Seared Sesame Tuna Steaks

Aunt Joanne, this one's for you! :-)

I got the idea for this awesome recipe while watching Food Network one evening (imagine that), and seeing Alton Brown do something very similar. He actually had an entire tuna loin, which I had been unable to find until recently, and he grilled his. I believe he also used more wasabi powder in his, which you are more than welcome to do, but if you’re serving it with something like wasabi mashed potatoes or drizzling a little bit of wasabi aioli over the top, I think it’s best to use the wasabi in moderation. My fellow sushi lovers can attest to the fact that too much wasabi can definitely be a bad thing!
What I really like about this recipe is that the marinade adds a little bit of flavor to the fish. If you buy really good fish, tuna included, it should never smell fishy or “off”. Sometimes, if you buy frozen fish, it has kind of a weird smell, but you can easily remedy that by soaking the fish, any fish, in milk for an hour or so. The acid in the milk absorbs any added smells and tastes… Now, keep in mind, if the fish is bad, there’s no saving it! Please, do not ever try to revive old/bad fish by soaking it in milk, because it’s not going to work and you (or your dinner guests) could possibly suffer from food poisoning. Nobody wants that!
For those of you who don’t know about tuna, I just want to say that, yes, you ARE supposed to eat it rare to medium-rare. In fact, if you overcook it, I’m guessing it will taste very much like that dry stuff you buy in a can at your local market, which needs some mayo to make it taste good. You can ask just about anyone, and they’ll tell you that eating rare meat is not generally something I do. I was at dinner with my best friend and her mom and ordered a hamburger that was still very pink in the middle, and I couldn’t even eat it after seeing that. I don’t generally care for steaks because I don’t like them to have any pink in them, which means they usually end up on the tough side. I’m not the kinda girl to condone eating raw meat, at all! But, this time, I will most definitely emphasize how imperative it is. The important thing to remember is that you need to make sure you’re buying sushi-grade tuna, which is most generally always eaten without being cooked at all. Anything given the sushi grade has to be of very high quality, so the chances of getting sick from eating it are slim to none. I’ve eaten uncooked, rare, or medium-rare tuna on many occasions, and have yet to get sick as a result. Try doing that with chicken! ;-P

Printable Recipe

1 c. dark soy sauce
1 c. honey
¼ c. dry wasabi powder
2 (app. 8 oz.) sushi-grade tuna steaks
¼ c. white sesame seeds
¼ c. black sesame seeds
2 Tbsp. canola oil
Wasabi aioli, optional

In a non-reactive (glass) bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, and wasabi powder. Place the tuna in a glass baking dish and pour the sauce around the fish, moving the fish around to coat evenly. Marinate the tuna up to 4 hours, turning the steaks halfway through marinating. Remove the tuna from the marinade and discard the marinade. On a plate, combine the sesame seeds and coat both sides of each tuna steaks with the seeds, pressing gently so that they adhere.
In a non-coated or cast iron frying pan, heat canola oil on medium heat and place the tuna steaks in the frying pan when the oil is hot. For medium rare steak: cook for 2 - 4 minutes, flip and cook for another 2 - 4 minutes. Slice the tuna against the grain and serve drizzled with a little bit of wasabi aioli. Makes 4 servings

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

I originally made these potatoes for a dinner with my “mom”, aunt, and sister after seeing them made on a cooking show, and I served them with marinated sesame crusted tuna steaks and roasted asparagus. When I made them the first time, I baked the potatoes, put them through my food mill, and used a wasabi powder that I have. While the potatoes were good, the texture and flavor wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for - they seemed to be drier potatoes, which I think was because of the wasabi powder in addition to being baked, and they weren’t EXACTLY what I wanted. So, I went about making them a little bit differently until I got the results I was looking for!
First and foremost, to get the best, creamy mashed potato texture without any lumps, I highly recommend getting yourself a potato ricer or food mill! You can find them at nearly any cooking store, they’re fairly inexpensive, and definitely worth the investment. (I have one of each!) I’ve never found anything else to give you the perfect consistency for mashed potatoes the way this little tool does. I’m not particularly fond of lumpy mashed potatoes, so there was no question that I needed one (or two) of these… ;-) The great thing about them is that you can use them for other things too, like making your own homemade baby food. The models I have of both the ricer and the food mill come with different plates which determine how fine you want your food, so it’s easy to go from baby’s first foods to chunkier versions when they’re ready for those stages.
Another thing that I like about this recipe, other than the wasabi (which I LOVE, especially with sushi), is that it can be made as healthy as you want it to be. I’ve made this with a very good-quality fat free sour cream (Morning Glory is excellent) as well as Greek yogurt, and I’ve made it with skim milk as well as heavy cream. You can make this recipe using very little wasabi or a lot of wasabi, depending on your own personal tastes. It’s entirely up to you to make it what you want! :-)

Printable Recipe

1 lb. russet potatoes, cut into uniform chunks
½ c. Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 - 2 tsp. prepared wasabi
2 - 4 Tbsp. cream, half & half, or milk
¼ c. minced fresh parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the chunks of potatoes into a saucepan and cover with cold water; bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes fall apart when pierced with a fork. Drain the potatoes. While the potatoes are still hot, use a tongs to transfer them to a potato ricer or food mill and press the hot potato pieces back into the empty, warm saucepan. (Because we’re using a potato ricer/food mill, it’s not necessary to peel the potatoes before cooking them; when you rice potatoes, the skins don’t make it through the press.)
Once all of the potatoes have been riced, add the yogurt or sour cream, prepared wasabi, and cream and stir to combine. (Note: Add small amounts of the wasabi and the cream first and then continue adding more until you reach the desired flavor and consistency. You can always add more, but it’s usually more difficult or even impossible to take it back once it’s already in there! If your potatoes do get too runny, you can place them on a warm burner until the extra liquid evaporates.) Once you’ve reached the desired consistency, add the fresh parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Makes 2 servings