(The Greek statues at the Getty Villa love newfoodtuesdayz too!)
I know you must be dying to see what happened with the room and the meal. I am a horrible person for making you wait on pins and needles. Really, I know I have been killing you. Sorry about that. Hm... where was I?
Oh ya, at about 5:00pm Saturday evening, Eric and I arrived at Whole Foods in Venice. I very quickly learned that Whole Foods in Venice is a place I never ever want to be again at 5:00 on Saturday. The place was PACKED. Apparently the circus was in town and no one sent me the memo. The dangerous side effects of FOMO (panic, freak out, nervousness) all took a strong hold as I tried to brave the isles. This was only complicated further by the fact that I picked this meal of all meals to go to the store and let the food inspire me. I had no plan, no recipe and no list. Eric had to hold me by the shoulders while directing me up and down the isles to keep me from bolting out the door. Alright, that might be a slight exaggeration. Slight.
Regardless of the insanity, I managed to make it out of grocery shopping hell with a great idea of what to make, some great ingredients and some beautiful flowers.
I might have gone a little overboard with the ingredients. I blame FOMO.
The heirloom tomatoes looked beautiful again so I decided to make one of my mom's favorites. Caprese salad is super easy, delicious and very pretty if I do say so myself.
In addition to the salad course, I had to have an appetizer. Duh. The ahi tuna at the fish counter always catches my eye and I had some toasted sesame seed oil I recently picked up that I was dying to use. I have to confess that this has been my favorite dish to date. If ahi wasn't so expensive I would make this ever day.
I would go on and on about how great the rest of the meal was, but I thought it was pretty lackluster after the salad and the tartar. Pretty, tasty, but nothing special. The pasta with caramelized onions (are you sensing a trend here... I feel like I use them in every recipe), bell peppers, spinach and a little cream was quick and delicious. However, the ribeye "spencer" that I got was not so fantastic. I picked it because it looked smaller, but because it was so thin it was easy to overcook. In addition, because I like a lot of flavor on my meat, it was overpowering with out a think layer of delicious ribeye in the middle. Ribeye fail.
Alright, that might be slightly critical. Honestly, the meal was really delicious and it was amazing having my parents stay. My dad even took his welcome note home with him. And, even though I only view the meal as a half success, the room cleaning was a WHOLE success.
Hurry, come visit me before I trash it again!
Love and Beer Floats,
Angela
P.S. You HAVE to make this tuna tartar. It is sooooooo easy and such a crowd pleaser. It is the epitome of why I started NFT. Anyone can make something fancy!
Tuna Tartar
1/2 pound ahi tuna
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil
1 green onion finely chopped
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 ripe avocado
juice of a lime
1/2 french or sourdough baguette
salt
2 tablespoons daikon sprouts (or any other small sprout at your grocery store)
Chop the tuna as finely as possible and place in a bowl to be seasoned. Add the soy sauce, sesame seed oil, onion and seeds and mix well. Cover and put in the fridge for an hour. When it is time to serve, mash the avocado in a bowl like guacamole and add lime juice. Spread the avocado on a plate and add the chopped tuna on top. Use some sort of mold to be extra fancy. Add the sprouts on top of the tuna. Use bread for dipping. For extra flavor toast the bread with olive oil and garlic.
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