I am Gail and the powers that be here at nerdknow think I have something to say about food and cooking.  I am a self-taught cook, intrepid foodie and wine lover.  I like to experiment in my cooking and like many different kind of cuisines.

To start with, some of the best food I have had has been incredibly simple.  By simple, I mean, a few ingredients for the recipe and nothing complex in preparation.  Cooking is not hard, its all about what tastes good.  Complexity comes from how flavors interact and overlay one another.

On that note, here is one of the easiest meals that I make, and less than 20 minutes to prepare and cook.  So the ingredients you need are:

2 piece Ahi tuna

salt

pepper

garlic

olive oil

asparagus

wasabi paste

Mayo

2 things to look out for.  1) the fresher the fish the better.  How do you know its fresh? You cant smell fish.  If you walk into a market and smell fish, its been there awhile.  I like to buy my fish from the famers market.  Its super fresh, hasn’t been over handled.  The catch? (pardon the pun) the fish must be cooked that day.  If you can, buy sushi grade fish. 2) asparagus is a tricky vegetable to cook.  Undercook it, and you have inedible fiber-ery green stuff on your plate.  Overcook it, and it’s a mess.

Wash the asparagus and cut off the ends.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.  Use  1TB  of Olive Oil and sauté about two cloves of garlic, until fragrant.  Add the asparagus and stir fry until done.  Usually the vegetable will turn bright green as it nears doneness.  If it gets too dark, then its mushy.  Remove asparagus and heat some more olive oil.

When hot, add the Ahi.  Sear on one side about 1- 1  1/2 minutes, turn over and sear the other side for the same amount of time.

Arrange the asparagus on the plate in the middle and lay the fish over the top.  The fish juice, seeps down and gives the asparagus additional flavor.

The crowning touch is too make a wasabi dipping sauce for the fish.  Make some wasabi paste and then add to some mayo. Makes a smooth tangy sauce for the fish.

There is nothing easier than this dish to prepare and it tastes terrific.