I was lucky and got a big bag of Brussels sprouts for $1.00 and a bunch of tarragon for $1.00 and that is how I came up with this recipe. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. I think a pound of Brussels sprouts makes around 4 servings.
1 lb brussels sprouts – cut in half
canola oil to fry
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
2 Tablespoons white miso
2 Tablespoons French or Dijon mustard (I used Pommery Moutarde Royal with Cognac because I had it…..)
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup toasted cashews – slightly crushed
2 Tablespoons tarragon leaves
Directions
In a small bowl mix together the lemon juice, garlic, miso, mustard and vinegar and set to the side.
Put a large sauce pan on medium high heat with slightly less than a half inch of oil for frying. When the oil is hot add the Brussels sprouts cut side down. Fry them till they are browned. Put them on a cooling rack or a sheet pan lined with paper towels. Fry them up till they are done. Salt and pepper the Brussels sprouts to taste.
Top the Brussels sprouts with the vinaigrette, cashews and tarragon.
Brussels sprouts with cashews, tarragon and lemon miso vinaigrette
I was reading a lot of recipes. I wanted to do something with tuna and avocado because that is what I had to use. A long time back I have heard that many caterers add curry to tuna and I have done that before. But it was only this week I read about frying curry leaves so I gave it a try. This recipe is slightly based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s Avocado and Curried Prawns and Lime Recipe. I used his flavors so it came out really great… but mine is less creamy and a little different. My husband said it tasted like something you’d get at a fancy restaurant. This recipe only makes two servings.
Ingredients for around two servings
canola oil to fry with (about 1/2 in high in a smaller pan) (infused oil gets used for dressing and to sprinkle on salad. You will have leftover infused oil)
1 shallot – sliced thin
1 pepper – hot or mild – sliced thin
20 fresh curry leaves
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 lime – the fresh squeezed juice (maybe more if your lime isn’t too juicy) Zest sliced off to infuse oil. (this juice gets squeezed on avocados)
pinch sea salt
3 Tablespoons mayonaise
1 1/2 teaspoon curry
1 1/2 teaspoon pure honey
2 Tablespoons infused oil
1 lime – the fresh squeezed juice (this juice goes in dressing)
1 avocado cut in slices
6 oz tuna – drained
1 oz dried mulberries
2 Tablespoon fresh parsley – chopped
2 Tablespoons scallions – sliced thin or chopped
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper – to taste
two handfuls of mixed greens or sprouts to put under tuna
Instructions
In a smaller fry pan add oil and put on medium high heat. When oil is hot add the sliced shallots and pepper. Fry until golden. Remove and place on a lined cooling rack or sheet tray lined with paper towels. Turn heat down slightly to medium. Add curry leaves. They fry up very fast. Remove curry leaves when crisp (20-30 seconds) and place on lined cooling rack or sheet tray lined with paper towels. Take pan off the heat and add coriander and mustard seeds and lime skin. Let this sit at least 20 minutes.
In a small mixing bowl add the mayonnaise, curry powder, honey, infused oil and lime juice and mix well.
Spread out the avocado on your serving plates. Dot the avocado slices with a small amount of dressing. Make a few dressing dots on the plates.
To this bowl add the tuna, mulberries, parsley, scallions (salt and pepper to taste) Mix well.
Finish dressing up the plate and use all the shallots and pepper and arrange on the plates.
To the middle of the plate add a handful of salad. On top of the salad add a mound of tuna.
Sprinkle the plate with a small amount of the infused oil.
lately top with curry leaves.
Curried Tuna Salad with Dried Mulberries, Avocado, Shallots and Crisp Curry Leaves
This is something very special. A SPECIAL THANKS!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for inspiring this amazing FORKING DELICIOUS recipe.
All restaurants are struggling these days. ABC News reported that 16,000 restaurants across the country have permanently closed after temporally closing from the pandemic as of July 25 2020. We LOVE going out to eat so we are giving as much support to independent restaurants as we can. Take out dining is less risky than dining in during a pandemic so we do take out instead of dine in.
Our first take out of the week was from Taco Fusion in Glendale.
They serve a good variety of mesquite style tacos on hand made tortillas. They are smaller sized tacos that are a little bigger than street sized and are stuffed more than street tacos. Today I got a carne asada on flour, a mild habanero chicken on flour and the fish on corn tortilla. They are all so delicious! I very rarely like carne asada because it’s usually not tender enough and doesn’t have enough flavor but the carne asada is much better here than from many other places and the tortillas either flour or corn ALSO taste better than from most places. I also enjoy their fish taco on corn….but my favorite is the mild habanero chicken taco with pineapple salsa. I’ve had a lot of chicken tacos from many places and also Mexico. The mild chicken habanero taco is really great. My husband had several tacos that were different than what I ordered and his favorites are the different asada tacos and his other favorite is the shrimp taco. He said they do shrimp better than from most places. The only thing that is difficult is asking for the salsas because you don’t know what they have. I saved some meat for the dogs and they were very excited to try some.
Next was La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They offer certified Neapolitan pizzas and the popular in Italy Roman type pizza. So we got one of each, a salad and their amazing cheese cake for latter.
WOW it smells really great! The basil is very aromatic. We start with some salad. Then we dig into the pizzas. They are both really great pizzas made with house made mozzarella that is really great and the certified San Marzano Tomatoes. The Roman Style Pizza is unique and the dough is thick but very light because it’s mostly air and looks sort of like a sponge. Saving the cheese cake for latter. I always share some food afterwards with the dogs.
CHZBURGR is a small casual restaurant that serves extremely good flat style burgers, outrageously GREAT chicken sandwiches, all beef hot dogs, milk shakes and more. I wasn’t planning on coming this week because I came here last week but when I heard about the crispy boneless chicken leg special sandwich I had to try it.
One the left is the triple cheese burger my husband loves. On the right is a crispy boneless chicken LEG with chipotle honey, house made pickles, asadero cheese and green leaf lettuce. WOW! another great sandwich from CHZBURGR! Of course my dogs wanted to try some.
We also did take out from Aiello’s East Coast Italian.
The food all looks great! They got mixed up there and gave me someone else’s dinner. We called to let them know and something was worked out. I don’t eat veal but I enjoyed the cannoli. My dogs were very happy with the result.
Our last take out of the week was curbside pick up from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. This is a popular mishmash restaurant of sort of Asian, Mexican and Caribbean Inspired creations. Food Network figured out that you can order around 90,000 different combinations here. You get a big pan of food that comes with complimentary snickerdoodle cookies and the combination pans start at less than $10.00 each and might be more than one meal for some people. This is better than fast food and priced cheaper than fast food.
I got the chile relleno, emerald chicken, white rice and black beans. My husband got a carnitas quesadilla, matchacha beef, white rice and refried beans. We had plenty to share with the dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
The restaurants we did take out from on week 22 –
Taco Fusion – Glendale
La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale
CHZBURGR – Glendale
Chino Bandido – North Phoenix
Aiello’s East Coast Italian – Phoenix
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
