Tuna: No Need For A Can-Opener
I dropped by the local indie grocer yesterday to restock the pantry. Yippie! It’s one of my favorite things to do. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve ended the vegetarian streak and I’m started thinking about shopping for more substantial, yet healthy ingredients. I heart grocery shopping. If you give it some thought (and if your local food shop is well stocked), you can create an infinite amount of dishes from anywhere in the world. Walking into the grocery store is just like a painter’s blank canvas. You can choose the colors, match tones, create a background, add small accents and focus on the foreground. It’s all about the variety.
So as the auto-magical doors opened, I chose the **Random Downtempo** playlist on my ‘Pod (much akin to the sexiness on Monkey Radio), popped in my E3C’s, grabbed a cart and began the hunt.
Wednesday is 2nd delivery day of the week at this particular grocer, so I picked up a lot of ‘fresh’ veggies and even managed to snag a four-inch block of sashimi (sushi) grade Ahi tuna. w00p w00p! What you see above is the end product: Sesame Encrusted Tuna with Wilted Arugula, Caramelized Onions Drizzled with Cilantro Chili Oil. I adapted AB’s techniques from his Tuna: The Other Red Meat episode. I marinated the Ahi in light soy, lime, honey and a touch of sesame oil for about 40 minutes, dredged it in sesame seeds and pan-seared it instead of grilling it. I had to make sure that the pan was ultra-hot since I wanted a nicely browned crust on the outside without disturbing the rare, creamy interior. Tasty!
Ideally, I would have sliced the tuna thinly and fanned it out on some chopped napa, red onion, matchstick carrots and some fried wonton strips and topped it with Benihana salad dressing… but I was out of ginger and celery. Celery!?! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? LOL. What a coincidence.
Hey meatloaf: Want to drop some off? 
~Spec
