An Easy Asian-Inspired Meal

Asian flavors are all the rage these days. "Pan-Asian" restaurants are everywhere, and recipes now include previously exotic ingredients like ginger and coconut milk. While I'm not necessarily one for trends, I've partially joined this bandwagon. Dinner last night is a perfect example. With a few pantry ingredients, you too can be ready for a great meal like this one.

First step is shopping. Go to a large grocery store, gourmet market, or...even better...an Asian market and buy good quality soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil. It will set you up for a variety of great recipes. Of course, buy the genuine "from the source" imported stuff when you can--you'll be surprised at how inexpensive it can be these days. And it definitely adds to the quality of your finished product.

Last night, I used those ingredients (and a few more) to make a great Asian-inspired meal. Seared tuna with basil oil and warm bok choy with soy dressing. Use it as a framework for your own journey east.

Seared Tuna with Basil Oil
Rocco DiSpirito's recipe from FoodNetwork.com

4 quarts water
Salt
2 cups packed basil leaves
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (6 ounce) tuna steaks. (Buy the best quality you can afford. I like to use yellowfin--it's ruby red when cooked rare and looks great on your plate.)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Juice and zest of 1 lemon

To make the basil oil, bring 4 quarts water to a boil and add 3 tablespoons salt. Set up a bowl of ice water--you'll need it after blanching the basil. Drop the basil into the boiling water and cook for two minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer basil to ice water bath to stop cooking and keep its great bright green color. Cool for two minutes, drain, and squeeze excess water from basil. Blend basil and one cup olive oil in blender or food processor until well-mixed. Strain through a coffee filter and set aside.

To sear the tuna, heat a skillet or cast iron pan over high heat until very hot. Season tuna on both sides with kosher salt and pepper. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place steaks into pan and cool until bottom is brown--about three minutes. Turn tuna over and cook for another minute.

Remove to a plate and serve as immediately as possible. Tuna will be seared on the outside and cool and pink in the middle.

Makes 4 servings. Can easily be halved for dinner for two.

Here's a great Asian-tasting side dish to serve. Readily available in large supermarkets, bok choy is often called Asian cabbage and has a great crunch and slight bitterness that, in this recipe, is set off by the saltiness of the soy sauce, the sweet tang of the rice vinegar, and the toastiness of the sesame oil--all hallmarks of Asian cooking.

Warm Bok Choy with Soy Dressing
from Food and Wine magazine

2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 1/4 pounds bok choy or baby bok choy (I used the regular, but the baby bok choy is a little milder and is also great cooked this way.)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together first three ingredients and set aside.

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the bok choy for 1 minute. (If you're making the basil oil for the tuna recipe above, you can save time like I did and use the same water you blanched the basil in.) Drain and transfer to a platter or bowl. Drizzle dressing over and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds if you'd like.

This also makes four servings. (Although I made the whole recipe and the two of us got through the whole batch pretty easily.)

To finish out the plate, I sliced an avocado and drizzled a little sesame oil over it. Avocado is not necessarily Asian, but I think its creaminess is a great accompaniment for the silkiness of tuna.

Wine pairing: Most of the time, I like to drink Pinot Noir with seared or grilled tuna. There's a mushroom earthiness to Pinot that I think is great with the red-meatiness of tuna. For this meal, though, we had a Chardonnay. One of my go-to wines is the Sebastiani Chardonnay. You can find it for about $15, and it's a little oakier than some of the Chardonnays out there. That, in my opinion, makes it a standout for "heavier" chicken and fish dishes. Plus it brings out the toastiness of the sesame oil and vice-versa. Try it and see what you think.