…with toasted sesame seeds and just a bit of chopped fresh basil on top. Yum.
We learned how to make this recipe when we took a seafood cooking class at Sur la Table last fall. Over the course of a couple of hours, we helped to make (then helped to eat) this dish, along with ginger glazed mahi mahi, seared salmon, and roasted cod. All were pretty darned good, but Rich thought the tuna his favorite, so, when we were thinking about what to have for New Year’s Eve; a trip to the fish monger was called for.
And our local fish monger/smokehouse came through with two very nice sushi-grade Yellowfin steaks.
Tuna this good and, let us be brutally honest, this pricey, does not want a lot of man-handling and over cooking, so this recipe seemed just the thing…
INGREDIENTS
Marinade:
•1/3 cup tamari (I use lower sodium)
•1 tsp sesame oil
•1/2 tsp Sriracha
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•4 (1/8 inch thick) slices fresh ginger, lightly crushed
•1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
Tuna:
•Tuna steaks
•Veggie oil
•Toasted sesame seeds*
•Chopped fresh basil leaves
*To toast sesame seeds, heat in a wide bottomed pan over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until they have darkened and become fragrant.
Allow to cool, then store in a covered jar.
Once the sesame seeds are toasted and cooling, you can start the tuna by whisking the marinade ingredients together and pouring into a gallon sized zipper bag.
Add the tuna, turn the bag to coat all sides with the marinade, then stash in the fridge on a rimmed plate (in case of drippage) for an hour or two; giving the bag a flip or two when you think of it.
When ready to cook, remove the tuna from the marinade and pat dry.
Warm a grill pan or large frying pan over medium high heat, then add the tuna and cook for three to five minutes per side, flipping the steaks once.
Remember: this is tuna; you do NOT want it ‘well done’. These lovelies should be nicely pink inside when finished, so mebbe five minutes on the first side and three minutes on the second.
Sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds and chopped basil, then serve with the Sriracha and lime mayonnaise from yesterday’s post.
Very good, and really very simple to toss together.
The chef in our cooking class used a grill pan, but I had given ours away because we really almost never used it. My new favorite (and large) Scanpan worked a treat and we thoroughly enjoyed the slightly crusted tuna; but think exactly how nice this would be done on the grill!
Well…
it’s around about two degrees under bright sunshine here today, so mebbe come the spring.