No, not Dalmatian as in Pongo and Perdita and all those cute little puppies and Cruella DeVille and stuff.
Dalmatian as in Dalmatia, on the Adriatic Coast (look it up).
I came across this recipe a long time ago when I had a Saturday night to kill and some tuna steaks that weren’t getting any younger (or, ermmm, OLDER, if you get my drift). The nice folk at The Doubleday Cook Book call this a marinade and recommend pouring the sauce over your lightly sautéed chunks o’ tuna and letting it sit for a bit…
Not gonna happen.
I like this TOO much to wait for it to sit around and do whatever semi-ceviche thing it’s going to do; so I nestle my tuna steaks in the reduced sauce for a bit, and then serve it all up with a little nicely seasoned Basmati rice.
INGREDIENTS:
Tuna:
•2 tuna steaks – I used 2 frozen ahi tuna steaks (Archer Farms from Target) that I’d thawed in the fridge
•1/2 cup flour
•1 tsp salt
•1/2 tsp pepper
•1/4 cup olive oil (plus 2 tbsp)
Marinade:
•1 large onion, sliced & separated into rings
•1 carrot, peeled and well chopped
•3 or 4 small gherkins, diced – you could also use garlic dill pickles if you prefer
•1 cup red vermouth
•6 (or so) peppercorns
•3 bay leaves
•1 tbsp capers
•2 tbsp tomato paste
•1/4 cup diced green olives – optional
Mix the flour with the salt and pepper and dredge the tuna steaks on both sides.
Heat the 1/4 cup of oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and brown tuna on both sides. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Add the additional 2 tbsp of oil (if needed) to the skillet and sauté the onion and carrots over medium heat until the onions are golden. Y’see, I misread the recipe a wee, tiny bit, and had already tossed the onion, carrots, peppercorns, bay leaves, capers, and pickles together in a large bowl (Oops!), so just added them all, kept a good eye on things, and hoped for the best.
Add in the remaining ingredients (if you’ve followed the recipe; just the vermouth and the tomato paste if you haven’t), cover and simmer, stirring every now and again, for about ten minutes.
Put the tuna in a large bowl or rimmed platter and pour the hot marinade over. Cool to room temperature and serve.
OR
After your ten minutes under the cover, once the liquid has been reduced, pop the tuna steaks (or chunks, if you prefer) back into the skillet and cover them with the sauce mixture.
Pop the cover back on for just a minute or two, get your plates together and serve with all of those pan goodies.
Just about perfectly done tuna, and quite tasty, too!
Oh, and about that 2 tbsp of tomato paste – there’s no need to open a fresh can for just that little bit – search out one of these cool tubes o’ puree at your local market or specialty food shop. Simply squeeze out what you need and stash the tube in the fridge. Cool, no?