rice

Sesame Crusted Tuna Bowl

May 31, 2017

After returning home from Hawaii last week, I have a new found appreciation for tuna. We ate tuna (ahi) at least once a day in the form of poke at least once a day. It was fantastic. I wanted to come home and make my very own version of poke, but oddly I can’t find super fresh ahi tuna anywhere around Charlotte. North Carolina (not a hint of sarcasm). So the next best thing was some fresh yellowfin tuna I found at my local Whole Foods.

Since I couldn’t confirm that it was “sushi grade”, and thus acceptable for eating raw, I decided to do something a little different with my tuna. I crusted it in some sesame seeds and then seared it very quickly to just barely cook the outside, leaving the inside completely rare. Trust me, it’s delicious!

First find yourself a good tuna steak! I recommend talking to the fish monger and asking how fresh the tuna is. You don’t want something that is anything over a couple days. Then you won’t be able to cook it and keep it rare.

Then marinate the tuna in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger. Not long. Just long enough to get a little sticky so that the sesame seeds can adhere to it.

Speaking of which, pour out a bunch of sesame seeds onto a plate then press your lightly marinated tuna into the seeds so that you have a nice even layer on both sides.

Now it’s time to sear this bad boy. I didn’t take any pictures of this process because it happened so quickly! Literally, we popped it into a searing hot pan for about 30 seconds on each side. It was just long enough for the outside to cook, the sesame seeds to char a bit, but the inside stays nice and pink.

For the rest of this bowl, I kept it simple. I served the gorgeous tuna over a bowl of sushi rice, with a bit of avocado, and some mango-pineapple salsa. It definitely took me back to being in Hawaii!

Man it was good.

If you want to feel like you are eating lunch in a tropical paradise, make yourself this tuna bowl, turn on a sound machine (crashing waves), and close your eyes. You will basically be there with your toes in the sand.

Now I know fresh tuna isn’t always easy to come by, and it’s not all that cheap, but I promise it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to Hawaii!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:163]

Southwest Chicken and Rice Casserole

August 24, 2016

Despite my love of cooking, there are just those days where my motivation and inspiration in the kitchen are really lacking. This typically occurs on Wednesday or Thursday when the stress of the work week have just worn me out. On those days, I have to fight the urge to run out and buy dinner (usually something pretty unhealthy) and force myself to make something, even if it’s just baked chicken and vegetables.

This Southwestern chicken and rice casserole was born out of one of those situations. I didn’t want to cook. And I really didn’t want to do dishes. I decided instead to make a quick and easy chicken rice casserole that only required one dish.

In the bottom of a casserole dish, I mixed together rice, chicken stock, sour cream, peppers, onions, and pico de gallo. I topped that off with some chicken breasts seasoned with taco seasoning. I then baked the whole thing in the oven while I snuck in a quick workout.

Don’t you love meals that allow you to multi task!? I sure do!

After the chicken was cooked through, I topped the chicken with some extra pico de gallo and cheese, the popped it back in the oven to get the cheese all melted and delicious.

All that was left after that was to serve it up. My husband and I each served ourselves one chicken breast. But along with the rice, I was full after only eating half a breast. If you want to make this for a larger group, I would recommend cutting each breast in half.

I have officially added this recipe to our list of easy weeknight favorites. It’s one of those recipes that is easy enough to convince me I don’t need to go out to the nearest restaurant, where I will probably make some bad decisions.

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:72]

Shrimp and Chicken Paella

August 3, 2016

After making the Rosé sangria a couple weeks ago, I was feeling very nostalgic of the time I spent in Spain a couple years ago. Hands down, one of my favorite meals of our entire trip was the paella from the restaurant 7 Portes. They have an extensive menu of paellas, from “Americanized” shrimp and chicken paella to black paella, which is died with squid ink. At that time I wasn’t as adventurous an eater, so I stuck with the shrimp and chicken paella (typical American).

This trip down memory lane inspired me to make my very own paella. While I have made paella before (a long time ago), it is a little bit out of my comfort zone. We rarely (or never) cook any Spanish foods. Which is a darn shame because there are so many goods ones!

Gazpacho
Empanadas
Jamon and melon
Flan

Ok, so flan isn’t really my jam. But I am all about some jamon (basically prosciutto) and melon.

Okay, back to the paella! If you have never had paella before, think of it like a Spanish version of jambalaya. It’s not quite as spicy, but it’s filled with seafood, meat, sausage, and all sorts of flavors and spices.

I won’t bore you with the details of the cooking process. Mainly because I didn’t take any pictures of the cooking process. Whoops! Blame my Small Group who likes to show up on time to things! Geez, don’t they know I am always running late and want to take pictures of my food? Oh, that’s right, no they don’t.

But the key to a delicious paella is the safron, which I like to steep in the chicken stock while it warms up. And the paprika, which is the main spice in this dish. Both are very subtle flavors, but they make this rice dish so rich and delicious.

There is actually one other key to paella, and it is the type of rice you use. You can’t use just any ol’ long grain rice that is sold in every rice aisle of every grocery store in America. You have to use a short or medium grain rice (preferably medium grain) like an arborio or risotto style rice. I just picked up a bag that said “medium grain rice”, which was about 300% cheaper the the aforementioned styles of rice, and worked perfectly!

So there you have it my very Americanized version of paella. So sorry if you are disappointed that I am not sharing a truly authentic Spanish paella recipe, but it’s just so hard to find rabbit and snails around here (yep, that’s actually what’s in a lot of traditional paella recipes). I almost guarantee that you will love this recipe anyways, or maybe even more. It is a prefect dish to make for a big family dinner. Serve it up with a nice glass of sangria, and you will have yourselves a party!

Salud!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:61]