Round 1, Challenge 8 Tim Schmitt
I prepared a tuna salad tostada with cranberries, next to a side of brussels sprouts with roasted almonds topped with crispy tortillas strips. These dishes were chosen to showcase the mystery ingredients of albacore white canned tuna, brussels sprouts, almonds and tortillas. With fall fast approaching, I thought adding dried cranberries to the tuna would be a nice flavorful seasonal touch. My initial reaction to the mystery ingredients was I have not opened a can of tuna in over five years. I use fresh everything except for San Marzano canned tomatoes. We invited some neighbors over for a taste test. My high was they really liked the tuna, as well as the brussels sprouts. A low was, I burned the almonds the first time I roasted them, which is why I caution the readers not to make my mistake. Overall, this was a great experience that challenged me to be creative in coming up with healthy, delicious dishes using the mystery ingredients. It was fun figuring out how to plate the dishes to be eye appealing. We all know we eat with our eyes first. My next goal is Round 2; bring it on!
- Mary J. Insprucker