Yogadad World

When I started thinking about tonight's dinner, I leafed through a few cookbooks and found one that appealed to me in Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The main course was boneless chicken breasts with a side dish made with corn and peas. I jotted down the ingredients I needed and headed to the market.

My first stop was Lansing's new City Market. It opened just after the new year, but the grand opening was held this past weekend. It was a zoo. All of the nearby parking lots were full and the building was claustrophobic. Still I had to get my chicken breasts and this was the place to get high quality meat at reasonable prices. I stopped at Otto's and got the breasts, then went in search of shallots and mushrooms and wondering if I could find frozen corn and peas there.

On the way, I got a loaf of fresh bread and figured I'd see what was available at the fish market. One look at the case and I changed my mind about Sunday's dinner. He had the best looking tuna I've seen in a long time. Red, juicy, and fresh. So I asked him for two 6 or 7 oz slices. They came out closer to 8 oz each but who cares? Since they were on sale because of the grand opening, I had a couple of luscious tuna steaks for under $10.00. All that remained was finding a decent recipe.

At first I thought about grilling them. It's very nearly grilling season here in central Michigan (but then, isn't every season grilling season?) and there's nothing quite as good as high-quality tuna off the grill. But it's been a wet weekend and standing in a cold drizzle wasn't very appealing.

So I pulled one of my favorite fish cookbooks, Fish Without a Doubt by Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore, off the shelf and had a look. I found a few tuna recipes but it was this one that called to me. It was the mango - jerk seasoning that did it for me. A spicy dish, cooled by the mango sauce sounded just about perfect.

The jerk seasoning I used comes from World Market, a chain of stores with an outlet not too far away. After going with the amounts in the recipe, I would definitely add more next time, probably doubling the amount on each piece of fish. There just wasn't enough contrast with the mango sauce.

I'd also cook the fish just a little bit longer. I'm a big fan of eating tuna rare, and you can see that these are quite rare. But they were too cool at the center and a little more heat would have been good.

The mango sauce was great, and we had a side dish of jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk, with grated carrots. Cooking rice in coconut milk is always a treat. Add in one of my favorite vegetables and you have a great side dish.

A little more spice from the jerk seasoning on the tuna, and it would have gone from a very good dinner to an exceptional one.

Ingredients
For the Mango Sauce
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted & chopped
1 1-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled & grated
1/3 c orange juice
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 Tb fresh lemon juice

4 6-oz pieces of tuna, about 1/2 in thick
Coarse salt
4 tsp vegetable oi
4 tsp jerk seasoning

For the mango sauce, combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Taste the sauce. It should be tangy. If you need to, add a bit more lemon juice. This makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Season the tuna with salt and rub each piece with 1 tsp of the oil. Rub 1/2 tsp of the jerk seasoning into each side of each piece.

Heat your grill or stove-top griddle. Grill the tuna for 2 minutes for medium-rare. If heating on a grill pan, heat over medium high heat and grill the tuna for 1 1/2 mins on each side.

To serve, spoon the mango sauce onto dinner plates. Slice the tuna and fan the slices over the sauce.

It's a snowy night in mid-Michigan. Not as snowy as further south & east, but enough to be troublesome. After getting home from work, the first order of business was shoveling the sidewalk and driveway. Our driveway is rather long and wide and it takes awhile to get done. Shannon helped so it wasn't too onerous. But we did have an appetite by the time we finished. Fortunately the meal we had discussed in the morning fit the bill perfectly.

This recipe is from one of my favorite food writers, Mark Bittman. He's a New York Times columnist, writing the Minimalist column and a blog, Bitten. He also has written a first rate cookbook and a non-cookbook about food, among other things.

The starchy rice, along with the egg topping, was great comfort food after coming in from the cold, covered with snow. The dish cooked up fast and was quite hearty. Dessert was a few orange slices, the sweetness nicely complimenting the saltiness of the soy sauce and sesame oil in the rice.

If you watch Bittman's video, you'll see he uses two pans - one to brown the ginger and garlic, the other to soften the leeks and heat the rice. He uses the first pan to also fry the eggs. I used one pan for the garlic and ginger, then put the leeks and rice in that pan, using the second to fry the egg. Too late I discovered that the Calphalon pan that I had assumed was non-stick had egg stuck to the bottom. After grumping around about the lack of quality in these pans, which are not inexpensive, I managed to pry the eggs, mostly intact from the pan, and get them on top of the rice. What I find a bit ironic is that the best non-stick pan I have is some no-name skillet that I think I got at Kroger for probably $10. Takes a licking and still no sticking. So next time we make this, I'll use el cheapo pan for the eggs and the other for the rice. Doesn't matter if that sticks a bit.

Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
Salt
2 cups thinly sliced leeks, white and light green parts only, rinsed and dried
4 cups day-old cooked rice, preferably jasmine, at room temperature
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons soy sauce.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and brown. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels and salt lightly.

Reduce heat under skillet to medium-low and add 2 tablespoons oil and leeks. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until very tender but not browned. Season lightly with salt.

Raise heat to medium and add rice. Cook, stirring well, until heated through. Season to taste with salt.

In a nonstick skillet, fry eggs in remaining oil, sunny-side-up, until edges are set but yolk is still runny.

Divide rice among four dishes. Top each with an egg and drizzle with 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Sprinkle crisped garlic and ginger over everything and serve.