Big Eye Tuna Recipe

Summer is coming and I always look for recipes that are light to eat yet still very flavorful. I love this recipe because the flavors are really simple, yet you have the robust flavor of the soy and ginger glaze.

In this day and age people are very aware of the crisis going on with over fishing of certain species of fish. If you don't want to use bigeye or blue fin tuna there are several different fish I would recommend using for this recipe. The tuna can be substituted with albacore, cod, halibut or salmon.

This is a wonderful dish for a patio dinner or lunch. I recommend a nice Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay if you are using Salmon.

Bon Appetite!!!

Sesame Grilled Tuna with a Soy/Ginger Glaze

Ingredients:

Tuna 2 pounds
English Cucumbers 2 each
Red Onions 1 each
Soy Sauce 1 quart
Ginger ¼ cup
Blended Sesame Oil 2 cups
Sesame Seeds 4 Tbs
Oranges 2 each
Scallion ½ bunch
Garlic (chopped) 2 Tbs
Rice Wine Vinegar 1 cup

Method:

In a mixing bowl add the following; 1 cup of the sesame oil, ¼ cup of rice wine vinegar, 1 cup of soy sauce, 2 Tbs of grated ginger, 2 Tbs of sesame seeds and the peel of all the oranges. Mix these ingredients and marinate the tuna loins in it for 2-3 hours.

Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Then slice the cucumber in ¼ inch thick slices on a bias. Peel the red onion and cut it into quarters, and then slice the pieces very thin. Add these ingredients to a bowl and mix with the remaining sesame seeds, rice wine vinegar (leave 2 Tbs remaining for the glaze), sesame oil and 1 Tbs of grated ginger. Mix the cucumber salad and add 3 Tbs of sugar and then season with salt and pepper. Allow the salad to sit for a minimum of 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Sauté the ginger, scallion, and garlic in a saucepot until they become aromatic. Then add the soy sauce and 2 Tbs of rice wine vinegar. Allow the glaze to reduce until it becomes the consistency of syrup.

Remove the tuna from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Place the tuna on a hot grill turning it 45 degrees to achieve diamond grill marks. Repeat this step on the other side. This will leave the tuna loin rare in the center, if you wish to cook the tuna more then you can cook it in a 350-degree oven. Brush the tuna with the glaze and then serve.

How I love those Mudbugs

So it is spring time and in the south that means one thing to me, crawfish boils. This is one of my favorite times a year as a native from Louisiana. It actually has been way too long since I have done a crawfish boil, but this year my brother wanted to have a one for his birthday. Who am I to deny my brother his birthday wish? Crawfish boils are a great excuse to sit around with friends and family drinking beer, listening to great music and enjoying a truly seasonal delicacy.

There are three requirements for a crawfish boil, great weather, a ridiculous amount of beer and a huge appetite. It can be tricky this time of year to pick the right day for a boil especially in Memphis in April. You just never know what the weather is going to do. It can be 80 and sunny on Friday and 50 and rainy on Saturday. The die hard will work around the weather situation, especially if there is a lot of beer.

Beer is a necessity for a successful crawfish boil, without beer you truly will not get the full experience. Beer is vital to cooling down your lips that are on fire from the crawfish (if your lips aren’t burning then the crawfish isn’t spicy enough). Now everybody has there preference of which beer is there favorite, but my favorite is Abita (the official beer of New Orleans). Ultimately it doesn’t matter what kind of beer you drink as long as you drink beer.

Bring your appetite, between the crawfish, potatoes, corn, cornbread and beer you are going to need it. Everybody has there own way of eating crawfish, some like to peel and then eat, others like myself like to get a nice collection of tails before I eat them (it makes it seem like less work). If you are a novice at crawfish boils the one thing I recommend is sucking the heads. I know this sounds disgusting but this is really where all of the flavor and spice is. It really is not as bad as it sounds, even my wife who was completely against the idea tried it. Even though she will not admit it I think she enjoyed it.

Quote from Adam Sandler’s Waterboy;

“The only thing better than a crawfish dinner, is five crawfish dinners.”

Tips for a successful Crawfish Boil;

1. Make sure you purge the crawfish in salted water before cooking. This will get rid of all the impurities. Use a small kiddy pool or even a large bucket. Usually 5-10 minutes will be plenty of time.
2. Use 1 bottle of liquid boil or 2 bags of dry boil for every 5 pounds of crawfish.
3. Newspaper lined table (this will help in the cleanup process) and plenty of garbage bags for the shells.
4. A large outdoor propane burner and pot with a basket to remove the crawfish.
5. The best place to buy live crawfish is a seafood distributor. Call local restaurants for a list of fish purveyors in your area. You can buy them for half the price compared to retail outlets.
6. Buy about 5 pounds/person.
7. Good music, good beer and good friends!!!

Recipe for Crawfish:
Yields 30 pounds

30 Pounds Live Crawfish (place in a cooler)
5 each Lemons (cut in half)
5 heads Garlic (cut in half)
5 each Jalapenos (cut in half lengthwise)
6 each Bay Leaves
3 Tbs Black Peppercorns
5 pounds Red Bliss Potatoes (cut in half)
10 each Yellow Corn (cut into 2 inch pieces)
6 bottles Zatarans Liquid Crawfish Boil
1 each Tony’s Seasoning (large)
3 cups Kosher Salt

1. Place water, lemons, garlic, jalapenos, peppercorns, bay leaves, crawfish boil and 3 cups of Tony’s seasoning into the pot. Bring stock to a boil and allow to simmer for an hour.
2. Purge the crawfish in the salted water and then place them back in the cooler(s).
3. Cook the potatoes and corn in advance in the stock. This will allow you to add the potatoes and corn at the same time as the crawfish so they will all be done at the same time.
4. Now you are ready to cook the crawfish. Add about 5 pounds of crawfish to the basket with some of the potatoes and corn and allow them to cook for about 8-10 minutes. The crawfish will be a deep vibrant red.
5. Place the crawfish onto the newspaper lined table and sprinkle the crawfish with some of the reserved Tony’s seasoning.
6. ENJOY!!