Fresh Tuna with Soy-Ginger Glaze and Avocados

Dear Children, 

Your Aunt Janice brought a whole, frozen Albacore tuna from Seattle packed in her luggage.  This is such a Korean thing! Your aunts and grandma have traveled cross country with their bags packed with frozen fish of all types, dried squid, anchovies, seaweed, even kimchi, you name it!   When her luggage did not arrive at the Savannah Airport with her, we were more concerned about the fish than her clothes and make up.  Thankfully, the tuna was still quite frozen when we finally got the bag.  It made Grandma so happy to have some fresh tuna sashimi and we devoured rest with this yummy soy-ginger glaze, topped with avocados!  

Love, 

Mom

ps- heat the cast iron skillet to a smoking point and sear the tuna steaks on both sides for a few minutes and leave the center medium rare.  Sushi grade tuna like this shouldn't be cooked all the way. 

Fresh Tuna with Soy-Ginger Glaze and Avocados 

Soy-Ginger Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1/2 jalapeno, sliced
2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, grated
2 limes, juiced (about 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon olive oil
Pinch sugar

For the tuna steak:

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb of  sushi-quality tuna, cut into steaks
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ripe avocado, halved, peeled, pitted, and sliced
Extra cilantro for garnish

In a mixing bowl, combine the cilantro, jalapeños, ginger, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Stir the ingredients together until well incorporated. Place a skillet over medium-high heat and coat with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the tuna generously with salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot oil and sear for 1 minute on each side to form a slight crust. Take steaks out and let them rest.

Pour soy-ginger mixture into the pan and cook for about a minute. Take the pan off the heat.  Put tuna steaks back in the pan.  Top with diced avocado and cilantro leaves.  Serve with rice.

Communion Season 2012 - Thursday Dinner and The Best Yellow Rice Recipe

This Thursday through Sunday, my church is having a special program called Annual Communion Season.  And it is going to be extra special because this year's speaker is Dr. Harry Reeder, the senior pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, in Birmingham, AL.  I love to hear this dynamic speaker, who truly brings out the word of God like no other preacher can; other than my own senior pastor, of course.  

Anyway, the kitchen staff and I are on a cooking marathon since we have four dinners to prep and serve this weekend.   I was too busy last night and this was the only photo I managed to take.  But I have to tell ya, this yellow rice we made last night was the best ever!  So I had to share the recipe with you. 

Friday night dinner may or may  not involve Bulgogi and a special guest appearance.  So stay tuned....

Thursday Dinner Menu for 200 (Click Hyperlinks for recipes)

Blackened Swai   (55 lbs - 3-5 oz filets = about 210 pieces)

Mango Salsa (20lbs. frozen diced mango chunks)

Yellow Rice (30lbs rice)

Yeast Rolls (200)

Garden Salad with Savannah Mustard Dressing  (30 small heads of Romaine plus tomatoes, onions, cucumbers)

Lemon-Ginger Pound Cake with Lemon Whipped Cream  (Recipe x10 = 4 full pans)

The Best Yellow Rice

Serves 4

1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup onion, finely diced

1/2 cup sweet peppers, finely dice (we used tri-colored)
1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 15 min, rinsed, drained
1 1/3 cup chicken broth, homemade preferred
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt (use only if using homemade broth)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion, peppers, and garlic and cook until just soft. Toss in the rice for about a minute, stirring once or twice.   

Add the broth, ground turmeric and salt if using homemade broth without salt added.  Cover and cook in medium-high until rice starts to boil,  for about 10-12 minutes.  

When it begins to boil, quickly reduce the heat to simmer.  Do not open the lid.  Simmer until the liquid is absorbed, another 15 minutes.  Fluff with a fork before serving.  

For large volume rice cooking tips, click here. 

The Best Yellow Rice for 200 

25 lbs of long grain rice, soak first in cold water for 20-30 minutes, rinse, drain

6 large onions, finely chopped, pulsed coarsely food processor 

10 tricolored peppers, finely chopped, pulsed coarsely in food processor

1/3 cup minced garlic

2/3 cups olive oil

About 16 quarts of homemade chicken stock

2 tablespoon ground turmeric

salt to taste

Print This Recipe!

Sunday Dinner (Communion Season 2011)

What a great way to end our Annual Communion Season with a thought provoking sermon by Dr. James Baird followed by a good ol' Southern pork barbeque! I chose the barbeque because it is so tasty and very inexpensive option to serve my large church family.


I purchases 13 pork shoulders which already smoked/grilled from my local Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Pooler, GA for $17 each(7-8 pounder). OK, I'm a food snob and very picky when it comes to purchasing already cooked foods. But Mr. Marvin at Pooler Piggly Wiggly does a fantastic job grilling these pork shoulders and I am always very confident to serve these. If you don 't grill or don't have the time to grill, look for a place who can do the job for you.

These shoulders are double wrapped in foil, then baked for additional 4-5hours in low heat for easy chopping.


Cheryl, my young kitchen staff is a great softball player, and I am so happy to have her arm strength to chop 13 of these. That's 90 pounds of meat. Yeah, don't mess with Cheryl when she has the cleaver in her hand.



Working in a commercial kitchen is not for the weak. And this is one of many ways I get my daily exercise. These canned beans are opened upside down for a reason. At the grocery store the cans are stored right side up, which causes the beans to settle to the bottom and liquid on top. It's easier to pour the beans out of the cans when bottom lid is opened.


Along with canned baked beans, I added sauteed onions, bacon bits, cooked black and red kidney beans and extra sauce made with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. Click here for the recipe.


Simple Lemon Coleslaw made with white cabbages and tri-colored peppers. Here is the recipe.


And for dessert, we made simple caramel cakes. I adore caramel sauce; butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar, what's not to like?


Simple yellow cake drizzled, no, swimming in caramel sauce was so delicious!


Thanks to Dr. James Baird's great teaching and preaching this weekend, our souls were well fed! And it was an honor for my kitchen staff and I to be part of serving Dr. Baird and this wonderful congregation.

Sunday Fellowship Dinner Menu
For 300

Pork BBQ (13 pork shoulders, 90 pounds); 1 1/2 gallons of BBQ sauce (Cattleman's Tangy Gold)
Lemon Coleslaw (25 lbs of cabbage, 12 tricolor peppers); shallots omitted
Three Bean Casserole (5-#10 cans canned beans, 6 lbs dried black beans cooked, 4 lbs dried kidney beans cooked, 6 lbs of bacon cooked & chopped, 4 large onions sauteed)
Garden Salad with Ranch Dressing (30 heads of Romaine, 4 lbs of cherry tomatoes, 4 English Cucumbers, 12 cups of ranch dressing)
Watermelon slices (4 large melons, sliced)
Caramel Cake (5 full size pans = 225 pieces)
Chicken Nuggets for babies (8 lbs frozen nuggets heated)
**since we have so many babies/toddlers, we always serve either chicken nuggets or corn dogs

General Prep List

A week prior:
Order pork shoulders
Make cakes and freeze (only the cake, caramel sauce is made later)

3 days prior
Julienne cabbages, store in zip lock baggies, refrigerate
Bell peppers, halved, cored, store in zip lock baggies, refrigerate
Make Ranch Dressing
Cook black beans, red beans (soak them the day before)
Slice bacon and cook until crisp, cool and store in baggies then refrigerate
Saute chopped onions in a little bacon fat, cool, store in baggies, refrigerate
Make bean sauce, baggie, then refrigerate
Measure caramel sauce ingredients store in fridge or leave room temperature covered
Juice and zest lemons, bag and store in fridge

On the day of event:
7 hours prior
Bake pork shoulders in oven 325 degrees F. until well heated through and shoulder bone fall off the meat
Lightly salt sliced cabbages with salt, set it in colander for about an hour
Make coleslaw dressing
Assemble baked beans, add sauce
Wash and julienne colored peppers
Thaw cakes


4 hours prior
Wash cabbage in cold water, let water drain completely, paper towel dry, add dressing and toss with peppers, let flavor meld for several hours
Make caramel sauce
Cut cake and drizzle caramel sauce; let cool
Make tea concentrate

2-3 hours prior
Bake bean casserole
Cut and wash romaine, prep salad
Chop pork shoulder, cover with foil and keep warm
Slice watermelon, cover with plastic wrap

1 hour to serving
Heat BBQ sauce
Toss coleslaw a few times
Toss salad (15 minutes before serving)
Table set up

Note: Every group, depending on the age, will eat more or less than my church family. You will need to adjust the amount for your own group you are serving. For more info on cooking for a big group, read "Event Planning" and "Cooking Tips" in this blog. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. :)

Saturday Dinner (IPC's Communion Season 2011)

Though this was a relatively simple menu with much of the prep work done ahead, the kitchen staff and I were moving a bit sluggish this afternoon. We felt the fatigue settling on our bodies serving dinners three nights in a row. I had to have some caffeinated drink to perk me up and it sure worked, now I am WIDE awake and it is way past my bed time! Here is what we did.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is lightly dusted with herb dry mixture of dried oregano, basil, parsley, granulated garlic, pepper, and kosher salt, then seared on a hot griddle. Finish baking in oven until internal temperature reaches 155-160 degrees F. Let meat rest 25-30 minutes before slicing.



Here is a quick way to prep romaine lettuce for salad. Hold by the root end , chop into bite size, then wash the lettuce; drain in a colander.


After water is completely drained, put lettuce and veggies in large bowls and have them ready to toss with dressing. It is important to put just enough of dressing to coat the salad.


Sprinkle cheese on top.


Perfectly cooked pasta for 200? Click here for my previous post. Since angel hair pasta is so easy to overcook in large volume, choose a little thicker pasta such as spaghetti or linguini . After cooking the pasta firmer than al dente, quickly cool in ice cold water, then drain. Add a little of olive oil to prevent from sticking. Cover loosely until ready to serve.


Reserve the water from cooking the pasta, add more water to the pot and keep the water simmering until ready to reheat the pasta. See how I keep the cooked pasta in the metal colander with a deep large pan to fit underneath?


Pour boiling reserved pasta water over the noodles. Stir the pasta for only for about 10-15 seconds. Do this in small batches to reheat the remaining.


My church family love Sister Schubert's yeast rolls! These par-baked frozen rolls can be purchased at Sam's Club. We brush them with melted butter and bake at 350 degrees for 5-6 minutes in the convection oven.


Decadent Chocolate cake with Chocolate Buttercream frosting was made three days ago and frozen.


Simple but delicious Italian meal tonight! OK, one more meal tomorrow.
And my church family is on their own for rest of the week. I'm done. "Io sono finito!"


Saturday Menu:
For 200

Chicken Marinara (48 lbs of chicken breast/16 quarts of marinara sauce/ 20 lbs pasta)
Yeast Rolls (Sister Schubert's 190 rolls)
Greek Salad (30 heads of romaine/4 lb.cherry tomatoes, 3 English Cucumbers/3 red onions/3 lbs olives/5 lb feta cheese
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Icing (4 full pans, 180 servings, not everyone eat dessert)

General Prep List:
**Marinara sauce and chocolate cake can be made and frozen weeks ahead
**Greek salad dressing can be made and refrigerated a few weeks ahead

On the day of serving:

6 hours prior
Thaw chocolate cake, uncover the wrap or foil so ice crystals on the wraps don't fall on the icing

4 hours prior
Cook pasta firmer than al dente, cool, set aside loosely covered, reserve pasta water & keep hot
Slowly reheat marinara sauce (we reheat sauce in a steamer)
Prep salad
Herb dry rub on chicken and sear until lightly blackened

2 hours prior
Baked seared chicken in oven 12-18 minutes until internal temp reaches 155-160 degrees F
Let meat rest and slice against the grain, loosely cover and keep room temp
Cut Cake
Yeast rolls on sheet pans, brush with melted butter

1 hour prior to serving
Salad ready to toss, mix with dressing 15 minutes prior to serving
Heat pasta in batches by pouring boiling reserved water
Plate cakes
Plate salad
Begin plating main dish, serve with shredded Parmesan cheese

Friday Dinner (IPC's Communion Season 2011)

Unintentionally, I have created ethnic menus for IPC's First Annual Communion Season meals. Last night was Caribbean style dinner, and tonight, Asian.

I have been wanting to make Bulgogi, Korean style stir-fried beef, for my church family for a long time but never did due to high cost of beef, until now! Through a good friend, I was able to get 70 pounds of top round, sliced thinly enough to be used for Korea's most famous beef dish. Thank you, Sunju!

So, the kitchen staff and I made a bathtub-ful of soy marinade with fresh garlic, sesame oil, brown and granulated sugar, pepper, and a splash of white wine.


This is the way my kitchen staff and I get a good bicep work out. Wrestling with half a calf makes you strong.


When using less tender cut, hot, quick stir fry is the key to keeping the beef moist.


Bulgogi can't be served with long grain rice, no sirree! Short grain, sushi grade rice must be used when serving this wonderful dish. Rinse away the starch from the grains a few times with cold water.


Along with this, we also prepared stir fry veggies of Chinese cabbage, white cabbage, zucchini, bell peppers, and mung sprouts.





Mandarin orange segments were used for Spinach Salad with candied walnuts.


And Peanut brittle to top the frozen peanut butter pies.

Cool, smooth frozen pie with crunchy topping was a perfect ending to this delicious meal.


Friday Dinner Menu
For180

Bulgogi with Steamed Rice (70 lbs of top round/35lbs of short grain rice)
Veggie Medley (6 large white cabbages, 5 Chinese Cabbage, 10 lbs zucchinis,
12 tri-color peppers, 10 lbs of mung sprouts)
Teriyaki Sauce (made approx. 1 gallon)
Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (10 lbs of baby spinach leaves, 16 cans mandarin orange segments, 2 lbs of Walnuts candied, plus 12 cups of poppy seed dressing)
Frozen Peanut Butter Pie with Peanut Brittle (4 full pans, 180 servings)

General prep list:

Up to 2 weeks ahead:
Make frozen peanut butter pie

Up to 5 days:
Make poppy seed dressing
Make Peanut brittle, store in air tight container in room temperature

Up to 3 days:
Make Teriyaki sauce and refrigerate

1 day ahead:
Marinade beef, refrigerate
Julienne veggies, store in zip lock storage bags, refrigerate

On the day of event:
3 hours before:
steam rice
slowly heat teriyaki sauce
Slightly thaw and cut peanut butter pie, back in freezer

2 hours before: begin stir frying veggie, par cook, layer uncovered

1 hour to serving time:
one person designated to stir fry beef in batches
Take frozen pie out of freezer 20 minutes prior to serving
toss salad 10 minutes before serving
plate dessert/salad/main meal

Thursday Dinner (IPC's Communion Season 2011)

It was a great turn out for tonight's dinner; close to 200 as anticipated! It is a great honor to have such a dynamic preacher/speaker such as Dr. James Baird and so many families came to hear him.

I should have made a little more black beans and rice (I put Tilapia on a bed of salad for those few who did not get rice), and Tropical Salsa, but over all everything went very smoothly.

Rice was cooked with garlic, onions, and chicken broth. Then cooked black beans were added with a bit of ground cumin and cayenne pepper.


Two hours prior to serving, dry rub was sprinkled on the Tilapia filets...

and par-cooked. On a high heat sear and blacken one side of filet and put on a full-size sheet pans. And 10 minutes prior to serving, bake at 400 degrees F. for 6-7 minutes.


Tropical salsa which had papaya, pineapple, jalapeno, fresh lime juice, chopped cilantro, and Thai red chili sauce was made a day ahead.



Coconut-Kiwi cake was made a day ahead too, then garnished with kiwi today.


I think this is one of the best ways to eat coconut!


It was simple but enjoyable meal for my church family. And best of all, hardly any leftover food! Yes!


I will post the recipes later for you, I pinky promise! Tell me which one you want me to post first.

Thursday Dinner

Blackened Tilapia (50 lbs of 5-7 oz portion filets, some cut in half)
Blackened Chicken (6 lbs for small children and for non-seafood eaters)
Tropical Salsa (12 pineapples, 8 papayas, and other ingredients
Black Bean and Rice (4 full size steam pans)
Garden Salad with Sundried Tomato-Basil Vinaigrette (3o small heads of Romaine Lettuce,
3 English Cucumbers, Cherry Tomatoes)
Coconut-Kiwi Cake (4 full size pans, 180 pcs)

Now, many little details are omitted here on this prep list but you get an idea how we do things in our kitchen when serving a meal like this.

Up to 5 days prior to serving:
Make Salad Dressing

One day before serving:
Make Tropical Salsa and refrigerate
Make Coconut-Kiwi Cake and refrigerate (without Kiwi garnish)

Five hours prior:
Thaw Tilapia completely in cold water (comes individually wrapped in plastic)
Make Tea/beverage

Four hours prior:
Cut coconut cakes, garnish with kiwi slices, refrigerate until ready to serve
Chop Romaine lettuce, wash & drain, prep cucumbers and cherry tomatoes
Start soaking long grain rice and rinse.

Three hours prior:
Saute minced garlic and onions with olive oil, add drained rice and broth, cook, fluff
Add drained and rinsed black beans (we used dried black beans, soaked and cooked them) to cooked rice, cover with foil and keep warm

Two hours prior:
Sprinkle dry rub, we used 50 lbs of Tilapia so started early

An hour prior to serving:
Begin blackening fish filets, put on sheet pans, preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Salad things out and ready to toss last minute
Beverage station set
Desserts out and ready for plating
Tilapia in oven 10 minutes prior and cooked for 6-7 minutes, in batches since diners come in waves.
Begin plating 5 minutes prior to serving.

And not so fun part.......the clean up!