Tuna Burgers and Seaweed Salad

Though I am a die-hard Trader Joe's loyalist, I have recently been enjoying the wider selection of food at Fresh & Easy. They have an entire aisle full of ethnic foods and a good selection of fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats. It's not too expensive either, but not as cheap as TJ's. 

Fresh ahi caught my eye on my last trip and I had to make the most of it. My favorite way to enjoy ahi, if not rare and seared, is grilled and as a sandwich. This is quintessential California food for me, so if you live in one of those landlocked  or eastern states, gives this a try for a taste of CA.

Grilled Ahi Sandwiches with Wasabi Mayo

for 4

2 fresh ahi steaks

Wasabi Mayo

• 3 tbsp light mayo
• 3 tbsp nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 2 tsp prepared wasabi

Fixins

• Whole wheat hamburger buns
• Heirloom tomato, sliced
• Avocado, sliced
• Baby spinach
• Pickled ginger
• S & P

Mix all wasabi mayo ingredients together. 

A little bit goes a very very long way. Set in fridge while you grill.

Prep ahi steaks by slicing them in half. You can always do the full size, but that's a lot of meat, and it ain't cheap.

Perfect thickness!

Grill fish or broil - whatever works for you!

Then layer up your buns with fixins of your choice.

I personally love the ginger sweetness in the sandwich, but some people could do without. I slather both buns with wasabi mayo, then layer fish, tomato, S & P, spinach, avocado, ginger. YUM!

The perfect side for this fresh and healthy sandwich is cucumber onion salad. I added nori!

Seaweed Cucumber Salad


1 large cucumber
1 small red onion
2 sheets nori/seaweed
1/3 c. seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame seeds

First break up the nori sheets and soak in vinegar.

Prep cucumber by peeling, scooping out seeds, and slicing into half moons.

Add to bowl with red onion.

Top with sesame seeds and toss.

Thanks for visiting California!

Turkey Reubens

My dad has this rule when the family all eats out for dinner: nobody is allowed to order the same thing. It doesn't matter how far away you are sitting from the other person, you better not order the same thing. Oh you wanted the salmon special, too? Well, duke it out, cause only one of you is getting it.

I have my own little obnoxious rule: never order the same thing twice. There's a whole lengthy menu - why go back to a restaurant just to order the same thing?

Oh, there are exceptions to this rule. I get the exact.same.sandwich every time I go to Gus's in SLO.

There's also one more weird thing I do when eating out.

If there's a turkey reuben on the menu, you better bet I'm ordering it. No exceptions. I could be at the headquarters of hamburgers with a hamburger craving, but if there is turkey reuben on the menu, gimme that.

I don't know what it is. The sour rye bread, the drippy russian dressing, the melty swiss, salty turkey... GIMME.

And so, I give you:

Turkey Reuben
for two


4 pieces sliced rye bread (if you can find marble rye, you are a lucky duck)
2 tsp butter/earth balance
2 4 oz. portions deli sliced turkey
2 large slices swiss cheese
1/2 c. sauerkraut (optional!)
1/3 c. reuben dressing, divided (recipe follows)


Reuben Dressing
from Zingerman's via Food Network, but adapted


1/4 c. nonfat plain greek yogurt
3 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp light mayo
1 tbsp grated onion
1 tbsp minced dill pickle
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp grated horseradish
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp celery seeds


First things: make dressing.  It's a lot of ingredients, but it's good!

Grated onion makes all the difference. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Stir. Fridge.

Warm sauerkraut however you wish - ahem - microwave.

Butter outside of bread slices.

Prep your yummies.

In a large pan, multitask! Heat turkey and toast bread. After you've flipped the turkey, place swiss on top and let it melt.

Layer it up. Bread, dressing, turkey, cheese, sauerkraut, more dressing, bread.

Om nom nom.

Pressed Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches

News alert!!: The Roady fam recently acquired a grill. Big deal!

Let me explain.

When I think of grilled food at the Roady household, I think of super cheap, discount, Albertsons tri-tip steaks, charred until they were black. I think of the charcoal dust left on my plate. I think of the taste of a propane grill. I think of mass amounts of ketchup to replenish lost moisture to the grey, chewy "steak".

This was my childhood, before I stopped eating meat (beef+pork+other cuties) in 9th grade. I felt sad for cows. Plus I was chunkers and wanted to slim down so I could be cool. (Didn't really work that way). I didn't eat meat again until high school graduation, when I had legit tri-tip. (PS I worked at a BBQ restaurant for about six months before I tasted their meat dishes... joke's on you, Bandits!).

And so basically my experience with home-grilled food has been minimal.

Except for a short stint with a little red Weber found on the sidewalk in my studio apartment days.  It was missing a handle, so I burned myself several times on that thing before I returned it to the curb.

I tried to find a picture of the red weber grill, but all i found worth sharing was this picture of sprinkles when she was FAT sitting on the same porch that the grill lived on. Same difference? Look how fat she was!! She's half that size now... Le sigh.

Oh, and I've had much experience with George Foreman grilling... or... countertop attempts at burning down various apartment dwellings.  Does George-ing count as grilling? I'm counting it.

That's my grilling resume.

But now I can give that whole grilling thing another shot. And I did. And it all started with vegetables. Marinated in balsamic. Add some goat cheese. Some chewy crusty bread. Smush it all together. Have a yum party in your mouth.

Pressed Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
for six


1 large loaf of crusty whole wheat bread
4 oz. goat cheese
1 small eggplant, sliced into 1/2" discs
2 small zucchini, sliced on a bias, 1/2" thick
2 bell peppers, cut into 4 slabs
1 large yellow onion, sliced in 3/4" slices
2 portabella mushrooms
1 bottle balsamic vinaigrette dressing of your choice
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch o salt

Slice up those veggies and place them in a large baking dish.
Soak them in salad dressing, additional balsamic, and salt. I think bottle vinaigrettes are typically too sweet, not enough balsamic. YOU be the judge, boss. Let em chill for 10 minutes.

Heat up that grill.

Grill in this order, depending on grill top real estate: bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, eggplant.

Pour off marinade into a bowl and brush veggies while grilling. I turned each veggie 4 times to get cross grill marks on each side. And a little of that char that I like? from my childhood.

Meow.

When everybody is all charred up, bring em inside. I sliced the mushrooms and peppers for dainty ladylike chewing.

Slice crusty bread in half.

Scoop out excessive bread guts. Note: this makes excellent olive oil-dipping bread for another time.

Using the back of a spoon, spread goat cheese on both slices of bread. Make sure to go all the way to the edges, nobody likes a cheeseless bite. Ever.

Layer your veggies. I don't know if you know this, but I studied architecture for like 2.5 seconds, so I'm really good at building things. Like sandwiches. ?

Put the pieces together. Put a little pressure on it so get everything all squished together. You could wrap in foil and place under a brick, turning every 10 minutes for 40-60 minutes for maximum cohesiveness. But I just ate it.

Slice with a serrated knife. Chow down.

If it weren't for all the goat cheese I snacked on while assembling this sandwich, it would have been super healthy!

Everything Burgers

Today's recipe is inspired by Rachael Ray's "Everything Salmon Burgers" featured in the Big Orange Book (Bob).

The recipe is a play on everything bagels and lox and cream cheese. Of course, I did a little lightening up with my buddy greek yogurt. I was craving a burger and this salmon version did the trick. Making the patties from scratch was super easy and far more tasty than any fresh or frozen salmon patty I have ever purchased at the store. It's worth the extra 5 minutes of effort!

Everything Salmon Burgers


Ingredients

• For Burgers
• 1 pound fresh salmon, skin removed, cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp grill seasoning (like Montreal Steak or similar)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp dried dill or 1/4 c. fresh dill
• Cooking spray
• For Spread
• 1/4 c. light whipped cream cheese
• 1/4 c. non fat plain greek yogurt
• 6 green onions, diced
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• juice of one lemon
• Kaiser rolls, or other roll of your choice
• Lettuce, tomato, red onion for topping

Instructions

• First we want to make the spread so all the flavors have time to come together
• Combine all ingredients for the spread, stir well, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
• Place salmon chunks in food processor and process until ground
• Place in bowl and combine with remaining burger ingredients
• Form patties of your desired size
• Heat a pan over medium high heat, spray with cooking spray
• The salmon has so much oil that it will not stick to the pan
• Cook patties for 4 minutes on each side or until lightly brown
• Serve with spread, lettuce, tomato and onion on the roll of your choice

Spread ingredients ready to be mixed.

mmm salmon

These burgers went perfectly with a cucumber onion potato salad that I will share with you at a later date....

Happy noshing!