Fresh Ahi Tuna Salad {w/avocado}

Have I ever told you about my problem with impulse spending? It’s grocery store specific. (Mostly…) I see something in the grocery store that looks good and/or is on sale and I want to buy it. I have no thought in mind as to what I’m going to do with said ingredient. I just see it and I want it so I buy it.

In some regards, I’ve come a long way. There was a time in the not so distant past when I would lament over not having enough money to be able to buy asparagus unless it was on sale. I don’t have that problem anymore. But now that I can buy that expensive asparagus I really don’t. (Like why am I going to pay $3.99 a pound for asparagus when I know it will be on sale in a week or two?)

At any rate, that’s what happened to me when I purchased about 1 1/2 pounds of fresh Ahi tuna at Costco last weekend. I had no real thought as to what I was going to do with it. But it looked good. And it seemed like a decent price (though sometimes who can really tell?). And I knew I wanted to be eating fatty fish a few times a week, so I bought some.

And then the same thing that always happens to me happened. The tuna sat there. Admittedly I bought a lot of other meats to eat for the week. As I ate my way through ground turkey and hamburger and salmon and even brats, the tuna just sat there. The longer it sat there the more daunting the idea became of me using the tuna. I used one of my tuna steaks to make some fake fried rice (using cauliflower rice). Then I froze one of my other steaks. And then … boy oh boy. What was I going to do with my last one?

Oftentimes when I have no idea what to do with an ingredient I’ll do a little google search or peruse Pinterest for some inspiration. And this time my eyes settled upon a recipe for tuna salad made with avocado. It intrigued me because I had never thought of making tuna salad with fresh tuna before. And also it was perfect because I had an avocado that I needed to use. Score!

So I went with a recipe found at Little Broken and modified it a bit. You can eat this salad alone or as an actual salad salad by eating it on a bed of greens. I did both. The mixture is a little bit spicy and a lot a bit yummy.

ingredients.

• ½ lb. very fresh albacore tuna steak
• Extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil for searing
• 1 lime, zest plu juice
• 1 tsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos
• 5 dashes hot sauce (I used sriracha)
• 1 large ripe avocado, diced
• ¼ c. minced red onions
• ¼ c. green onions, sliced (the green part)
• ¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper

directions.

1. In a small bowl or jar combine lime zest, lime juice, coconut aminos, a pinch of salt and a bit of pepper and hot sauce. Stir or shake to combine.
2. Drizzle the tuna steaks with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a skillet over medium-high heat, sear the tuna steaks for 1 to 3 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. The insides should still be pink. Cool slightly.
3. Cut the tuna in 1-inch chunks and place in a large bowl. Add the avocados, scallions, red onion and cilantro. Pour the liquid over the mixture and mix to combine.
4. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve within 24 hours.

Serves two.