Tag Archives: spinach

Deconstructed spicy tuna roll salad

Posted on by

One of my favorite foods to go out to eat is sushi.

In general, I don’t like going out to eat.

After working all day, I want to come home to the peace of my kitchen and the comfort of my sweatpants.

I don’t want to go to a restaurant where it’s crowded, it’s loud, it’s expensive, and I always feel like I could make the same plate in front of me at home.

Sushi is an exception.

I don’t see me busting out the bamboo sushi mat and picking up sushi grade ahi tuna at the market any time soon. (Though, you never know. My boyfriend recently decided he wanted to learn how to make Chinese food and so went out and bought a wok. Yes. He woks on occasion. Yes, I will try and sneak a video next time.)

If we wanted sushi, we’d have to venture out.

Trouble is, we were both really set on a weekend of sweatpants.

So I started thinking about sushi as components rather than rolls and came up with this deconstructed spicy tuna roll salad. The tuna is cooked, but the flavors are about the same as the roll you’d get at your favorite sushi restaurant.

The best part? This is a one bowl dish. That’s right. Bowl. Not pot. This is an almost no cook meal. Just assembly required.

Really, you’re going to do three steps.

1. Make the dressing

2. Make the salad

3. Cook the tuna.

So first the dressing.

You will need:

  • 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp siracha
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • juice of half a lime
  • a pinch of sugar

IMG_0553

In a large bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients.

IMG_0554

We actually always have all of this stuff on hand. Like I said, he started woking recently and went out and bought a bunch of Asian ingredients. Even if you don’t have them or don’t think you’ll make that many Asian dishes, consider getting them. I’ve made some amazing marinades with soy sauce. And sesame oil adds a really nice deep flavor to sauteed vegetable. And if you don’t have siracha or don’t want to buy it, use whatever hot sauce you like or have on hand.

To the bowl of dressing, toss in your salad ingredients.

We used:

  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 3 scallions, sliced
  • 1/2 cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
  • 1 handful shredded cabbage (like the bag of coleslaw mix)
  • 1 large handful baby spinach
  • 1 large handful spring mix

IMG_0558

These can easily be adjusted. Arugula would be nice to add a peppery kick, or even romaine if you want a real cold crispness to cut the hot sauce. I recommend the avocado and the cucumber if you want that sushi roll taste, but really the salad ingredients are up to you.

Toss to coat the veggies with the dressing.

IMG_0559

Pop into the fridge so the flavors can, in the words of my dad, fester.

Anytime a recipe calls for something to hang out in the fridge, dad calls it festering.

Now, while the salad festers, it’s onto the tuna.

You will need:

  • 2 tuna steaks
  • vegetable oil
  • juice of half a lime
  • black pepper

Turn the broiler on high and line a baking sheet with foil. The foil gets balled up and tossed in the trash later, making the bowl with the salad the only cleanup for the night.

Place the tuna steaks on the foil-lined sheet and drizzle with vegetable oil and lime juice and a few grinds of black pepper.

IMG_0555

The tuna will cook under the broiler pretty quickly, about 4 minutes per side.

This meal is complete with just the salad and the tuna, but we added brown rice on the side to give it the real sushi roll taste.

I confess, I didn’t make the rice. Our favorite Chinese take out place is literally steps from our door (the joys of city living) so while I watched the tuna, he ran down and got a container of brown rice. And maybe two egg rolls. Shih Lee has the best egg rolls. Hands down.

Plate the salad and tuna and add a scoop of brown rice on the side.

IMG_0561

When you get a bite of lettuce, avocado, rice and tuna, all coated in the spicy dressing (our version of the spicy mayo of sushi restaurants) your taste buds will be convinced they are down Second Avenue at your favorite sushi place.

But, no. You are at your table, with a huge plate of spicy tuna salad.

And most importantly, you’re still in sweatpants.

Life changing salad dressing

Posted on by

A few leaves of romaine. A handful of spinach. A couple of tomatoes. Maybe some olives.

This is usually what comes to mind when you hear the words side salad.

You begrudgingly toss together some greens to give yourself a well-rounded meal and to add some veggies into your otherwise veggie-less dinner. You are an adult. You eat salads with your meals.

Banish those thoughts from your mind.

I’m about to change the way you think about salads.

This dressing.

It’s going to change your life.

This will change a bowl of lettuce into a savory, delicious side dish you will want to accompany any meal. If you are looking for a light dinner or a hearty lunch, this also works as a meal.

You’re probably thinking, dressing? How is that going to change my salad life?

And then you’re probably thinking, dressing? Who has time to make that? I can just buy a bottle.

Now, I have some bottled dressings in the fridge. But nothing compares to the freshness and the brightness of the flavors in a homemade dressing.

Plus, sodium, preservatives, dyes, colorings. These things are in your bottled dressing.

Sucks.

So, if you make your own, you can have control (control freak again!) over what goes into your food.

This dressing takes a minute to make, literally.

All you need are

  • Prosciutto
  • olive oil
  • red wine vinegar
  • spicy mustard

Drizzle a little olive oil in a frying pan. Rip up some prosciutto into the pan. You don’t need to be neat, just tear it up. The more rustic and homemade it looks, the better. People will believe you when you said you made it.

Figure about 2 or 3 pieces of prosciutto per person. You can add more if this is going to be your main meal.

IMG_0501

Turn the heat to medium and cook the prosciutto until it is crispy. This only take a minute, so don’t walk away.

When the prosciutto is crispy, lower the heat and drizzle in some red wine vinegar.

Add a tablespoon of spicy mustard and stir. Turn the heat back up, stirring to combine.

IMG_0502

This is one of those recipes that can be tailored entirely to your taste. If you like a more acidic dressing, a splash more vinegar. If you want more spice, a little more mustard. The prosciutto is salty enough so do not add salt. Black pepper is okay if you like, but the mustard I use has enough kick for us.

When the dressing thickens slightly and is combined, pour over your salad.

Here is a bowl of baby spinach, tomatoes, dried cranberries and black olives. A perfectly respectable side salad.

IMG_0503

And here is that same salad with the dressing.

See the difference?

IMG_0504

Life. Changed.

Warm, crispy, salty prosciutto, tangy vinegar and a kick of mustard atop the mild crunchy spinach. A juicy tomato bursts in your mouth. The briny olive and the sweet cranberry. A riot of flavors.

The perfect prelude to the much anticipated (for me anyway) heaping bowl of spaghetti with broccoli pesto.

IMG_0505

 

Lazy eggs

Posted on by

So I had one of those days.

I had to be at work at 7.30 this morning for an early morning seminar we were hosting.

Let me repeat that. At 7.30 this morning, I had to be dressed, wide-eyed and ready to perkily greet the insane early birds who signed up for a 7.30 am seminar.

Needless to say, I wasn’t so perky when I got home.

By a gift from the gods, my boyfriend wasn’t coming home for dinner tonight.

Not that I don’t want to see him after a long day, and not that I don’t enjoy cooking to decompress after a long day.

But today was one of those days. When all I want to do is slather a hunk of crusty bread with butter and sit on the couch, bread in hand, with a glass of wine and then wash it all down with chocolate cake.

I already had the bread in the oven. Warm crust bread, butter melting into the air pockets, sips of red wine… I could taste it. The couch was calling me.

But no.

I can’t do that.

I’m an adult. And, as an adult, I know my body needs more than bread and wine.

Also as an adult I know that my body will be angry with me in the morning if I only feed it bread and wine.

So I opened the fridge and rummaged around.

Here’s what I make on the nights when I only want bread but know I need to feed myself more.

Drizzle some olive oil in a frying pan.

Take a handful or two of baby spinach, throw in the pan and turn the flame to medium.

Let the spinach wilt down and then push it to the side.

Crack two eggs in the space previously occupied by the spinach. The eggs will cook in the oil from the spinach and pick up a little bit of the fresh grassy flavor. Cooking eggs in olive oil also gives them these wonderful, brown crispy edged. The crunchy bits against the fluffy whites. Yum!

IMG_0457

I sometimes throw in another handful of spinach as the eggs cook. I tell myself that it’s so I get a nice textural difference in the spinach with some sauteed down and some still a little crisp. It’s about the texture. It sounds cheffy.

But, that would be a lie.

In truth, I suck at judging spinach. A giant pile of leaves cooks down to nothing. How am I supposed to know how much to put in the pan?

So more spinach in the pan if you desire. Cook the eggs as you like. I do sunny side up because i love cracking the yellow yolk over the vibrant green spinach, the goopy eggs mixing with the spinach.

Some black pepper. Some parmesan cheese (I tend to use this in place of salt, but feel free to salt away.)

Scoop the spinach onto a plate and slide the eggs on top.

Crusty bread, hot from the oven, butter, and a glass of wine.

The perfect meal to curl up on the couch with.

Hopefully my boyfriend will be home by the time I finish my wine, so he can cut me a piece of cake.