Tuna Salad

Yes, tuna salad but oh so much better than the stuff in the can on a sandwich, and maybe just as easy.  Let me demonstrate.

The sweet orange marmalade for the tuna.  We've got orange juice, orange marmalade, tuna, salt and pepper.  The tuna went into the marinade for about 10 minutes.

The stuff for the salad.  Tomatoes, orange juice, mayo, lemon juice, onions, olive oil, tarragon, romaine and salt.

All items except for the romaine and tomatoes went into this to make the dressing for the salad.

The tuna came out of the marinated, was cubbed and then seasoned with salt and pepper.

The completed seared tuna.

The completed salad.

Crab

Man I was so tempted to go double entendre with the title, but it wasn't very appropriate.  Anyway Friday night I made two different crab dishes.  First up was the chinese buffet classic, crab rangoon and then I also made a crab pepper pot. 

You can't have crab rangoon without dipping sauce, this one is a spicy pineapple sauce. Sugar, Siracha chile sauce, water, lime juice and pineapple.  The second pic is all the stuff in the pan, and then the final sauce after about 10 minutes on the heat.

Here's the stuff for the rangoon filling.  Jalapeno, cilantro, green onion, lime juice, ginger, sugar and cream cheese.  Naturally, there was some crab in there as well but for some reason it didn't make it into the picture.

The filled wonton skins ready to go into the fryer.

The rangoons in the fryolater. 

The completed crab rangoon.

Here's the stuff for the pepper pot,  it looks complicated but it was actually really simple.  Across the front we have crab, jalapeno, bacon, tomato, ginger and potato, in the middle we have spinach, onion, coconut milk, red pepper flakes, thyme, and in the back we have chicken broth, salt and pepper.

The first step was to fry the bacon.

After the bacon was cooked, the onion, tomato and ginger went in with the red pepper flakes and thyme.

Then the chicken brother goes in for about 10 minutes.

Then the spinach and coconut milk, salt and pepper.

The finished soup.

The final plate.

Pasta

I'm a bit behind, so this is my meal from Tuesday night.  I went really simple as I was finishing up work on my garden.  Fettuccine Alfredo, which is one of my favorite pasta dishes of all time.

Here's all the stuff, butter, parmesean, cream, nutmeg, salt pepper and pasta.

The finished cream sauce.

The finished plate. 

First experience with venison

I know that might be shocking to you guys, but I've only ever had deer jerky .  Especially since I live in an area of the country that practically has a state wide holiday for the annual opening of shotgun season for deer.  Seriously, when I was in high school, kids were able to get out of school simply based on the line, "I'm going deer hunting."  Anyway here are is the pictoral evidence.

The stuff for the sauce to be served.  Onions, garlic and jalapeno, chicken broth, frozen grape juice, red wine, bottled grape juice and fresh grapes.

The onions, garlic and jalpaenos got sauteed in a bit of butter.

Here are the various stages of the sauce.  The wine was added in two different 1/2 cup portions, then the chicken broth and grape juice concentrate and then the bottled grape juice went in.  All told start to finish probably 30 minutes to make the sauce.

Here is the raw venison loin waiting to hit the heat.

Seasoned meat ready to going in the pan.

Meat halfway through the cooking.

The finished meat.

 The finished plate.  Based on my input costs, this plate would probably cost about $75 in a restaurant.  But it was delicious, and you definitely know you're not eating beef.  To me it was much closer to duck than any four legged creature I've eaten before.

mmmmmm Tuna

Tuna is probably my favorite fish on the planet.  So on Thursday I had a  grilled tuna steak with wasabi butter.

Here's the stuff for the epic fail version of a rice cake.  Sugar, corn starch, rice, rice vinegar and salt.  Basically I spent all kinds of time cooking the rice only to have the cake completely fall apart during the final cooking process.

The wasabi butter.  Butter, salt, lemon, parsley and wasabi powder.

The marinade for the tuna.  The wet poriton includes. rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, soy sauce, sherry and siracha.  The dry portion includes, green onions, garlic, and ginger. After everything was put together the tuna marinated for about 20 minutes.

The cucumber salad stuffs.  The wet part is sugar, rice vinegar, pickled ginger (yes I already had this on hand) and salt.  Dry part was cucumber, orange, cilantro. green onions, parsley and bean sprouts. 

The cooked tuna, the clerk today me this wasn't sushi grade but there's not chance I'm cooking tuna past medium rare.  Then the second pic is the final plating.

Steak Bruschetta

So if you've followed the blog for any length of time you know I  love red meat, especially steak.  So this was an interesting way to do something to a steak other than grill it and eat it straight up.  In this meal, the steak got a simple sear and then served over toast with an arugula salad.

The stuff for the arugula aioli. Mayo, lemon juice, horseradish and arugula.

The finished aioli.

The stuff for the vinaigrette.  Onion, basil, garlic, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

The stuff for the toast.

The steak.  The middle pic is the seasoned steak ready to go in the pan and the cooked steak.

The finished meal.