Tonight we tried out a main dish salad from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. A bed of romaine is topped with a chayote slaw tossed in a guajillo chile dressing and seared tuna. A lot of different textures and flavors going on with this salad!

Chris says:

I really love this guajillo chile dressing — it’s the same one we used on the heirloom tomato salad, but I used champagne vinegar this time.

Lisa says:

It’s great, I love it. The flavors go really well together. Although when I first saw it I thought I’d be starving later.

Chris says:

Yeah, sorry, it doesn’t conform to our usual volume of food. So are you starving?

Lisa says:

Not STARVING… but I’m just a little hungry.

Chris says:

Dessert time!

Seared Rare Tuna Salad with Chayote Slaw and Guajillo Chile Dressing
——————————————————————–
3/4 cup olive oil, vegetable oil, or a mix
2 medium dried guajillo or New Mexico chiles
2 garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
salt
4 tuna steaks, not less than 3/4 inch thick
2 chayotes
4 cups thickly sliced romaine
chopped cilantro

Pour the oil into a large skillet and set to medium heat. When the oil is warm, add the chiles and the garlic. Turn and stir continually until the insides of the chiles have lightened in color and they are toasty smelling — 30 seconds or so. Remove from the heat.
Transfer the chiles to a blender (leave the oil and garlic in the pan), add the vinegar and a teaspoon of salt. Blend for 30 seconds. When the oil and garlic are cool, add to the blender (set the skillet aside without washing) and puree until smooth. Taste and season with more salt if desired. Pour into a jar and secure the lid.
Return the skillet to medium-high to high heat. Sprinkle both sides of the fish with salt. When the oil-filmed skillet is really hot, lay the tuna in the pan. When brown, no more than 1 minute, flip and sear the other side. Remove the skillet from the heat. Thoroughly shake the dressing, then carefully drizzle on about 3 tablespoons dressing. Turn the tuna in the dressing from time to time as it cools.
Cut the chayotes in half lengthwise and remove the pits. Shred the chayotes through the coarse side of a grater. Scoop into a bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons dressing. Taste and season with salt.
Divide the greens among four plates, forming them into wide nests. Top each with a portion of the chayote slaw. Slice each piece of tuna in half crosswise on a bias and place in the center of the salad. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Serves 4

Considering this is the first time we’ve used chayote, and the recipe includes our favorite herb (cilantro), I’m going to submit this as our entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging Two Year Anniversary!