Orange & Ginger (revisted)

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Sorry I’m late – wasn’t able to post on the actual Tuesday. Just found the invitation thing.

This is an expanded version of an idea shared in the past, plus a few things new.  I love the flavor combination of orange and ginger, and will often turn to it when in the mood for something sweet and spicy.  I’ll use the bright orange & ginger flavor as an accent, but will also use it occasionally as the spotlight of the meal. Setting the tangy sweetness of O & G against nutty, earthy or sea flavors, accentuates both.  

Ginger Orange Sauce/Salad Dressing:

Mix together:

1 tsp to 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger root 

1 tsp to 1 tbsp soy sauce (depending on the level of saltiness you like)

1 tsp to 1 tbsp dark sesame oil

½ cup undiluted thawed orange juice concentrate (more if you want a less intense sauce)

Refrigerate this sauce overnight to allow the flavors to come together.

Seared Tuna with Sea Vegetable and Mushroom Pasta:

Fish:

Buy the freshest and best quality tuna steaks you can find (sushi grade, if available). Build a fruit wood fire in your BBQ, and then pile the coals for a hot grill.  If you’re working indoors, use a cast iron skillet and bring a little sesame oil to just under smoking point, like when making blackened something.

Let the fish come up to near room temperature, then season with mineralized sea salt (run it through a grinder if it’s course) and some fresh ground pepper.  

Sear, very quickly, on your very hot grill. You want nice grill marks on the exterior, and the interior should be rare – still red! Think charred, rare, but faster. Remove from grill and cut into slices.  The fish will be the last thing you cook for this meal.

Sea Vegetable and Mushroom Pasta:

Fettuccini

Dried Arame

Fresh Shitake Mushrooms

Brown Butter Sauce

Salt & Pepper

                With internet shopping, “sea vegetables” are now readily available to all. How lucky we are! They are offered fresh or dried, and both have their merits.

It’s funny; I remember growing up in S. California and swimming in the cold Pacific waters. Back then we called the orange kelp that tangled around us, sea weed. Now, swimming of the shores of S. California is questionable, and because of increased exposure to world markets (and marketing), we call sea weed, “sea vegetables.” Either way, they taste good and are loaded with just about every mineral you need.

                For this recipe, buy some dried Arame. It’s mild in flavor and reasonably priced.  Soak the Arame for about 5 minutes prior to cooking. It will double in size, I use about 1 oz (dried) per 8-12 oz of pasta.          Sautee the pre-soaked Arame with some sliced shitake mushrooms, in some Brown Butter Sauce. Adjust seasoning. Toss with cooked and rinsed pasta just prior to serving. I plate the sliced fish in a fan on top of the bed of pasta, and garnish with something pretty.

Serve a romaine salad, lightly drizzled with Orange Ginger Dressing, with the entrée.

Brown Butter Sauce:

(I think I learned this from Mastering the Art of French Cooking)

2 sticks of butter

Some minced parsley

2 or 3 Tbsp lemon juice

Salt & Pepper

                Melt the butter over low heat, and skim off the foam. Carefully remove the clear yellow butter, avoiding the solids at the bottom of the pan. I use a basting bulb.  Try not to suck up any solids, they burn quickly.  Rinse all the solids from the pan and wipe it clean.

                Strain the butter back into the pan and heat over a low flame, until the butter turns nut brown. Be careful here, because it goes from great to ruin quickly. As soon as the butter turns nut brown, remove from heat, add the parsley and quickly pour into another pan. 

                In the original pan, reduce the lemon juice to about one tbsp.  Don’t use too much heat as the sugars will burn. Remove from heat, let the pan cool a little, and stir in the browned butter - season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over hot water.

Sesame Butter:

1½ sticks of butter

1 tsp dark sesame oil

Salt & Pepper

                In a sauce pan melt the butter over low heat, and skim off the foam. Carefully remove the clear yellow butter, avoiding the solids at the bottom of the pan.  No specks! Rinse all the solids from the pan and wipe it clean.

                Strain the butter back into the sauce pan and add the sesame oil - season with salt and pepper. Keep warm over hot water. This is a fine substitution for brown butter sauce.

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                I recently adopted a beautiful little cat that looks like a Spotted Mist.  I put word out on Facebook, and several people came up with Ginger and Misty. So, I named her Ginger Mist. Then, someone said that Ginger Mist sounded like a cocktail, so here it is…

Ginger Mist Cocktail:

In a Tom Collins glass mix:

3 oz Vodka (rum was too heavy for my taste, but try it too!)

1oz Grand Marnier

1 oz Ginger Syrup

Top with Blood Orange soda (Safeway organic soda) and a squeeze of lime.

Ginger Syrup:

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

½ lb. ginger root, juiced

                Bring water and sugar to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Remove simple syrup from heat and let cool for 20 minutes. Add ginger juice and pour into a wide mouth jar with lid Shake, and refrigerate.  Ginger syrup will last for a few months in the fridge.

                This syrup is great over vanilla ice cream, or add some to your OJ in the morning!