Seared Tuna with Sesame Cucumber Salad

When Miss F is in school, I often eat leftovers for lunch, especially now that C is not home during to eat any leftovers with me during the week. But that can get old quickly. Most fish cooks up amazingly fast, but nothing is as fast as seared tuna.  I am semi-obsessed with cucumber salad and since the cucumber plants were the one thing that survived in the garden this summer, this dish was destiny.  The whole thing takes less than 10 minutes to make, which is certainly faster than any drive thru lunch option and about 100 times better tasting. And a shout out to my friend Harmony: I need more tuna!

Seared Tuna with Sesame Cucumber Salad

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
½ teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon Sriracha
pinch of sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tuna steaks

Slice cucumber thinly, preferably with a mandolin. Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until golden brown. Whisk together the rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, and Sriracha. Toss the cucumbers with the dressing and sesame seeds. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the tuna a minute or two per side. Plate and top each steak with the cucumber salad.

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Cajun Chicken Pasta

C hates tomatoes. Hates. Miss F has decided that she likes tomatoes. So I decided to attempt this dish, knowing Miss F would love it. I figured C would pick out the tomatoes, as he normally would.  He didn't.  He ate every bite.  And then he tried to figure out a way to take the leftovers on the plane home with him.  It turns out to be a good thing I didn't send him with any since the Aspen leg of his flight was cancelled and he had to spend the night in Denver.  But I may work on a way to send him home with food when he flies direct.  Maybe I will even add a tomato salad.  I heavily adapted this recipe from Kaitlin in the Kitchen.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

1 pound penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup Parmesan cheese, freshly shredded, plus more for garnish
2 ½ cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning, plus more for garnish
2 Roma tomatoes, diced

Prepare the penne pasta per package directions.

In a large pan heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once the butter has melted into the oil, add the chicken and shallots; season well with salt & pepper and cook for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover it on a separate dish to keep it warm.

Place your remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and your garlic in the pan you removed the chicken from. Let the garlic sauté for about 1 minute, making sure it doesn't brown and burn. Add your heavy cream and when it comes to a light simmer, add your parmesan cheese and mix well. Season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning.

Add the drained pasta and toss it into the pan with the sauce. Stir in the chicken and tomatoes. Serve, topped with additional Parmesan.

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Secret Recipe Club: English Muffin Bread

It's once again time for the Secret Recipe Club, I skipped last month since we had so much travel in the month. This month we were only on two trips (Aspen and Anaheim) so it was time to get back into the groove. I am always looking for new bread to bake, especially now since C is gone during the week and I can bake without him complaining about the bread smells.  There were so many great choices in my assigned blog, Chocolate and Chillies, but this English Muffin Bread stood out.  I knew it would be great in Miss F's lunchbox with some strawberry jam.  I loved that it took less than two hours to make and it was almost as easy as using my trusty bread machine.

English Muffin Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup milk
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons canola oil
cornmeal to sprinkle the loaf pan

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and yeast.

In a microwave safe bowl, whisk together milk, water and oil. Heat in microwave until the mixture is 120 F to 130 F. Mix the mixture before taking the temperature.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients. Using the paddle attachment, mix for 1 minute on high speed. The dough will be very soft.

Lightly grease a loaf pan and sprinkle with cornmeal (bottom and sides). Transfer the dough to the loaf pan, spreading it to make sure it is level.

Spray a piece of plastic wrap with oil and cover the loaf pan with this. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. The dough should just crown the rim of the loaf pan.

Once the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap and bake for 22-27 minutes or until it is golden brown and has an internal temperature of 190 F.

After 5 minutes remove the bread from the pan and cool on a rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

An InLinkz Link-up

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