Tuna and Avocado Skewers

Friendship: I would say that in my value vocabulary this word deserves the first place. Indeed friendship is there, as a kanji, tattooed on my right shoulder.

Friendship can arise from the kindergarten, children playing on a swing, it can spring out the first day of school when the blue ribbon chokes you and makes you pronounce your name with a whisper, it can be born chatting on the stairs of the University commenting on the lesson of the day and the last film by Julia Roberts, it can arise in the office when teamwork becomes complicity, respect and fun, but it arises also behind the screen of a computer, admiring a sport champion as Fioravanti or a perfect recipe or picture.

For a friend, you can cry, laugh, travel miles and miles just to be able to say hello in person. With a friend, you can dream and make plans for the future, challenge the fate and do everything possible to realize the amazing and crazy idea that you both are feeding with enthusiasm and inspiration. For a friend, you can turn on the BBQ on that very day that will be remembered in the annals as the hottest day of the century. Genny, these are for you!

Tuna & Avocado Skewers. Tuna, because I was feeling like seafood and holidays. Avocado, because this fruit is my favorite summer 2010 ingredient, being a guacamole, a warm salad of shrimps, a fresh corn and mozzarella salad or diced on a skewer. A marinade of lime and fresh herbs, searching for a bit of refreshment and Mediterranean taste even into small things.

A classy touch with Maldon salt. I didn’t know this precious salt before finding it into Food Bloggers Connect goodie bag. Another shot straight to the heart! This English salt (ah l’amour) does not dissolve immediately, it is made of many crisp flakes that, once in your mouth, play with food enhancing its flavors. It suits well with soft textures, such as these tuna and avocado skewers.

Ingredients:

• slices of fresh tuna
  
• ripe avocado
  
• lime
• chilli
• mint leaves
  
• basil leaves
  
• dried oregano
• Maldon salt
  

Cut tuna into pieces big enough to be skewered and do the same with avocado. Put them in two separate bowls to marinate with lime juice, olive oil, red pepper (fresh chilli would be better), mint leaves, basil leaves and dried oregano. Let it marinate about thirty minutes.

In the meantime you have found a willing man that would have light up the BBQ. When the grill is hot, and the embers below have done their duty, place tuna and avocado skewers over the BBQ and brown them for about 2 minutes per side, not more. Drizzle with their marinade (and pay attention to the backfire when you pouryour marinade on skewers, I can say this from my experience!) while cooking: when the tuna is cooked, just on the outside, remove them and place the skewers on a plate. Season with Maldon salt flakes.

A few tips: Eat them immediately and pretend to be dinig out at the seaside. If you concentrate properly, you’d be able to hear the waves and the smell the saltiness of air! If you do not have a BBQ at hand or if you are not brave enough to light it up with these sub-Saharan temperatures, you can use a very hot cast iron skillet: you will get the same result!

Which is their perfect drink match? My idea, based on a collective imagination, was a cold beer (the one included into the picture is used solely for illustrative purposes, as I drank water for the same old and well known reasons). If you have any suggestion for an interesting wine, I’m eager to know!

So, to cut a long story short, this is my recipe for Genny’s contest Fuoco alle Griglie! The contest will end on the 24th of July, so hurry up and light up your BBQ!

Communication service! Yesterday was the last day yu could submit your entries for my second contest Recipes for happiness: I am really pleased with the enthusiastic response you gave me, more than 100 recipes, go figure! It was a great emotion, I did not expect it! Now, you must wait until Wednesday to see which will be the recipes that will enter the second part of the competition!

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Tub gurnard fillets with herb dressing The food blogger’s diet. Baked sea bass with fresh herbs from the garden An Italian Christmas Eve Seafood Feast and the gnocchi alla trabaccolara Caldaro, a Tuscan fish soup from the coast of Maremma