Dinner in a Flash

When life is hectic, as it often is at our house, simplicity in cooking is the order of the day. After working late and getting groceries, I was ready for dinner pronto but wanted something homemade and tasty rather than frozen and blah.

The meal started with a bunch of fresh asparagus I picked up at the store. After removing the woody parts of the stem, they were dumped into the steamer for quick cooking. Next, in a small saucepan I stirred together about a tablespoon each of brown sugar, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar, added a quarter cup of chianti - because that's what I opened for dinner - and about half a teaspoon of corn starch. (Vegetable or chicken stock would work just as well in place of the wine.) Then, this little concoction went on a medium burner. While that heated, a lovely ahi tuna steak seasoned with salt and pepper went under the broiler for about three minutes on each side making it light pink and juicy in the middle. While the tuna cooks, stir the sauce now and then and let it come to a boil. Take it off the heat after a minute or so of boiling and spoon it over the tuna just plucked from under the broiler. Plate the steamed asparagus and hit that with a little salt and fresh lemon juice. Voila! A nice dinner in about 10 minutes flat.

Of course a quick dinner like this leaves plenty of time for relaxing afterwards since there aren't tons of dishes to wash. Luckily, there is left over lemon rice pudding in the fridge for dessert, so now that I've cooked, cleaned up, and shared my evening meal, it's time for dessert and some HGTV.