7-21-10 Grilled Yellowfin Tuna With Brian's Secret Sauce

We typically have Romantic Thursday every week, but moved it up to Romantic Wednesday this week!!! Our fare was centered around grilled Yellowfin Tuna with Brian’s Special Sauce!!! This sauce goes with any fish, which we try to eat once a week.

Here’s the list of stuff you’ll need:

Sushi-grade Yellowfin Tuna
Dale’s Steak Seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mushrooms
20 – 30 small to medium shrimp peeled and deveined
2 tbsp of green capers
1 jar marinated artichoke hearts
White onion
Pecans (ours came from Mom’s pecan tree…she shelled ‘em…even better!!!)
½ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. Land O’ Lakes Reduced Fat Butter
1 tsp of olive oil
Corn-on-the-cob (Karen gave us more….we love it!!!)
Asparagus (it’s on sale this week…and we love it!!!)
Tami’s Secret Salad (guess she’ll have to start a blog too…then the dogs…geez)
Crusty bread to sop up the sauce with (we used the rest of the baguette from earlier this week)
One beer (can substitute white wine or white wine vinegar)
Coppola Rosso Red Table Wine

There is a bit of juggling as each of the following processes all take place in harmony. I typically light the grill and then start the sauce. By the time I get the ingredients ready for the sauce, the grill is hot and ready for the tuna. At some point you will either grill the asparagus or turn on the steamer (grilled next time I promise!).

Season the tuna with black pepper or Mrs. Dash Table Blend. Marinate in two tablespoons of Dales’ Steak Seasoning (they make a reduced sodium version that we have yet to find….good stuff!!!) and a table spoon of olive oil in the fridge for at least 30 minutes....turn over occasionally. Cook on medium heat on grill 18 – 20 minutes flipping three times. You gotta get the Weber Grillin’ spray….makes a HUGE difference especially with fish!

Now for Brian's Secret Sauce (and the secret to Romantic Wednesday!!!):

Spray a 10” Calphalon skillet (the only cookware!!!) with Pam and turn on medium heat. Take one drink of Coors Light and pour remainder into pan (if you have not opened wine, do so now and drink a toast!!!). Add lemon juice, capers, and butter. Chop ½ cup of pecans and ½ cup of white onion and add to mix. Peel shrimp, eat 1 or 2 and add remainder to skillet. Slice mushrooms (they were out of whole….prefer over pre-sliced) and quarter the artichoke hearts. Add to sauce and finish glass of wine. Reduce sauce by cooking on medium heat for 20 – 25 minutes.

Tonight we steamed the corn-on-the-cob for 30 minutes to keep from messing up another pan. We steamed the asparagus again because I forgot to marinate it so we could grill it. Added to the steamer for last 13 minutes of cooking corn (adjust to suit your pref on texture). Brush baguette with butter or Smart Squeeze and broil at 500 degrees ‘til brown on edges.

To serve, start with the tuna steak and ladle on a bunch of Brian’s Secret Sauce. Add the steamed asparagus, corn-on the-cob, salad, crusty bread (again, not bad form to sop up the sauce with your bread), and top off the wine!!!
Enjoy!!!
BC

7-20-10 Teriyaki Chicken W/Steamed Veggies Stuff

Tonight’s fare is my Oven-Baked-Chicken-Teriyaki-Steam-Fried Rice With Veggies Special!!!!!

OK, so it’s not really the same as fried chicken (what is???), but pretty darn tasty and almost guilt free. Here we go with what you need:

4 chicken breasts – nice and plump :o)
White rice (brown is good if you have the time)
Fresh squash (these are from Mom’s and Karen’s gardens….more to come soon!!!)
Broccoli head
Red bell pepper (personal taste and color pref)
White onion
Chow mein noodles (La Choy)
Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce With Sesame Seeds (this stuff is the schizzle!!!!!)
Spring rolls
Scmitt Sone Riesling

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Line Pyrex dish with foil and spray with Pam (much easier clean up)
Trim all excess from chicken breasts and cube (slicin’ n dicin’)
Dip in fat-free milk and toss in flour with a couple of pinches of salt. Space evenly in Pyrex dish.
Bake in oven for 25 minutes, scrape loose from foil and then bake for another 20 minutes
Scrape loose from foil and dump in large mixing bowl. Pour in Kikkoman’s Teriyaki Sauce (did I mention this stuff is the schizzle???) and stir to coat the sauce on the chicken….(Hint; eat a couple of pieces to make sure it tastes ok…it will!!!).

During the chicken preparation, you also need to steam the veggies, the rice, and bake the spring rolls. I did the following tonight:

Cut two medium squash into mouthful-size chunks
Chop the broccoli (choppin’ broccoli!!!) into mouthful-size chunks….feed remnants to begging dogs!!!

http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/VideosSeries/VideoView.aspx?pid=49751&vid=3708_89206270

Cut 1/3 of the red bell pepper into small pieces
Chop ¼ of white onion into small pieces (does this sound redundant???)
Throw all of this into to the steamer for 15 -17 minutes according to personal preference on texture

             Duke                      Campbell                                  Jasmine             

Add 1 ½ cups of white rice and 3 cups of water to medium sauce pan, bring to boil, cover and steam on low for 20 minutes for white rice, 55 – 60 minutes for brown. Uncover stir/scrape. Cover and let stand off heat.

Bake spring rolls in oven at 450 degrees for 12 – 14 minutes until golden brown.

To serve, start with rice base on plate. Layer on steamed veggies, add Teriyaki chicken, and top with chow mein noodles. Season to taste with Kikkoman’s Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce. Drink Riesling during food preparation, dinner consumption, and after dinner clean up. Make sure to include water bottle on night stand…you will be thirsty later!
Enjoy!!!
BC

7-19-10 Grilled Pork Chops

Hey, this is cool...my first post!!! As you will see from tonight’s offering, we keep it pretty simple. The menu for this evening included:

Thin-sliced boneless pork chops
Steamed asparagus
Corn-on-the-cob
Tossed salad (Tami made it)
Broiled French baguette
Table grade merlot

Now for the prep. I trim all the fat off of all our meats for two reasons:
1) I don’t like it.
2) Cuts a LOT of calories and fat grams
Lightly seasoned the pork chops with Mrs. Dash Table Blend
Trim the ends off of the fresh asparagus. Steam in Oster steamer for 13 minutes (adjust time to suit your texture preference).
Shuck the fresh corn-on-the-cob and boil for 20 – 25 minutes.
Tami made the salad. This one was pretty simple with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and fat-free Italian dressing.
Slice baguette in half and brush with either Smart Squeeze or Land O’ Lakes reduced-fat whipped butter

Grill the pork chops for 15 minutes, flip 3 times or about 4 minutes per side X 2 (we like our meat cooked!!!!)

WARNING!!! Make sure to focus on the meat on the grill if having more than one glass of wine prior to ignition!!!

I will do better at documenting preparation, portions, and pictures next time... it was a Monday!!!
Enjoy!!!
BC