Hello.
I came to brag about last night’s delicious gluten free dinner.
Sadly, I only took one photo before my phone died.
But rest assured, this was fucking delicious.
I had these ahi steaks intimidating me from the freezer for about two weeks.
I really didn’t want to make your typical soy-something with wasabi-whatever, so I had to think outside the box.
It’s been super cold here lately so we’ve kind of been aching for warm, comfort food.
I vaguely remembered an amazing dish from an incredible restaurant I used to work at [if you find yourself -cringe- in Tampa, you should really treat yourself]. Anyway, in my recollection, Chef prepared a simple ahi steak (or perhaps a white fish) over a creamed cabbage and for as homely as it sounds, it was phenomenal. I believe he used some sauteed local carrots in the prep as well, but I did not have any. I’m also pretty sure he used savoy cabbage, while your truly used regular old cabbage cabbage.
Hence:
Pan-Seared Ahi Tuna with Cream-Braised Cabbage and Lemon Chive Oil
{SERVES 2}
WHAT WE NEED:
1 cabbage
2 ahi steaks
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
WHAT WE DO
Begin by prepping your cabbage, removing any bruised leaves, trimming the root, and rinsing. Depending upon the size of your cabbage, you may wish to use the entire head. I used a particularly large cabbage, and ended up using about 1/3. Keeping that in mind, halve of quarter your cabbage, slicing it lengthwise into approximate 2 inch thick (on the outside) wedges.
In a large skillet, melt your butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the cabbage wedges, arranging them in a single layer with one of the cut sides down. Allow them to cook (undisturbed) for about 6-8 minutes, or until they are nicely browned. Then, gently turn the wedges onto their other cut side. Because I used a large cabbage, my wedges fell apart right about here. I let them brown on their second side, and then coarsely chopped them in the pan. This worked perfectly for me, but if you used a smaller cabbage you may have luck with your wedges remaining intact.
Once the second side is browned (and chopped if you preferred/had to do so), add your salt, pepper, and cream. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and reduce the heat. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove lid and allow to simmer uncovered for a few minutes more to thicken the cream braise.
Once the cabbage is almost ready, heat your olive oil in a separate pan over med-high heat. Rinse and pat dry your ahi steaks and season one side with coarse salt and pepper. Add steaks, seasoned sides down to the pan for 2-3 minutes. Season the exposed sides of the steaks as before and flip for another 2-3 minutes for a rare/med-rare steak.
LEMON CHIVE OIL: OPTIONAL
I wanted a little something other than lemon to add a nice acidity and counterbalance to the richness of the cabbage, so I whipped up this little ditty.
1 small bundle chives
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Throw it all in a food processor, you dingus!
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