In which Kate Halves a Protein

So it's still summer, even if it is after Labor Day for the last few months that's often meant cool or cold meals, partly because who wants to heat up the kitchen and run up the air conditioning bill?

I forget how I came across this recipe, but I've been eating olives a lot and this recipe didn't have leafy greens. It's not that I don't like leafy greens, It's that I had braces from 2011 to 2013 and I didn't eat them for two years because I didn't want to pick them out from under the wires and brackets. This means now I only have them occasionally becaues I don't digest them light I used to. Arugula and spinach seem to be okay, at least.

I figured this would be good for light dinners, since during the week my biggest meal of the day is lunch, but then I looked at the recipe. Take a look:

• 2 (5-ounce) cans oil-packed tuna, drained (or use tuna in water and 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1/2 cup peeled, diced cucumbers
• 1/4 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Toss all ingredients into a large bowl until well mixed

T

This seemed to me to be not enough vegetables to tuna. You'd barely get enough to flavor the fish. I love briny things, so I wanted the olives pretty strong. I also love lemon. So I cut the tuna in half but left the vegetables and spices as listed. 

I'm really happy with it. I think I can boost the flavors with more lemon juice (or maybe some lemon zest), and I may up the vegetables and the spices by 50%. Capers have also crossed my mind.

I got three main dish servings out of the salad; I ate them with pita chips to throw in some more variety to the textures. If you're looking for adding other vegetables, putting this on a bed of shredded romaine would likely serve you very well. 

If you try it, let me know how you like it!

A lesson in humility

Cucumbers are right up there as a favorite vegetable, especially if I can find some that have a thin-to medium skin, some serious crunch, and ideally, no wax on them. It's a pain in the whatsis to get off.


I like them in a lot of ways, cut into spears and eaten with nothing but salt & pepper; with onions, yogurt and a touch of white vinegar, in a sandwich with Swiss cheese, in a salad, in a cold soup with dill, I could go on.


When I lived in Nashville, I visited some friends in Atlanta and they introduced me to a sushi place called RuSan's. This local chain (still expanding!) serves some of the tastiest and most creative sushi I've ever had. Before a meal at the sushi bar, they serve a small appetizer of cucumbers, sesame seeds, ponzu and some crab.


I didn't have any crab in the house, but I thought to myself, "Self, let's have something different for lunch. Ponzu is just citrus and soy sauce, right?"


Wrong.


I was on my lunch hour, so this impulse didn't leave me much time for research. I put into a bowl:


2 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1 T fresh lemon juice.


Then I sprinkled the whole things with sesame seeds. It did come out rather pretty.

The tea towel I'm using as a table runner was hand-stitched by my friend Opal. You can see more of her jewelry and art at The Hyper Monkey.


Back to my experiment. It did not come out tasting like ponzu. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't the combination I was looking for. I discussed it with my sweetie when he got home and he was very sensitive and didn't laugh. He also said that ponzu involves some citrus only available in Japan and the recipes I found a little later were something similar, but not, but his native definition, ponzu.


So, not my finest experiment and I will use the bottled ponzu when I'm next in the mood for the above dish. While RuSan's has spawned some restaurants in Nashville, they certainly haven't made it into Connecticut, so I'm on my own.


Questions? Comment? Let's hear them!


As a note, I used to sign off joking about Death Threats. I will not be doing that any longer. A friend pointed me to Ittybiz, and suddenly my jest didn't seem to be as funny anymore. I hope you'll show your support and spread the word.


Next time--something with pork and a lot of garlic, and cumin, if I'm not out of it. Thank you for reading!