Seared Tuna with Soba Noodles

Bret, I think it has been a month since I promised to submit more recipes... so here we go. Simple, fast and delicious. Make sure to get high quality, sashimi-grade tuna for this, since it will be pretty raw (for those living in Berkeley, Tokyo Fish Market is the place to go). I found the recipe on BBC's Good Food site.

- 1/2 lbs Hamachi tuna (fresh and almost wiggling)

- 4 tbsp sesame oil

- 4 tbsp sesame seeds (I used sesame salt, a mixture of black sesame seeds and coarse salt sold in Japanese markets)

- soba noodles

- 1 small cucumber, cut into matchsticks

- 4 spring onions, chopped

- 4 tbsp lemon juice

- 4 tbsp soy sauce (I used the one with less salt)

- 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, finely grated or chopped

- 3 tbsp mirin

- 1 tbsp sugar

Drizzle the tuna with 1 tbsp sesame oil and season with salt and pepper. Roll in sesame seeds until coated. Heat a pan until very hot, sear the tuna on all sides and chill until using. Make sure not to overcook the fish, you want to achieve a nicely seared crust while keeping it raw in the center.

Boil the noodles in salt water, drain and rinse well in cold water. Divide noodles between bowls. Arrange the cucumbers and spring onions on top. 

Mix the lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger, mirin, sugar and the remaining sesame oil to make a dressing.  Slice the tuna and arrange on top of the noodles. Pour the dressing over and sprinkle with some sesame seeds.

Image (c) www.bbcgoodfood.com

The Perfect Cookie to Eat with Blue Cheese

Ginger Molasses Cookies (From the Blue Cheese Bonanza -- I think this is the right recipe)

2 1/4 c (11 1/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 1/2 t ground (dried) ginger
1/2 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground allspice
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/4 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cool but soft
1/3 c (2 1/2 oz) granulated sugar (plus more for coating)
1/3 c (2 1/2 oz) packed dark brown sugar
(maybe a bit less sugar?)
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 c molasses

In a small bowl, whisk the flour together with the spices, soda and salt. In a medium bowl, cream the butter with the two sugars until smooth. Mix in the yolk and vanilla until homogeneous. Stir in the molasses until uniform. Mix in the flour until just mixed, but with no floury spots; pay attention especially to the bottom of the bowl.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190 C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Dump about 1/3 cup of white sugar into a shallow bowl. With your fingers, pull out walnut sized lumps of dough (or slightly smaller). Drop them into the sugar. Break off as many at a time as will comfortably fit in the sugar and then, one at a time, toss each in the sugar, roll into a ball and place on the lined baking sheets. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart from each other on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for about 11 minutes, until the edges are set but the inside still looks underdone. Let the cookies cool about 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer them to the racks with a spatula. They will firm up while they cool. Form and bake cookies as above until the dough is used up.

The cookies can be stored in a tin.