Grilled tuna steak with vegetable vinaigrette recipe
With a firm texture and high oil content, meaty steaks of tuna and swordfish are particularly well suited to grilling, but you could also use halibut or sea bass. Brushing both the fish and the grill with oil (and using a slotted fish spatula) will make the steaks easier to flip. The simple beauty of a lightly charred fresh catch needs little more than a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt, but give this pleasingly bitter and herbaceous vinaigrette a go. You can use it on grilled bread, eggs fried in olive oil and crisp rounds of grilled potatoes, too.
Reprinted with permission from Food52 Any Night Grilling: 60 Ways to Fire Up Dinner (and More) by Paula Disbrowe, copyright © 2018. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Ingredients
For the tuna steaks- 4 170g (6oz) center-cut tuna steaks (about 2cm/¾ inch thick)
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 1 pinch sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 1 small red onion
- 1 small head radicchio
- 120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 small clove of garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp capers
- 2 crumbled dried piquín chillis or generous pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 small handful fresh mint or parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1 small handful fresh marjoram or oregano leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, trimmed
Details
- Cuisine: American
- Recipe Type: Fish
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 25 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Prepare a charcoal grill for two-zone cooking and build a medium fire, or heat a gas grill to medium-high. Carefully wipe the preheated grill grates with a lightly oiled paper towel. Using a grill brush, scrape the grill grates clean, then carefully wipe with a lightly oiled towel again.
- To make the vinaigrette, halve the fennel bulb lengthwise and cut each half into approximately 2.5cm/1 inch wedges, keeping the root intact to help the wedges hold together on the grill. Cut the onion into 1.5cm/0.5 inch rounds. Quarter the radicchio, keeping the stem intact.
- Grill the fennel, onion, and radicchio over direct heat, turning and rotating as needed for even cooking, until the fennel and onion are lightly charred and cooked through but still have a little bite, about 20 minutes. The radicchio is ready when the leaves are wilted, the tips crackly, and the color has changed from magenta to reddish-brown with dark brown edges, 15 to 20 minutes.
- As they finish, pop the grilled vegetables into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Once fully cool, chop the vegetables into roughly 1.5cm/0.5 inch pieces.
- In the same bowl, stir together the vegetables, oil, vinegar, sea salt, garlic, capers, and chillis. Stir in the mint and marjoram.
- On a baking sheet or large plate, brush or drizzle each steak with 2 teaspoons olive oil and season generously with sea salt on both sides.
- Carefully place the fish on the grill over direct heat. Cook 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium-rare.
- Use a spatula to transfer the fish to a serving dish. Top with the vinaigrette, lightly drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and flaky salt, and serve alongside lemon wedges.
Reprinted with permission from Food52 Any Night Grilling: 60 Ways to Fire Up Dinner (and More) by Paula Disbrowe, copyright © 2018. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Photography by James Ransom.
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