Tuna Tataki

April 7, 2013

Finally. A spring day that feels like spring. We wanted to cook on the grill today. My hubby grilled some local beef burgers while I looked for toppings. I had my sister's homemade relish on my hotdog yesterday and that got me thinking. Why have I never put relish on a burger? Also, I thought about my hubby's love for rueben sandwiches. I have leftover sauerkraut. Hmmmm. By the time that he brought the burgers inside, I had made my decision. Why chose a burger type when you can cut it in half and do both! On one half I put grilled red onions, homemade relish, american cheese, ketchup, and mustard. On the other half of the burger I put american cheese, sauerkraut, and a new sauce that I bought this week. It is kickin' onion blossom from miracle whip. They were both delicious!

We did some yard work today and needed a snack. Remember all the tuna that we ate on vacation this past week? It's time we try to make a tuna appetizer. I found a recipe on food network for tuna tataki. Oh yeah. This is gonna happen. My hubby fried some tuna that was crusted with panko bread crumbs. I made the sauce which consisted of: 1/2 teaspoon of minced ginger, 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup olive oil (it could probably be less), and the juice of half a lime (it called for 1/3 cup but that would have been way too much), and some pepper. I chopped some red onion, tomato, sushi ginger, and avocado. We put the tuna and toppings in lettuce wraps. Oh wow. It was awesome! We snacked and there was still a big piece of tuna left. I asked my hubby if I could have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Wohoo! He said yes......then about 10 minutes later the kids came back to the kitchen and devoured the rest of the tuna. Ugh. I think we may need to make this a lot more often!

Ok. Dinner time. I had the pleasure of smelling it for about 7 hours before we got to eat. Anyone who knows my hubby knows that he can smoke some mean meat on the grill. He smoked a local beef roast and then finished it off in the oven. He rubbed it with season salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, and brown sugar. It was so full of flavor! Just look at that nice pink smoke ring!

We all love the quinoa kale craisin pilaf that I copied from Gordon Biersch. I decided to alter it a bit tonight. I made spinach quinoa with toasted pine nuts. I sauteed some onion and garlic then added one cup of quinoa and cooked it for a couple of minutes. Then I added two cups of homemade chicken broth. I let it simmer for about five minutes and then added 3/4 of a bag of fresh spinach, basil, salt, and pepper. After cooking for about ten more minutes, I topped the quinoa with freshly grated romano cheese and some toasted pine nuts. My daughter said she likes this one better than the kale craisin pilaf. My hubby and I liked it but prefer the kale craisin pilaf. Another day where restaurant food had nothing on us. Yay!