Sunday Dinner: Seared Tuna with Avocado and Salsa Verde

May 18, 2008

Tuna steaks are a delicious and healthier alternative to beef steaks. The meaty fish — that takes well to most seasonings — is filling and easy to cook. In this provocative recipe, tuna is topped with a pungent, Italian style salsa verde and chunks of ripe avocado. The salsa is made like a vinaigrette with fresh parsley, garlic, capers, mustard, and olive oil.

To make this succulent tuna tonight get the recipe and read more.

From Food and Wine magazine

Seared Tuna with Avocado and Salsa Verde

Ingredients

2/3 cup lightly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
3 tablespoons drained capers
1 clove garlic, smashed
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon anchovy paste
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tuna steaks, about 1 inch thick (about 2 pounds in all)
1 avocado, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

Directions

Put the parsley, capers, garlic, lemon juice, anchovy paste, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of the pepper into a food processor. Pulse to chop, six to eight times.
With the machine running, add the 1/2 cup oil in a thin stream to make a coarse puree. Leave the sauce in the food processor and, if necessary, pulse to re-emulsify just before serving.
Heat a grill pan or heavy cast-iron pan over moderately high heat.
Rub the tuna steaks all over with the 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
Cook the fish for 3 minutes. Turn and cook until done to your taste, 3 to 4 minutes longer for medium rare. To serve, top the tuna steaks with the avocado and drizzle with the sauce.

Serves 4.

13 Comments

dmtroyer 4 years 50 weeks

I just made this. Oh my goodness. This is a combination of flavors I have never had before. Couple of hints: You don't need anywhere 1/2 cup of oil in the salsa, I probably used 1 tablespoon (of grapeseed oil) and it was a great consistency. Also, lemon juice is your friend.

nancita 5 years 4 days

I love the flavor of tuna with olives or capers, but adding avocado would make this pretty irresistible.

shoneyjoe 5 years 4 days

Sounds like this is definitely a recipe that takes well to experimentation. You can probably skip the anchovy paste (replace it with some worcester sauce or even thai fish sauce for that same richness) and capers are probably OK to lose too.I might try dill in there too. Maybe even a basil pesto. I'm not wild about tuna steaks though - I'd much prefer a good fillet of snapper or salmon portion. As far as I'm concerned, tuna shouldn't be cooked more than a very thin sear.

shoneyjoe 5 years 4 days

Sounds like this is definitely a recipe that takes well to experimentation. You can probably skip the anchovy paste (replace it with some worcester sauce or even thai fish sauce for that same richness) and capers are probably OK to lose too. I might try dill in there too. Maybe even a basil pesto. I'm not wild about tuna steaks though - I'd much prefer a good fillet of snapper or salmon portion. As far as I'm concerned, tuna shouldn't be cooked more than a very thin sear.