Its arrival has pushed forward my time line for the final two installments of my “Tuna Four Ways” series.  Here are the recipes I use for tuna several days after it has been caught, though I must reiterate that when you get a super-fresh tuna as I did today, raw (as in the tartare) and nearly raw (as in the grill-seared steaks) is the way to go.

However, as many have pointed out to me, not everyone “likes it RAW.”  So here are two other recipes for either supermarket tuna or fresh tuna you still have lying around 5 days later.

The first recipe comes from the August issue of Fine Cooking (Side Note: this is my absolutely FAVORITE food mag):

Fresh Tuna Burgers with Ginger & Cilantro:

1 lb. fresh tuna fillet
2 tbsp. Chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp. Finely chopped red onion or scallion
2 tbsp. Mayonnaise
1 tsp. Minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. Minced fresh hot green or red chile, such as cayenne, thai bird or Serrano
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 tbsp. Canola oil

With a very sharp knife, cut the tuna into 1/4 inch dice.  Alternatively [this is what I did and it worked out great] cut the tuna into 1 inch chunks and pulse in a food processor until just chopped, about 4 quick pulses – take care not to over-process.  Gently stir in the cilantro, onion, mayonnaise, ginger, chile, 3/4 tsp. Salt and 1/4 tsp. Pepper.  Shape the tuna into 4 equal 1 inch-thick patties.  Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook tuna burgers until nicely browned on both sides but still pink in the center, 2-4 minutes total.  Don’t overcook or burgers will be dry.

I served these with the dipping sauce from my Tuna Steaks recipe.  May also be good with a remoulade sauce of some sort – experiment and enjoy! (I really could have eaten it raw…)

Finally, when you have truly reached your tuna breaking point, and you can’t imagine eating for dinner again, no matter how it is prepared, it is time for Tuna Confit.

This recipe was sent to me by a friend and I’m not sure where he got it. However, it was pretty simple to do, and the tuna cooked this way will last for 2 weeks so you can spread out its consumption over several lunches!

Ingredients:

3-4 cups good-quality olive oil, more if needed to cover the tuna during cooking
1 medium onion, cut in 1/2-inch slices
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
Zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbs. coarse salt
2 lb. top-quality fresh tuna, cut into 1-inch-thick steaks

Instructions:
Combine the oil, onion, herbs, peppercorns, lemon zest, and salt in a deep sauté pan or Dutch oven.  Heat to between 140° and 150°F, stirring occasionally, and cook for 20 min. to infuse the flavors of the herbs and spices into the oil and to pasteurize them for a long shelf life. Taste the oil; it should be slightly salty. Leave to cool and infuse for about 30 min.; the oil will be warm.

Put the pan back over medium-low heat and slip the tuna into the barely warm oil. (Add as many pieces as will fit in one layer. The tuna must be covered by the oil, add more if needed.) Slowly bring the oil to 150°F again. Turn off the heat, take the pot from the heat, and let the tuna cook slowly in the warm oil. After a minute or two, test for doneness by breaking into the flake of the tuna.

The fish should be cooked to medium rare-slightly pink inside and still tender to the touch. If the tuna isn’t quite done, return it to the oil for another minute. Repeat with any remaining pieces of tuna.

Transfer the tuna to a storage dish and let it cool. Let the oil cool separately and then strain the oil over the fish, discarding the herbs and spices. If the tuna isn’t completely covered in oil, add more olive oil to the storage dish. If not using right away, cover the container tightly and refrigerate. The tuna will keep, covered in oil and refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks.

I ate this tuna in salads for 2 weeks and it was awesome.  Very very tender and flavorful – perfect for a Nicoise salad or mixed with warm chickpeas, shallots, green beans and vinegar.  Trust me, I had many envious stares in the lunch room at work!

But fresh raw tuna looks just enough like steak that even RJ cannot deny the supreme tastiness of this marine delicacy.  Now, he craves it!  And this is the recipe we developed that we think makes the most of the steak.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for some people, there are no exact measurements for this, but it is easily tweaked to perfection and taste preference.

First – make the dipping sauce.  Pour soy sauce into a small bowl or ramekin to about halfway up the sides.  Add a splash of teriyaki sauce and a small splash of sesame oil.  I really like to put some roughly chopped fresh ginger in here if it’s around, and some leaves of cilantro or scallion slices if I have them.  Let sit while you prepare the steaks.

This could not be simpler: First preheat your grill on the highest heat setting.  Pour onto a plate or shallow bowl about 1 tablespoon each of sesame seeds and black sesame seeds per steak.  That is, if you have 3 steaks, you want 3 tablespoons of white sesame seeds and 3 tablespoons of the black ones.  Note – as far as I can tell the black ones are really just for presentation so don’t feel like you have to spend a million dollars on them!!

Mix up the sesame seeds so the two colors are evenly distributed across the surface of the plate or bowl.  Take the first tuna steak and drop it flat onto the seeds.  Press hard on the top of the steak so that the seeds stick.  Flip the steak to the other flat surface and push down.  Move to a tray and repeat with the remaining steaks, adding more seeds if necessary, and re-distributing the seeds across the plate between each steak.

Now put all of the steaks on the grill and cook 3 minutes with the top on.  Flip the steaks and cook another 3 minutes.  Take the steaks off the grill – they will be very rare!

If you are feeling very fancy you can slice the tuna into thick rectangles to show off the beautiful red interior meat.  RJ and I usually don’t wait for that – we just start eating.

The dipping sauce’s role is pretty obvious.  Put it in the middle of the table and DIP your tuna into it for a sweet and salty contrast to the nutty taste of the seared sesame seed crust.

VERY IMPORTANT – If you received this very delicious and otherwise very expensive tuna gratis from a fisher-friend, do splurge on a nice bottle of wine.  Cakebread Chardonnay from Napa was so completely amazing with this meal – together with the tuna it was a truly transcendent experience I recommend to everyone.

A damn good bottle of wine for tuna

Tunas run anywhere between 70 and multi-hundreds of pounds, and if you’re an avid fisherman without a permit to sell the meat, the steaks pile up quickly in your freezer! However, a fast glance around the dockyard will probably find you RJ, ready with a cooler of ice to accept any generosity you’re inclined to bestow, as was the case earlier this week.
Which brings me to Tuesday evening when, as a dutiful wife, I received the meat my husband brought me and turned it into dinner.  This all sounds very “ugh, woman. here meat. me want food now” but I truly love the challenge of taking (literally) raw material and finding different ways to prepare it.  Fresh-caught tuna is the ultimate in this endeavor and an extra special treat.

Now, as any true tuna angler (or tuna eater for that matter) knows, the best way to eat tuna is raw, right on the boat, maybe with a splash of soy sauce or a dash of salt.  But we had about 7 pounds of the stuff and eating it all raw was a nauseating prospect.  So I approached the glut of meat in my fridge logically.  We had about 1 1/2 pounds of fatty tuna (toro) which is particularly prized for sashimi and comes from the belly and the napes (neck meat) of the beast, and about 5 pounds of ruby red tuna steak, cut from the loin.  Call me crazy but if anything was going to be eaten raw, I wanted it to be the best stuff.  So… the first order of business was Tuna Tartare made from the toro.

Our friendly neighborhood tuna fisherman had already trimmed the meat for us, but make sure that you check your pieces for silverskin (this is the term for pork and beef; I don’t know if it applies here though it looks the same) – the whitish, tough strip of gristly membrane that runs along the side of meat.  If you see it, just trim it off with a really sharp knife and try not to waste any of the meat.  Then, you’ll need:

2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3-4 shakes of Tabasco (recipe called for 1 1/2 tsp. Wasabi paste but I didn’t have any and I don’t like it anyway…)
3/4 teaspoon Sesame Oil
8 oz sushi-quality ahi tuna steak, cut into 1/3-inch cubes (as I said above, I used the napes, not the steak, cuz it is better, but I don’t think they sell it in your average grocery store)
1 medium avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and cut into 1/3-inch cubes
1 cup of 1/3-inch cubes seeded English hothouse cucumber (I forgot this!)
1 green onion, finely chopped (I substituted finely minced red onion)
Toasted Sesame seeds (I used mix of black and white ones) and/or chopped chives

Whisk the first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl to blend.  Add tuna, avocado, cucumber and onion, stir gently to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or chives.

I served on little toasts like these but you can also buy wonton wrappers, brush them with olive oil and bake on parchment-paper covered baking sheet at 350 degrees for 9 minutes to make a more Asian and more funky presentation.

Tomorrow… what I did with all them steaks!!