Seared Ahi Salad

Lost Night Recipe part deux. This salad plates and presents pretty nicely. Can I just say how awesome that this particular salad had no chemicals or pesticides. Well if you buy the right stuff. The tuna was wild and sushi grade, as it should be if you are serving it rare. This salad was pretty big, enough for 8 people and generously portioned. But that was served with some things that would be a little filling, like lighter noodle dish and other apps – see previous post on baked brie en croute. I actually wasn’t thrilled with the dressing as I didn’t think it through and just assembled it in front of everyone at the last second. And I ran out of garlic. But it came out ok I think. The seared ahi came out pretty amazing, if I can say so myself =)

Meat and marinade:
2 large and 1 small - sushi grade ahi tuna filets - Costco has some quality seafood very reasonably priced.
1 lemon
Soy sauce
Montreal steak seasoning (to cook with only, no need to marinade with it)

Salad:
4 large handfuls of baby spinach
1 red pepper diced and seeded
1 english cucumber thinly sliced
½ - ¾ cup edamame removed from shells
2 whole avocados diced, but not too small

Dressing:

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
Sesame oil
Hot chili oil
1 lemon
Apple cider vinegar
Soy sauceground black pepper

I allowed the meat to marinade at room temperature 2 hours before cooking. I placed the tuna in a baking dish with raised sized. Cut a lemon in half and juice over the tuna. Then splash some soy sauce over the top of the fish as well. Flip the fish over then squeeze the other half of the lemon over and splash on more soy sauce. Set aside. Allow to marinade for about 1.5-2 hours prior to cooking.

In the meantime you can assemble the salad. Place the spinach down first on a very large serving platter. Then around a large oval layer the red pepper, cucumber, avocados, and edamame. Remember you are placing the meat in the middle and on top so you want the veggies to peak out underneath.

I can’t measure dressing, sorry. Just remember you want to eyeball about 2 parts oil to one part acidity – which includes the lemon, vinegar, and soy sauce. For those measuring challenged you can always make the dressing in a liquid measuring cup. For the oil, I am pretty sure I used ¾ths EVOO to ¼th sesame oil ratio and hot chili oil. Sesame and hot chili oil can be overpowering so you want to go a little easy on it. Like it was just a splash of hot chili oil. But adjust to taste. Sprinkle some cracked pepper and stir vigorously. Serve on the side. If I could do this dressing again, I would have added a smidge of Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove, a ¼ inch piece of minced fresh ginger, and a little drizzle of honey. THAT would have been a dressing. But this recipe is what I made, and it was pretty simple to throw together.

Just before serving, preheat a grill pan on high heat. I would give it a solid 2 minutes. Although you can do this in a regular pan, the grill pan leaves the cool grill marks on the fish. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray (PAM). Sprinkle some montreal steak seasoning over one side of the fish. Place the seasoned fish face down on the grill pan. Repeat with other fishies. Now be very careful and only SEAR the fish. Don’t cook for more than a minute. It should be long enough to create some grill marks, and since the fish is at room temperature it should cook better and slightly faster than cold meat would. Sprinkle a little steak seasoning on. Use a pair of tongs to carefully turn the fish over. Sear a minute. Remove the fish from the heat and place on a cutting board. Allow the meat to rest for about a minute or two. Then cut slowly against the grain to ¼ inch thick slices. Place on top of the salad. Serve with dressing on the side.