth.  Season wiht salt and pepper.  Transfer dip to small bowl.  (Can be prepared 6 hrs. ahead.  Press plastic wrap onto surface of dip and chill.)  Sprinkle with 1 tbs. cilantro.

(To the right, the yogurt, cilantro, cumin and garlic in the food processor before adding the avocado.)

2/10 Farm Share

This week we received grapefruit, red onions, apples, more root veggies (yellow turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes) a couple radishes, parsley, tatsoi, swiss chard, and salad greens.  See the following posts for what we did with produce from this week and the week before...it was a good week!

Grapefruit Salad in February

Today we received our Farm Share box with things back to "normal" (e.g. no "emergency" box and some produce from Florida).  Here are a couple pictures of the goods:

Yellow turnips, beets, arugula, baby spinach, apples,  grapefruit, avocado, sweet potatoes, red onion, russet potatoes...great box!!

Tonight we made a salad using a recipe suggested by our weekly Farm Share Newsletter (see recipe below).  Grapefruit and other non-winter produce are a part of our winter share through co-ops Enterprise Farm has with growers in the Southern United States.  Through Enterprise Farm's communication (like the newsletter) we are more aware of what produce is in season when.  This has helped us to be a bit more mindful when shopping for off-season produce in general, and I actually now realize how much produce at the grocery store is imported from outside the U.S.  There's nothing wrong with that except a lot of energy (and pollution) is used to get that produce here!  The co-ops enable us to receive produce we wouldn't from MA in the winter, yet go so far as South America to find it.

Anyway, the grapefruit was both gorgeous and delicious.  The spinach was from this week's share, too.  It was a perfect combination of sweet yet tart fruit with mild avocado.








Salad with Baby Spinach, Grapefruit and Avocado

Vinaigrette:
1 1/2 c. pomegranate juice, cooked over medium heat until it reduces by 1/3, then cooled
Whisk together with 3 tbs. red wine vinegar, 3 tbs. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper.
Continue to whisk the vinaigrette ingredients, while slowly adding 1/4 c. olive oil.

Salad:
Toss together the following with half of the vinaigrette:
~ 8 c. baby spinach
1 avocado, cut into large cubes
1 grapefruit, peeled and pith removed, cut into sections

Pass the remainder of the dressing at the table.