Any tuna recipes?

[tmphilo]

DH went tuna fishing last week and brought home 5 tuna (their boat caught 20, 5 was his share). It's a lot of tuna! We canned 32 pints of tuna and froze the rest. Does anyone have any good tuna recipes? I'm not a fan of the sear on each side and then eat...I like everything cooked well done. I'm just trying to figure out what to cook when I get around to wanting to have tuna again (which may be awhile since my house has smelled like a tuna fish canning factory for a number of days). :)

[Pepper]

This is fun to try - you can skip all the salad part and just make the tuna, which is YUMMY.

Tuna confit with green beans and shell beans

From: The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook

Use the ingredients for salad or a pasta. The salad may be embellished with hard-cooked egg, cherry tomatoes, strips of roasted pepper, whatever. Serves 6 as a first course.

salt (I used coarse sea salt from Trader Joe's)
1 lb tuna steak, cut 1 1/2 inch thick
thyme branches
garlic cloves, crushed but not peeled
fennel seeds
dried chili pepper pods (I used chili flakes)
whole peppercorns
3 cups extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound (unshelled) fresh shell beans (preferably cranberry beans)
1 pounds green beans
1 medium shallot, diced fine
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
pepper
aioli (a garlic mayonnaise)

Salt the tuna generously and put it in a deep bowl with the thyme, garlic, fennel seeds, chili pods, and peppercorns. Use your own intuition for the amounts of these ingredients. Cover with 3 cups of olive oil and refrigerate for several hours (preferably overnight).

To cook the tuna, transfer everything to a heavy-bottomed nonreactive pot and heat slowly over medium heat. When the oil is warm, lower the heat and continue cooking for 12-15 minutes, turning the fish over occasionally for even heating. Probe the tuna with a paring knife to check for doneness--it should still be slightly pink at the center. Remove the tuna from the oil and cool, reserving the oil. It is ready to eat, or may be refrigerated in the oil and stored for up to 5 days.

Shell the beans and simmer in enough water to cover by 1 inch. Add a little salt, thyme branch, a splash of olive oil, and cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Let the beans cool in their cooking liquid. The beans can be cooked several hours in advance and kept at room temperature.

Parboil the green beans in rapidly boiling salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and spread on a baking sheet to cool.

Make a vinaigrette in a small bowl with the diced shallot, red wine vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Whisk in 1/2 cup of the confit oil and add freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt and vinegar, if necessary.

Drian the shell beans and toss them with the green beans in the vinaigrette. Arrange on a platter with the tuna, broken into pieces, over the top. Serve with the aioli alongside, or thin it with a little water and drizzle it over everything.


ETA: this tuna would be great to use in the Israeli couscous salad that I posted a while ago:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=360571

[Pepper]

Here's another great recipe..I know you said that you're not into the seared tuna thing, but you can cook the steaks all the way. If you like the tuna and beans combo, there are tons of recipes on the web that you can try for variety :-) (I couldn';t find thisone online so I had to type it in - been meaning to do that forever so thanks for the motivation!)

I've made this for dinner parties. You can prepare the spice rub a few hours ahead and smear it on the tuna steaks right before your guests arrive, cover them and put in the fridge. If you have 2 big skillets, you can cook the tuna at the same time as the beans and it will all be ready very quickly.

Pan Seared Orange Tuna, from Chef Allen
Originally posted on Gail’s Recipe Swap by Moyn in FL

2 T grated orange zest
2 T brown sugar
1 T minced garlic
2 t dry mustard
1 T ground cumin
1 t dried basil
1 T Kosher salt (or other coarse salt – use less of regular table salt)
2 t ground black pepper
4 4-oz tuna steaks
2 T olive oil
½ orange juice
1 T champagne vinegar (could sub rice wine or other mild vinegar)
2 T extra virgin olive oil, for the ebans
4 cups cooked white beans
¼ cup shredded basil leaves

Prepare spice rub: combine orange zest, sugar, garlic, mustard, cumin, dried basil, salt & pepper. Reserve 1 T of the mixture to add to the beans. Rub the remaining mixture on the tuna steaks, coating them well.

Cook the tuna: In a large frypan, heat the oil over high heat. Place the tuna in the pan and sear 1 minute then turn over carefully, reducing the heat to medium. Sear the second side for 1 more minute until the steaks are medium rare. [You can also just cook the tuna until it’s well done, if that’s what you prefer].

Prepare the beans: whisk the orange juice, vinegar & reserved spice rub together in a 10” skillet or other wide pan. Add the white beans and toss (or stir!) until hot. Stir in the basil and drizzle on the olive oil.

To serve, put some of the beans on a plate. Cut the tuna steaks in half, or slice them, and place on top of the beans.

Makes 4 servings.

[Tondi G]

My uncle goes Tuna fishing and has had a HUGE haul before. I totally remember the smell of the canning process and how it lingered! fresh tuna canned at home is SO much better than canned tuna from the store. My Uncle also has a smoker and marinates the fish and then smokes it.... stores it in the fridge!

I would do teriyaki ... just bake it or grill it

grill or pan fry the tuna and serve with a mango salsa over the top (trader joes has a pretty yummy pineapple salsa too) over rice

here is an interesting recipe

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Marinated-Tuna-Steak/Detail.aspx

[tmphilo]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will have to try some. DH is going tuna fishing again tomorrow... ugh

[KHF]

I make this salad with regular canned tuna, so maybe it's adaptable to what you have? (We are smack in the middle of the midwest, so no fresh fish here.)

1-2 cans of tuna
1 cup orzo
Diced English cucumber
sliced green onions
Feta cheese
Olive Oil
Lemon Juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

It's kind of a thrown together recipe, so I vary the ingredients some with what I have, but this is my most common version.

Cook the orzo according to package directions and let cool. Flake the tuna into a bowl. Chop up cucumber, green onions. Add the juice of one lemon and salt and pepper to taste. Chill.

Right before serving I add crumbled feta cheese and pour over some olive oil (so it's not all soaked up by the pasta prior to eating). Sometimes I add grape tomatoes and/or chopped celery too. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll bet fresh dill would be good in there too. This is pretty much the only way I'll eat tuna.

[sophiesmom03]

Pan Bagnat, or Salade Nicoise (w/o the bread):

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ni-oise-Tuna-Sandwich-Pan-Bagnat-104642

Obviously, use your tuna and add olive oil to taste. This has worked great for us w/leftover tuna steaks from the grill/broiler.