Wasabi My Kimosabe

So if you think that I've spent the past five months in the Caribbean just working on my tan and swimming with turtles you are right. Well, only partially right. I did spend a great deal of  time cooking…and doing dishes...or when I wasn't doing dishes I was cooking. It was a vicious cycle.  

This season I added a few new definite keepers to my repertoire of Pisces recipes. One of The Big Guy's favorites was Creole shrimp with Andouille cream, which I served on a bed of kale and then on top of cheesy grits. It was rich and spicy and full of flavor.

One of my faves is a Stephen Pyles recipe that I have been making at home for the past few years but I adapted it to make use of local island ingredients; snapper in a jalapeno broth served on a banana-black bean mash with fried plantains and mango salsa. The picture below is showing it in a serrano broth with fried tortilla strips, which is how I make it at home but in the islands I usually can't find serranos so I use jalapenos and I  also make use of the abundance of plantains and fry some of them up.

But enough about that...we are here to talk about the tuna with wasabi beurre blanc and pineapple-ginger chutney. This is quite possibly thee best thing that I have made in a very LOOOOOONNNNG time, maybe even like forever.

I'd like to take credit for the sauce, but my ass would be chapped if someone took credit for one of my brilliant sauce creations and I don't want no bad karma, so I will tell you that I found the sauce recipe on allrecipes.com.  It was my genius idea thank you very much, to top it with the pineapple-ginger chutney which was my mojo and elevated this dish from "it doesn't suck" to "wow! would it be considered gauche to lick my plate at the table?"

Trust me...you don't even have to like wasabi to like this dish. When you cook the wasabi paste the heat takes the pungency away, leaving a mild flavor that the pineapple and ginger completely love. I know when it comes to wasabi that a little dab will do ya, but by cooking it you knock the sinus clearing effect right out of it and what you are left with is a mild but flavorful sauce that is rich and decadent. I am of the opinion that everything is bedder with budder and wasabi is no exception so don't be afraid to go a little crazy with the green stuff. And just when you think this sauce can't get any better you throw the cilantro in and that's when you want to call a nurse for an IV so you can just mainline it. 

You can make the chutney ahead of time and keep in in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the sauce. Bring it to room temp before serving.
 

To plate this put some beurre blanc on the plate, top with the seared tuna steak, more beurre blanc and then some chutney. Serve remaining beurre blanc and chutney on the side. Then sit back, close your eyes, take a bite and let the flavors explode like fireworks on your tongue!

There you have it! Our new favorite tuna recipe and I dare you to find one person who has eaten this that didn't lick their plate clean and kiss me on the lips! And I can name names.

     I usually serve it with coconut-lime rice (or couscous {I like the Israeli} ) and candied ginger carrots. Go to the "Seafood" tab at the top of this page to see how to put a little piece of heaven on the table. 
     PLEASE let me know what you think after you've eaten this and I'll let you know where to send the thank you flowers.