Seared Ahi Tuna on a Bed of Green with Ginger Vinaigrette and Pickled Cucumbers

For Monday Night Dinner:

Serves 4

Ginger Vinaigrette

• 1 piece fresh ginger, 1 ½ inches long, peeled and grated
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ tablespoon crushed red pepper
• ¼ cup peanut oil
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil

The Tuna

• 1 large sashimi grade Ahi tuna steak, at least 1 pound, black part removed
• 2 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Cucumber Relish

• ½ cup rice wine vinegar
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup water
• 1 English cucumber, peeled, cut in half, seeded and sliced thin
• 1 shallot, sliced into thin ringlets
• 1 Serrano chili, minced
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Salad

• 6 cups mixed greens
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 green onion, green part only, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• ½ cup sliced almonds, toasted in a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes

In a jar with a tight fitting lid add the ginger, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, red pepper, peanut oil and sesame oil. Shake until emulsified

Rub the Ahi steak with 2 teaspoons of oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Press to adhere the seed to the Ahi. Heat a small sauté over high heat then add oil. When simmering add tuna steak and cook for 1 minute, turn over and cook for an additional minute. Transfer onto plate and refrigerate until cold (can be done earlier in the day). Slice the tuna thinly and marinate with a few tablespoons of the dressing.

For the cucumbers, in a small saucepan bring the vinegar, sugar and water to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar. Meanwhile place the cucumbers, shallots and Serrano chili in a bowl just large enough to hold them. Pour hot sugar water over cucumbers and push them into the liquid (they will soon be floating with more liquid than cucumber). Place in the refrigerator until cool, about 1 hour. When ready to use drain and add cilantro. This also can be made ahead.

In a large bowl toss the greens with the radishes, avocado, green onion and cilantro. Add dressing to taste.
For the presentation, place a mound of salad in the middle of a plate. Place slices of tuna decoratively onto the lettuce. Top with a mound of pickled cucumbers. Sprinkle each salad with 1 tablespoon of toasted almonds.

Day One

I went to bed last night with my home smelling like vinegar. Hard to sleep. I ended up using apple cider vinegar to can my pickled vegetables instead of my normal good quality white wine I get at my local well stock supermarket. I was picking up a prescription for "TriLyte" (only people over 50 know what THAT is for) at my neighborhood chain grocery store and that was the only option besides the $12.99 for 12 ounces type. I needed 8 cups. So I bought apple cider vinegar. I HOPE I did not make a bad decision, not spending 10 more minutes to run to my well stocked supermarket to get the right kind of vinegar. I am making gifts for Christmas. Sick of the spending too much time in malls during Christmas so have decided to make gifts instead. MUCH rather spend time in the kitchen than in shopping centers!

I also canned all the apples off two prolific apple trees in our yard. I boiled for 10 minutes the 16, two quart canning jars, set them in a warm oven to keep dry and hot and began prepping the apples. After two hours of peeling and worming all our beautiful, organic apples (yes the worms LOVE them, as I do) I filled up my gigantic All Clad pot and began making apple sauce. I make apple sauce ALL the time (remember two prolific trees) but NEVER realized how much they reduce in volume!! After all that time prepping the jars, cleaning those beautiful apples, I came up with four jars of applesauce. Should have done pint jars!

Also made plum jam. Again prolific trees. My husband loves to garden and thankfully, I love to cook. These were somewhat sour plums that dropped all at once. Now what do you do with a load of sour plums, but make jam! Oh my, that batch was the most unbelievably flavorful jam I have EVER made. Too bad it was too runny. I marked it as "Plum Syrup", no one will ever know. It will be UNBELIEVABLE on French toast!

Okay, I figured if I was going to win Food and Wine's best home chef contest I would have to work a bit. You know, learn how to blog, take a picture or two and THEN download them on my computer and then transfer that file onto this profile (hey, did you notice my homepage, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!). I have always WANTED to do a food blog, just never had the motivation. Thank you Food and Wine. So I guess for the next 15 days, you will learn a bit about what a true home American home chef does. AND during Christmas no less. Too bad I did not start early. Would have had more time!