BANG!!! It’s finally the new year! Over the weekend Kieran and I went to my home town in Crystal Lake, IL to celebrate Christmas/New Year’s with them since we spent Christmas day with Kieran’s family this year.
Kieran and I use to split up over the holiday to spend each Christmas with our families, but as you can imagine, I would long for Kieran’s company, and vice versa. We just missed each other too much to split up every year. To solve that problem, we told our parents we were going to stay together and visit them, every other year.
Meaning, we would spend Christmas day with Kieran’s family one year, and mine the next, and so on and so forth. Luckily, both of our families were gracious and completely understood our need to stay together over the holiday’s. Kieran and I were lucky, not every family is as understanding.
So this past weekend we spent the night in Crystal Lake with my family so we can celebrate Christmas together. Per usual, the food was outstanding. My Step-Dad, Rick, made his famous rib recipe. We ooooh’ed and ahhhhhh’ed as we sucked the meat off the bones. It was phenomenal! Rick’s rib recipe can be found here….
We draw names for gift giving in our family, so after dinner the gift exchange began. My little brother drew Kieran’s name, and he and his girlfriend bought Kieran an addicting, laughter-side-splitting card game called “Bang”.
Here is a description of Bang that I found on Amazon:
The outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!
This. Game. Was. Hysterical. As the description states, you have a Sheriff, Deputies, Outlaws, and a Renegade. The only character revealed in the beginning of the game is the Sheriff….the other characters have to figure each other out. You slowly start to realize who’s the good guys and who’s the bad guys as people start to “bang” aka shoot each other.
My Step Dad Rick was happiest when he was “banging” somebody. He “banged” my sister so much she screamed, “GOD DAMNIT!!! WHY ARE YOU “BANGING” ME ALL THE TIME!!!! WHY DON’T YOU “BANG” YOUR WIFE ONCE IN AWHILE?” My Mom was sitting next to my Step Dad, so in theory, and according to the game, it was much easier to “bang” her, but he chose to “bang” everyone else.
We laughed and “banged” and “banged” and laughed. This game was a rip-roaring, “banging” good time.
If you’re into card games, this is a must buy. Kieran and I are thrilled my bro got him this game, and we can’t wait to play again!
Thanks little bro!
So, after a holiday full of rich and amazing food, like half the nation I needed to detox a little bit. To kick off the New Year, I made seared tuna steak with a Beurre Blanc Sauce.
My co-worker Jeff Ponce gave me his Beurre Blanc Sauce recipe and it’s so good I HAD to share. You guys would like Jeff Ponce. He’s hysterical. He’s the kind of guy who always comes into work in a good mood. He’s constantly making jokes and cracking everyone up. He’s a real man’s man, a employers employee, a funny man’s funny man, and all around nice dude.
This is Ponce in a nut shell:
He told me he’s tried many versions of this sauce, but they were merely OK…nothing to grasp and exclaim, “Holy shit, this is fucking good!”. So he tinkered around with the recipe until he made his own masterpiece.
The. Sauce. Is. Amazing. Folks.
I did my best to write down ingredient quantities, but really, just go for it. Keep tasting and testing until you reach a taste you really enjoy. For example, Jeff puts two sticks of butter into his sauce, while I only preferred 1 stick of butter. Annnnnnd knowing me…..I used twice as much wine as the average Joe six pack. Of course, if my name was Joe, would you probably call me Joe 50 packs, or Joe handle of Rum, or Joe wine guzzler…..I like to drink……cough.
The tuna steak was marvelous as well. Be sure to buy FRESH tuna steak if making this recipe. PLEASE don’t buy it frozen! I feel eating tuna steak raw in the middle is the ONLY way to prepare this recipe, so it HAS to be fresh. Of course, if eating raw fish isn’t your jam, this sauce pairs wonderfully with any variety of white fish. Hell, this would be wonderful with chicken too!
The Beurre Blanc Sauce is quick, easy, and so delicious, your mouth, not to mention tastebuds, will sing with delight.
Enjoy!
Seared Tuna Steak with Caper Wine Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tuna steaks (for either 2 full meals or an appetizer for 4)
- 1 shallot, diced
- 9 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ bottle chardonnay
- 1-2 sticks of butter
- Juice from 2 lemons (you may not need all of it)
- A big handful of parsley
- ½ bottle of capers
- Salt/pepper
- Cabbage, shredded (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan over medium-high heat.
- Add the shallot and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook for another minute. Make sure to continuously stir so you don't burn the garlic.
- Add the chardonnay and reduce the sauce until it's a sauce like thickness (approx 3-5 minutes, but cook it down more if you prefer a thicker sauce),
- Once the sauce is thicker, remove the pan from the heat, and add the butter, a little at a time. Keep adding butter until you get a taste you like. I used 1 stick and 1 tablespoon of butter. My buddy uses 2 sticks of butter.
- Once you like the taste, slowly start to infuse the lemon juice. Continuously whisk the sauce as you slowly add the lemon juice. If you stop whisking, the sauce can break. While whisking, have a spoon in reaching distance so you can taste the sauce. Stop adding the lemon juice when you're happy with the taste. I did not use the juice from 2 lemons, but I used more than one.
- Now add the parsley and capers, stir.
- Taste for salt and pepper.
- While the sauce was reducing in the wine stage, I heated olive oil over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the tuna steaks. When the pan is hot an the olive oil is slightly smoking, add the tuna steaks and sear for approx 2-3 minutes per side. You want to ensure the middle is still rare, but the edges have a nice brown color.
- When the tuna steak has finished cooking, serve it over cabbage (optional) and top with the Beurre blanc sauce.
Notes
Infuse it with lemon juice……keep whisking while adding the lemon juice (the sauce will break if you don’t continue whisking it). Add capers and whatever else you want.