Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon Caper Butter Sauce

A delicious, brightly tangy sauce will carry you far. "I could eat this for breakfast," said my fiancé. We mopped up every last dribble of this lemon caper topping last night. I'd be cruel not to pass the recipe along.

I just moved into a new house (read: new kitchen) this week, and I spent my first weekend morning arranging the spice cabinet, stacking my oh-so-useful kitchen cart, and reseasoning cast iron.

We ended the day with plump tuna steaks, rubbed with olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground rainbow peppercorns, then grilled in my shiny, renewed cast iron grill pan. Asparagus, chopped and grilled with herbes de Provence.

And that lemon caper sauce. The capers were sautéed in a little butter and lemon juice until aromatic. Then as the tuna steaks came to bold-lined fruition, I added bits of cold, cold butter to the skillet until the capers were frothing and warm.

Spooned it over the tuna steaks and dinner was served. (We paired with a tall glass of Lucky Bastard ale.)

Now to envision dozens and dozens of future uses...

 

Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon Caper Butter Sauce
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
2, 6-oz. tuna steaks (about 3/4-inch to 1-inch thick)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Cracked black pepper
For the sauce:1 oz. capers, drained and chopped
1 teaspoon butter for sautéeing, plus 2 tablespoons chilled and separated into small pieces
Freshly squeezed juice from one lemon
Salt and pepper (to taste)
For the asparagus:
1 bunch, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Herbes de Provence

Method:

1. In a small pan, heat 1 teaspoon butter over medium heat until frothing. Add capers and sautée for 20 seconds, until aromatic. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper and continue to cook—stirring frequently—until liquid has evaporated (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and reserve.

2. Using a medium skillet or grill pan (I used the same pan for the asparagus and tuna to conserve—carried-over seasoning was a bonus), heat up one tablespoon olive oil or medium-high heat. Add asparagus and herbes de Provence. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 to 6 minutes, until asparagus is bright green. Reserve in a small, covered bowl to keep warm.
3. Rub tuna steaks with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Heat up lightly oiled grill pan to medium-high heat. Grill tuna steaks for 5 minutes on each side, until sides are white and opaque.
4. While tuna grills, return the capers to medium heat in pan. Add chilled butter, bit by bit, until melted, browned, and bubbling.
5. Spoon sauce over tuna steaks, surround with a ring of asparagus, and serve.

Sesame Salmon and Quinoa Salad

This is going to be a fairly quick blog post, because I wasn't planning on blogging the recipe so I didn't take the usual plethora of pictures, but also because it's very simple!

I've been trying to increase the qualities of "cheap" and "healthy" in my meals lately (which can be fairly difficult living in New Orleans and also having a mountain of cookbooks/Internet access), and that drive has led to a little more "what can I work with in my pantry?" than usual.

For this meal, I got a bag of the cheap frozen salmon fillets (probably the most painful price cut of all) and set about slightly modifying a favorite recipe of mine: Quinoa and Pistachio Salad with Moroccan Pesto.

First off, I took out the pistachios. So expensive! (I will now take a moment to google: "How the heck can you grow your own pistachios, because damn the man.)

I also substituted the Moroccan pesto for a jar of basic pesto I had on hand, amped up by the addition of sriracha and honey, an enhancement I started using after making charmoula sauce. Sweet heat! So good. (Results from pistachio search: I would need to grow trees, and I am quite without a backyard. Innovation/scheming will continue later.)

And I added zucchini! For a little more green, I seasoned the zucchini slices with salt, pepper, and cumin and roasted them alongside the red peppers. For the salmon, I patted the fillets dry, rubbed them with oil, and formed an oregano and sesame seed crust on one side. Seared them in my cast-iron, then served!

There you have your pre-paycheck mods for a delicious dinner. Hope you enjoy!

Sesame Salmon and Quinoa Salad
Salmon serves 2. Salad serves 4—6.

2 frozen salmon fillets, thawed and skinned
1/2 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken stock
1 cup water
1 15.5 oz can chickpeas
1/4 cup pesto
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 tablespoon honey
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, stem removed, halved and seeded
1/2 tablespoon cumin
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400. On a large rimmed baking sheet, coated with cooking spray, spread out zucchini in a single layer in half the pan. Season with cumin, salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and toss. Place bell pepper halves in other half of pan, cut side down. Roast in oven for 30 - 40 minutes, turning zucchini over halfway through. Remove when pepper is blackened and zucchini slices are browned. Let pepper cool, then remove skin and chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa, stock, and water over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Cook for 10—12 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.
3. Meanwhile, season salmon fillets with salt and pepper on both sides. On top side, sprinkle with oregano and sesame seed picture, pressing sesame seeds into the fillet.
4. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Once oil is shimmering, add fillets (crust side up). Cook for 4—5 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet and set aside.
5. Mix pesto, sriracha, honey, and chickpeas into quinoa. Serve each plate, topping quinoa mound with zucchini and red peppers. Serve salmon alongside.

Fish in Crazy Water (Pesce all'Acqua Pazza)

Those Italians. Beautifully vivid with their recipe names. You can almost picture a cartoon mustachioed chef with steam rocketing out of his ears, elevating his quaking leather boots from the ground as he tests out this so-called crazy water.

Truth be told, it is a little zany.

A few lessons learned from this recipe:

1. A little crushed red pepper goes a loooong way. I guess that's effect produced by the long-simmer. The flavors meld and spotlight the spice.
2. My new kitchen smokes up right quickly. Thankfully there's a powerful vent, but the noise and air did detract somewhat from my inhaling of the aromatics.
3. Speaking of aromatics! The Italian term for a bundle of lovely smells sauteed in olive oil (here I used oregano and parsley) is soffritto. I imagine it's somewhat related to the French mirepoix, which refers to the usual suspects (onions, carrots, celery, what have you) used in making a stock.
4. Must work quickly with a gas stove and thinly sliced garlic. When initially sauteeing the garlic, I had to shake the pan a lot to keep the garlic from sticking. Using a wooden spoon would have caused it to clump.
5. The combination of grilled corn and pesto is more of a winner than the Dillon Panthers.

I used pollock for the fish here, mainly because I was looking for something not-too-pricey that didn't bring a strong flavor (here's looking at you, salmon) along with it. Pollock did a great job at absorbing the flavor of the tomato and spices while still bringing along its own pleasant fishiness.

To complement the hydrating psychosis, I chose a couple of other summer standards with a bit of Italian flair. I cannot get enough of tomatoes and corn right now. Grilling them? Even better. The additions of a balsamic-based marinade (for the tomatoes) and a heaping dose of pesto ladled over the ear of corn and I was practically mopping my plate to ensure nothing fell by the wayside.

Fish in Crazy Water (Pesce all'Acqua Pazza) [adapted from Cooks Illustrated]
Serves 2 - 3.

4 fillets pollock (the kind I purchased were very narrow)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 small red onion, halved and sliced thinly
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
4 stems parsley and 2 sprigs fresh oregano, tied together with kitchen twine (soffritto)
1 cup chicken stock (or dry white wine, which I would have preferred to use but forgot to purchase)
2 cups water
Juice from one lemon

2 ears corn
1/4 cup pesto

2 large Creole tomatoes, cored and halved
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt
Pepper

1. In a 9x13 baking dish, whisk together balsamic, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Placed tomatoes face down in dish and let marinate at room-temperature for 15 - 20 minutes.
2. In a 12-inch skillet, heat up olive oil over medium-high. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Shake the pan to keep garlic from sticking. Cook until pale golden.
3. Add in red onion slices, stirring constantly, until onion is translucent and beginning to brown.
4. Pour in chicken stock, water, cherry tomatoes, and the soffritto. Lower heat to medium and let simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile heat grill pan to medium-high, drizzling it with a bit more olive oil. Add tomatoes (hollow-side down) and ears of corn. Grill tomatoes for two minutes before flipping. Remove after another five to six minutes, as tomato starts to caramelize. Grill corn, turning frequently and brushing with oil, until browned on all sides.
5. Carefully slide fish fillets into broth mixture. Reduce heat to low, cover pan, and let cook for another 10 minutes.
6. Serve by halving fish fillets, placing them in a bowl, then ladling the broth (along with onions and tomatoes) over the fish. Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle parsley over each bowl.
7. Ladle pesto over corn.
8. Enjoy!

Summer Salmon Burgers

Here's another meal that pairs well with the weather.

After I made the maque choux last week, I could not stop thinking about those flavors. I can't wait for the rest of summer: so much corn and tomatoes...all the time.

I turned them into a relish here, topping grilled salmon--I would love to ramble on about how much I enjoy the taste of warm, pink flesh but I would hate to be incarcerated for intent to cannibalize.

I added mint to the relish to enhance the connection with the cool cucumber salad. The salad idea came from my cousin Mary--she made hers with zucchini, whereas I was the victim of a poorly supplied market and had to opt for cucumber. Not such a sore loser, though! It got along swimmingly with the mint and lime juice.

Last but not least...the brioche. I'm not much of a baker in terms of cookies and cupcakes, but I do love churning out a great pastry or bread. Kneading and shaping the dough, watching it brown in the oven, pulling it apart as it still steams...mmmmm. All that before the first bite even!

Enjoyed with the crisp Nobilo sauvignon blanc and now a viewing of Apollo 13 as I blog. Houston, we have a problem...my plate is empty! (So many apologies.)

NOTES:
1. I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe for brioche buns. My house isn't crazy warm like hers, so I proofed the dough in the oven. For the first rise, I preheated the oven to 170. When it reached the temperature, I popped the dough in the oven, shut the door, and turned off the heat. After an hour, it had doubled in size. The recipe made more buns than I needed, but I fully aim to use the ocean of brioche I have produced. Halve the recipe if you must!
2. Another brioche note! I ran out of regular milk, so I used almond. No noticeable difference! Might even have been better ;)

Summer Salmon Burgers
Serves 4.

4 skinless salmon fillets
1/2 cup pesto
Salt & pepper (to taste)
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons oregano
Olive oil (for cooking)

Brioche burger buns
2 tablespoons olive oil (for toasting)

3 ears corn, shucked
1 bell pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 mint leaves, sliced chiffonade style
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper

2 cucumbers, halved and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 mint leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt
Pepper

1. Prepare brioche buns. Set aside.
2. Coat salmon fillets with pesto and seasonings. Place in a small bowl covered with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
3. Preheat oven to 450. Combine corn, bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, garlic, and mint in a large, oven-safe skillet. Add olive oil and stir to combine.
4. Place skillet in oven and cook for 20 - 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Reserve relish to a medium bowl to cool.
5. In another bowl, combine cucumbers, oil, mint, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Cover and place in fridge for thirty minutes to allow flavors to meld.
6. Remove salmon from marinade. Heat two tablespoons olive oil in medium grill pan. Add salmon fillets skin-side up and cook, 5 - 7 minutes per side.
7. Toast brioche buns in a small skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Place salmon on toasted buns, topped with relish. Remove cucumber salad from refrigerator and serve on side.

Shrimp Maque Choux

Bare feet tap-dancing against the burning concrete steps. Grass stains on my shorts and individual blades clinging to my thighs and knees. The creaky porch and closing my eyes as I spin into a cloud of bug spray.

All this floods my brain with one bite of watermelon. We would sit on the front porch and let the red juice run down our forearms as we crunched closer and closer to the rind.

The swelter of this week had me craving the cool fruit, and while I could have purchased myself a whole watermelon and turned dinner into a gluttonous sprawl under my carport, I opted for another summery dish. Maque choux.

Somewhat like a succotash--minus the suffering (I have to imagine being sauteed is rather like a hot tub.) Maque choux is a dish with Cajun and Native American heritage. The name is even thought to be a French take on the original name.

Lots of corn here--I can't tell you how excited I am that corn is in season. So sweet and delicious.

I decided to add shrimp to turn this into an entree. Simply seasoned with citrus pepper and Tony Chachere's.

Paired with New Belgium Brewing's Rolle Bolle and you've got an effective way to treasure the weather, not just curse it.

Shrimp Maque Choux

3 ears corn, husked and shucked, corn milk reserved
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup bacon, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 cup tomato, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt
Ground black pepper
Cayenne pepper
2 green onions, diced

31 - 40 peeled, deveined shrimp
1/2 citrus pepper seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons Tony Chachere's

1. In a large heavy saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until lightly browned.
2. Add corn, onion, celery, bell pepper, thyme, and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, for 15 minutes until vegetables are tender.
3. Add tomato, garlic, corn milk, and another pinch of salt. Cook for another fifteen minutes, not stirring quite as often.
4. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium skillet. Season shrimp and then add to skillet, turning occasionally, until shrimp are bright pink and curled.

Rice-Seared Trout with Sage and Walnut Butter

I've been subsisting off leftovers since Thanksgiving, like most thankful Americans, but I broke the streak last night by going out for delicious Lebanese food with my boyfriend. And now tonight I've actually cooked for myself!

I combined a couple of trout recipes I looked up, did a little improvising on my own, and came up with this little beauty. Flavorful, juicy, and--rumor has it--healthier than turkey, cornbread dressing, and spinach madeleine.

First I made the sauce to be drizzled over the cooked fish. I combined the ingredients (listed at the bottom of the recipe) and whisked them up right nicely. The sauce was where I found myself improvising most, adding ingredients to taste. The grapefruit juice--for instance--was on a whim, but it worked wonderfully!

I set aside the sauce and used my food processor--or rather, the food processor attachment to my immersion blender--to grind up the jasmine rice. This stage of the recipe made me realize that if I ran a meth lab, it totally would have blown up my neighborhood a long time ago. With much lower stakes, I merely had a kitchen floor and counters full of grains. When my spice grinder was giving me far too many unattractive arm muscles--and consuming a lot of time--in producing ground rice, I attempted to use my immersion blender in a cereal bowl full of rice.

No bueno.

I got a deeper bowl!

...still no bueno.

I realized the rice needed to be safely contained to control its eruptions, which is when I arrived upon the absolutely ingenious idea of the food processor. It's fortunate that my blades are much sharper than their wielder.

I heated up a skillet to medium high, added the rice, and toasted those jumpy buggers.

I placed the toasted rice to the side to cool.

Then I took my cast-iron skillet and melted the butter over medium-high heat, adding in the sage chiffonade at the same time.

Once the butter was completely melted, I added in the walnut pieces. Once the butter had browned, I strained it into a bowl and discarded the sage and walnuts.

I took each filet and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Then I coated it in butter and dredged it in the toasted rice. (I chose to keep the skin on my filet, but everyone else had their filets skinned.)

I reheated my cast-iron to medium-high, then added two filets at a time, skin-side down. Pressing down on the filets with a spatula, I seared them for about five minutes (until the skin was opaque) and then flipped them over and gave them another 10 - 20 seconds.

After that, I simply drizzled the fish with the sauce I'd made earlier and it was ready to serve! I kept the sides simple--a steamer bag of shelled edamame and toasted ciabatta bread. A lovely return to the kitchen, all in all.

Rice-Seared Trout
4 trout filets
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
Salt
Pepper

Sage and Walnut Butter
1/2 cup sage leaves, chiffonade-style
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
6 tablespoons butter

Sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice

Brazilian Fish Stew (Moqueca)

Ooooh, boy. What a mix of deliciously tangy catfish with fresh vegetables and sweet coconut milk. Each bite was impressively flavorful.

It was so nice out today that I didn't get started cooking till it was dark out, just because I wanted to sit outside and bask in the sun I rarely get to enjoy at work.

Then I got to chop up vegetables, drink wine, listen to The Mountain Goats, and hang out with my lovely boyfriend--so I didn't necessarily neeeed the fish stew to make my day, but I welcomed it anyhow. I have a generous spirit.

Once those on Dice/Slice Row had been dispensed of, I tossed the fish pieces with lime juice, olive oil, half the minced garlic, salt and pepper, then set them aside.

I heated up two tablespoons of olive oil in my Dutch oven, setting it over medium-high heat. Once the oil was heated, I added the remaining garlic, the large diced onion, and half the diced green pepper. I cooked these until they were tender and translucent (about four minutes.)

Then I added the diced tomato, cooking it down for five minutes. As it began to mush, I poured in the coconut milk, wine, and vegetable oil. The mixture came to a boil, at which point I added the fish and cooked it for about six to eight minutes.

I then added remaining veggies (sliced tomato, sliced onion, and other half of the green pepper) and stirred to combine. I covered the oven and let it cook for another five minutes--don't reduce the heat!

I then removed the lid, stirred in the cilantro and basil, and seasoned the dish (after tasting) with salt and pepper.

Ladled it over rice, snapped some pretty pictures, and then sat down to enjoy the stew with the latest episode of Homeland. Perfect.

Brazilian Fish Stew
Serves 3 - 4.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless catfish fillets, cut into 2-in. pieces
2 large tomatoes, one diced and one thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons olive oil (one for fish, two for cooking)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1/2 cup basil, minced
Salt
Pepper
2 cups white rice, cooked

Chilled Avocado Soup with Chipotle Shrimp

Lucie wept, for there was no more deliciousness left to conquer.

Just kidding! I've seen fire and I've seen rain, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep finding new amazing recipes and cuisines and dishes to dive into. I've been on a health kick recently, which has actually expanded my horizons in terms of cooking. I've made fresh produce a necessity each day and am trying to do a lot less red meat.

So here's where we've arrived tonight!

I was honestly a little nervous about this, because I haven't done any chilled soups before and I worried if I'd actually enjoy the final product. But let me tell you, my fears were assuaged and back again. If this soup founded an organization dedicated to leaking controversial documents, I'd call it Julian Assuage.

First I prepped my lovely fresh produce.

I then filled my food processor with the avocado, veggie broth, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper. I pureed the mixture and then poured it into a bowl, which I then covered and placed in the refrigerator to chill.

For the lime cream, I stirred together the sour cream, more chopped cilantro, black pepper and lime zest. This too went into the fridge to hang out, relax, or--in other words--chill.

You see? This lime cream is obviously in need of some R&R.

Then I got on with the hot portion of the meal. I spiced my shrimp with cumin, salt and pepper and set them aside while I heated up the skillet (spritzed with a little olive oil spray) to medium-high.

I added the shrimp to the skillet and sauteed them for two minutes before flipping the little guys over and adding onion, garlic, and corn.

After another couple of minutes, I stirred in the chipotle chile and adobo sauce and fresh lime juice.

I let everything cook through another few minutes, until the shrimp were bright pink and the vegetables tender.

To serve, I first ladled the chilled soup into a bowl, followed by a dollop of lime cream, then a heap of the shrimp mixture. Cilantro to garnish!

Chilled Avocado Soup with Chipotle Shrimp (adapted from Cooking Light)
Serves 8.

Soup:
1 slimcado (or two avocados), chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Kosher salt
Ground pepper

Lime cream:
3/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
2 teaspoons lime zest
Ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Chipotle shrimp:
12 oz. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 tablespoon cumin
Kosher salt
Ground pepper
2 ears corn, shucked
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (finely chop chile, use 1 tablespoon of adobo sauce)
1 tablespoon lime juice
Cilantro, to garnish