Chef Jeff Cooks Up Inspiration

By Mandy Acre, editorial intern––

For the last year, our readers have been sending in cooking queries for Chef Jeff, Fox Valley Technical College's culinary department chair. With a strong passion for preparing food, I decided to scan the Chef Jeff columns for a recipe.

A couple of weekends ago my sister Jami was visiting from Milwaukee, so we went over a few recipes with the intention of making dinner together. She picked out the tuna steaks with a sesame crust and lime peppercorn vinaigrette from the January issue.

My mouth was watering before we even made it to the grocery store. Unfortunately, the store we went to didnʼt have any tuna steaks in stock.

I was nervous to pick out a fishy alternative, but Jami and I settled on filets of tilapia and crossed our fingers that the dish would turn out.

Chef Jeffʼs instructions were ideal for the amateur cook. In no time I had the fish covered in sesame seeds, seared in olive oil and baking in the oven. All we had to do was wait (the hardest part).

My review? Dinner was delicious. The vinaigrette had just the right bite!

If I make it again, I will probably use a tastier fish or look a little harder for the tuna steaks. The sesame seeds were yummy, but theyʼre a bit bland––even with the citrusy vinaigrette. Using the mild seeds on a fish that is also kind of bland wasnʼt bad, but it was missing some flavor. Overall, Jami and I were satisfied!

So if you read our Chef Jeff column and have thought to yourself, “Hmm, that sounds yummy. I should make it sometime"... do it. You wonʼt be disappointed!

To read Chef Jeff's column & recipes, click here. Have a question for Chef Jeff? Submit here.