Rippin' Another Blog: SesameTuna & Pea Shoot Salad

The Lowdown:

First of all, I'm just going to say how amazed I am with google translator. Kristy decided (I'm not sure how) that our next Rippin' Another Blog session was going to be from Mattias Jeppsson's Min ugn ar min TV.

The first thing you may notice is that it makes absolutely no sense. That is unless you speak Swedish(?). I think it's Swedish at least. Actually, it was kind of fun. It was like shopping in a specialty food store where you have no idea what any of the ingredients are, or what they are used for. There were pictures and there was jibberish. That is all.

Luckily for all of us, google translator is mind-blowingly amazing. In approximately three seconds I had already understood the recipe. Understood as in I read the English translation. Interesting choice Kristy, interesting choice.

I'm not much of a salad kind of guy. I generally find them boring and dull. I understand their importance for healthy eating and all that jazz. Still, I just can't get over how bland they can be. That is of course, unless you lie and call something that isn't a salad, a salad. This recipe is really just a glorified, albeit delicious, tuna recipe. I simply added red cabbage, a few more pea shoots, and put salad in the name to make myself feel good about my life decisions. In all honesty, who doesn't love a salad that really isn't a salad?

What's even better about this "salad," is the fact that I went to the grocery store, cooked the tuna, made the dressing, and plated the meal in under thirty minutes. The only thing keeping this meal from being uber healthy is the ridiculous amounts of heavy metals in the fish. Heavy metal as in mercury, not Metallica or Slayer. Healthy, quick, easy, and done.

The Playlist:

1 Ahi tuna steak
1/2 Lime, juiced
1/2 cup Olive oil
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 package Pea Shoots
Red Cabbage, to garnish
Cilantro, to garnish
Sea salt & Pepper, to taste

The Skinny:

1.  In seasoned cast iron pan: heat on medium-high until pan is hot.
2. Seer tuna on each side for 20-30 seconds.
3. Sprinkle sesame seeds onto tuna and slice.
4. Mix the olive oil, salt, pepper, and lime juice.
5. Place tuna on a bed of cabbage and pea shoots. Add cilantro and dressing.

Stay Rad -h
Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Chef in Training, Food Renegade, Foodie Friday,  

Hungarian Golyàs w/ Seared Cabbage

The Lowdown:

If any of you know a west coast winter, you know how it can get you down. There's more grey outside than a 1950s photograph. Yes, I did look it up, photos were still greyscale in the 50s. The constant rain (and I mean rain-rain, none of this drizzle-ma-nizzle shit) left me two options. I could either start building my ark to drift away to somewhere with better weather, or I could cook a classic, well-loved, home-style meal to get rid of the blues. For starters, I'm no Tim the tool man Taylor. Nor am I a sailor. If I can rhyme one more time this blog post wont be a failure? Chalk it up, I'm a horrible rapper.

I digressed. The point I was intending to make, is that it is an excellent day for a nice warm-your-soul meal. That being said, we all have our own special meals. However, that ends here, because this is my blog. You will obey me when I say, "golyàs is a great anti-winter food." If the brainwashing didn't quite work, just keep reading anyway because you're entertained...?

Golyàs or goulash as it is commonly spelled, is a traditional Hungarian peasant meal that was left heating over a fire so that that the herders could grab a quick meal whenever. Like most peasant dishes, whatever they had is what was used. Luckily for me, that is a bonus, because my fridge literally had one carrot in the crisper. So this is my version of a very vegetable-less goulash.

The Playlist:

(Printable Recipe)

1 kg Beef sirloin tip roast, cubed (1-2")

3 Onions, coarsely chopped

5 Garlic cloves, diced

4 tbsp Paprika (Hungarian)

1 tbsp caraway seed, ground

1-2 Bay leaves.

Salt & Pepper

2-3 cups Water (or beef stock)

2 tbsp Oil (for browning onions)

1 Cabbage, quartered

Water (or chicken stock, I prefer the flavour of cabbage though).

2 tbsp Olive oil (for searing cabbage).

OPTIONAL:

1 Parsnip, peeled & chopped

2 Potatoes, peeled & chopped

1 Green pepper, chopped

2 Tomatoes, chopped

The Skinny:

1. Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat (cast iron preferably).
2. Brown onions and garlic in oil.
3. Add the beef, paprika, and ground caraway seeds.
4. Cook the beef until all sides are browned.
5. Add enough water (or broth) to cover the beef cubes.
6. Add the salt, pepper, and bay leaf.
7. Cover with a lid and let simmer on medium-low for an hour to two hours (a simple trick that was passed on by my Oma to my father was to place a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper between the lid and the pot so that none of the moisture escapes).
8. If adding any vegetables, put them in the pot, add more water if desired, and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour. If the sauce is too thin, remove the lid and allow it to cook off.
9. Put cabbage quarters into a large skillet.
10. Add enough water to cover approximately 1 inch of the bottom of the skillet.
11. On high heat bring to a boil.
12. Cover and let boil for 2-3 minutes per flat side.
13. Remove cabbage quarters (they should retain their shape, and all leaves should remain intact).
14. While excess water is draining from the cabbage, heat oil in a non-stick pan on medium-high heat.
15. Once oil is hot enough, add cabbage and sear each side until browned.
16. Salt and pepper to taste. 
17. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes, csipetke, or by itself as a stew.

Leek & Cabbage Soup

The Lowdown:

While at the grocery store, I saw leeks. Normally I just walk right past these, because it's just something I do. But today, well, today was different. They seemed abnormally un-walk-past-able. So, as you may have concluded, I grabbed one. Apparently being hung-over turns you into a senior, because I also grabbed cabbage too. Now that I think about it, I was also complaining about my back pain, sore knees, and rap music. I may have even used the word, "dangfangled."

This led to standing in my kitchen confused about my purchases, wondering how I could utilize them. I do love leek and potato soup. One problem, I don't have potatoes. I did have a cabbage soup at an Italian/French restaurant over the winter holidays that I loved. One thing about restaurants is they are secretive about their recipes. No problem! How hard could it possibly be to make leeks and cabbage taste good together? I could just cheat and look up a recipe. Yah, that didn't help. The only recipes available were leek and potato soups. Foiled again! As previously stated, "how hard could this possibly be?" Step 1: grow some balls and just do it! Step 2: laugh, because step one is kinda funny. Step 3: stop laughing, because my girlfriend thinks I'm crazy for laughing in the kitchen alone. Step 4: take an anti-gas pill because you're about to consume cabbage.

This is my attempt at adding ingredients that I don't normally use, while trying to be healthy. May I also add, soup saves hang-overs. PS. if you're wondering, this is the same hang-over as the one previously described in the Falafel w/ Cilantro Yogurt post. In retrospect, the soup actually went wonderfully with the aforementioned recipe. However, it did not restore me to normal health.

The Playlist:

(Printable Recipe)

5 cups Chicken broth (or 9 cups water w/ 3 tbsp chicken bullion powder).
4 cups Water (skip this step if you used the 9 cups of water).

1 Leak, coursely chopped.

4 cups Green cabbage, coursely chopped

3 tbsp Dry white wine

2 tsp Pepper, ground

Salt to taste

The Skinny:

1. Put all of the ingrendients into a large enough pot.
2. Turn onto high heat and bring to a boil.
3. Cover and boil for 25-30 minutes.
4. Optional: use an immersion blender to create desired texture (I appreciated the larger pieces of cabbage and leek, so I only blended the largest pieces).