As promised, tonight was a true Cooking Husband recipe/meal night for the theme this week–Cooking for One. So when I got up this morning I decided to do Ahi Tuna because I like medium-rare, and Jen likes medium (opposites attract right?). This allows me to cook the tuna the way I really enjoy it. Also, if you can’t tell, I love tomatoes (I’m even growing some in my garden right now) so I put together grilled veggies as well. Total time for this dinner was 40 minutes. Let’s cook!

Grilled Fennel Spice Tuna with Tomatoes and Eggplant

1 baby eggplant

2 tomatoes

2 tablespoons fennel seed

1 ahi tuna steak

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 big strip lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon sour cream

olive oil

salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and cut the eggplant in half. Season eggplant with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place face down on the cookie sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

While the eggplant is in the oven, cut the tomatoes in half, toss them in olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Set these aside.

Toast the fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat just until they become fragrant, took about 1 minute for me.

Grind the fennel in a mortar and if you don’t have one, you can use a freezer bag and a rolling pin. Put the seeds in a freezer bag and roll over several times.

Brush olive oil onto the tuna steak and add ground fennel. Cover and refrigerate until ready to grill (this is when I start my grill after I brush the grates with olive oil).

Time to make the sauce. Cook the chicken stock with the lemon peel over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and remove the lemon peel. Transfer the stock to a blender and add paprika and sour cream.

Blend sauce until it is foamy.

Time to remove the eggplant from the oven and let the rest.

Take the tuna steak and place on the grill.

Grill the tuna until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the tuna from the grill and let rest.

Grill the tomatoes and eggplant until slight charred.

Put the grilled tomatoes and eggplant into a bowl and pour some of the sauce on them.

Time to plate! I didn’t chop the tomatoes or eggplant which you could do. Here is how I did my plate and I used some of the warm sauce over the tuna.

Here is a close-up:

Now you have a dinner for one and I ate every bite.

Tomorrow there won’t be a post due to a dinner I am attending with my neighbors. I will have a post on Thursday.

Happy Coooking!