Saturday, May 21, 2011

Seared Ahi Tuna with a Honey Ginger Lime Glaze



As the weather finally warms up I gently steer away from the comfort foods of Winter such as soups, and pasta.  My eyes lit up when I saw this beautiful piece of sushi grade ahi tuna at Trader Joe's.  I actually went there to get unsweetened cranberry juice.  (I'll explain in a later post; It has something to do with slim down plan, revisited!)  If you've been reading this blog at all, you know that I love fish and seafood.  So I was going to pull out all the stops for this meal and then savor every bite!

I purchased a piece just under one pound.  That fed the two of us, plus a tuna salad the next night for me.

Ingredients:

For the glaze:

1/4 c honey

1 Tbsp thinly sliced ginger

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T pomegranate infused balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp light reduced sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp olive oil

juice from 1/2 lime

Place all these in a small pan.  Heat to boiling, stirring for about a minute.  Remove from heat and reserve.

To prepare the tuna, I cut it into 4 oz size pieces.  Lightly dust with five spice powder  (optional) and spray with pan spray (otherwise it will stick as you sear it).

I served the tuna with roasted bok choy brushed with cilantro butter alongside portobella  mushrooms, garlic and onion.

For the Bok Choy side dish:

2 baby bok choy

2 portobella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion

cloves of garlic, as many as you want.

Arrange in a roasting pan and drizzle with about 1 Tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast at 400 degrees in the oven, turning once,  for about 15-20 minutes.  Soften or microwave 1 Tbsp butter.   Add 1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro.  When the veggies are done, remove and brush with the cilantro butter.

Back to the tuna.  In a skillet, preferably cast iron, heat the pan on high heat.  Add the tuna and sear on both sides to your degree of done.  I like mine rare in the middle but I cooked this longer so hubby would eat it.
When done, plate it up and pour the glaze on top and serve with the vegetables.  This meal was full of flavor and light, but satisfying.  I'll definitely have this again, soon!  It would be great with salmon or halibut, too!

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