Jamie Oliver

Seared Tuna Steaks

Seared Tuna Steaks

Three out of four of us love this recipe. ‘Dot’ is not so into it, she has only just turned eight years old and still gets a little turned off by bits of green herbs in her food.

This is another tried-and-true recipe from Jamie Oliver ’s book: The Naked Chef. You can find the recipe on page 95.

Cover of "The Naked Chef"

Cover of The Naked Chef

We try not to eat too much tuna on a regular basis because of its potential for high levels of mercury. But when we do have it we either order it at our favorite Japanese Restaurant where we know the chef and respect his standards for quality control or I buy it fresh from Longliner Seafoods Ltd. at Granville Market.

I don’t always follow the recipe exactly. If I don’t have a dried red chili, I use a teaspoon or so of dried red chili flakes. And in place of coriander seeds, I will use a generous teaspoon of ground coriander. And I usually add more garlic. Those are my only deviations.

Ingredients (My Version):

1 tsp. dried red chili flakes

1 generous teaspoon ground coriander

1-2  garlic cloves, crushed

1 good handful of fresh basil, finely chopped

1 good handful of  cilantro, finely chopped

juice from 1 lemon

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

3-4 tuna steaks

Directions:

  • Mix together in a small bowl: red chili flakes, ground coriander, crushed garlic, chopped basil & cilantro and lemon juice. Add sea salt & freshly ground pepper if desired.
  • Rinse Tuna Steaks with cold running water, pat dry and place on a dish big enough to coat each tuna steak with the herb mixture.
  • Preheat a large frying pan. Jamie says to get the pan “very, very hot” then pour some oil on a paper towel and quickly rub the frying surface of the pan. Do this quickly and only once the tuna steaks are ready to go immediately into the pan, otherwise, the oil will start to burn.
  • Actually, rather than tossing the steaks in the pan, be precise with placement because they will stick onto the place you put them. Once in the pan you will not want to move them around. After 45 – 60 seconds of searing, it will be easy to turn them over for another 45 – 60 seconds.
  • Letting each steak sear for 45 – 60 seconds on each side.
We (the adults) prefer our Tuna Steaks cooked a little more than traditional searing. Our son, however, prefers it closer to sashimi – I try to strike a balance. We leave our raw fish eating for our Japanese Restaurant outings.
You will notice in the finished product at top, that the centre of the fish is more pink than red. I will sear them for 90 seconds on each side, then cut through the middle and see how it looks. Remember to factor in that even once the fish is removed from the pan it will continue to cook a bit longer.
This is the kind of dish that you want to cook and serve immediately. So having the rest of the meal prepared and on the table makes for a winning combination.

Sometimes when I know that I want leftovers, I will intentionally sear the Tuna Steaks for less time so that when I reheat them the following day they will be just right and not be cooked through like canned tuna. They are also great served cold on a salad the following day; I create my version of a Salad Nicoise.

Serve with an extra wedge of lemon. I like to serve with a green salad, steamed kale, roast sweet potatoes and brown rice. The possibilities are endless.

 

Enjoy!

Fresh red chile de árbol chili peppers

Fresh red chile de árbol chili peppers (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FYI: Eat Right 4 Your Type

This recipe averages out as Neutral for all types. However, A and AB blood types, both secretor and non-secretors should omit the red chili peppers. Tuna is listed as Beneficial only for AB blood types, for both secretor and non-secretor.

Below is a Blood Type Table for Seared Tuna Ingredients:

Blood Type Tuna Cilantro Basil Red Chili Pepper Coriander Lemon Juice
O secretor Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
O  non-secretor Neutral Neutral Beneficial Neutral Neutral Neutral
A secretor Neutral Neutral Neutral Avoid Neutral Beneficial
A non- secretor Neutral Beneficial Neutral Avoid Beneficial Beneficial
B secretor Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
B non- secretor Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral Neutral
AB secretor Beneficial Neutral Neutral Avoid Neutral Beneficial
AB non- secretor Beneficial Neutral Neutral Avoid Neutral Beneficial

This table is accurate as of the date of publishing this post. Check with the source for an up-to-date listing at Dr. D’Adamo Type Base 4. Click on any food item and it will show you an incredible page summarizing everything you might need to know about that food. Wow! Really, check it out.

Related Articles

Naked-Influenced Salmon

This simple salmon dinner was influenced from The Naked Chef: Jamie Oliver.

Back in 2000, my husband brought this cookbook home. We mostly ate at restaurants in those days, and having read about the simplicity of Jamie’s recipes was appealing. At the time, my husband said, “If you can read and follow instructions, then you can make a great meal with this book.” And he did. He made just about every recipe from this cookbook, without fail.

Because there are some ingredients which I am avoiding these days, I have customized this recipe. The following is my variation. It takes very little time to prepare AND is very low cost. I wanted to share this recipe for both of these reasons. Be sure to make extra for leftovers, whether following my version or the original.

The original (which is amazing, if you like anchovy and olives – I do, but must not…) is on Page 97 from the above mentioned book.

Enough Salmon for two. I got just under a pound of Wild (Previously Frozen) Sockeye Salmon. I usually buy half a pound of fish per person, in our case I knew just the two adults would be eating this. Today the fishmonger cut a bit less than the pound I asked for, and I didn’t want to wait around for another cut. In hindsight, I should have gotten two pounds…there are no leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

Two cups Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

Fresh French Green Beans

1 lb. Fresh (or previously frozen) Salmon

Olive Oil

Himalayan Sea Salt

French Green Beans just added to a pot of boiling water.

Green Beans after being Blanched. Boiled for just one minute. Then drained.

With a little Olive Oil on the bottom of the oven safe cooking dish (to prevent the salmon skin from sticking too much)

Place Salmon (which has been rinsed with water and patted dry with paper towel) on to the dish.

Scatter drained -Blanched Green Beans and raw tomatoes to the other end away from the fish.

Drizzle the Olive Oil over the vegetables and just a little over the Salmon.

Sprinkle ground Sea Salt over the entire dish.

THAT’S IT!

Place in a preheated oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes, or so depending on your oven.

This is what it looks like cooked.

I know this isn’t the best picture, but just wanted to show my portion.

 Served with a mixture of Brown and Red Rice – that I had never tried before (conveniently made the day before), called Volcano Rice.

“A colourful blend of prized traditional brown and red rice grown on West Java’s mineral-rich volcanic soil.”

And it only takes 30 minutes to cook, as opposed to the usual 50 minutes for regular brown Basamati, which is what I usually make.

I love this kind of meal. With basic ingredients, it is inexpensive, simple and quick to prepare. No excuses for not eating healthy fare.

Let me know if you try this recipe and how you customize it to suit your taste!