Fishy Friday: Thai Coconut Tuna

At the beginning of the week, I wrote about Meatless Monday.

Given that it's the end of the work week, I couldn't resist naming this post Fishy Friday.

Yesterday, by way of transitioning from the topic of humanely-farmed meats, poultry and eggs, to sustainable seafood, I mentioned two online resources, Ocean Trust and Seafood Watch.

The Ocean Trust label appears on some frozen, packaged fish, in fact the Sockeye salmon which I used in the Spring Vegetable and Salmon Risotto carried that label.

Exploring fish labeling further, I discovered ProFish, an extensive online resource.

If you want details on your "carbon fishprint" this is the site; it lists over 20 watchdog organizations, including the two I mention above.

For today's fishy-Friday dish, I unfroze a fillet of tuna I had in my freezer. It's Whole Foods, Whole Catch yellowfin tuna.

Whole Foods website says, "we build partnerships with farmers and fishermen that are committed to your health, the environment and the integrity of our oceans ..."

I also checked Seafood Watch's website and I found that yellowfin tuna is a good choice, I think, because to tell you the truth it was a bit confusing trolling through the links hoping to find a statement along lines of, "it is safe and environmentally friendly to eat this fish."

In spite of not finding exactly that comment, but noting that yellowfin is a "good choice," I forged ahead, and prepared my piece of tuna.

Thai Coconut Tuna
1) Into a pot pour one can of coconut milk.
2) Add a tablespoon of Thai Red Curry Paste; stir into milk.
3) Add a couple of chopped carrots, a sliced leek, a couple stalks of celery and a chopped baby bok choy, plus a couple cloves of peeled and chopped garlic and the same of a chunk of fresh ginger.
4) Gently simmer ingredients over low heat until the veggies are tender; approximately 15 mins.
5) If you have it, add a splash of Thai fish sauce; taste-test, and add salt if you feel it needs it. Turn heat to low.

6) Cut a fillet of Tuna into small cubes; toss cubes in sesame oil or a light olive or canola oil, salt and pepper. Either cook the cubes in a skillet by simply searing them, or grill them for a minute in the oven.
Note: It will take barely a minute to cook the tuna, so keep an eye on it, and remove it from the heat as soon as it's done to your liking.
7) Squeeze the juice of a fresh lime into the pot of coconut veggies. Taste-test, does it need more lime, fish sauce, salt?

To Serve: Ladle portions of into a bowl and top with the tuna cubes. Decorate with pieces of sliced cucumber, a couple sprigs of cilantro and a wedge of fresh lime.

Chipotle Pulled Pork Leftovers & Risotto

Have you bought a to-go meal, not eaten it all, and then microwaved the leftovers for your next meal?

To me the beauty of leftovers is adding fresh ingredients at home to create a brand new meal.

And that's exactly what I did yesterday evening with my Chipotle lunch-leftovers.

Remember, Chipotle buys their pork from Niman Ranch and other ranchers who practice humane farming, and that's why I chose to go there for take-out, and why I asked for their pulled pork with my lunch.

Additionally, it's simple, yummy and healthy food that I can, in all good conscience, feel good about.

Chipotle Pulled Pork Leftovers
1) Toss a handful of corn chips on a plate.
2) Sprinkle chips with grated cheese. I used Parmesan.
3) In a skillet saute a handful of fresh veggies such as a spring onion, bell pepper, kale or chard or spinach or broccoli; add leftovers to your fresh veggies. (I had leftover pulled pork, rice, pinto beans, and tomato salsa).
4) While skillet contents are heating, microwave chips and cheese for 30-45 seconds.

To Serve: Top warmed chips with a heaping spoonful of warmed leftovers and veggies, and garnish with cilantro, avocado pieces, fresh tomato or your favorite salsa.

This morning I had an email from the Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) organization. As you're probably aware, I've been linking to their site in my recent posts on sourcing humanely-farmed meats.

The email was in response to my concern that it's difficult to trust meat labeling; fortunately it contained a link to a site that explains some of the Humane Food Labels.

The information therein certainly clarified that I have a number of good, better, and best choices at the grocery store when purchasing meat, eggs, and dairy. Check out the link and acquaint yourself with Humane Food Labels.

Last summer I wrote a post about helping a friend learn how to shop on a budget. Where I offered Bruce tips for shopping at Whole Foods for a family of four, he shared tips for buying sustainable seafood.

Two online resources he turned me onto are Seafood Watch Guide for Sustainable Seafood and Ocean Trust. When I picked up the "Certified Humane" eggs plus turkey bacon this weekend I also found "Ocean Trust" Sockeye Salmon in the freezer section.

At around $7.50 for two 4-oz pieces of frozen, wild and sustainably caught salmon, it was a budget-wise and good-conscience purchase.

The Ocean Trust label was clear and obvious on the front of the pack and I recognized it immediately as one I could trust (no pun intended).

Because frozen fish isn't quite as flavorful as fresh, I find it's great as a garnish rather than as the feature of a meal. So when I bought the salmon, I had in mind that it would top a risotto dish that a friend and I intended making to eat in front of the Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Here's that dish: creamy risotto full of chunky fresh veggies and wild caught salmon.

Spring Vegetable and Salmon Risotto
1) Add one cup risotto and two and half cups water to a saucepan.
2) Simmer rice for about 45 mins, stirring periodically so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan, adding more water if it does begin to stick.
3) If you have an open bottle of white wine, you could add at least a cup during the cooking. The more liquid you add (whether it's wine or water), the creamier the risotto.
4) Meanwhile, chop a selection of spring vegetables, i.e. asparagus, leeks, squash, bell peppers -- whatever you have on hand.
5) At around the 30-min mark, add the chopped and washed veggies to the pot of risotto and continue cooking -- the veggies will essentially steam cook in the pot.
6) At the last minute, slice a fillet of salmon into pieces and sit it on top of the risotto. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the salmon and rice and put the lid on the pot. The salmon will steam cook in about 5 mins.

To Serve: Toss a handful of roughly chopped parsley or cilantro over the risotto; spoon portions into bowls, adding salt and pepper plus finely grated Parmesan or Romano or your choice of a dry, yellow cheese.