Spice Crusted Tuna

This week's recipe and a make-up too !

Spice Crusted Tuna

Per Nana~

Tuna - $26.99 a pound. Egads !!!

  I'm glad I am not trying to feed a family at those prices. 

I bought one small piece of fresh tuna that I prepared with the spices, 

but I have to admit that neither Jim nor I cared for the taste.  The 

combination of the spices was okay, it was the tuna we did not like.

 It is certainly a quick and easy recipe for a week night meal, 

but it just didn't work for us. 

Per Tricia~

My husband loves fresh tuna and often orders it out in restaurants, 

so I was excited to make this recipe for him. I was also delighted 

(for once) to be empty nesters as the pricey ingredients hit. My kids 

have a tendency to like the expensive ingredients best.  Go figure. 

The recipe was a snap as it simply involved taking Dorie's suggested 

spice combo and rubbing it onto the tuna prior to cooking it with a

 touch of olive oil. I always do appreciate her suggested cooking 

times because they are spot on. 

 While my husband did enjoy the recipe he also explained that he likes 

tuna so much that he prefers it prepared in a lighter manner.  He said

 this reminded him of all the the "blackened" recipes that were found in 

restaurants in the late '80's.  OK for chicken or catfish, but for him it

 was too strong for tuna steak - especially at this price point :) 

Arman's Caviar in Aspic

Per Nana~

Let me start by saying that Cher would love this interpretation of the recipe :) 

I do not like aspic or jello (something about the texture just gets to me) 

however I decided to make the recipe for the technique. 

Jim does not do caviar, his loss, so I decided to change things up a little. 

For the aspic I used a chicken flavored bouillon cube and topped it with 

chopped chicken livers.  the aspic set up nicely in the refrigerator for a day

 and I had no trouble removing it from the pan. It sliced beautifully. 

I scooped a little circle out and filled it with the chicken livers. 

The end result was quite elegant and Jim actually liked it. 

Per Tricia~

Like many tasks that you approach with trepidation, I found myself happy 

with the results in part simply because the task was over. I also learned 

not to make aspic in my Cannelé pan.  The dish you see below is the one 

"blob" that came out in a large enough hunk that it managed to survive.

 Let's just say the cat loved this French Friday.  

                            

While mine was not exactly a high end caviar selection, it is still caviar. 

Not a fan of fish to start with, this was an adventure - to say the least.  

I am not planning to make it again, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it 

would be either.  And I definitely would now try the "real caviar" if I 

am lucky enough to encounter it at some fancy buffet. 

Which is saying something. 

                   

My fish loving husband was game for anything and thought this was quite 

an interesting combo, but was not upset that so much aspic was lost in the

 "Great Cannelé Failure" either :)  I did get a kick out of  reporting to the boys 

that I was serving caviar at home now that they were both away at school......

Happy French Friday ~