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!

French Style Chicken in Dutch Oven

1 whole chicken, giblets removed and discarded

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 small celery stalk, chopped

6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Pre-heat oven to 250. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.

In the dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil until just smoking.  Add the chicken breast-side down. Scatter the onion, celery, garlic, bay lead, and rosemary around the chicken.

Cook until the breast is lightly brown which takes about 5 minutes. Use a wooden spoon and insert into the cavity of the chicken, flip breast-side up and cook until chicken and vegetables are slightly brown which takes another 5 minutes.

Remove the dutch oven from the heat and place a large sheet of foil over the pot, then cover tightly with the lid and transfer to the oven.

Bake chicken for an hour and half. Once the chicken shows 160 degrees transfer the chicken to a serving plate.

Cover with foil and let rest for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, strain chicken juices from the pot throught a mesh strainer.

Add lemon juice and pour into a pan and set over low heat.

Time to make the eggplant.

Sauteed Eggplant and Roasted Garlic

1 eggplant

1 onion, sliced

1 head of garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

Add garlic to foil

Wrap in foil the garlic and add to the oven (I did this while the chicken was cooking).

Cut the eggplant in slices then, slice the eggplant into 1/4″ slices.

In the saute pan add onions, roasted garlic, and eggplant with olive oil.

Cook until eggplant is cooked.

Time to make this meal complete. Take the jus sauce from the chicken and pour into a serving dish.

Here is the final plating:

This was a great Sunday dinner and even though it took awhile to cook, I did enjoy it.

Happy Cooking!