VALENTINES DAY

I'd like to talk about several things this morning.

The other day I was at Whole Foods (it's closer than the Buford Farmers Market) and I was picking up ciabata bread, which they bake very well at a reasonable price.  I was also checking to see if I could afford any of the fish they sell, when I saw a tray piled with pieces of different kinds of fish.  Among the pile were several beautiful pieces of Ahi tuna.  These pieces were selling for $3.95 whereas the bigger portions of the same fish were $19.95...5 times as much, for essentially the same thing.  I could make skewers for the grill but it was raining and not supposed to stop in the foreseeable future.  I could make poisson cru or some sort of ceviche.  I decided upon tuna burgers.  I had not tried out my meat grinder for the Kitchenaid yet, so why not.

I put my chunks of tuna through the grinder, threw in some chopped scallions, a little tamari, a bit of rice vinegar, a dab of sesame oil, a twist of black pepper and the juice of a lime.
While the burgers were cooking (I stopped at rare), I made some wasabi and mixed it into a combo of mayo and yogurt for smearing on top of the tuna burgers.

As a side, I made sauteed kale.  Since I learned that kale is maybe THE most nutritious food one can eat, I've been doing my best  figuring ways to get more of it into our diets.  A recipe which I learned in 1976 while visiting Barcelona is sauteed spinach in extra virgin olive oil with sliced garlic, raisins and pinola nuts.  I've been making this dish over the years as often as Charlotte could stand it (fortunately, it's one of her favorite dishes) so just replace spinach for kale and voila.  Kale is not as delicate and refined, if you will, as spinach but there is the satisfaction of knowing how good it is for you.

I must close now and head out into the world, (off to the Buford Farmers Market).  When I return I want to talk about how I used kale last night.  Cheerio