Tonight I decided I wanted tuna salad, since it seemed an appropriate dish to make with the celery I had in the fridge. But I didn’t feel like eating normal tuna salad with mayo and apples and such. So I had a weird brain wave and decided to use Chinese seasonings instead. My beloved soy sauce made an appearance. As did sesame oil, ginger, scallions, and a little corn starch for consistency (I stir-fried it a bit because I wanted the celery soft instead of crunchy). And then I topped it all off with a healthy drizzle of (American) brown mustard sauce.
I felt very haute cuisine-y and fusion-y, à la Ming Tsai. Except without the cheesy “East meets West” slogan.
Here’s my Grown-Up Tuna Salad:
Served with some prosciutto, olives, and sharp cheese on the side. With extra mustard for dipping the cold cuts.
Bet it would be even more delicious if you made it with chunks of lightly seared sashimi-grade tuna. Mmmmm . . .
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And in baking news, I made a plum upside-down cake (from the August issue of Real Simple Magazine) for my dad when I went home this weekend, because he turned 58 last week. I used yogurt instead of sour cream, because I had it on hand, and it’s healthier.
Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as the one in the magazine. I think they used red-flesh plums (mine had yellow flesh), and the recipe calls for an 8″ cake pan. I thought mine was 8″ but now I’m thinking I was wrong. The plums all sank into the batter, and the cake came out a little flatter than in the picture. I’m pretty sure I used a 9″ pan by mistake. Oh well. It tasted good, anyway. Very buttery on the bottom layer, with a nice tang from the plums on top. Next time I’d like to try making it with kiwifruit.
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