TUNA TOMATO RED ONION AND OLIVE PITA

It is summer.  You are hungry but are concerned with preparing something in your kitchen as you don't want it to heat up too much.  What to do?  Well, here's a fresh and tasty idea that we think you'll enjoy.  It's kind of like a salad on pita bread.  Tuna, Tomato, Red Onion and Olive Pita.  Try this:

INGREDIENTS:
2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
3 5-ounce cans of solid white tuna, drained
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
4 small or 2 large pitas, halved crosswise

PREPARATION:
*  In a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

*  Add the tuna, onion, tomatoes, olives and parsley and then gently toss everything to combine

*  Open the pita halves and fill it with the tuna salad

There's only about 281 calories in this meal so you can even have two if you like.  So sit back, grab a napkin and enjoy this tasty light delight.

Steve and Kim

HELPFUL HINT ON USING EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Using Virgin Olive Oil is all the craze these days but there's something about it that you might not know.
When you cook with EVOO it cooks out the nutrition of the oil.
 EVOO is expensive and to just burn out all of the good stuff we think isn't such a wise thing to do.
So... the solution is this:  Use a general less expensive brand to cook with.  Then, when you're ready to serve up your delicious salad use the "good stuff" as a dressing.  That way you'll get all of the nutrition and taste you were looking for.

Hope that is a helpful hint.  It made sense to us.

Happy cooking.  Now go eat something.  You look flushed.

Steve & Kim

CAULIFLOWER STEAK

Friday, April 8, 2011

This is an amazing first course or side dish. Roasted slabs of cauliflower topped off with a tomato olive type salsa. I read about this technique in an older issue of Bon Appetit. Taking a whole head of cauliflower, peel off the outer leaves, standing it on its core end and cutting slabs from it's thickest part, a good half inch or a more keeping everything intact resembling a little tree. I decided to roast my "steaks" so I drizzled each side with olive oil, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of romano or parmesan cheese of course!

Bake in a 400F oven until tender and golden on each side gently flipping each "steak" over with a spatula. Don't worry about the stem and core being attached you're going to eat it all!

The end result gives you the perfect surface for a topping of your choice, think about it for a minute, the possibilities are endless! I might even stick a fried egg on top for some "steak" and eggs next time!

The topping I made had quartered grape tomatoes, sliced green and kalamata olives, finely diced red onion, fresh basil, parsley and olive oil, if I had a jar of artichokes I would have chopped a few in there and maybe even a couple sun dried tomatoes.

It was the perfect compliment to the creamy roasted slabs of cauliflower, and a definite WOW factor! I hope you give it a try.

Buon Appetito!

**Thanks to Carol F. for sharing this recipe with the world.