White Tuna with a WARNING

A few months ago I was eating sushi at Zushi at Town Center in Virginia Beach. One of the specials was a white tuna sampling. I’m generally not a fan of tuna sushi (three cheers for salmon) but the table ordered the entrée. It was actually quit delicious, but I had never really heard of white tuna and I didn’t know how it differed from regular tuna.

So I did a little research.

According to Wikipedia, white tuna is a term that may apply to two different species eaten in Japanese cuisine. One is albacore tuna, the likes of Star-Kist’s Charlie. The other type being Escolar known as “super white tuna” which is actually not tuna at all, rather snake mackerel and has been banned in some countries due to its laxative effect.

It is really difficult to find one site that has all the answers but after fishing around and looking at photo postings I’m pretty confident that the tuna I had was Escolar and if I have this “white tuna” again it will be in moderation.

I found a great post on kitchenhacket.net and learned a great deal more about Escolar. It has a high oil content that people don’t metabolize well and therefore pass in the manner I mentioned from the Wikipedia page (diarrhea). Apparently if you eat it in small quantities you will be okay, so the "everything in moderation" statement applies here.

Beef, Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup...Oh My!

It’s officially fall as we rolled our clocks back an hour last evening. Even though it was 80 degrees yesterday and I actually sat on the beach for a few hours, it is time to start cooking up all those yummy soups and stews I’ve been collecting.

Since I live in a neighborhood with a ton of kiddies who would be knocking on my door for treats over the course of Halloween I wanted to cook something that was a one-pot wonder. I chose to cook “Beef, Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup” which I picked up from a Southern Living magazine from November/December 2008. (I tried to find a link but no luck.)

There are a few things I substituted. For example, it calls for sherry in which I have only cooked with sherry once and it was a disaster so I shy away from using it. I used Merlot instead and was completely happy with the end product. I don’t typically eat mushrooms but decided to keep the baby bella mushrooms in and I was amazed how tasty they were too.

Here is the recipe; I hope you enjoy it on a chilly fall or winter night.

Beef, Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

From Southern Loving, Nov/Dec 2008

Makes about 6 to 8 servings

3 TBS unsalted butter

1 pound of beef stew meat, cut into ½ pieces

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped celery

½ cup chopped carrots

1 TBS minced garlic (I didn’t use)

1 (8 oz.) package sliced baby bella mushrooms

¼ cup sherry (I used Merlot)

1 TSP salt

1 TSP pepper

1 (2.75 oz.) box quick-cooking wild rice

1 (32 oz.) beef broth

In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. In a medium bowl, combine beef tips and flour. Add to melted butter and cook, stirring frequently, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove beef: set aside.

Add onion, celery, carrots and garlic to pan, cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, sherry, salt and pepper, stirring to scrape brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in rice, broth and beef. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until rice is tender. (I let mine simmer for a while longer.) Serve immediately.