Red Leaf Dinner Salad with Fresh Lemon-Pepper Tuna

Ingredients:                                                                                        Difficulty Rating = Easy

1 large head Red Leaf lettuce (or 2 medium heads)
1 can Heart of Palm
3 carrots
2 shallots (you can use onion, about ¼ onion if you don’t have shallots)
2 tomatoes
1 lb yellow fin tuna
Kosher salt
Lemon-Pepper seasoning (note:  all Lemon-Pepper seasonings are not the same, I buy Penzy’s Lemon pepper – it should be a strong flavor)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
zest froom ½ lemon
Juice from 1 ½ lemons
1/3 c good quality fruity olive oil
Olive oil spray if you have the Misto Spray pump
Sprinkle lemon-pepper seasoning generously onto tuna and set aside

Wash the Red Leaf lettuce and tear it into pieces.  Spin it in a salad spinner to dry or dry it with paper towels.  Spread it out on a platter.  If you have a Misto Spray pump, spray the lettuce with the olive oil. 

Cut up the tomatoes, shallots and hearts of palm
Grate the carrots or slice them thinly
Add them to the lettuce on the platter. 

Whisk olive oil and mustard. When they are combined, whisk in lemon juice. 

Spray a large grill or sautee pan with olive oil.  If you don’t have the spray, add 1 teaspoon olive oil to grill or sautee pan. Sprinkle with Kosher salt. Put it on high heat.  Never spray oil onto a pan that is on a flame.  If even a little bit gets on the flame it explodes upward and that’s where your face is so, don’t do it.  If you want to add more spray, remove the pan from the flame first.

Pour ¾ of the dressing over the salad.  Sprinkle the salad with Kosher salt and grind black pepper over the salad.

When the pan is very hot, add the tuna.  It should be rare, so let it cook about 2 minutes, turn it over and let it cook for 1-2 minutes, depending on how rare you like it and how thick the tuna is cut.

When it’s done, slice the tuna against the grain of the meat and put it gently over the top of the salad.   Pour the rest of the dressing over the tuna.