Recipe Backlog vol. something
I made this one up. Hooray. It was delicious, and quite quick to prepare.
Ingredients: 1 bunch of asparagus. 2 roma tomatoes. 1-2c Israeli couscous. 2-3 cloves garlic. (Vegetable) stock. Tuna. Good balsamic vinegar.
Asparagus Puree - Remove the heads and reserve for couscous. Wash asparagus and quickly blanch and than shock in a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. I roughly chopped the stalks, threw them in the blender with a about a tsp of salt, white pepper and olive oil. Blend until smooth.
Israeli Couscous - Place the asparagus heads, minced garlic, thinly sliced tomatoes in a sauce pot with some olive oil and sautee for a minute. Add the couscous and toast for another minute before adding the stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
While the couscous is cooking, pour a healthy amount of vinegar onto a small sautee pan on med/med-low heat until it becomes a thick and viscous glaze.
Tuna - sear on a high heat (I actually stepped away for a second here, and overcooked the tuna. I prefer my tuna raw, and failing that, very lightly seared. To paraphrase my father- “just show it a picture of the pan”
It comes together quite nicely- I find that the syrupy sweetness of the balsamic is a nice compliment to the subtle, creamy spring flavors of the puree and couscous. I am really taken with Israeli couscous as of late, the pearls have a smooth and delightful consistency and mouth feel. Tuna is robust enough to stand up to the vinegar- I certainly think this would work with a whitefish of some sort, sans vinegar, as it would simply be overwhelmed. I have made variations on this with morel mushrooms, which also supply a decadent earthy undertone to the whole dish and, if they weren’t so expensive, would be an indispensable ingredient.
