Seared Tuna Medallions and Black Bean Salsa

Let's do a recipe! These are healthy, fast to make, and not too much more the $10 total to feed two people. Added bonus: there should be plenty of delicious leftover salsa to eat with chips later.

Prep Time: 15ish minutes (depending on knife skills)

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

Tuna Medallions (about 1/4 lb. each) - one or two per person, depending on how hungry they are

1 Red Onion

1 Bunch Green Onions - only need 5-10 shoots, to taste

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/4 to 1/2 Bunch of Cilantro

15.25oz Can of Corn

15.25oz Can of Black Beans

14.5oz Can of Diced Tomatoes

2 Garlic Cloves

1 Avocado

1 Lime

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

Special thanks to Heather, aka hvoeltner at allrecipes, whose salsa recipe I heavily borrowed.

Prep

1) Start heating up a 12" skillet to medium-high heat, hot enough that water drops will boil off immediately, but cool enough that olive oil takes some time before it starts smoking and burning.

2) Dice up the red onion, green onion, bell pepper, and avocado into 1/4" pieces. Finely chop the cilantro and garlic.

3) Strain the corn, beans, and tomatoes, then toss them into a very large mixing bowl.

4) Now add in red onion, green onion, bell pepper, cilantro, and garlic. We'll add the avocado at the very end of the mixing so it doesn't get squished!

5) Squeeze the juice out the lime, and add all of it into the bowl, straining out any pulp and seeds first. 

6) Gradually add in salt a couple pinches at a time, until it tastes good. It might take several sneaky bites to confirm that you're there.

7) Gently fold in the avocados and add another pinch of salt for good luck.

No one will know if you have a few more bites...

8) Make a flat bed of salsa on the plates you'll be serving on. They should be big enough to support however many medallions you're be placing on top. Once you're finished, put the plates aside so we can work on the tuna.

9) Using some tongs to handle the raw tuna, sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side. I use wax paper right on the countertop of this step.

10) Pour enough olive oil into the heated pan so that when it spreads out, it should barely cover the whole bottom.

11) When the oil heats up, use the tongs to place the tuna near the center. You'll know the oil is hot because it turns clearer and less viscous. If it's smoking a lot, it's too hot.

12) To shoot for a nice rare, wait until the cooked/raw line moves about 1/8 to 1/4 of the way up the medallion, then flip to the other side.

These need a closer look...

13) Once the cooked/raw line is about 1/8 to 1/4 of the way up side two, grab some fresh tongs (or wash the original ones) to grab each medallion and quickly sear the raw edges.

14) Place the medallions on top of the salsa bed, and enjoy!