Cooking with Sebastian

My grandson is a hoot. Almost 11 years old, and I had the opportunity to help homeschool him for a year when his resistance to fourth grade and school in general overwhelmed us all. Our favorite class was Home Ec. He’s a foodie and one of his favorite things to make is seared Ahi tuna steaks.

My favorite joy in this techno-age to be able to Google a recipe, pull it up online, and cook from my phone. The only actual cookbooks I own these days are the ones with sentimental ties – the “Betty Crocker” I got it my wedding shower 47 years ago, my grandmother’s “Better Homes & Gardens” (all but new since she spoke little English, having immigrated from Italy to a town of non-English-speaking coal-miners and their families), my mom’s old “Joy of Cooking”, and finally, “The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook”, a gift from my mother-in-law, now deceased.

Of these four cookbooks, I use a total of three recipes and those pages are so battered (literally, since one is for banana-nut bread) that I cook them using photos on my phone.

My phone is where the magic lies. I have a folder of bookmarks called “Yummy Yummy” with a sub-folder called “Recipes” and sub-folders under that for sweets, breakfast, appetizers, veggies, starches, and main dishes.

In that last folder is where the seared Ahi tuna steak link resides. I picked Sebastian up from school a couple weeks ago (fifth grade, a new school and definitely progress if not perfection) and offered for us to cook a tuna steak as an after school snack.

He was all in. I put the bagged, frozen steak in a bowl of water to defrost. I keep a stash in the freezer purchased when they’re on sale. We gather the ingredients for the marinade – soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and some spices. He measures and mixes it all up in a plastic bag and puts the steak in to marinate for 10 minutes (a prime opportunity to watch a video.)

We heat a bit of oil in a frying pan and sear it on both sides and along the edges. I insist on doing the edges, since the oil is snapping and sizzling and I’m used to the spatters and burns. We slice it into thin slices and it is delicious. I’ve had this in restaurants over a bit of greens, but Sebastian usually has his with tater tots.

If you’re interested, here’s the link to the recipe

Six-Minute Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

Bon appetit!