Peppercorn Crusted Tuna Food

PEPPER-CRUSTED TUNA

Steps:

• Season the tuna with salt on both sides, then press the peppercorns into both sides. Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet until almost smoking. Add the tuna and lower the heat to medium. Sear the tuna until browned on the outside but still rare in the center, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Thinly slice the tuna and fan the slices onto 4 plates. Serve immediately.

PEPPER SEARED TUNA STEAKS

Steps:

• Combine black pepper and sesame seeds in bowl.
• Press tuna steaks into mixture, until coated.
• Heat sesame oil over medium-high heat.
• Add tuna steaks and sear about 1- 1 1/2 minutes each side (I like mine rare in the center, longer if you prefer well-cooked tuna).
• Transfer steaks to tented aluminum foil to keep warm.
• Add a touch more oil to pan, then add soy sauce and sherry.
• Add garlic and most of green onion (reserving some of the tops).
• If too much has boiled off, add a bit of red wine if necessary.
• Reduce heat and simmer until mixture is slightly reduced, scraping up any brown bits, about 1 minute.
• Spoon sauce over tuna steaks, and sprinkle remaining green onion on top.
• Note: if you want to make more of this sauce, it tastes fantastic, and goes great with rices, potatoes, roasted veggies, etc.
• In the photo, I cross-cut Italian bread, drizzled with olive oil and briefly toasted.

PEPPERCORN-CRUSTED TUNA

Steps:

• Rub 2 tbsp (25 mL) olive oil onto tuna steaks all over and coat top with peppercorns and salt.
• Heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat.
• Add tuna peppercorn-side up.
• Fry for 2 minutes, flip and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on thickness of fish.
• Remove tuna from pan and transfer onto serving plates.
• The fish should be rare. If you like it more cooked, fry another 2 minutes.
• Add red wine to skillet over high heat and reduce until 2 tbsp (25 mL) remain.
• Add balsamic vinegar and stock and reduce until 1/2 cup (125 mL) remains.
• Add cream and boil just until sauce begins to thicken.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Spoon sauce around tuna.

SEARED RED AND BLACK PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA WITH PINEAPPLE-RED CHILE SAUCE AND SEASONED FRENCH FRIES

Steps:

• Place pineapple juice in a medium saucepan over high heat and reduce to 3 cups. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add the ancho and chile de arbol powder and cook for 2 minutes. Add the reduced pineapple juice, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 2 cups. Place mixture in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain into a clean medium saucepan over medium heat, add the honey and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Mix together the spices in a medium bowl. Brush the tuna on each side with olive oil and season with salt. Dredge 1 side of each tuna in the spice mixture. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sear the tuna spice-side down for 2 to 3 minutes, until a crust forms. Turn over and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes for rare doneness.
• Mix together the salt, ancho powder and cumin in a small bowl. Heat vegetable oil to 325 degrees F in a fryer. Fry the potatoes in batches until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels. Increase the temperature of the oil to 375 degrees, put the potatoes, in batches, back into the oil and fry until brown and crisp. Remove the fries from the oil with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels and immediately season with the spice mixture.

SESAME-CRUSTED TUNA

Steps:

• In a dry skillet on medium heat, toast the white sesame seeds until they are just beginning to turn light golden brown and fragrant. Remove from heat and spread seeds on a plate. Add the black sesame seeds to the plate if using, and stir seeds around with fingertips to combine.
• Brush the tuna pieces on all sides with olive oil. Season on all sides with salt and pepper, and dip tuna pieces in the seeds, pressing to coat on all sides. Set aside on a wax foil lined cookie sheet.
• When ready to cook, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil on medium high in the skillet. When oil is hot, add the butter, when the butter foams, add the fish to the skillet. Let cook without moving the fish for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until the sesame crust begins to crisp and brown. When the crust is golden brown, turn the fish and cook until the other side is golden brown and crisp, about another 2 minutes, adding additional butter if needed to keep the fish from sticking and speed up the browning. Once the second side is browned, turn the fish pieces on edge with tongs, to brown the remaining sides.
• Remove from heat and set aside. Fish will be medium rare at this point. If you prefer fish more well done, place the ban with the fish in a 375 degree F oven for another 3 to 5 minutes.
• To serve, slice each portion in half and place on the pasta bed with the edges overlapping. Sprinkle with finishing salt, if desired.

CORIANDER, FENNEL, AND PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA WITH WATERMELON SALSA

Steps:

• To prepare the watermelon salsa, in a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.
• To prepare spice blend, grind all spices in a mini food processor or spice grinder they are powdery. Spread the spice mixture evenly on a large plate.
• Rinse the tuna fillets and pat dry. Place one side of each piece of tuna into the spice mixture. Shake off excess.
• In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil over high heat until almost smoking. Carefully place two of the tuna fillets, spiced side down, into the skillet. A spice crust should form within 1 minute. Using kitchen tongs, turn over the tuna, lower the heat to medium, and cook for 2 to 5 minutes to desired doneness. Repeat the process with the remaining tuna fillets. For Watermelon Salsa:

PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA STEAK

Steps:

• Mix the basil, thyme and the black pepper together. Season the tuna with the mixture. In a hot saute pan, add the olive oil and sear the tuna until cooked rare or to desired temperature. Remove the tuna. Then add the bok choy with the wasabi, fish stock and the soy sauce to the hot saute. Reduce the stock by a quarter. Remove from heat and ladle the soy wasabi broth into the bowls and place the cooked tuna on the top of top of the bok choy.

CORIANDER CRUSTED TUNA

Steps:

• Toast spices in saute pan over high heat until aromatic, then grind in a coffee mill. Heat olive oil and butter, then saute minced onions and ground spices. Add cabbage, spices, and diced peppers and cook until tender. Add orange juice and salt and pepper. Let simmer, then add lobster stock and reduce. Dredge tuna in coriander crust. Pan sear to to temperature. In a bowl, place cabbage then top with seared tuna.

PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA, MUSTARD SAUCE AND A PEA SHOOT SALAD

Steps:

• Prepare the Tuna -- First, remove to the counter so the tuna can warm up a bit. You don't want to cook with icy cold tuna. It should be slightly room temperature.
• Dressing -- In a small measuring cup or bowl, mix the the mustard, soy sauce, ginger, shallots, and lime juice and then slowly whisk in the oil to slightly emulsify and make it lightly and creamy. Set aside.
• Coating the Tuna -- In your small food processor, lightly grind up the peppercorns, not fine ground, rough cracked and add to the salt and sesame seeds. Add this mixture to a small plate. Now lightly brush (don't soak the fish, just a light coating) one side of the tuna with oil and press into the pepper mixture and then place on a plate and baking sheet lined with was paper or parchment so it doesn't stick. Then do the same thing to the other side. The oil just helps the pepper coating to stick.
• Saute -- I prefer cast iron for this, but if not, a large saute pan (NO NON-STICK) for this. Heat up to medium high to high heat and add the oil.
• Then saute the tuna on each side for just 2 minutes (less depending on the thickness). You want the tuna medium rare. The top and bottom should have about 1/4" of opaque color which means the outside edges will be done, but the inside still rare but warm. This also depends on how thick your steak is.
• Salad -- As the tuna cooks. Just mix the pea sprouts or micro greens in a large bowl with the red onion. Add just 1 teaspoon of the dressing and toss lightly. Add 1 1/2-2 cups of the salad to each of the 4 plates.
• Plate -- Once the tuna is done, serve each steak on top of the bed of greens. Drizzle with a little of the remaining dressing and serve any extra on the side. ENJOY!

SEARED TUNA IN BLACK PEPPER CRUST

Steps:

• Beat the lime juice, marjoram and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil together. Set aside.
• Trim any dark areas from the tuna, then cut it into four equal pieces, trimming them a little if necessary to make four rectangular logs. Press the cracked black pepper over the outside of the pieces of fish.
• Heat all but a teaspoon of the remaining olive oil plus the canola oil in a large, heavy skillet. When the oil is very hot, carefully place the fish in the skillet (to avoid splattering) and sear each piece for barely a minute, then turn and continue to sear the fish pieces briefly on each of the remaining three sides. Remove the fish to a warm plate. The fish should be rare in the middle.
• Wipe out the skillet and add the remaining olive oil. Add the spinach and saute it for a few minutes, until the spinach is barely wilted. Add the beans, season with salt and pepper and continue to saute until the spinach is wilted but is still a bright green and the beans are completely heated through.
• Divide the spinach mixture equally among four dinner plates. Cut the blocks of seared tuna into slices one-half-inch thick and array the slices on top of the spinach. Briefly beat the vinaigrette, then drizzle the vinaigrette around the tuna and the spinach. The plates are now ready to be served.