Does anyone else get stuck trying to think up things to do with tuna? I absolutely adore the flavour of the fish and I’m in heaven when tucking into a juicy rare steak. However I find it can be quite easy to get get stuck in a rut of marinating it in citrus juice and pan frying it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it like that, but it would be nice to do something different every now and again.
So, last weeked, I’d found a particularly nice looking bit of bright red fish reduced in Tesco and was wondering what on earth to do with it. After some searching online I was rather pleased when I found the idea of a thick coriander paste to use as a marinade. I love coriander and by chance I already had too much in the fridge to use before it all went bad. The recipe that inspired me is here. As usual I made several alterations.
I took two cloves of garlic and minced them, then put them in a blender with 25g of chopped coriander, a half a green birds eye chilli and 1 teaspoon each of cumin, ground coriander and paprika. I blended this to a paste and added just enough chilli infused olive oil to make it moist enough to spread over my two tuna steaks. I marinated the steaks in this mixture for an hour. Then I pan fried them for 1 minute 15 on each side on a high heat and rested them for a minute wrapped in foil . The result was this.
Mmmm… a little charred on the outside and pink in the middle.
Even though I’d reduced the amount of garlic suggested, the marinade was still very garlicky. I do like garlic but I think I’d have preferred to let the coriander dominate instead, so I suggest using just one large clove with 25g coriander. Also I altered the spice balance (I like my spice 
) and served it with lemon for squeezing rather than putting the juice in with the marinade. I added fresh chilli and infused oil as chilli powder gives heat but no flavour and I really like the flavour in fresh chilli.
I have been developing a bit of a liking for courgettes and mint butter ever since I tried that stuffed courgette flower at the Carlton, so that became the side dish for this meal and I also made some nice fluffy spiced cous-cous with pine nuts and sultanas. Even in this inauthentic state, Moroccan food is lovely. If I ever get round to visiting Marrakesh, I will come back very fat! 
Does anyone else get stuck trying to think up things to do with tuna? I absolutely adore the flavour of the fish and I’m in heaven when tucking into a juicy rare steak. However I find it can be quite easy to get get stuck in a rut of marinating it in citrus juice and pan frying it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it like that, but it would be nice to do something different every now and again.
So, last weeked, I’d found a particularly nice looking bit of bright red fish reduced in Tesco and was wondering what on earth to do with it. After some searching online I was rather pleased when I found the idea of a thick coriander paste to use as a marinade. I love coriander and by chance I already had too much in the fridge to use before it all went bad. The recipe that inspired me is here. As usual I made several alterations.
I took two cloves of garlic and minced them, then put them in a blender with 25g of chopped coriander, a half a green birds eye chilli and 1 teaspoon each of cumin, ground coriander and paprika. I blended this to a paste and added just enough chilli infused olive oil to make it moist enough to spread over my two tuna steaks. I marinated the steaks in this mixture for an hour. Then I pan fried them for 1 minute 15 on each side on a high heat and rested them for a minute wrapped in foil . The result was this.
Mmmm… a little charred on the outside and pink in the middle.
Even though I’d reduced the amount of garlic suggested, the marinade was still very garlicky. I do like garlic but I think I’d have preferred to let the coriander dominate instead, so I suggest using just one large clove with 25g coriander. Also I altered the spice balance (I like my spice ) and served it with lemon for squeezing rather than putting the juice in with the marinade. I added fresh chilli and infused oil as chilli powder gives heat but no flavour and I really like the flavour in fresh chilli.
I have been developing a bit of a liking for courgettes and mint butter ever since I tried that stuffed courgette flower at the Carlton, so that became the side dish for this meal and I also made some nice fluffy spiced cous-cous with pine nuts and sultanas. Even in this inauthentic state, Moroccan food is lovely. If I ever get round to visiting Marrakesh, I will come back very fat!
Oh, those tuna steaks look just HEAVENLY! I usually don’t marinate mine - just coat with black pepper (and a coriander, lime and jalapeno spice rub that I cart back from South Africa!) and sear, and I adore serving a fruit salsa with it - mango or citrus both work really well - here’s my post on it:
http://cooksister.typepad.com/cook_sister/2005/02/seared_tuna_wit.html
Comment by Jeanne — January 11, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
Mmm they look lovely!
I normally marinate mine with soy sauce, chillis, ginger, and a touch of garlic with lime juice squeezed over as they’re griddling.
Did the mixture not fall off the steaks when you turned them over? i find the hardest thing about keeping the herb crust on something is turning it over, so i tend to pan fry one side, then grill the other…
Comment by Schmoofaloof — January 11, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
This tuna looks so good! I love Corainder, I think it’s the freshest, most clean smelling herb there is and I use it all the time! Its sort of the exotic parsley, I think!
Delicious!
Freya
Comment by Freya Erickson — January 11, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
What great ideas. I’ve got a mango in the fridge that could make a great fruit salsa. I’d not thought of coriander as it as exotic parsley before but they do look quite similar, don’t they?
Schmoof, a bit of the marinade did fall off into the pan but I thought it didn’t matter as the tuna was still coated. I think this was a fairly easy crust to work with - it stuck to the tuna very well.
Comment by ros — January 12, 2007 @ 4:53 pm