Five-Spice Sesame Sliced Tuna & Avocado

Back in 2007 my Aunt gave me a Rachael Ray cookbook called "Just in Time" for my birthday. The whole premise is finding the right meal to fit in your available window of time: 15, 30 or 60 minutes. I have to admit I haven't used it as much as I could have, but the four or so recipes I've made have been absolutely scrumptious. A fact which reminds me that simply owning a cookbook library is not enough...it pays to read them too. I should take a cue from my hubby who reads them in bed like I read novels.

Tonight's pick was also most certainly scrumptious: Five Spice-Sesame Sliced Tuna & Avocado. Really easy, relatively inexpensive, minus the splurge on decent fish. I even left out the avocados by mistake and it was still nummy.


Slices of seared rare tuna steak encrusted with toasted sesame seeds and chives, all drizzled with a balsamic vinegar reduction.

1/3 cup aged balsalmic vinegar
3 T honey
1/4 cup tamari
2 avocados
juice of 1/2 lime
2 T vegetable oil
4 (6oz.) tuna steaks
2 t Chinese five-spice powder
salt
black pepper
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped chives
1/2 head napa cabbage, shredded

Combine vinegar, honey and tamari in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 6-7 minutes until syrupy. Remove from heat.

Halve and peel the avocados, slice them lengthwise, squeeze a bit of lime over them.

Heat oil in skillet over high heat. Season tuna with five-spice powder, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side for rare finish. Combine sesame seeds and chives in shallow bowl. Slice tuna in thick pieces and turn each slice in the sesame/chive mixture.

Scatter napa cabbage on plate, top with avocado, then tuna steak. Drizzle with dressing.

A little bit of rice on the side would have been a nice addition.

On a final note, neither of us made any firm resolutions this New Year's. However, we are now tracking every purchase in an online budgeting program and trying to stick to a budget. Our hope is to get our financial house in order so that we can be more free. Who wants to keep paying the man forever, right? Cooking at home is a natural corollary to this goal as we waste a lot of money eating out. So, you will likely see an even greater abundance of cooking posts, if you weren't already sick of 'em.