High quality tuna, seared over charcoal and served over cold, fresh greens. Unbeatable!
March 22, 2022
By Tommy Thompson
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I’ll eat almost anything, with the exception of beef liver and canned tuna fish. Yes, I’ve tried fancy tinned European tuna in salade Nicoise, but I just can’t get over the “canned” aspect. I do, however, appreciate the taste and texture of rare-to-medium-rare yellowfin tuna. And there’s no better way to eat it than with a salad of avocado, onion, cucumber and cilantro, lightly dressed with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
Salad with Fresh Grilled Tuna Ingredients
6 to 8 oz. yellowfin or blackfin tuna steaks, about 1 1/2 inch thick (1 per serving) dusted with freshly ground black pepper 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced 1/2 English cucumber, cut into bite-sized pieces 2 large avocados, cut into bite-sized pieces 2 Romaine lettuce hearts, split 3-4 tbs. chopped cilantro leaves Extra-virgin olive oil Juice of 2 lemons Directions
The salad component of this recipe is pretty straightforward: Chop and cut, assemble, dress and gently toss the onion, cucumber, cilantro and avocado pieces. Try to keep the avocado pieces intact. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice.
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The tuna part of this recipe is a bit more complicated. I recommend searing the fish over very high heat and prefer a charcoal fire. One trick I’ve learned is to get out a “fire-starter chimney,” load it up with good quality lump charcoal and light it up. When it’s super-hot, put a cake-cooling rack from the kitchen over the chimney and get grilling. Tuna is quick to cook, especially at the high temperatures created by close proximity to the white-hot charcoal. I recommend 45 seconds to a minute on each side of the fish for medium rare. Don’t walk away from the fire; you’ll get overdone fish. It’s also fragile, so taking care to cut the fish and place it over the green salad is essential. FS
Published Florida Sportsman Magazine May 2020
