Albacore Tuna on Millet with Pear and Tomato Salad with Hawaiian Pineapple White Balsamic Vinegar
Thanksgiving is a holiday drowning in tradition. There’s the turkey, the stuffing, the football, the nap and the late night turkey sandwich. And the leftovers. They are as much a part of tradition as the bird itself. With only the two of us here I haven’t cooked a bird for Thanksgiving in years. A couple of times we have gone to a friend’s house for dinner but other times we have found ourselves on our own and I look for something special to cook to still make the day stand out from the rest of the week.
Fish is a HUGE treat around these parts as Montana is red meat country; we’re talking beef, venison, elk. I loves me some of all of them but I am still a child of the Jersey shore and I LOVE seafood so when given the opportunity for a special meal that is usually where I go. Recently one of my husband’s firemen came back from a fishing trip and he had waaaay too much albacore and did we want some?
Oh yes we did. The hubby went over and came home with 12lbs of fresh caught tuna.
THAT is what I call a gift!
I packaged it up into portions, vacuumed sealed it and put it in the freezer.
So when I was offered the opportunity to try another of delightful vinegars from Devo to showcase its use in a Thanksgiving meal I knew exactly what I would use. This is a delicious recipe that I know I will be making again ’cause I told the hubby to put some of this remarkable Hawaiian Pineapple White Balsamic Vinegar in my stocking. It’s the first vinegar I’ve tasted where I could understand the concept of putting it in a cordial glass and drinking it. It was really yummy! I’ve never tried a white balsamic before but you can bet this will not be my last one.
What I used:
8 oz albacore tuna
4 medium onions
5 plum tomatoes
1 cup millet
1/4 cup raisins
4 halves canned pears (I used my home canned pears)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
3 TBSP tamari
1 TBSP syrup from the pears
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp unsalted butter
2 oz Hawaiian Pineapple White Balsamic Vinegar
salt and pepper
broccoli and cauliflower for the vegetables but obviously any can be used
I roasted my vegetables in the oven at 350°. I just take them out of the freezer, put them in a pan, drizzle a bit of olive oil and salt over the top of them and let them cook. They were done when I was done with the rest of the meal.
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Slice the onions thinly. Place a pan over medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil. When the oil is hot add the onions and some salt. Let the onions cook until they are very soft and quite caramelized. This usually takes me close to an hour ’cause I only like onions when they are cooked to sugar. When they are about halfway there add a teaspoon of the vinegar. When they are done add another tablespoon. Let them sit until you are ready to use them.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the millet and cook for about 12 minutes.
Drain the millet in a colander and add it back to the pan with 1 TBS of the vinegar and 1 tsp of butter. Taste and adjust with salt.
I thawed the tuna. I made a marinade for it of the tamari, pear syrup and 1 TBS of the vinegar. I let the tuna marinate for 15 minutes on each side.
While the tuna was marinating I made the salad. Cut the plum tomatoes into small pieces. Cut the canned pears into similar sized pieces. Add the raisins. Add salt to taste and let sit so the tomatoes can release their juices. Just before adding to the dinner add about a tablespoon of the vinegar.
Toast the pumpkin seeds.
Heat a grill pan or get a pan good and hot. We like our tuna just barely cooked so that is how I prepared it. If you like yours more well done, just adjust the cooking times. I forgot to take photos of the grilling tuna. It was getting a touch busy. I’m sorry.
As I put the tuna on the grill I drizzled it with the vinegar. Both sides. I grilled it for just over a minute on each side. It was really just barely cooked.
Now it was time to put it all together. It was easily done; first 1/2 cup of the millet, topped by the caramalized onions. Then the tuna and the salad. I used the rest of the vinegar in the bottle to drizzle over the two finished meals and then I sprinkled the toasted pumpkin seeds on top.
OMG! It was out of this world. The pineapple taste came through and went so well with the onions, the tuna and the pears. The millet and the pumpkin seeds added such a lovely contrast. It will definitely appear again on my table.
It was not that difficult to make and the flavors were perfect together. It’s amazing what can come from a bottle of vinegar!
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Disclosure: I received a sample of Devo Hawaiian Pineapple White Balsamic Vinegar gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free product. I received no monetary compensation for this post.
