Recipe #2: Herb Marinated Grilled Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad

Spring is now upon us and flowers are in bloom. I’ve always liked incorporating flowers into dishes. Something has to be said about lavender crème brulee, rose petals that scent a sauce for quail (like in the book Like Water for Chocolate), and the scent of jasmine in a lime sorbet. Flowers also make a great garnish for salads. A small sprinkle of garlic blossoms or chive blossoms on a plate makes a simple salad look great. A lot of flowers from our own gardens are edible and are great for salads. Rosemary blossoms, pale purple colored society garlic, nasturtiums, rose petals all make great edible garnishes – just make sure you wash them well and that they are pesticide free.

Here’s a recipe for one of my favorite lunch items at the Veranda. It is a great springtime salad showcasing bright colors of California produce that we are lucky to have, and in this recipe, nasturtium and society garlic blossoms garnish the plate. At the restaurant, we slow poach the Ahi tuna in an herb flavored olive oil, however marinating the fish in an herb oil and grilling it is a lot less complicated to make at home. The fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano) used in the marinade are so fragrant (I’m obsessed with fresh oregano at the moment!) and you can use it for other seafood like shrimp and salmon too.

The dressing makes a little bit more than what you need for this salad. Keep the rest in the refrigerator and use as a marinade for grilled chicken breast … or to make more Nicoise salad.


Herb Marinated Grilled Ahi Nicoise Salad
4 servings

Ingredients:
For the grilled tuna:
4 5 oz pieces Ahi tuna
salt and pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary
½ tsp chopped fresh thyme

For the salad:
5 c mesclun greens, washed
2 cups blanched haricot verts, or green beans
¼ cup capers
½ cup Nicoise olives
¼ cup torn fresh herbs (combine parsley, chive, chervil and tarragon)
4 hardboiled eggs, cut in half
4 ripe tomatoes, quartered
4 medium potatoes, diced and boiled or ½ pound baby potatoes, halved and boiled
5 pieces marinated anchovy
½ c washed nasturtium blossoms, optional
2 Tbsp society garlic blossoms, optional
Nicoise olive dressing

Procedure:
1. Pre-heat a grill pan, broiler or barbeque.
2. Season the tuna with salt and pepper. Grill until the desired doneness is reached. Personally, I like Ahi tuna cooked rare to medium rare as it gets too dry as it cooks to medium well or well done. Cook to well done at your own risk – don’t say I didn’t warn you!
3. On a large platter, place the mesclun greens and arrange the green beans, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, capers, olives and anchovies attractively around the platter. Finish the composition with the washed nasturtium blossoms and the society garlic.
4. Arrange the grilled ahi tuna on top of the salad and drizzle the Nicoise olive dressing on top with more dressing on the side. Grind fresh pepper over the top of the salad.
5. Enjoy!

Nicoise Olive Dressing
Yield 2 cups

Ingredients:
½ c Banyuls or red wine vinegar
1 piece shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
¼ c coarsely chopped pitted Nicoise olives
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped capers
3 pieces fineely chopped marinated anchovies
1 ½ c olive oil
salt, pepper, sugar

Procedure:
1. Combine vinegar, shallots, garlic, mustard, olives, capers and anchovies.
2. Whisk in the olive oil until a temporary emulsion is reached.
3. Season dressing with salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
4. Keep in a covered container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Recipe #1: Herb Roasted Chicken Breast with Wild Mushroom and Spinach Pappardelle

“I used to write and submit articles to food magazines,” I distinctly remember saying these words to Akua hoping that he would post some recipes from the restaurant and my own personal repertoire (with notes on how to pair these with wine) on his new website. Little did I know that this would be an overwhelming task as the whole body of information on food and wine pairing is vast and continuously changing. I was ready to give up and not contact Akua ever again (just kidding) until I came upon this quote in one of the wine books I was reading, “Tastes change; our palates are conditioned by our life experiences.” I’ll admit I’ve cooked all my life, and have known and tasted different kinds of food, but drinking wine for me is a recent thing. I’m still learning about wines by tasting a different one every day and then reading about it at home.

So I’ll start this series with a recipe that I’ve known paired with wines that I’ve had and liked before venturing into uncharted territory. This will be the equivalent of my own blog – I’ll write about food and wine as I go through this profession cooking food and tasting wines that go with them. Each week will be a different recipe and a different wine and hopefully, on the 50th article I’ve written, my tastes would have changed and become more mature to the art of food and wine pairing.

For the first recipe, here’s one of the best-selling pasta dishes from my lunch menu – I’ve received a lot of requests for this from our resort club members who eat at the restaurant all the time. Before it makes an exit on the menu for the summer, I’d like to share this recipe so that you can try it at home while the weather is still cool enough to dictate a pasta dish in a creamy sauce. The recipe has been adjusted slightly so that it would be easy for you to make it in your home kitchen for four people.

I think this dish would be great served with a “big” New World chardonnay. Why not splurge and try using the wine that you would be drinking for the ½ cup called for in the recipe? The typical “oakiness” and full body of these wines would be a good complement to the creamy pasta sauce. Alternatively a dry rose wine from Spain (a personal favorite) or the south of France would also go well with this dish, the dryness and acidity providing a refreshing contrast. Just be sure to show off the bottle, lest your friends think you are drinking White Zin, which I personally think is great with barbequed ribs… but more on that on the next recipe.

Herb Roasted Chicken Breast with Wild Mushroom and Spinach Pappardelle
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 pcs airline chicken breast
½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, cut in half
4 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 shallots chopped
2 c chopped assorted mushrooms*
4 pcs Roma tomatoes, quartered and roasted in the oven with olive oil until browned
½ c white wine
1 pint heavy cream
½ c chicken jus**
½ c grated fresh parmesan cheese + more for topping
2 c fresh spinach
1 tsp cornstarch + 2 Tbsp water (optional)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 box (250 g/8.8 oz) pappardelle pasta, cooked

Procedure:
1. Marinate chicken breasts in 1 tablespoon olive oil, rosemary and garlic for an hour. After marinating, discard the garlic and season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
2. Heat remaining oil in a heavy pan and sear the chicken breasts skin side down. Cook until golden brown (5 minutes) then turn and cook the other side for another 5 minutes or until done. Transfer cooked chicken to a plate, cover with foil and keep warm.
3. Remove excess fat from the pan, leaving 1 tablespoon. Saute garlic, onions and mushrooms in the pan over medium high heat.
4. Add roasted tomatoes and white wine to deglaze, then the heavy cream and chicken jus.
5. Allow sauce to come to a boil then turn down heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half.
6. Add grated cheese to slightly thicken the sauce, then add the spinach. If the sauce is not thick enough (it should be the consistency of a cream soup) adjust consistency with cornstarch dissolved in water.
7. Add the cooked pappardelle and simmer until the pasta is hot. At the last minute, throw in the chopped fresh herbs and season with salt and pepper to taste.
8. Divide pasta into 4 individual serving bowls. Carve each roasted chicken breast into 4 slices and place on top of the pasta. Top with more grated cheese and serve immediately.
9. Enjoy!

*At the restaurant we use a combination of portobellos (don’t forget to remove the black underside), shiitakes and small domestic mushrooms.

**We make gallons of our own dark chicken jus at the Veranda for daily use and I think this is too complicated to make at home for just ½ a cup. A good canned low sodium chicken broth combined with the juices of the cooked pan roasted chicken breasts would be a good substitute. Alternatively, make a 1 gallon batch of chicken jus (save the bones the next time you roast chicken – this makes great jus!) and freeze it in small bags to use for sauces such as this.