This week, I'll catch up with a couple of recipes that I have done recently.  One is from the book, and one is from the online Good Eats archive.  The first is blackened tuna.  I was interested to see the difference between cooking the tuna steak on top of a chimney starter (as recommended in the Good Eats episode on tuna).  The other major difference is that instead of sesame seeds and a wasabi-soy sauce glaze, the book version of tuna calls for a spicy rub.  This is where the "blackened" part comes in, since the rub turns black when seared.  This recipe is so straight forward that I'm just going to put the pics on and say a few words.  

This is the Tuna pre-sear.  The rub is all over the place.  It is mostly paprika, but includes enough cayenne pepper to make the kids say "too spicy".  They ended up just scraping the rub off, and liked the nice tuna that was left.

Right after going in, the tuna has begun to smoke.  

This is a view of the side of the tuna steak right after flipping.  You can see that the first side has a fair amount of cooked tuna that has penetrated the profile, while the pan-side is just starting.  You can also see some of the black that makes this "blackened tuna".  

The finished product, sliced and ready to serve.  We all liked the amount that the tuna had been cooked (inside was just warm).  Overall, this was a three salt cellars out of five recipe, though, because the level of spice was just a little too high.  Also, since we've had the sesame type before, we know that this dish can be 5 out of 5.  The thing I liked about the cast iron pan was that it cooked everything evenly, which is a challenge on a grill.  I think I'll try the sesame seed preparation on a cast iron pan next time - should work nicely.  

This is the other recipe we've done recently - spicy beef kebabs.  These were very easy to prepare, and cooked up very nicely.  They are also a great way to use a cheaper cut of beef (sirloin).  They had great smoky, spicy taste, and the kids loved them too, especially since they were served over a bed of cous-cous.  These really are a 5 out of 5, partially because it's not often that a so-so cut of meat tastes really good.  

The other thing that happened this week is that we bought a new bathroom scale.  Besides the fact that it measures our weight out to tenths of a lb., it also shows that we weigh 10 lbs more than the scale we used to own.  Needless to say, I'm going to drop some weight.  I hereby resolve to become Colin-sized within the next two months.