Seared Tuna & Warm Lentil Salad

Seared Tuna & Warm Lentil Salad... It's been another hectic two weeks! First there were a few nights where I was repeating some already documented Dahlicious meals (with slight variations based on what I had), then there were out of town guests (which meant eating out - Chicago style deep dish is a must when I have visitors), and of course the weekend lent itself to eggs benny brunches and a fun dinner party with lots of new friends!

Side note: For the dinner party I brought a side of roasted potatoes. Worked out so well, I just prepped them earlier in the afternoon and then put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 45 minutes while I got ready for the night. I used yellow and red little potatoes, cut them into quarters, drizzled with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt & pepper. When they were finished I tossed them in a bunch of very finely chopped fresh parsley and voila!

So last night I finally had a chance to whip up a meal. With all that eating out I felt like I needed to try to be good this week, so I kicked it off with a healthy, yet hearty, Sunday dinner.

On the Menu:
Seared Tuna, sauteed garlic broccolini, warm lentil & avocado salad

The Tuna:
As I've done many times, I simply marinated the tuna steaks in olive oil, lemon juice, and a liberal sprinkling of lemon pepper on both sides for about 20 minutes in the fridge. I took them out just before cooking and threw them on my grill pan on high heat for about 2-3 minutes per side. A little longer if you like it cooked all the way through. Simple. Add some fresh lemon wedges on the plate for an additional squeeze before eating.

The Broccolini:
I love broccolini, its a great veggie. It has the small leafy/flowery bits that regular broccoli has, but somehow seems to absorb the flavor of the olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper better than your normal broccoli does. The only tip I have here is to sauté them on high heat for 5 or so minute until they're getting a little browned, then add just a splash of water and cover them on medium/low heat for another few minutes. Since they have a thicker stalk than say asparagus, this quick steaming helps to cook them all the way through.

The Warm Lentils:
I've made these Trader Joe's pre-cooked lentils many times before, however last night I spiced them up just a tad. I took a beautifully ripe avocado and cut it into bit sized chunks. I added a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half, a bunch of chopped fresh parsley, 1 crushed garlic clove, a little drizzle of olive oil and squeeze of lemon. A tiny salt & pepper to taste. I gave all of that a good toss in a large bowl, and once the lentils were finished (3 minutes in the microwave to get them nice and hot) I just folded them into the fresh ingredinets. If you wanted to serve this cold you could use the lentils right out of the refrigerated package. They're a great side, hot or cold to serve when you want a starch but you're looking for a healthy alternative!

This meal was healthy and filling AND let me tell you easy! It took all of 8-10 minutes for the broccolini, 5 minutes for the lentils (do your chopping while they're heating up for 3 minutes), and about 6 minutes for the tuna.

In all - if you've got 20 minutes, you can make a healthy and complete meal... just plan ahead! Hope yall had a Dahlicious Sunday. Keep checking back this week!