So, the other day, I got my hands on a really nice piece of ahi tuna. You know the kind, that beautiful deep red. My first thought, as always, was how to make it shine without burying it under a ton of other flavors. The tuna itself is the star, right? So, the side dishes needed to be good, but not show-stealers.
I kicked around a few ideas. Rice is always an option, maybe some fancy seasoned rice. But I wasn’t really feeling a heavy carb load. I wanted something a bit lighter, something that would complement the richness of the tuna, especially if I was just going to sear it quickly.
My Go-To Fresh Side
First thing that came to mind was something fresh, a bit fruity, a bit zesty. I often whip up a quick salsa. For ahi, a mango salsa just hits different. It’s super easy, and I pretty much always have the stuff for it, or can grab it quick.
So, I got to work on that. Here’s roughly what I did:
- Diced up a ripe mango. Not too mushy, not rock hard. You learn to feel for the right one.
- Chopped up some red onion, real fine. You don’t want huge chunks of raw onion.
- Cilantro, a good handful, chopped. If you hate cilantro, well, maybe parsley, but it’s not the same.
- A bit of jalapeño, also minced. I take most of the seeds out, I want the flavor, not a fire alarm.
- Squeezed in some lime juice. Fresh lime, always. That bottled stuff is just sad.
- A little pinch of salt to bring it all together.
Mixed it all up in a bowl. That’s it. Let it sit for a few minutes while I dealt with other things. The flavors kind of meld together. Super simple, and the color looks great next to the tuna.
And For Some Greens
Next, I figured I needed some greens. Didn’t want a complicated salad. I just wanted something quick, warm, and savory. Garlic spinach is my old faithful. It takes, like, five minutes, tops.
I grabbed a big bag of fresh spinach. It always looks like a mountain, then wilts down to almost nothing, classic spinach move. I minced a couple of cloves of garlic. Not too much, don’t want to overpower everything else, but enough to know it’s there.
Got a pan hot, little bit of olive oil. Tossed in the garlic, let it get fragrant for like, 30 seconds. You gotta watch it, burnt garlic is a tragedy. Then, dumped in all the spinach. Stirred it around, it wilted down super fast. A tiny pinch of salt, maybe a crack of black pepper. Done. Seriously, that’s all there is to it. Sometimes I add a tiny squeeze of lemon at the end, but with the lime in the salsa, I skipped it this time.
So, I had my quickly seared ahi tuna, a scoop of that vibrant mango salsa right next to it, and a pile of simple garlic spinach. The fresh, sweet, and tangy salsa cut through the richness of the tuna perfectly, and the spinach was just a nice, earthy, savory bite on the side. It wasn’t a fuss, didn’t take forever, and it just worked. That’s how I like my cooking – good food, no drama.
