When looking for tuna to sear or serve raw, Yellowfin is ideal for weight loss; it is leaner and results in more protein per ounce than Bigeye or Bluefin. Mountain caviar (known in Japanese as Tonburi) are actually the seeds of the summer cypress tree.  They have an appearance and texture of caviar; however, they taste like quinoa. Inaka miso is a mild red miso and can be found (along with the Tonburi) at most Japanese food stores.

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Sprinkle the eggplant slices with a generous coating of Kosher salt.  Let sit for 10 minutes.  While the eggplant is salting; mix together garlic, miso, sake and a teaspoon of olive oil.  Rinse eggplant, squeeze dry and then mix with miso marinade.  Roast in oven, rotating pan every 5 minutes, until done.  About 12-15 minutes.  Remove and let rest.

Toss grapes with ½ teaspoon of olive oil, pinch of salt and roast in oven until they just start to burst.  Remove and combine with eggplant.  Reserve.

Bring a pot of water to the boil.  Add bok choy and cook until done, about two minutes.  Shock in a bowl of ice water until cool.  Reserve.

For the assembly:

Heat remaining olive oil until just smoking.  Season tuna loins with salt and pepper.  Sear on each side for about 15 seconds, or until flesh is no longer translucent.  Remove from pan and set on cutting board.  Heat eggplant and grapes in the oven.  Heat bok choy in a little pan of water, season with salt.  Slice tuna and place on eggplant, grape and bokchoy mixture.  Mix caviar, white soy sauce and grated wasabi to taste.  Garnish the tuna and enjoy!

Grass-fed beef is the bomb. Let’s count the ways…

 There’s health: Nutrient dense food, higher amount of vitamins, minerals and proteins per calorie.  For every 6 oz. serving, it has 100 calories less than grain-fed beef.  Two to six times more of the omega-3 fatty acids than grain-fed beef. What an animal is fed, greatly affects the nutritional value of the beef from that animal.

 There’s the environment: Grass fed is the most natural way to produce beef.  Cows, by nature, are ruminants.  They are designed to eat grass.  Their body does not handle the eating of grain.  So they are given antibiotics and hormones to counteract this problem.  That’s no bueno.  Beef raised on grass and roughage stimulates the grass around them to produce better tasting, more nutritious grass.  Which in turn makes better tasting, more nutritious beef.

And my favorite, flavor: Cattle raised on grass take a longer time to put on weight, so they live a lot longer than typical grain-fed beef.  The longer they live and eat, the more flavor is found within their delicious little muscles. 

They tend to have a more toothy texture, but they can be cooked slowly to help break down the muscle better.  At the restaurant we use Open Space Meats grass-fed beef.  It is run by Seth and Mica Nitschke and they are located in central California.  They have much more information regarding grass-fed beef at their website openspacemeats.com.

This recipe is perfect for the first signs of spring/summer.  Kick up the grill, grab a couple of steaks and a couple friends and you’re done!!

2        Heads                   Broccoli Florets

2        Each           Garlic Cloves, Minced

1        Teaspoon    Chili Flakes

1        Tbl              Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2        #                 Spring Onions

4        ea                6 oz. Grass-Fed Ribeye Steaks

To Taste               Kosher Salt

To Taste               Black Pepper

Preheat grill, then oven to 500°.

Toss broccoli, garlic, chili flakes and half the oil in a bowl.  Season with a sprinkle of kosher salt, mix well.  Place a cookie sheet in oven for ten minutes.  Add broccoli mixture to pan and cook until al dente, about 5 minutes.  Remove and reserve.

Season spring onions in bowl with rest of oil, salt and pepper to taste.  Add to grill and cook until charred and tender.  Remove and add to broccoli.

Season steaks liberally with salt and pepper.  Add to grill and cook three minutes per side, rotating 90 degrees until cooked to desired doneness.  Cooking times vary based on heat of grill, size and thickness of meat.  The best way to check for medium rare is to stick a cake tester (any thin piece of metal will work) in the thickest part of the steak and leave it for ten seconds.  If it is a bit hotter (but not painful!!) than the cleft of your upper lip, it is medium rare.  Once cooked, remove from heat and let rest ten minutes prior to slicing.  Serve with broccoli and grilled onions.

*For Jumpstart patients, eat half of the protein, and ¼ of the vegetables.  That will give you a nice, light meal of 3 Protein boxes, and 1 Carbohydrate box

Restaurant info: 231 Ellsworth

                        231 South Ellsworth Avenue

                        San Mateo, CA 94401

Scallops are wonderful raw, just be sure to ask your local fishmonger for “dry” scallops. “Dry” scallops have not been treated with STP (the preservative Sodium Tripolyphosphate; not to be confused with Stone Temple Pilots); thus resulting in succulent tasting scallops. We use Hokkaido scallops at the restaurant, if you can find these…awesome!! If not, just grab some of the Maine scallops and smell them; if they smell sweet, they will be. Ha Tien peppercorns come from the Ha Tien area of Vietnam and have an almost berry-like aroma to them. Toasted black peppercorns can work as a replacement. Yuasa Shoyu is soy sauce from the Yuasa province in Japan. It’s incredibly flavorful, not overly salty and you can use less so it is well worth the price. Found in most Japanese markets.

Ingredients

Instructions

Using a mortar and pestle, (or back of a sauté pan, or side of a heavy knife, or mallet, etc…) crush the peppercorns until they are uniformly a quarter of their original size. Add the crushed pepper to the olive oil and bring to a low simmer. Turn off and let pepper and oil mingle for at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a container and let chill.

Clean scallops of any shell or dirt. Using a VERY sharp knife, slice 1/8 inch rounds of the scallop (no need to remove the adductor muscle, it is great sliced raw). Arrange the scallop slices artfully on the plate. Drizzle with shoyu and smooth evenly with back of a spoon.

Slice mango into various ribbons and shapes. Place on scallops. Cut avocado into eight wedges. Heat a sauté pan until crazy hot. Add avocados into pan (no oil necessary, there is enough fat in avocado) and cook until they are slightly browned. Season with salt and add to scallop plates. Drizzle with pepper oil and get down on it!!