Sometimes presentation makes a simple meal something extraordinary. This month's recipe is a perfect example. It is a beautifully arranged salad that's made of fresh ingredients that have been touched with a light hand.
Make sure you have the freshest ingredients you can find for this salad. As always, a salad will only be as good as the lowest of its components ... and sushi-grade tuna will insure that you will be enjoying the meal instead of fretting about potential illness!
While there's a bit of chopping and slicing to be done to prepare this salad, quite a bit of it can actually be done in advance if you want a really fast meal. For example, you can make the potato-green bean mixture with its dressing a day in advance and prepare the cucumbers and carrots then as well. Leave the arranging of the final elements, slicing of the tomatoes and eggs, and searing of the tuna for the moments before you serve the salad, though.
As always, I encourage you to share your recipe ideas and comments. You can always post comments in the discussion board using the forms provided in the articles or email me directly at . Enjoy!
Seared Tuna Salad
- 2 small russet potatoes
- 8 oz. green beans
- 3 c. mixed greens
- 1 ripe tomato
- 1/2 English cucumber
- 8 baby carrots
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1/2 c. kalamata olives -- optional
- 1 T. finely diced red onion
- 1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 T. red wine vinegar
- 1 T. grainy mustard
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. ground sweet chili pepper
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp. ground hot red pepper
- 6-8 oz. sushi-grade tuna steak
- 1 T. peanut oil
Clean the potatoes with a stiff brush and water and dice into small chunks. Place the potatoes into a medium-sized microwavable bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and cook on HIGH for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, clean the green beans and snip them into 1-inch pieces. When the potatoes are done microwaving, add the green beans to the bowl, mix the vegetables briefly, and replace the plastic wrap. Allow the vegetables to sit in the covered bowl for 10 minutes.
Arrange the mix greens evenly among two serving plates. Cut the tomato into eight wedges, the cucumber into bite-sized chunks, and the carrots into matchsticks. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and slice each into two pieces, lengthwise. Arrange these vegetables and the olives on the greens.
In a small resealable jar, combine the red onion, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, salt and black pepper. Shake vigorously to combine and pour the contents of the jar onto the potatoes and green beans. Stir the mixture to combine and add a generous scoop to each serving plate.
Combine the ground sweet chili pepper, garlic powder, ground ginger, and ground hot red pepper and rub the spice mixture into the tuna steak.
Heat the peanut oil over high heat in a small skillet and sear the tuna for one minute on each side. Remove the tuna to a cutting board and slice it thinly across the grain. Arrange the slices of seared tuna on the serving plates and serve immediately.
- Yields: 2 servings
- Preparation Time: 45 minutes