Grilled Tuna Steaks

 

Grilled Tuna Steaks with Mango Salsa
Cook's notes: Grilled tuna steaks are rich in protein, low in calories and full of B vitamins and minerals. Even though tuna itself won’t give you a lot of calories, adding oil during the cooking process can quickly add up the calorie content. To keep your tuna steak as light as possible, you might want to use nonstick cooking spray, which only has a trace amount of calories, instead of a high-calorie oil. Both yellow fin and skip jack tuna provide around 110 calories from a 3-ounce grilled steak
I used Yellow Fin but Albacore tuna is a less expensive option. Its meaty texture is perfect if you’re a meat eater, but want to get more fish in your diet. Rice, couscous, roasted rosemary baby red potatoes and roasted asparagus are some suggested sides. The meal is delicious, nutritious and quick. A fresh mango salsa compliments the tuna.  

Recipe adapted from http://eattessaeat.com/ and serves 2. A prepared salsa can be substituted for mango/kiwi salsa.
Note: Tuna Steaks can be grilled, pan fried, broiled or baked. I found this link particularly helpful on different ways to cook tuna steaks.
http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Tuna-Steak

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup finely chopped mango
• 1/2 cup finely chopped kiwi fruit
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 teaspoons seeded and finely chopped jalapeño pepper
• 1 tablespoon cilantro
• 2 tablespoons diced red peppers 
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1 (6 oz.) tuna steak
• 1 small clove garlic
• lemon slices

Directions:

• In small bowl toss together mango, kiwi fruit, lime juice, jalapeño pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of the olive oil. Set aside
• Brush tuna steak with remaining olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice
• Rub garlic clove over both sides of steak and sprinkle with fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley)
• Grill tuna directly over medium heat about 4 to 6 minutes or until desired doneness, turning once or bake tuna at 450 degrees 4-6 minutes per 1/2 inch thickness.
• Transfer tuna to serving plate and spoon mango mixture onto plate beside the tuna. Serve with lemon slices.

Today is the birthday of American poet Naomi Shihab Nye. She split her childhood between Ferguson, Missouri and Jerusalem, the daughter of an American and a Palestinian refugee. Naomi Shihab Nye is considered one of the leading female poets of the American Southwest, a songwriter and novelist. Although Nye regards herself as a "wandering poet" she refers to San Antonio as her home. Her blended heritage and Middle Eastern roots soon became the subject of many poems. Both roots and sense of place are major themes in her body of work. Her most recent book is "Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems" (2020).

In 2015 I drove from the Twin Cities to Brainerd and back (260 miles) in one day to participate in a poetry reading and writer's workshop she was doing at Central Lakes Community Collge. It was so well worth it. Nye captured the audience's attention with her earnestness, self-deprecating humor and writing wisdom as she shared personal stories, experiences and favorite poems with the group.
Book Signing

One of my favorites

"Kindness"

By Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.