On a Hot Streak

I continue to pound out recipes recently, which is a good thing.  I REALLY want to finish this blog, not because I don't enjoy it, it's just that I have so many other projects that have come along that I want to try.  I feel that I have accomplished what I set out to do, that is to become fully confident in working with a charcoal grill.  It is actually becoming harder and harder to find recipes, as some of the sections are becoming thin on options, which is a good problem to have.  I think this week I will sit and assess how much I have left to go and what my options should be.  As always, I appreciate any and all input you have.  I am bearing down on 3,000 page views, which in the grand scheme of things regarding the internet is super small, but it is way more than I ever anticipated having.  Okay, enough exposition, on to dinner! 

Knock, knock!

Who's there?

Fish for dinner!

For crying out loud, all I really want right now is a double cheeseburger from McDonald's, and I don't even really like McDonald's.  The Diet and The Exercise continue to work, with even The Bride making a comment that she can notice a difference now.  Thus, I can't give it up just yet.  After goofing off a bit too much this morning, I finally picked out and went in search of ingredients for the Opah Tuna With Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Sauce on page 286.

Yup, another substitute.  Ever try to find Opah in Cincinnati?  Weber suggests making the sauce a few hours ahead of time to allow the flavors to meld.  I didn't want to fire up the grill just to roast a single pepper, so I reused the range burner technique.

While it was on my stove, I put together the rest of the ingredients for the sauce.

This one came out much better than the most recent one, as it had less dimples and creases.  Again, your pepper will look messed up and beyond hope, but underneath is roasted goodness.

A few thousand R.P.M.s later, I had a nice sauce.

I hadn't had pasta yet this week (The Diet restricts me to having it just once a week) so I selected the Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad on page 343.  I was happy to see my Kroger finally carry baby eggplant instead of the behemoths they usually stock. The smaller ones have far less seeds and are much more tender.

I got into a groove and did all of my prep work at once.

Instead of just brushing the tuna steak with olive oil, I used the olive oil based dressing from the side dish.  I figured this would lend some continuity to the meal.

The vegetables all had different cooking times, which made things a little interesting as I was also trying to simultaneously cook the pasta, but I think I managed to do a decent job.

The vegetables were sliced and diced, and then all of the salad ingredients were assembled together in the bowl.

I'll be honest, I was feeling a little silly when it came to presentation.  I broke out my PVC rings, dressed the salad around the outside edge, and spooned the sauce in the middle.

The fish was beautifully marked and ready to be split for the two of us.

See?  The PVC ring did exactly what I wanted it to!

Voila!

Perhaps someday I'll be in the South Pacific and get to try Opah, but for now this tuna meal was well above average.  The sauce will probably be filed away for later use, but I may try something more interesting with the fish.  Still, it was very tasty.  As a little hint from me to you, I used a smoked sea salt in the sauce, and if you have the means to do so, I highly recommend you do the same.  It made it a little magical.  The sauce, with a little tweaking, could be rather versatile and become a staple in my household.  The pasta salad was also nice, but I really need to trim down the recipe if I need to make it again.  Or, I could just invite a LOT of people over for dinner.  Seriously, the salad is delicious (and quite pretty, if you ask me), but be prepared for the sheer volume of pasta salad confronting you if you make it.