Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: The Best Damn Chicken Salad

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Today’s recipe is one of those pulled from our family archives, an almost long-forgotten favorite that tumbled to the bottom of the proverbial stack years ago.

I first posted this recipe on our fly fishing blog ChiWulff years back in 2012, with the following introduction back then (the reference to my orthopedist and pending surgery was about a tibial plateau fracture I suffered on a trip to Montana…) –

The risk of opening with a trite platitude duly noted – life has it’s ups and downs.

One doesn’t have to look very for examples this week.

It’s still hotter than hell’s kitchen in much of the country, it’s already mid-August and not nearly enough fishing has been done, the domestic and world equity markets have been whipsawing up and down like a cheap roller-coaster and more than one pundit has proclaimed it’s the end of the economic world as we know it.

The proverbial shit has hit the fan a bit closer to home this week too, though we’ll leave our whining at that for now.

What’s a fly fishing foodie to do when the times get tough?

Easy – go fish and reach for some comfort food. As my ill-humored orthopedist has condemned me to crutches prior to surgery, rendering wading nigh impossible, reaching for comfort food has taken on new importance.

She Who Must Be Obeyed has returned home after a 10 day business excursion and graciously consented to make dinner last night – serving a camp Chi Wulff fave and powerful comfort food -The Best Damn Chicken Salad on the Planet.

Life looks a little better this morning. I don’t know how something so simple can look so good, but this one just works magic. Simple and direct with ingredients to cover all the essential elements of gustatory sensation – this is a great one.

Three points to note if you please; one – use any sort of cooked chicken you like in this creation, though our favorite of late is a smoke/grilled bird done on a pellet grill. You can use any rub or slather you like on your own smoke/grilled bird, oven roast your chicken, or even pick up a rotisserie bird from your favorite grocer.

Two, this, like most chicken salad recipes begs to be adjusted to using what’s on hand – though I’d challenge you to try it once as written – it really is damn good.

And three, we first stumbled across this recipe back in a pre-keto / pre-low carb days, and used to eat this one on the river (or hiking trail, or drive) on kaiser rolls with a hefty sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles thrown in, along with several generous shakes of Cholula. I have no idea what the hell makes that combination work so well, but it just does. Though we’re no longer in the sandwich camp, a sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles on this chicken salad sends it over the top. The inclusion of a few grapes might be seen by some as being too carb-friendly, though we make this one on our carb refeed day and call it good.

Just try it.

4 cups grilled /roasted chicken, chopped
1 generous cup celery, chopped small
1/2 cup sliced green onions, white and green
1/2 cup toasted pecans, rough chopped
1/2 cup grapes, halved
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced small
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced small
1/2 apple, grated (firm fleshed, tart – we like Granny Smiths or Pink Ladies)
1/2 cup avocado or olive oil mayo
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Crumbled blue cheese at service (optional)

This one couldn’t be easier to put together.

Prep, roast, cool, bone, and cut up your chicken, then combine with remainder of the ingredients and mix well.

Adjust the amount of mayo, salt, and pepper to suit; add the blue cheese crumbles at service.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Smoked Santa Maria Tri-Tip

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As we’ve all plowed through the recent holiday weekend, which some might (erroneously in fact) argue is the peak of “the grilling season” in the States, we find ourselves settling into a nice routine of grilling several outstanding proteins every week and enjoying them, most often with a cool, flavorful, refreshing salad over the following days.

Recently we’ve been playing around with tri-tip, a somewhat unique cut of meat that is kinda’ve of a cross between a largish steak and a smallish roast; my butcher buddies argue that it’s really a roast cut from the lower part of the sirloin, so it shares some of the (lesser marbled and chewier) characteristics of sirloin steaks.

Most tri-tips you’ll run across today have their generous fat caps and silver skin already trimmed for you, weighing in somewhere in the 2-3 pound range most often; untrimmed they can run close to 5 pounds.

Steve Raichlen in his ginormous book BBQ USA has a nifty, and fairly detailed explanation of the tri-tip’s apparently indisputable ties to Santa Maria, California; if you’re into food history it’s a great read with Raichlen’s typical dry humor woven in nicely.

The rub recipe below is adapted from Raichlen’s suggestion of the classic Santa Maria rub his travels and research unearthed years ago, though I think it’s much better with a bit more cracked pepper and the Mexican oregano. And don’t be put off by what appears to be a hefty dose of granulated garlic in the rub, it melts in nicely and doesn’t overpower the flavors at all.

Of note, we’ve grilled this recipe over live fire for what seems like forever (red oak is the traditional wood of choice in Santa Maria), though of late we’ve taken to smoking this one at 225 until it’s 125-130 and searing in butter in a cast iron pan to crisp up the exterior, and keeping the interior a delightful, and delicious, medium rare.

The classic Santa Maria salsa served with this is a bit unusual as salsas go, but it’s damned good – I’ll share that recipe next week…

1 tbsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tsp good coarse salt
2 tsp granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
1-2 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano

1 tri-tip, 2-3 pounds, trimmed of fat cap and silver skin

Prepare the rub and generously season the tri-tip on all sides; then rest in the fridge for a minimum of an hour up to overnight.

For a smoked, pellet grill, low and slow cook, fire your grill/smoker to 225, and cook until reaching an internal temperature of 125 to 130 for medium rare (135-140 for medium).

Pull and sear in butter (or oil of choice) in cast iron quickly on your stove/grill to crisp and brown up the tri-tip, looking for a finished temp of 135 for medium rare, 145 for medium. Rest for 15 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain (don’t forget there are two grain directions in a tri-tip!).

For a standard, live-fire grill cook, cook for roughly 10 minutes per side to reach the medium rare temps above; pull and rest and serve as per above.

Next week I’ll share the classic Santa Maria salsa that is often served with this delightful protein.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Cheesy Brisket Peppers w Shallot Vinaigrette

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I don’t know about you, but this time of year we’re feasting three or four days every week on delights from the grill or smoker.

We had a rainy and surprisingly cool May and early June here in North Texas (northward of 17 inches of rain in about 5 weeks in our neighborhood), but full on Texas summer has arrived in its hot-as-blazes glory over the past ten days or so.

These hot, steamy days were made for grilling or smoking proteins outside, and we’re forever on the hunt for nifty side dishes to serve alongside.

Having lived for many years under the bright Texas sun, my wife and I have a deep and abiding love for great Tex Mex, but dammit, it’s not the healthiest cuisine on the planet by a long shot. I in particular enjoy a great chile relleno though haven’t eaten the deep fried, classically prepared version in years.

A few weeks back I was basically whining to my friend Chef Libby in Austin about that very thing when she fired me a pic of a commercial grill covered with over 100 of these Cheesy Brisket Peppers she’d recently cooked for an event in Austin. Libby’s advice was that they can play either as the main event for a dinner, or make a great side dish when there’s a grilled or smoked protein as the centerpiece.

She’d sourced the recipe concept from Bon Appetite, and readily admitted their shallot vinaigrette was amazingly good on the roasted peppers (and lots of other stuff), though the addition of some smokey, chopped Texas brisket to the peppers was her call.

And what a great call that simple addition of a few tablespoons of brisket was.

Libby does these over live fire or in the oven; having just added a pellet grill to our home arsenal, I’m doing a batch of these on the Traeger on Saturday for friends coming over, though the peppers imaged in the post today were done in the over (easy peasy to do by the way).

These provide a ton of taste and visual appeal for the minimal effort involved, and you’ll want to make extra shallot vinaigrette too – it’s damned good.

2 medium shallots, sliced thinly lengthwise
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp kosher salt, more to taste
1/4 cup EVOO or avocado oil

4 Anaheim or New Mexico chiles, cut in half lengthwise, seeds and inner membranes removed
1 tbsp EVOO or avocado oil

1/2 cup (more or less) chopped brisket or protein of your choice (optional)
1/2 pound pepper Jack cheese, cut in to 1/2-inch cubes
Fresh ground pepper

Optional:
2 garlic cloves, grated fine
Chopped pickled jalapeño pepper slices, diced fine

Combine the first five ingredients for the vinaigrette and set aside.

Prep the chiles and preheat the oven to 475 or fire the broiler (or even the grill). Drizzle the peppers with a tbsp of oil, dust with good salt and fresh ground pepper, and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake/broil until skins begin to blister and the peppers soften, 5 minutes under the broiler and perhaps 6-7 in the hot oven.

Remove from the oven, turn over (tongs!), and spoon in a tbsp or so of the optional protein or chopped jalapeños if you’ve chosen to use them (we used chopped brisket in the pics there), then divide the cubed cheese among the peppers. Top with the grated garlic if desired.

Return to the oven/broiler and bake/broil until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown (4-5 minutes in the oven, 3 or so under the broiler).

Remove from the oven, plate, and drizzle the shallot vinaigrette over; season to taste with more good salt and fresh ground pepper.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Peppercorn Cumin Chicken Wings

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At the risk of repeating myself, I have to admit once again that I’ve probably never eaten a chicken wing that I didn’t find something about to savor and enjoy, even back in my pre-Primal / pre-healthy eating days when a wing or two might have been procured from a dubious source or two.

Ever since we stumbled across these TAGG wings (Turmeric Ancho Ginger Garlic) wings a few years back they’ve been the most requested wing around our camp, and they’re some of the most tasty wings you’ll find anywhere, anytime.

That said, a few weeks back I was chatting up friend and Chef-mentor Libby in Austin about wings and things, and she mentioned they’d just done 100 pounds (damn!) of these Peppercorn Cumin Chicken Wings for an event she covered at a lake outside of Austin a month or so ago.

Libby is one of the most level-headed, even-keeled, not prone to exaggeration or hyperbole folks that I know, so when she called these the best damn wings her catering company has ever done, I (metaphorically) sat up and started paying rapt attention.

Being a professional chef attuned to little details that make big differences, she insisted that the peppercorns be freshly crushed or cracked (she uses a coffee grinder on a coarse setting), and that spices be measured liberally – she and we like spicy food.

(One cautionary note, the recipe calls for coarse Kosher salt – you should have this in the pantry, if not, just get some. The proportions do NOT work for regular table salt…)

Interestingly she said another key to success for this recipe was to let the wings rest, uncovered, after applying the spices for up to 24 hours in the fridge, noting that they needed at least 2 hours to give the spices time to penetrate the skin for deeper flavors.

Wanting to follow her recipe to the T the first few times we cooked it here, I baked these in the oven until crispy and golden brown all over; they’d be killer on a pellet grill or over open flame, with care taken not to burn the spice coating.

I can almost guarantee you’ll put these on the menu again within days of your first batch.

4 pounds chicken wings, tips removed, flats and drums separated

2 heaping tbsp peppercorns, crushed/cracked
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground coriander
1 scant tbsp garam masala (a good curry powder works too)
1 tbsp Morton kosher salt
1-2 tsp ancho chile powder (optional)
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp avocado or olive oil

3-4 green onions, thinly sliced on a steep diagonal
1 lime, cut into wedges

Prep the wings and crush the peppercorns; double foil line a baking sheet.

Combine the peppercorns, cumin, coriander, garam masala, salt, ancho powder, baking soda, and sugar, stirring to thoroughly mix.

Place the wings in a large bowl, drizzle with your oil of choice, and sprinkle the spice mixture over the wings, tossing with your hands until they’re evenly coated with the spice mix.

Spread the wings on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer, then slide into the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Remove the wings from the fridge 23-30 minutes before starting your cook.

When ready to cook, place the wings in a cold oven and set the temperature at 425; cooking for 30-35 minutes (the wings should be beginning to brown). Turn the wings, then cook another 25-35 minutes until the wings are crispy and brown.

Pull the wings, plate artfully, sprinkle with the sliced green onions and lime wedges.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Pickled Shrimp Ceviche

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Back a few years ago I shared that I worked for a time helping to open a Cajun restaurant nearby in the far reaches of the DFW metroplex; I’d always wanted to peek behind the curtain of the restaurant industry and I was intrigued by the skills and gentle manner of the authentic Cajun chef running the place.

He was raised outside of New Orleans, came from a very colorful background personally, was immensely talented in the kitchen, and (like myself) profoundly influenced in terms of food by a beloved grandmother and other extended family back home in Louisiana.

Chef M had a killer pickled shrimp recipe (that we made in 5 gallon batches) and worked hard to reproduce what he insisted was a Louisiana Gulf Coast favorite in this Pickled Shrimp Ceviche.

Chef M and we kitchen minions had a lengthy discussion one morning about use of the term “ceviche” for this recipe; some of us pushed the point that ceviche (or cebiche) was historically Peruvian and classically prepared by marinating raw fish or seafood in a tangy, spiced citrus bath (in the Peruvian model that meant limes or what were/are actually less astringent green lemons). The citrus juices not only impart wondrous flavor but denature the proteins in the fish, causing it to appear “cooked” even though by the most strict food chemistry perspective it’s not.

Chef M countered that particularly in the states and Australia the term ceviche has evolved to encompass use of some gently cooked proteins as well as raw seafood, as in the pickled shrimp that we’re using here, and apparently as used for decades by his grandmother back home. It’s ironic how so often our taste buds “run home to mama” in terms of tastes and textures that we enjoyed during our childhoods…

I even double checked the concept with Chef Libby in Austin, and she concurred this recipe unquestionably deserves the ceviche label, and she’s even added a modified version to her catering menu.

He also noted (quite wisely I might add) that citrus-cured raw shrimp has a texture that many find off-putting (I sure as hell do), and that many of the shrimp preparations he grew up with back home involved a lightly cooked (you might even say par-boiled) shrimp.

Bottom line – argue whether it’s ceviche or not as you wish, but unless you’re a formally trained chef from Louisiana, raised cooking Cajun specialties from childhood, I’ll take Chef M’s word over whatever your opinion might be…

Chef M challenged us to give this recipe a chance, and while I’ve modified it a bit in terms of what you see here, this is largely the recipe that Chef M brought to the DFW area from home, and will be a perfect addition to your summer rotation. It’s one of those texture and flavor combinations that’s simply a divine pleasure to eat.

Try it once as written, and then riff on your own version to suit your tastes – I usually throw in a bit more avocado, cucumber, jalapeño, and cilantro when making a batch for us…

3-4 avocados, 1/4-inch dice

1 pound pickled shrimp, 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 cup red onion, chopped medium
1/2 cup cucumber, chopped medium
1/4 cup fresh jalapeño, chopped medium
2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced

1/2 cup cilantro, rough chop (or more)
Juice and zest of one lime
1 and 1/2 tbsp pickling liquid
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cut the shrimp to size and place in a medium bowl.

Into your trusty food processor go the chopped red onion, cucumber, jalapeño, and garlic; pulse to a fine chop/mince (do NOT puree). Add the mixture to the shrimp in the bowl.

Stir in the chopped cilantro, lime juice, lime zest, pickling liquid, and lemon juice.

If serving in the next 30-40 minutes, add the diced avocados and stir to mix well, making sure all the avocado pieces are coated with the mixture in the bowl. If not serving in the next 30 minutes, cover and throw in the fridge, adding the avocado 15-20 minutes before service.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Gulf Coast Pickled Shrimp

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I’ve shared before about my love of Gulf Coast seafood before, here’s a snippet from a post about Texas Shrimp Boils –

My parents both grew up along the Gulf Coast of Texas, in or near a little community by the name of Bay City. My maternal grandfather had a beach house very close to the mouth of the Colorado River where it empties into the Gulf, a rustic wood-framed cabin on the tiny spit of land there between East and West Matagorda Bays.

The Camp as it was called by everyone in the family save for my grandfather, who had christened it the Mason Rouge (it was painted a nifty barn red), was a key focal point for summers of my youth as we travelled down to fish, crab, laze in the blistering coastal Texas summer heat, comb the beaches, and just generally live the life of a miniature pirate back in the 60s.

The camp was wiped out time and time again by a number of hurricanes, most notably by Carla, and each time Pa-Pa (paw paw) would rebuild it a little bit bigger.

Fresh seafood was the order of the day; we pulled crabs from the crab trap every few days, caught fish morning, afternoon, and night, and bought “table” shrimp from the little bay shrimper (his boat was Little Bob) whose ramshackle operation sprawled on the riverbank about half a city block away. We probably had to drive the furthest – about 10 minutes – to pick up a bushel of oysters dredged that morning when the oyster mood struck.

Some of my earliest memories of wanting to learn about the art and mystery of cooking came from standing at my grandmother Ma-Ma’s (maw maw) elbow as she created another masterpiece on the ancient (and dammit, I mean ancient) gas stove in the corner of the first floor “kitchen” at the Camp.

She was a masterful Southern cook, using something akin to alchemy to transform uber-fresh, simple ingredients into some of the best food I’ve ever tasted. Of course, those memories are buffered by time and the myopic, simplistic perspective of youth, but damn, her fish cakes, gumbo, fish, and shrimp were stunningly good.

Though I didn’t appreciate as I should back then, it was she who taught me to relish the tasty simplicity of a perfectly boiled shrimp, most often back in the day pulled from the pot, iced down to cool quickly, and eaten in a simple shrimp salad or dipped into just-crafted cocktail sauce bursting with nasal-clearing horseradish and savory Worcestershire (the Cajun influence in that part of coastal Texas was welcome!)…

I don’t recall Ma-Ma stirring up pickled shrimp, but they were on the menu of several of the hole in the wall seafood restaurants in Matagorda back in the day, typically as an escabeche-influenced appetizer, and I remember the mouth puckering acidity of the shrimp and bursts of spice from the onions and peppers after stealing a bit from the communal plate.

We hadn’t pickled shrimp in years around our camp until a few months ago when I stirred up a batch for next week’s Pickled Shrimp Ceviche (holy cow is that a great recipe); we feel like we’ve stumbled across an old friend in this recipe, and it’s found a spot in the summer rotation already.

Two key points for this recipe: One, There are dozens of ways to season boiled shrimp in the pot; here’s our routine, but feel free to use whatever recipe your Ma-Ma (or whoever else) taught you. And two, as you research various pickled shrimp recipes available today, you’ll see that folks use a host of various vinegars and citrus to pickle the shrimp. By all means experiment on your own to see what you like the best – we like this combination for its burst of acidity and the pineapple adds a subtle, interesting twist.

1 and 1/2 pounds raw medium shrimp, shelled, deveined
Your favorite shrimp boil spices

1/2 cup brown rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/2 medium red onion, cut into thin slices
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 jalapeño or serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, cut in thin slices
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp or more good salt

Rinse the shrimp, and bring a large pot of water to a boil (2 quarts should be fine for this amount of shrimp); season as per your routine (see note above). We follow the routine detailed here for our shrimp boils.

Now add the shrimp and the remainder of ingredients to a large jar or BPA-free food storage bag, shaking or turning to evenly distribute all the goodies. The shrimp must be covered by the liquid in the jar; if not, add a bit of water or more vinegar to cover.

Into the fridge it goes for at least 24 hours to soak up all those great flavors; give it a shake or stir occasionally as well.

Enjoy, and these shrimp are amazing in the pickled shrimp ceviche (next image below) coming next week.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Smashed (Resistant) Potato Salad with Italian Sausage and Aioli

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Today’s Smashed (Resistant) Potato Salad with Italian Sausage and Aioli is posted in homage to the upcoming Memorial Day weekend; at least in years past this was most often a time we’d meet with friends in somebody’s big backyard to grill, play volleyball, and cultivate our early season sunburns and tall tale telling abilities.

I truly hope you’re scheduled to spend time with friends and family this weekend, and have some great food on the menu.

My other intent in posting this recipe was to remind folks of the health benefits of resistant starches, and share a recipe using potatoes – something that most of us eating lower carb tend to avoid in lieu of better choices. Don’t forget that cooked and cooled potatoes are a wonderful source of resistant starch, and here’s another great summer recipe to throw in the resistant starches are good pile…

This is a hearty potato salad, in fact my wife thinks it’s a meal in itself given the inclusion of a hearty Italian sausage (buy or make some quality fresh sausage); the aioli adds a load of healthy fats and a truckload of rich flavor as well.

I can’t imagine this without the dusting of ancho chile powder, but by all means consider that optional, and while the aioli recipe might sound complicated (if you’re not making mayo at home already), it’s a piece of cake.

Enjoy your long weekend.

Roughly 2 lb red-skinned potatoes, trimmed
Kosher salt

1/4 cup + up to 1/2 cup avocado oil, divided
1 medium sweet onion, chopped fine
1 small poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped small
3/4 pound fresh hot Italian sausage, casings removed
2 large egg yolks
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 to 1 tbsp ancho chile powder
3-4 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Prep the spuds, place in a large pot and cover with cold water; season liberally with salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer under tender (20-25 minutes). Drain, let cool in a colander, then throw in the fridge for at least overnight and preferably 24 hours.

On the day you’re making the salad, preheat the oven to 450 and remove the spuds from the fridge.

Heat 1/4 cup of avocado oil in a skillet over medium high heat, then add the onions and poblanos and cook until they’re beginning to soften (about 5 minutes). Add the sausage, and breaking it up with a spoon cook until well-browned and cooked through (6-8 minutes). Now transfer the sausage to a fine meshed sieve placed over a measuring cup and let the oil drain; press on the solids occasionally – you’re looking for roughly 1/4 cup of sausage oil. Add up to 1/2 cup more avocado oil to get to 3/4 cup.

Now it’s time to make an aioli, and you have two options. Classically, you would combine the egg yolks, grated garlic, and a teaspoon of water in a bowl, then slowly whisk in the sausage oil until thickened and smooth (adding the lemon juice at the very end, along with salt to taste).

Alternatively, combine the egg yolks, grated garlic, a tsp of water, and the lemon juice in a small cylindrical container just bigger than the head of your immersion blender, add the oil all at once, and then use your immersion blender to quickly whip up your aioli (my preferred method, and the one we use for making mayo here). Set the aioli aside (I threw it in the fridge as my kitchen was warm that day…)

Now smash the spuds with either your palm or a coffee mug bottom; you don’t want to totally destroy the integrity of each potato, but create some cracks and tears and flatten them a bit. Drizzle with a couple of tbsp of avocado or olive oil, season generously with salt, and throw in the oven until crispy and golden brown in spots and especially along the edges (25-28 minutes, turn once).

Now to finish things up – combine the roasted spuds, the sausage mixture and half the aioli in a large bowl and stir to mix well. Spread the remaining aioli on a platter, top with the mixture in the bowl, sprinkle with the ancho chile powder and the chopped green onions.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Sesame and Parmesan Crusted Tuna Steaks

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Today’s recipe is another one of those recipes that’s so ridiculously simple it really doesn’t even need a formal recipe, though there are few things worth noting as you pull together these Sesame and Parmesan Crusted Tuna Steaks.

We first stumbled across this recipe in one of our favorite cookbooks of all time, a collection of restaurant recipes collected from eateries around Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico; the cookbook is long out of print, probably considered to be too simple even back in the day for repeat printings. The cookbook was a thick paperback, simply printed without any pictures, but probably the most used cookbook in our kitchen among a bookcase full of them…

Back in the day, looking for a tasty alternative to grilling tuna steaks over live fire (always good but you have to be very careful not to overcook), my wife found this recipe and we adopted it as one of our favorites after the first run.

There are several tricks that make the entire process much easier; one of which is pulling the tuna from the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking, patting it dry, and then placing on a rack on the counter to let the surfaces dry even further. Any persistent moisture on the surface of the tuna will weaken the bond of the parmesan-sesame seed crust we’re after.

As you’re getting ready, grate approximately 3/4 cup of good block parmesan cheese (use the smaller holes) and mix with at least half of cup of sesame seeds (we like to use both dark and light sesame seeds for interest); spread the cheese/sesame seed mixture out on a plate. Common sense applies here; cooking only a couple of tuna steaks? Then grate less cheese and use less sesame seed. Cooking four or more tuna steaks? Then you’ll need more cheese and sesame seeds…

When you’re ready to go, heat a skillet over medium-high heat for several minutes, then add a tbsp (+/- more or less pending how many pieces you’re cooking) of avocado, olive, or coconut oil.

Now for a pro-tip from our friend Chef Libby in Austin; one of the tricks professional chefs use to ensure that coatings stick very well to proteins is to dry the proteins carefully, then lightly flour the protein’s surface before using a light egg wash to adhere the final coating.

So we’ll dip each tuna steak into flour (on the largest opposing sides of the steaks), dusting off any excess; you make the call on which flour you’d prefer. Now dip each coated steak surface into an egg wash, then immediately into the parmesan-sesame seed mixture to form the coating.

Reduce the stove temperature to medium, and cook the coated tuna steaks to the desired degree; be very attentive and do NOT overcook your tuna.

We like to serve these hot with a spicy salsa or sauce – the images today include the Mango Salsa Number 1 that I shared last week.

Enjoy.