Want something to do on a Saturday night, but you haven't gotten paid since last Friday and you are craving a gourmet meal?
Why not try something new. Stay in and still eat at the five star level for the same price as a pizza from round table. Try blackened tuna steaks with a mango salsa. One of the trendiest fruits right not is the mango. It's a super fruit which means it has great taste, it's nutrient rich and it has antioxidant qualities. So use this fruit in a tasty recipe that will make anyone look like a great chef.
Now in order to make this recipe for fewer than 20 dollars there are a few places you need to go to get the cheapest ingredients. The first stop will be the 99 Cent store. Here you will be able to find all of your seasonings.
Next go to your regular grocery store and pick up the rest of the ingredients. These are all the ingredients from the produce section. The mango is the main ingredient in this recipe so it's important you find one that is ripe. The mango needs to be soft. The softer it is the sweeter the taste.
Now for your meat of choice, this recipe is designed around Ahi tuna steaks. Buy yellow-fin tuna because it has a lower per pound price. You can find it for as cheap as 6.99 a pound or as much as 9.99 a pound, but don't let this scare you because each steak is only around a quarter of a pound. When you buy tuna one of the most important things to ask is if it's sushi grade or not. To get the sushi grade tuna you need to ask the person behind the fish counter for frozen tuna. What sushi grade means to this recipe is that you can eat it raw, so you don't have to cook the fish all the way through.
For those of you that don't feel like being that adventurous and trying tuna or maybe you want to lower the price even more you can substitute it with chicken. It is cheaper and still tasty.
When you get home start defrosting the fish or chicken. Once it's thawed chop up some garlic and put it in a freezer bag with some olive oil, lime and the meat then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. When the meat is marinating you can make the mango salsa. You chop all the remaining produce and mix together in a bowl. Everything should be in small pieces like a salsa. Put the salsa in the refrigerator and then make the dry rub. You simply mix all the dry ingredients together. When the meat is done marinating rinse it off. The marinade is meant to absorb into the meat not coat the outside.
Now would be a good time to start the rice. You want enough rice to have about a cup per person after it is cooked, not before.
Coat both sides of the meat in the rub and cook in a skillet with some oil. Don’t worry about burning the meat because the point is to blacken it. Once the fish is blackened it’s done, but the chicken will take longer. Remember the tuna should be sushi grade so don't worry about under cooking this. You can eat it raw.
After the meat is finished so are you. To plate this impressive meal put a cup of rice on the plate. Then plate the meat on top of the rice, after that scoop the salsa on top of the meat. The meat will be spicy and the salsa will be sweet. Have some people over to premiere this gourmet meal. You can still have a fun night without spending too much.
To find the full recipe go to http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blackened-Tuna-Steaks-with-Mango-Salsa/Detail.aspx
Reading this column right before lunch was a problem for me - and I don't even like tuna that much.
ReplyDeleteThe writer does a good job with the explanation of how to cook and put this meal together. A stronger beginning would have been good.
If this is a gourmet meal, don't use a question lead. Instead, dive in with a line that says how cheaply and easily this meal can be made.
Also in the last graph (before the link):
"Have some people over to premiere this gourmet meal. You can still have a fun night without spending too much."
Those are two good thoughts, but bear more development that throwaway lines at the end of the column. They could have been up in or near the lead.