Tuna without mayonnaise?!

When I picked Grilled Tuna Skewers with Yakitori style dip and Pea shoot salad - Page 35 as one of my recipes for this week I didn't quite realise just how expensive fresh tuna was - just shy of £10 for enough to make this dish.  I swithered in the supermarket but crossed my fingers as it was scanned through the till that this Giraffe would be worth it. 

Had an interesting conversation with boy whilst preparing it as when I explained what it was he assumed that if this was fresh tuna what comes in a can must be dried tuna - close but no cigar.  The dish itself was very straightforward to make however I saw straight away that there was going to be way too much yakitori.  I halved the quantities but could have easily quartered them as there was a lot wasted.

Instructions said to grill for 1 minute on each side, I should have followed this but thought they looked a bit underdone so gave them longer but in retrospect they would have been better pinker.  I served with the prescribed pea shoots, but also brown rice and stir fried veg and the skewers themselves sprinkled with sesame and black onion seeds.  Another one without a photo for guidance but I reckon mine looked pretty good.

Boy took one bite of the tuna and declared that I must make them again!  Me and Mr pretty much aggreed with him as it was indeed delicious and very filling with the brown rice and veggies.  Had never tried pea shoots before despite seeing them feature a lot on Masterchef.  A definate pea flavour to them but not many in a bag for £1.  Will definatly be keeping an eye out in the reduced section for any yellow stickied fresh tuna.  Girl suggested that if I was indeed ever making them again could she just have proper tuna, with some mayonnaise please.

Yet more Salmon & Wasabi

I love them both so the third recipie is a bit like the first - well not really - but they both have salmon & wasabi in them (oh and brown rice) but that could well be where the similarity ends. So tonight I made Miso-lime salmon with Wasabi Rice and Green Onions - Page 119 

The recipie makes LOADS of the marinade for the salmon - next time I'd half the quantity as it just went to waste - sorry to the lime and miso that were unnecessarily sacrificed in the making of this dish.  I just used Salmon fillets - have no idea what darnes are and there were none in Sainsburys.  In the photo in the book it definately looks like there is spinach through the rice but there's none in the recipie so either they sneakily put it in and forgot to mention it or they used mutant coriander that looks like spinach - you decide.

Now it looks rather grey and uninspiring in my photo - but thats my poor photography - nowt to do with the recipie! (anyone want to brighten it up with photoshop for me?) I added edamame soya beans to the mix but would also add the mystery spinach next time.  And there will be a next time as it was lush.  Even girl ate most of it.

The first nibble...

So I like many others got The Giraffe Family Cookbook for Christmas - thanks Mum! It was on my Wish List so I would have been as angry as a Giraffe with a sore throat if it hadn't turned up in my stocking.

If you weren't as lucky as me you can get it on Amazon (other good booksellers are available...)

The first recipie I decided to cook from it is one that is a favourite of mine at the Resturant so I was so glad to see it in the book - Sushi Brown Rice Salad with Smoked Salmon - Page 60. Unfortunately I had to miss out one of the ingreedients - Mouli (white radish) as I couldn't get it from Tesco's or Sainsburys - any ideas where to track it down?  My cucumbers were crescents as opposed to the specified diamonds - couldn't work out how to make a diamond from a deseeded cucumber! I reckon the result was pretty much spot on to what I've been served in the resturant.  I give you my version...

A big thumbs up all round - although Mr & Boy reckoned it needed more salmon or the addition of some prawns to fill them up - greedy pigs!  I especially liked the black onion seeds - not an ingreedient that I'd ever used before.  Lovely flavour and fab colour contrast.  Can definately see me using them again alongside sesame seeds (famous last words - they'll probably end up going out of date alongside all the other strange things in my spice rack bought for one specific recipie!)