Monday, August 4, 2008

celebration

We celebrated Craig's birthday on Sunday. We decided to stay home, make a great meal, consume some wine and not worry about the need for a designated driver. The menu was the birthday boy's choice and he requested halibut. However, since Craig is a master with seafood, I asked that he prepare the house seafood specialty. Normally this preparation is done with salmon or scallops.

Off I went on Sunday morning to pick up the halibut and run a few other errands. First stop was the local natural foods co-op. My plan was to stop at the Japanese food market for the halibut, but laziness started to creep in and I almost bought the halibut at the co-op. I decided to stay with my plan. Good think I did! When I got to Oto's, the halibut was $10.00 off a pound...normally in these parts, fresh wild halibut is $24.00 a pound and I got this for $14.00 a pound...awesome! Since I saved so much on the halibut, I decided to pick up some sashimi grade tuna to make an appetizer that would pair perfectly with a glass of bubbly.

Before Craig headed out on his birthday bike ride, he prepared the halibut. The preparation consists of garlic and ginger put through a garlic press, one thinly sliced dried Thai chili, fresh
basil, lemon zest, kalbi marinade and a sprinkling of brown sugar. We let that rest on the fish until we were ready to grill.



While he was out, I made the appetizer; Tuna Tartartinis with Avocado.



We placed the halibut on a disposable vented aluminum pan and roasted in our gas BBQ on low heat with the middle burner off. The piece of halibut that we had was approximately one and a half pounds and took about 20 minutes to cook. We served it with brown rice...and of course, more wine. All and all, a great birthday!



Tuna-tinis with Avocado


3 tablespoons of Ponzu (citrus soy sauce)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste
3/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1 green onion finely chopped
8 ounces of sashimi grade tuna cut into 1/3 inch cubes
1 avocado, halved, pitted and cut into 1/3 inch cubes
black sesame seeds
green onion stalks

Mix the first five ingredients into a bowl to blend. Add tuna and avocado and gently fold into the dressing to completely coat. This can be done 2 hours ahead. Spoon into serving dishes or chilled martini glasses and garnish with sesame seeds and onion stalks.


9 comments:

Ed & Jeanne said...

Did you save any? Can you email it over to me? Thanks...

deb said...

um YUM! Making us all look bad cheffy girl. Amazing. I wanted to reach through the screen with my fork. ;)

Tanya Kristine said...

jesus. that looks great!

Joe said...

That looks amazing!

Happy belated birtday to Craig.

Insert joke here about going out just for the halibut...

pinknest said...

wow, what a beautiful meal!! and happy birthday to craig.

buffalodick said...

Wow! Wow, once more , with feeling! Apparently Venus and Mars made up....

Michelle Ann said...

Ve-if that worked, I would demand meals from Buffalo, Doggy and Pinknest...

Deb-I go through cycles where I cook often and then I will inevitable stop and find that making a bowl of cereal is a huge event...

TK-we need to get together and cook so I can share with you. Candied Tomatoes please!

Joe-I made one of those halibut puns not too long ago and it still hurts.

Pink-it was a wonderful meal!

Buffalo-I am an Aries and he is a Leo, we will always been in a battle of wills. But we know when to put down our weapons for food and wine!

Marc said...

That halibut looks fabulous. Yum. No Tunatini for me, however; my palate is not that refined.

Christo Gonzales said...

hello....I am loving the food posts.....the tunatartartinis are IT....I am so going to copy this!