Grilled Ahi (Yellowfin) Tuna Steak

it's not vegetarian, I know, but ... lol

Again, I prefer the vegetarian way of eating, but I do, however, incorporate Ahi Tuna (fresh - not of the tinned variety), and Tilapia FISH into my diet.

Ahi Tuna is also known as the 'Yellowfin Tuna'. There is also another species that Hawaiians call Ahi Tuna, and that is Big-Eye Tuna. In Japan, the fish is known as 'Kihada'.

Ahi Tuna is a sushi-grade tuna. In other words, it can be eaten RAW, if one decides to go that route. (More power to them, and you know who you are! :))

Personally, I like my fish to be well-done, but not overly cooked. Many kinds of seafood; i.e., scallops, prawns (American 'shrimp'), genuine shrimp (lol) ... all become rubber-like when cooked for too long. Tuna is among them, unfortunately, so if you're planning on leaving that skillet unattended for any length of time, you may wish to saute this bad-baby over a slow fire with a tiny amount of water in the bottom and cover it good and tight, and check it often.

I prefer to cook my Ahi Tuna in a skillet, on low heat, uncovered, whilst I'm puddering about in the kitchen, doing this and that. Here's a little recipe I've concocted and I hope the lot of you like it as well as I do. It's prepared open-skillet (without the cover), as I like to monitor the cooking of my tuna very closely so that it is tender, juicy and full of flavour (not overly cooked with a rubber-like texture that resembles something you should be bouncing off a concrete wall somewhere with a racquet in hand).

Ingredients:
1 capsule of fish oil you find OTC as a vitamin supplement (yes, you heard that right)
1 Ahi Tuna steak (4 oz) (the size of a deck of playing cards, Folks! Not very big at all!)
a pinch of salt
a pinch of rubbed sage
a pinch of ground allspice
a pinch of ground ginger
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch ground red pepper (black or white pepper also works well)
1 sprig of finely chopped sweet basil leaves (Oh, I so love the aroma of freshly cut basil!)
1 tsp finely chopped skin of a mandarin orange
1 tsp finely chopped garlic

Directions:
Break open a (get this!) capsulated fish oil supplement and carefully empty the liquid contents onto a skillet over a medium-low heat. Spread the oil out evenly over the bottom so that it forms a very, very light coat of oil. (This will add 20 CONTROLLED calories to your fish recipe!) After about 3 minutes, place the Ahi Tuna steak in the pan and cook very slowly, adding half the mixture of seasonings mentioned above over the top. When you see that one side of the fish has cooked through, flip the steak to the other side, top with the remaining seasoning mixture, and keep cooking it slowly until you can cut it through in the middle and not see any pink flesh. (I don't like raw meat of any kind, unlike someone else very dear to my heart.)

You may be surprised that this recipe calls for one capsule of fish oil. This is because it is a good source of Omega-3's and is completely natural and good for you. And since this is fish we're cooking up here, fish oil won't add a funny taste to the tuna.  It works, Folks, I assure you! I also like the fact that using a fish oil capsule will add a controlled amount of fat to the recipe, as opposed to a larger amount of that olive oil or other kind of oil you could use in its place. Sure, you might use the same amount of calories, but how do you REALLY KNOW?

Unaccounted for calories can get you into so much trouble when you're watching them! Be sure to check all labels and check them thrice ... chances are, you've misread them too many times and are gaining weight as the result of that one, simple mistake that so many of us make.

(Here's a tip: Microwave popcorn labels ARE THE ABSOLUTE WORST!)