Tuna Salad…the fancy kind

No, I’m not talking about the stinky tuna in a can that you mix with mayo and relish (although, I’ll be honest…I still kind of like that because it reminds me of my childhood). I’m talking about seared tuna with the most amazing combination of ingredients possible.

I love the restaurant Houston’s here in Dallas. I like the atmosphere and their smoked salmon appetizer is to die for. But I really go there for their Ahi Tuna salad. It’s divine.

We  try to eat fish at least once a week, except I don’t really like tilapia and Lane doesn’t really like salmon, so that cuts out the two most readily available, inexpensive fish. We do both, however,  love tuna so when I can find it on sale I buy it. We’re always looking for new ways to prepare it and, when I bought it last week, my beloved salad from Houston’s popped into my head.

Tuna Salad with Avocado, Mango and Almonds inspired by Houston’s 

(all amounts are approximate since I never measure anything. sorry. bad blogger.)

1 lb. tuna, cut into two steaks

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 c. spinach

1 large mango, cubed

1 large avocado, cubed

1/2 c. slivered almonds

Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette (recipe below)

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Generously season tuna steaks with salt and pepper. Sear tuna in pan, about 3 minutes per side, or until your liking.

Place spinach, tuna, mango avocado and almonds in your serving bowl and enjoy! How simply amazing is that! (And wonderfully healthy too!)

Ginger-Soy Vinaigrette 

(Seriously, I didn’t measure a single bit of this, but it’s soooo good, so I’ll try to be as exact as possible.)

1/4 c. Low-Sodium Soy Sauce

1/4 c. Olive oil

2-3 T. Red Wine Vinegar (more if needed)

2 T. Honey

2 t. Ground Ginger

Pinch of pepper

Mix all ingredients well and serve with salad.

Homemade Hibiscus

One night, before attending a play at Dallas’ new Winspear Opera House, we decided to try Hibiscus. We had heard how great it was from friends and for a wedding shower gift, we were given a $50 gift certificate, so we decided to give it a try.

Let me just say, if I could make babies with Hibiscus…I would. It’s that good. It is one of the best meals we have ever eaten, and well, we eat a lot of meals. Everything we had was unbelievable. We had a lump crab appetizer, we each had salads (I had the bungalow, Lane had the wedge), for our entrees I had the short ribs and Lane had a filet. (He says it’s in the top four best steaks he’s ever had.) We shared their famous macaroni and cheese and had their sour cream apple pie with lavender ice cream for dessert. It’s making me salivate just thinking about it.

The only problem with Hibiscus is that it’s really expensive. Let’s just say that our $50 gift certificate didn’t even cover the tip. It was really worth it, but now we have to save up to go. So, instead of dropping lots of moola on dinner there, I decided to re-create our dinner here at home. I went to Central Market and got everything I needed and literally spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. Side note: I am currently reading Laura Bush’s “Spoken from the Heart” book and she remembers her mother spending all day in the kitchen…from 5:30 a.m. to after dinner. I have so much more respect for my great grandmother, whose reality was very much similar to that of Mrs. Bush’s mother’s. Lane’s mom also spends a lot of her time cooking when we come visit and I am so thankful. That’s hard work!

So, the menu for our homemade Hibiscus dinner was:

Appetizer: Crab meat with Avocado, Fresh Horseradish and cocktail sauce

Salad: Hibiscus Bungalow salad with Iceberg Lettuce, Tomatoes, Candied Pecans, Smoked Bacon, Avocado, Blue Cheese and Lite Honey Mustard

Entree: Filet Mignon

Side: Gourmet Mac and Cheese

Dessert: Sour Cream Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream

Recipes:

Crab Meat with Avocado, Fresh Horseradish and Cocktail Sauce

Holy crustacean! Do you know how expensive lump crab meat is! Central Market only offered it in 1 lb. containers. Your options were jumbo lump ($26/lb), lump ($16/lb) or claw meat at ($8/lb). I was blow away. I knew we didn’t need a whole pound of crab, and didn’t really want to pay that much for it, so I decided to come up with something else. Well, long story short, I had a craving for crab, so I went to the Whole Foods down the street where I got 1/2 lb of claw meat for $7. Darn it! I should have gotten it at CM. Oh well. In retrospect, I should have just sprung for the lump or jumbo lump. While it was still delicious, it would have been a little better with the better quality meat.

1 avocado, split in half with the seed removed

1/2 lb. crab meat (spring for jumbo lump if you can)

Fresh horseradish, grated

Juice of half of a lime

Cocktail sauce, to taste

Split the avocado in half and place each half on a serving plate. Fill top of avocado with 1/4 lb. crab meat. Top with fresh grated horseradish and a squeeze of lime. Serve with cocktail sauce. Serves 2. Enjoy!

Bungalow Salad

1/2 head iceberg lettuce, torn

1 large tomato, diced

4 slices Applewood smoke bacon, cooked

Pecans, toasted in butter and brown sugar

Blue cheese, to taste

Honey Mustard Dressing, to taste (the Hibiscus salad is served with a mustard vinaigrette, which I couldn’t find. I should have just made one considering the lite honey mustard dressing I used was very watery.)

Assemble all ingredients and mix. Serves 2.

Filet Mignon (From previous Blog Entry)

Gourmet Mac and Cheese (adapted from Epicurious)

Hibiscus has amazing mac and cheese. It’s just really good. My friend Tamara is also and fan and when she asked for the recipe, they would only tell her the types of cheese needed. So she passed that information along to me and tried to figure it out. Well, while it was good, I forgot to add the cream cheese, so it was missing a creamy factor. Lane loved it and it had a very mild flavor. I think I’ll keep trying (or just get takeout mac and cheese from Hibiscus!)

3/4 pound elbow macaroni

For topping

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups coarse dry bread crumbs

1 cup coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (about 4 ounces)

For cheese sauce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 3/4 cups whole milk

3/4 cups heavy cream

4 cups coarsely grated cheese (about 1 pound)

(I used about a 1/2 cup each of Port Salut, Parmesean and Mozzarella. For the rest, I used extra sharp cheddar. I should have also used about 4 oz. of cream cheese.)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. and butter a 3-quart shallow baking dish (13x9 casserole). Fill a 6-quart kettle three fourths full with salted water and bring to a boil for macaroni.

Make topping:
Melt butter and in a bowl stir together with bread crumbs and Cheddar until combined well. Topping may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Make sauce:
In a 5-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes and whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, and simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cream, cheeses, mustard, salt, and pepper. Remove pan from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper (put wax paper directly on the cheese sauce surface).

Cook macaroni in boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in colander. In a large bowl stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce. Transfer mixture to baking dish.

Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake in middle of oven 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Sour Cream Apple Pie from Simple Recipes

This is pretty tasty. The crust wasn’t my favorite…it kind of tastes like pop tart crust, but you don’t taste too much of it because the flavor of the pie is pretty strong.

1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3 cups peeled, sliced tart apples (about 1 1/4 pounds of slices)
1 9" unbaked pie shell, frozen or chilled in the freezer for at least 30 minutes (see pâte brisée recipe)

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix together all ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Chill until needed in the recipe.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla and egg (can beat by hand). Add apples, mixing carefully to coat well.

Put filling into a pie shell and bake at 400 degrees initially for 25 min.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with Cinnamon Crumb Topping. Bake for and additional 20 more minutes.

Let cool for a hour before serving. Serves 8.

Lane was a happy man, post dinner!

Eggplant Parmesean and Mediterranean Salad

I once again had the opportunity to make and take dinner to Karen and Tully as they are adjusting to life with a newborn. Because it was a Friday during Lent, I had to think outside of the box and create a meatless entree that was still really yummy. I have recently found a new love for eggplant so it was a natural decision to make eggplant parmesean. I served it with a mediterranean salad and Bakerella's Peach Crunch Cake. This recipe was a bit of a time consuming one, but luckily had Friday off so I just took my time.  Sadly, I never tasted the final product, so I can't tell you if it was good or not, but Karen said it was the best meal she'd ever tasted so hopefully it was ok! I am going to make it for Lane this Friday and will report back. 

Eggplant Parmesean from Annie's Eats

For the eggplant:
1 lb. globe eggplant, cut crosswise into ¼-inch thick rounds
1½ tsp. kosher salt
6 oz. high-quality white bread, torn into chunks
1½ oz. freshly grated Parmesan cheese, about ¾ cup
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. pepper, divided
¾ cup all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
For the tomato sauce:
1½ (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (I used 2 cans of Muir Gardens Organic)
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped (I used dried basil)
Salt and ground black pepper

4 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
½ oz. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about ¼ cup)
Fresh basil leaves, torn, for garnish

To prepare the eggplant, toss the eggplant slices with the kosher salt in a large bowl until combined. Transfer the salted eggplant to a colander and set the colander over the now empty bowl. Let stand until the eggplant releases at least 1 tablespoon liquid, 30-45 minutes. Spread the eggplant slices on a triple thickness of paper towels (or layers of clean kitchen towels); cover with another triple thickness of paper towels. Press firmly on each slice to remove as much liquid as possible. Wipe off any excess salt.

While the eggplant is draining, place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 425˚ F. Pulse the bread in a food processor to fine crumbs (about 30 1-second pulses). You should have about 3 cups. Transfer the crumbs to a pie plate and mix in the cheese, salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper; set aside. Wipe out the bowl of the food processor.

Combine the flour and ¾ teaspoon pepper in a large zipper lock plastic bag; shake to combine. Beat the eggs in a second pie plate. Place about half of the eggplant slices in the bag with the flour; seal and shake to coat. Remove the slices, shaking off the excess flour. Dip in the eggs, letting the excess run off. Coat evenly with the bread crumb mixture. Set the breaded slices on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining eggplant until all the slices are breaded.

Remove the preheated baking sheet from the oven. Add the vegetable oil to the sheet and tilt to coat evenly. Place the breaded eggplant slices on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake until the eggplant is well browned and crisp, about 30 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes and flipping the slices after 20 minutes. Do not turn off the oven after the slices are baked.

While the eggplant is baking, prepare the tomato sauce. Process about half of the diced tomatoes in the food processor until almost smooth, about 5 seconds. Heat the olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and the garlic is light golden, about 3 minutes. Stir in the processed tomatoes and the remaining diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened at reduced, about 15 minutes. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the dish, spread ½ cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish. Layer in half of the eggplant slices, overlapping the slices to fit. Spread with another ½ cup of the sauce. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella. Layer in the remaining eggplant and dot with the remaining sauce, leaving the majority of the eggplant exposed so it will remain crisp. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and the remaining mozzarella. Bake until bubbling and the cheese is browned, 13-15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, scatter the basil over the top, and serve.

Mediterranean Salad, from Kraft Recipes4 cups mixed salad greens
1 cup chopped plum tomatoes
1 cup coarsely chopped pitted kalamata olives
1 medium avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
1 pkg. Crumbled Feta Cheese
3/4 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed
1/2 cup thin red onion slices
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing Make It!
TOSS all ingredients except vinaigrette in large bowl; cover.
REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.
ADD vinaigrette; toss to coat.