Recipes!

[10sun]

Making some escabeche caliente tuna steaks for dinner on Monday (forgot about work schedule), figured I'd share the recipes:

Escabeche rub:
2 tblspn of cumin seeds
2 tblspn black peppercorns
1 tblspn cane sugar
1 tblspn ground seasalt

Roast cumin seeds & peppercorns over medium heat til you can smell them strongly. Cool them, grind them, mix in sugar & salt. Set aside. (makes about 1/4 a cup, more than enough for the rest).

Marinade:
1 chipotle chile pepper cleaned out
1.5 tspn coriander seeds
1 tblspn black peppercorns
3 bay leaves, broken into a few pieces each
2 cups white wine vinegar
1 cup OJ (preferably fresh)
.5 cup sliced fennel
4 halved garlic cloves
3 sprigs of thyme

Toast chile pepper, coriander, peppercorns, & bay leaves over medium heat til you can smell them.
Remove heat, add everything else.
Strain off 2/3 cup of the marinade and reserve.

Spiced butter:

1 tblspn Escabeche rub
2/3 cup of Marinade
1 stick unsalted butter

reduce marinade from 2/3 cup down to 1 tblspn worth.
Let it cool, then mix up butter & escabeche rub with it with a fork.

Tuna steaks

4x 6 ounce Tuna steaks
2 tblspn Escabeche rub
2 tblspn canola oil

When the marinade from above is cooled, immerse the tuna steaks in it and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Remove from marinade, rub with Escabeche.
Heat up oil in frying pan (you could probably do this on a grill, Vonkaar).
When the oil is hot hot, cook tuna for 2.5 minutes on each side or until steaks are appropriately finished for your guests.

Put a dollop of butter on each steak and serve.

This is a modified recipe from Norman Van Aken's cookbook New World Kitchen for my own dietary needs/preferences. I prefer to serve mine with fried asparagus & lemon as well, but thats just me.

-Adam