PAN-SEARED YELLOWFIN TUNA (Serves 4)
Encrusted with mache and pine nuts and finished with a mandarin orange mascarpone

• 4 8-oz Yellowfin tuna steaks, 3/4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed
• 8 oz pine nuts, raw, rough chopped
• 2 oz mache, cut chiffonade style
• 1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs, available at Asian markets)
• 4 oz butter
• 6 oz mascarpone cheese
• 3 oz mandarin orange segments, drained
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 oz milk

Mix together mascarpone and well-drained mandarin orange and set aside.

Mix pine nuts, mache and Panko and place in a shallow pan.

Beat eggs and add milk to make an egg wash.

Dredge tuna in flour, dip in egg wash and then encrust on both sides with bread crumbs. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter. When butter has melted, add tuna and cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Serve with mandarin mascarpone.

AUTUMN BAKED APPLES (Serves 6)

• 6 large red baking apples (Rome Beauty, Cortland or Gala, for example)
• 1 lemon, juice and finely grated zest
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3 packed tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup broken walnut pieces, toasted
• 6 3-inch whole cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup dark rum (you may substitute a 1/2 cup or either cider or water to make a full cup of liquid)

Slice off about 1/4-inch of the top of each apple. Scoop out the seeds and core of the apple with a melon baller to make a pocket. Peel off about a 1/2-inch band of the apple's skin along the upper half of the apple with a vegetable peeler. Brush the peeled part and the interior of the apple with lemon juice.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the butter, lemon zest and sugar. Add the currants and nuts. Place some of the butter mixture and a cinnamon stick in each of the apples. Place the apples in an oven-proof baking dish, just large enough to hold the apples upright. Pour in the cider and rum; bake until the apple is tender, about 30 minutes. Baste the apples with the cider/rum mixture with a bulb baster, two or three times during baking.

Serve warm or at room temperature with softly whipped cream or vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.