October 25, 2026

Asian-inspired Cuisine

I can’t believe I haven’t made any Good Eats recipes in October so far. It’s been busy, but since I had a free Saturday I thought I’d do some Good Eats dinner. I’ve been saving the Asian Slaw to pair with the Chimney Tuna Loin, so Saturday was when that could all come together.

First, though, Sunday night’s dinner was the Garlic Shrimp Casserole, so that’s where we’ll start. I have been putting this one off, since the episode depends on leftover Chinese takeout, which is a challenge for us because finding gluten free takeout is near impossible around us. But, by chance I checked altonbrown.com and it turns out that his revised recipe doesn’t rely on takeout at all – it makes the garlic shrimp, too. So I first set out to make some home-made leftovers.

Making Garlic Shrimp Leftovers

I began by marinated some shrimp in olive oil and garlic.

Then I cooked it in a cast iron skillet on medium heat.

Once the shrimp was done, it was time for the vegetables. For this I used a frozen pack of stir-fry veggies.

I decided that one the shrimp was done I’d just re-use the already hot pan that had some garlic and oil in it. I just dumped the frozen veggies right in.

Meanwhile I cooked up some jasmine rice. When the rice and the veggies were done, I tossed them all together in a bowl, and voila, I had garlic shrimp, veggies, and rice leftovers. I popped the bowl in the fridge to wait for Sunday’s casserole.

Asian Slaw

Once the leftovers were ready, I turned my attention to the Asian slaw. I started with the dressing.

All I did was toss them all together in a large bowl and whish until it was all mixed. After that I gathered the rest of the slaw ingredients.

One substitution I made: rather than serrano chiles, which I couldn’t find, I used a large pablano pepper. I think it didn’t make much of a difference in the end. Once all of the ingredients were chopped, I mixed them all together into a large bowl.

The bowl went into the fridge for a few hours while I made the tuna. For this I started with an absolutely beautiful 2-pound piece of yellowfin.

Like in the episode, I trimmed it so it was somewhat rectangular and then cut it into two one-pound pieces.

I mixed up the simple marinade and put it in a container with the tuna for about two hours. The episode and the online recipe say to use wasabi power, but I didn’t think the family would enjoy that, so instead I used a few teaspoons of ginger powder.

While the tuna was marinating I got my chimney starter prepped. I decided to put the starter on my little smoker, and use a grate from my propane grill to cook on.

When I was ready to start cooking, I got the chimney start lit.

It was then a matter of time to wait for the coals to burn out and get super hot. While that was happening, I got some sushi rice on the stove. It took maybe 30-40 minutes for the chimney starter to get ready to cook on – before that, the flames were going way above the top of the chimney. But once it was ready, I then coated the cuts in sesame seeds.

It wasn’t as pretty as the episode, but it worked. I then brought them out to the coals and one at a time I cooked them, 30 seconds per side, for a total of two minutes per cut.

After each piece came off the “grill” I put them on a plate with tented foil. I then brought it all inside, and let them sit for a couple of minutes before cutting into them. When I did, they were just perfect.

OK, maybe I could have done more than 30s per side to get a sear line around the edge, but that didn’t matter at all. We served the tuna in bowls over rice with some of the slaw on the side, and some of the honey-soy marinade as a topping/dipping sauce, and I have to say it all worked together perfectly. The tuna was as good as a perfect filet, and the rest of the meal complimented it incredibly well. What a treat!

Shrimp Casserole

On Sunday night, it was time to put together the shrimp casserole. With the manufactured leftovers, it all went together pretty quickly. I simmered some chicken broth, added a corn starch slurry and then some heavy cream, and put it all together with the leftovers mix in a 9x13 baking dish.

After covering the top with some breadcrumbs I popped it in the over for about ~25m, then gave it a few minutes under the broiler to toast up the top.

We let it sit for a bit to cool, and the dug in. It was alright. I liked it enough to have seconds, and Vivian devoured it. Gemma thought it was a bit bland and mushy. I can completely see why using actual Chinese takeout leftovers would do the trick here – they use so much flavor, sauces, salt, etc. that the shrimp and veggies would be way better. Here I was going for at least a little reasonable healthiness. Another thing I might do differently if I ever do this again would be to double up on the veggies, and use less of the liquid binder. I think those two things together would reduce the mushiness.

Chimney Tuna Loin

• Crowd: 5/5
• Ease: 3/5
• Left out the wasabi and added a couple of teaspoons of ginger instead
• Could probably have gone more than 30s per side, but it still came out spectacularly

Asian Slaw

• Crowd: 3/5
• Ease: 3/5
• Substituted a pablano pepper for the 2 serrano chiles

Garlic Shrimp Casserole

• Crowd: 3/5
• Ease: 3/5
• Followed Alton’s revised recipe
• Used a 14.4oz package of frozen stir-fry veggies. Next time would use two.
• Next time would use a little less of the broth/cream binder.