I have to confess to a love of tinned tuna. In salads especially. But I had only ever had indifferent experiences of fresh tuna – probably frozen for a long time and then cooked for too long resulting in dry, tasteless fish. My lovely fishmonger had some beautiful looking tuna steaks in recently and I decided to give it another chance.
I looked at recipes online and came to the conclusion that simple was probably better. It’s not a cheap fish to buy, and because I had been assured the flavour would be amazing, I wanted to let it shine through. Having a fancy for something with an Asian twist, I packed some zingy flavours into the salad I served with it. What a great decision. The only problem is now I need to win the lottery to fund my (ethically caught) tuna habit!
Ingredients to serve 2
- 2 tuna steaks
- About 4 tablespoons of sesame seeds
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten
- Salt & Pepper
- A little oil for frying
- For the salad – some roughly chopped cucumber, avocado, spring onion and coriander
- For the dressing – mix together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of fish sauce, ½ teaspoon of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce, ½ teaspoon of white sugar and the juice of half a lime. Adjust the salt (with the soy sauce), sugar and lime to taste.
Season the tuna steaks or fillets with salt & pepper and dip them first in the egg white then in the sesame seeds to coat evenly.
Heat a very little oil in the pan – you don’t want it searingly hot or the sesame seeds will burn. The length of cooking time will depend very much on personal taste and the thickness of your fish. Bear in mind that it will continue to cook gently from the residual heat once it is served. My steaks took about 2 minutes on the first side and a minute on the second. It’s a very quick dish to prepare.
Toss the salad ingredients with the dressing and serve the tuna steak on top.
Chica Andaluza 
That sounds delicious – perhaps it’s cheaper in Zahara, back in Spain – though you might have to fight the Japanese for the best tuna caught there 😉
You’re probably right about the tuna – which reminds me of the film Atún y Chocolate have you seen it? I enjoyed it….
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/At%C3%BAn_y_chocolate
No, wow! That sounds brilliant, I’ll have to look out for it 😉
Think you’ll enjoy it!
From the synopsis, I do too!
BTW – Italy Unpacked was brilliant last week – Georgio Locatelli cooked rabbit in the style of suckling pig – I might have to cook that myself. You can catch it on iPlayer:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b053gkm6/italy-unpacked-series-3-2-to-the-centre-of-the-earth
Ooh – thanks for the tip!
Great idea. I too love fresh tuna and as a matter of fact we had it last night at dinner. I brushed the 1 inch thick steaks with olive oil and then sprinkled them with Hot Hungarian Paprika and grilled them 3 minutes on each side. We served them with lightly steamed asparagus, tossed in butter and lemon. Life is good.
Now that sounds wonderful!
That looks delicious! I didn’t know about using egg white to stick on the sesame seeds xx
They just fall off otherwise 😦
Glad you gave it another try – tuna steaks are always one of the most popular dishes on our menu. Love them.
I’m glad I tried again too!
I have found the same with Tuna steaks… I get all excited about the prospect and end up with tough over-cooked lumps, even though I have been so careful. Yours look perfect! 🙂
Thank you – we loved them!
I love tuna steaks and this is probably one of y favorite ways to eat it. You just need a fresh cut and it requires less than 10 mins for a gourmet meal. Love love this.
I agree – so quick, so gourmet!
Love tuna, love the recipe ’cause have not used sesame seeds cooking it! No problem buying the fish in major cities of course here in Australia: not so easy in the country. BUT one of our duopoly supermarkets is packing fresh frozen [and sustainable] fish of half-a-dozen kinds separately packed in lots of eight . . . big pieces and one would not know it had been frozen: buy on special [often] at about $A3 a portion – am not complaining and shall copy yours soonest!!
You’re lucky you can buy it so reasonably – maybe I’ll give frozen ones another go now too!
look very delicious,…..
i want chicaa hehe
I absolutely love fresh tuna. We are very lucky in that we get never before frozen tuna straight off the boats when a shark has bitten part of it 🙂
Ooh – lucky indeed!
Just the way my husband enjoys his tuna…except that I’ve never dipped the tuna in egg whites. I’ll try that the next time.
It really helped with the sesame seeds sticking – and the yolk went into a tortilla another day!
That tuna looks delicious! And perfectly cooked!!!
Thanks Chef Mimi!
Fresh tuna is so good….Jenny has decided that it’s meat, not fish, so I don’t see it very often. Very envious:)
I sort of see where Jenny is coming from on this but it definitely lives in the sea tell her!
It does look good! And Mick loves tuna. Maybe a treat? (but not with my cooking 🙂 )
😉
Perfectly pink, just as I would like it! I too rarely treat myself to fresh tuna, but when I do, I agree, the most simply made the better. I like your Asian compliments to the tuna!
Thanks Linda – we’ll definitely be doing this again!
Oh pretty! I really must not read your blog at lunch time… hungry NOW and I have nothing so lovely to eat. Mmmmm…
Glad you liked it Rachel – hope you eventually got some lunch!
That looka delicious! Good idea, i love fresh tuna.
There’s just nothing quite as wonderful as a fresh, seared tuna steak on a salad. I recently had it at a restaurant in a similar preparation where the steak itself was dusted with the coriander..such lovely flavors!
Oooh – coriander, wonderful!
The food is what it’s called, looks good, and my country does not seem to exist.
it looks like using the tuna cuisine looks very delicious
very delicious
Sometimes the simple things are the best, nothing like a great tuna steak, thank you for sharing!
anyway….
this is special menu altought not nesarilly ican cook 😛
hmm, yummy 😀