Sesame Crusted Tuna with a Soy Balsamic Reduction

This one is a little bit ambitious.  It’s certainly not hard, but there are a lot of steps.

For the Salad:

1 bag mixed greens (I used spring greens and baby spinach)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root

3/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons honey

Add all the ingredients, except greens to a jar with a screw top lid.  Shake well, set aside.

For the Slaw:

1 head Napa Cabbage cleaned and sliced thin

4 scallions, sliced on the bias

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

handful of sliced almonds, toasted

handful sesame seeds, toasted

couple of pinches of salt

couple of grinds of fresh black pepper

Combine the vinegar, sugar, vegetable oil, salt and pepper in a bowl, whisk well and pour over cabbage and scallion. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Toast the sesame seeds and almonds.  In a dry, hot pan, pour the sesame seeds in and allow to brown slightly.  Shake occasionally to get them all toasted.  When they become slightly golden, pour them into a heat safe bowl.

Wipe the pan out carefully with a clean, dry towel. Put back on the heat and add the slivered almonds.  Allow to cook, shaking occasionally until slightly golden, pour into another heat safe bowl.

Keep them separated in case you don’t use all of them.  It’s easier to store them separately for separate uses.

For the fish:

4 (6 ounce) tuna steaks thawed or fresh

salt

fresh ground pepper

toasted sesame seeds

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

4 scallions sliced on the bias

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

In a small sauce pan, heat up the sesame oil.  Add the garlic and scallions and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.  Add the balsamic, soy sauce and honey and allow to cook and reduce by about half.  Remove from the heat and let stand.

In another pan, heat up the vegetable oil.  Sprinkle salt, pepper and sesame seeds onto one side of the tuna.  Pat into the fish so that it sticks to it.  Place seeded side down to cook in pan.  Salt, pepper and seed other side. My steaks were thick and previously frozen, so it was about 4 minutes on the first side. When I could see that they were halfway cooked through, I checked the first side to make sure that the seeds were very golden brown.  I flipped the fish and cooked on the second side for a couple of minutes.  This is going to vary dependent upon the thickness of your fish. When the second side’s seeds were golden, I put them in a large serving bowl and poured the soy/balsamic reduction over the top.

Serve family style.  Take the slaw out of the fridge and add a handful of sesame seeds and a handful of almonds.

To plate:

Take one large plate and put a handful of greens on. Drizzle dressing over greens. Put a nice size pile of slaw next to the greens.  Put a tuna steak on top and spoon some of the reduction over the entire plate.

Everyone devoured this.  Really complex and just plain tasty.  Great balance of all flavors.  Just yum.

I’m so happy that I’ve been able to incorporate so much more fish into our diets.  It’s been a goal of mine for a long time and I really have gotten very comfortable.  I never though my family would be having fish at home twice a week, but we are. Yay!Similar Posts:

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