Tuscan Tuna Salad

The Story:

We have a half-dozen cans of tuna in our pantry that was bought with good intentions then overlooked. I was out of lunch meat for lunches, so I thought I'd finally use it. But I didn't want normal tuna salad... not that there's anything wrong with it, but in order to keep eating "healthy(ish)" you have to keep your food interesting.

So what sounds good in tuna salad? Well, I think tuna has a very fresh taste... and what's more fresh than the flavors of Tuscany?

When I think of Tuscan foods, I think of roasted tomatos and peppers, olives, lemon, and of course, cheese. So I decided that's what I'd use (sans the peppers, just because I didn't feel like roasting those last night).

But I said I wanted to eat healthy, and the typical binder for tuna (mayonase) is anything but. So I did a search for mayo-less tuna salad, and found a site that talked about using white-bean pureé, and that the flavors of white-bean and tuna are a tuscan classic. How perfect is that?!

The Cooking:

For my binder I used a simple pureé of said white-beans, a clove of garlic, and a little bit of olive oil.

While I was taking care of that, I roasted some split cherry tomatos in the oven. Once the beans were ready and the tomatos were roasted, it was a simple matter of mixing it all together with the tuna, some Kalamata olives, and some crumbled feta cheese. Lastly I added salt and pepper to taste, and a squeeze of lemon juice for "brightness". The tuna salad was then served on flat-bread (Pita) with spinache.

The Results:

Well, it looks good, and the bit I taste-tested was great...but it's not lunch yet, so I'll be back with my impressions.

Edit 8/01/2008- I didn't get a chance to update this yesterday. The tuna salad turned out very good; the white-bean pureé was more than a suitable replacement for mayo. Between the feta and the Kalamata olives, it was nice and salty. I actually packed it for lunch again today; but this time it's on wheat bread with lettuce.

I think the recipe could really shine if instead of roasting the cherry tomatos you roasted thick slices of tomatos, then servered on a split ciabatta bun. I'd also like to add some diced red pepper and or onions for added crunch.

Mango Hot Relish

The Story:

Well, there's not much of a story to this recipe. We were at the store; I knew I had bratwurst at home, and I knew I'd like some heat with them. Mango and peppers isn't the most original idea, but it's summer and I love mango. So I grabbed a few things and was on my way.

The Cooking:

This was fairly simple to make. I diced about 3/4ths of a medium white onion. I diced a mango (diced, mangled, what's the difference?). And I removed the insides and seeds of four small, dried habanero peppers, and cut them up. I didn't want to chop the onions or peppers too small because I knew they were going on brats, and I wanted plenty of crunch.

Lastly, I added approxamately a tbsp of white wine vinegar and 1 1/2 tbs of mango-orange juice (but regular orange juice would work just as well). Throw everything into a container, mix well, and let sit.

The brats were "stadium style" pre-cooked then grilled, served on split-top brat buns. Nothing special, but still one of my favorite summer meals. I also added dijon mustard, only because the day I eat a brat without mustard is the day I die.

The Results:

Well, I've made mango salsa before, and it's not really anything difficult. I left the cilantro out of this recipe because I was going for a brat topper instead of a salsa. The habaneros bring a lot of heat. My hands are burning still, and I prepaired the relish 5 hours ago.

But how does it taste? It's your typical mango-hot pepper affair; the OJ really helped bring out the sweetness. I thought it might end up too sweet (and it is if you eat it alone, but why would you do that?) Ontop of the brat, it was pretty good. The flavor didn't stand out as much as I would have liked, but it was sweet going down and left a nice burn on the aftertaste.

I'd say I'd make it again; but that doesn't mean much. Mango salsa (which is pretty much what this is minus the cilantro) is kinda a staple summer food for me.

The recipe is simple enough to leave room for some play; sweeten it or spice it. Play with the ratio of mango and onion and peppers (though unless you really, really like hot foods, I wouldn't add too much more habanero).

Turkey Burgers with Plumb Sauce

The Story:

As promised, here's my first update. I've been buying a lot of fresh plumbs at the grociery store; I always forget just how much I love them until I start eating them fresh.

I've been keeping a "Dietary Diary", in an attempt to shed some of this extra weight (it's working). For weeks we've done a good job of eating at home, and packing lunches, with fresh fruit for breakfast. But we had a mini-vacation last week, and while we were gone the mother in-law house sat. When we came back, they wanted to go out to eat.

I've actually been very good about sticking to good foods, so I wasn't thrilled; but it's more of a social thing than a food thing. We hit the local sports bar, where I spied a turkey burger on their menu. Yeah, still not that healthy, but better than most other options. It was tastey, but I couldn't help but think how it might taste with a sautéd plumb sauce.

The Idea:

After checking out a few different plumb sauces, I decided to go with canned plumbs instead of fresh. Adds the syrup for sweetness, plus it's much cheaper if I screw up. I figured a reduction of plumb puré, muted with something a little savory, would be great with turkey. I always use dijon mustard to mute my fruit glazes, so I decided to try some soy sauce and worsheshire sauce; adding a spoonfull at a time, and then go from there.

Cooking:

I started by peeling and pitting my plumbs, then throwing them and the juice into the food processor. Proccessed until smooth. Sauté pan on medium-high heat, with just a bit of butter (thickens sauce, and makes my stainless-steele pan easier to clean). Toss in the puré-de-plumb (yes, I like to make names up), then as I stirred the sauce, I added a spoon-full of soy sauce and worsheshire sauce. I tasted the mix, and it still seemed too plumby, so I added another spoonfull of each. Now it wasn't sweet enough. That's okay; the key to blind cooking is to be flexible.

Looking up at my cuppord of random cooking things (that's the technical term), I noticed some cayenne pepper and various vinegars. Guess what that makes? That's right, BBQ sauce. I decided on an apple-cidar vinegar, and just eyeballed a BBQ sauce-ammount (if I had to guess, about 2 tbsp), and since I like things spicey, a generous dash or four of the pepper powder.

I continued to let the sauce reduce until it was medium thickness...about the consistancy of BBQ, how about that? Since I'm the worst chef in the world when it comes to timing food, I put the sauce in a container and covered, and let sit in the microwave where it'd retain some heat but continue to thicken.

The burgers themselves could have been cooked by an ape; infact some might argue that they were. Just some lean ground turkey, shaped into elongated patties to fit the buns, and grilled. Part way though grilling I decided a great finisher would be to melt some provolone cheese on top, added near the end so it wouldn't melt too much.

Split the bun, add the burger, top with sauce, vwa-la!

The Results:

Though I didn't end up with my sweet sauce as envisioned, I did end up with a sauce. But was it any good? Well, the cayenne is too spicey for the milder-tastes of Tara. And, when tasting the "naked" sauce, I thought it might have had a little too much of the hot-stuff myself. Not that I can't take heat--I love it. I just thought it might overpower all the other stuff.

So I snapped some pictures, then dug in. The sweeter taste of turkey meat, combined with the cheese, brought the peppery-bite down a level, leaving a very nice, plumby-sweet tasting sauce. Though I had my doubts, it really ended up much better than I had hoped for. Different, but better. Funny how that sometimes works.

I'd refine the sauce a bit more next time; measure the vinegar a little more carefully, and make sure I had some shredded lettuce and some good red onions to add some crunch; turkey burgers are a little softer than beef.

I won't rate my own food; I'm a little too biased for it to mean anything anyway. But would I eat it again? Definately.

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to my Blog. Honestly, I never considered myself a "blogger", but what a perfect format for sharing ideas, stories, and (in this case) recipes!

I am a food "enthusiast", but have no formal training. I love to come up with ideas for meals, and just wing it. That's where the blog name comes from; "Cooking blind" means I do not use recipes (although I do tend to consult others to make sure I'm at least on target). Surprisingly, most of the food ends up to be pretty good... but sometimes ends with a call to the local pizza place.

I plan to chronicle all these experiments, not just the good ones... in fact, the ones that flop will probably be the more fun posts.

A few things you've probably already noticed: I tend to post with a lot of "afterthoughts" (phrases in parenthesis like this). I'm not the world's greatest speller--in fact my old grammar teachers probably developed drinking problems after attempting to teach me. And lastly, I try to approach everything with an open mind and good sense of humor.

Anyway, I have something up my sleeve for tonight, so hopefully that update will be coming soon.

Thanks, and happy eating!