Tuesday, January 18, 2011

WHITE TUNA & COUSCOUS IN POTATO SHELLS seasoned with some Italian inspiration!!


Another fishy recipe.....I think this week is going to be seafood seasoned here at Cardamom Hills because this post is followed by a leftover creation from the tuna I used for this one. The next recipe, one which I made today and is in waiting is a prawn dish (I won’t tell you what it is! Wait for itJ) so I guess we’ll just call it seafood week!

Coming to our dish for the day - potato shells filled with white tuna and couscous seasoned with some basil, oregano, garlic, etc....etc....Except for the jalapeno, the flavours are all Italian inspired. In the pictures, I garnished it with black olives and some balsamic reduction which brought in some awesome flavours. So if you really want to enjoy this dish, have it with the same garnishJ.

I did not oven bake my potato shells. Instead I boiled whole potatoes, halved them, scraped out the some flesh and baked them for 5mins. The reason being, I read recently that baking for long drains out a large percent of vitamin C present in potato skin (That’s your nutrition fact for the day!! J). The white tuna I used was fresh....cooked the fillets with some salt, garlic and jalapeno paste in minimum water. But canned tuna is just fine. I goofed up at one point. If you noticed, the mozzarella on top burnt. My little one came hunting for me just as the oven went beep. By the time I finished with her and came back to transfer the stuff into a plate, the damage was done!! I hate it when the mozzarella burnsL.

Oh! And yea, I had left over tuna, couscous and the potato scraped out of the shells...now can you guess what I did to them?? Let’s see how smart my foodie buddies are J and if you ain’t able to guess, wait until my next post...hehehe....

Leaving you with the recipeJ. Happy cooking!!

Ingredients: (serves- 4)

Potatoes - 2 medium sized
Mozzarella cheese- grated 1 cup
Parsley - 2 sprigs
White Tuna - 1 fillet/200gm can
Couscous- ¼ cup
Olive oil- 1 tablespoon
Onion- 1 medium sized chopped finely
Garlic - 8 cloves crushed
Pickled jalapeno - 2 tbsp (reduce for less heat, alternately green chilli paste can be used)
Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped
Fresh Basil leaves-4 sprigs chopped finely
Parmesan cheese - 2 tablespoon freshly grated (increase if you like it)
Salt to taste

Method:
1.       Cook potatoes with salt in water till fully done, cut into halves, scrap flesh out. Apply some butter on each shell. Preheat oven to 180⁰C and bake shells for 5mins.
2.       Rub tuna fillet with salt, 1 tsp garlic and pickled jalapeno. Cook in ¼ cup water till water drains and mash into coarse mixture.
3.       In a deep pan, sauté garlic, add onion. Let it sweat.
4.       Add chopped tomato. Cook with lid on till tomato is done.
5.       Add parmesan cheese. Mix well into a semi-sauce consistency.
6.       Add 1cup water (amount required to cook couscous, refer instructions on pack) and bring to boil.
7.       Add couscous and basil leaves. Off the heat and let it rest with lid on for required amount of time (for time- again refer back of pack).
8.       Fluff the couscous with a fork.
9.       Add a spoon full of couscous into the potato shells, top with tuna mixture. Sprinkle mozzarella and top with some parsley leaves.
10.   Bake in preheated oven at 180⁰C for 10mins and take out immediately. (If you let it stay there the cheese will turn brown like mine L)
11.   Garnish with some black olives and few zig zags of balsamic reduction and serve hot!

Tips n Tricks:

·         If you can’t take all that effort in step one for some Vitamin C, you can halve and bake the potatoesJ.

19 comments:

  1. This almost makes me want to like seafood :-) I think I might try it with chicken instead though. Your pictures are divine, btw!

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  2. How artistic! Love it. Excited about prawn fish ;)

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  3. I love how this dish looks :) presentation is really great :)
    stuffed like this potatoes should taste very nice.. :)

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  4. Oh my..what a presentation!!! Amazing photos as always and AWESOME RECIPE!!!

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  5. Absolutely beautiful photography and I appreciate posts using fish... Always looking for new ways to prepare seafood!

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  6. Your dish looks yummy, and is easy to make. Thanks for posting this recipe will try it out soon :)

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  7. hey can you clear these doubts: are lobhiya, white beans and are they the same as cannelini beans? and wht's hindi for peanut flour? i tried google. not getting right ans. i needn't tell your dish looks great. btw i hate tuna :(

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  8. i love the way you decorate it! looks super good!

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  9. Beautiful presentation and what a great way to have couscous.

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  10. what a beautiful presentation, and what a surprise inside!! those potatoes must have been delicious!
    Thanks for such a wonderful post
    Dennis

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  11. Thank you everyone for all those encouraging comments!
    @kitchen morph: Lobhia is black eyed pea.cannellini beans is what I call white beans..it does not have a black eye...but there are many types of white beans...i really have no idea what u call peanut flour in hindi buddy...but will let u know if i find out :)
    @Chef Dennis: Thank you!!!

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  12. I'd love to try those shells - looks so lovely and delicious!

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  13. wow!!!! this looks amazing!!!!!!!
    I vote it to be on top 9! I love it!!! good luck!!!! (^_^)

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  14. Your photographs always leave me stunned....they are simply amazing! And great way to include seafood in a recipe :)

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  15. These look delicious. Thanks for the recipe!

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  16. I'm sure you've got some seriously delicious plans for your leftover filling. Although my first guess was that you just ate right then as a snack. That's what would happen with mine at least! :D

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  17. These look divine, and "Fancy" as my daughter said. I think my family would love them! I plan on making these soon! Thanks for sharing:)

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Thank you for taking time out to encourage me! Every comment is heartfully read and loved! Please stop by again and again and again.....!!!

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