I’ve made ahi steaks before, but it’s been underwhelming. Basically, I just sear it in a cast-iron skillet (with a little oil) and eat it with soy sauce and wasabi or wasabi mayo.
A) What is the preferred technique for searing ahi, given that I don’t want to fire up the charcoal grill and I’ll be using a cast-iron skillet?
B) How is the steak prepared prior to searing?
C) What sort of sauce/dip/condiment should it be served with?
Don’t need answer fast. We’re having fish’n’chips tonight.
I like to first cut the steaks into long slender “bricks”, like 1" X 2" X 7". Then I rub the bricks with olive oil, then sprinkle them with kosher salt and plenty of fresh cracked black pepper. Then sear them on all sides, about 30 seconds or so per side, in a dry red-hot skillet. Cool them, slice them in pretty diagonal slices, and serve with this vinaigrette sauce:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
some grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon chopped kalamata olives
chopped parsley
pinch each of salt and sugar
Dribble the sauce over the tuna slices. Toasted slices of crusty Italian bread and sliced tomatoes accompany it well.
I was going to suggest something more Asian flavored with soy, rice vinegar and sesame seeds…but this sounds way better than what I had in mind.
For the heat on the skillet I usually toss my skillet into my oven at 500 for a half hour or so then transfer to the highest setting on my burner and place the steaks in to sear. I let the tuna get to room temp like I would a beef steak before I put it in the pan to sear.
I was also going to recommend a sauce with a little vinegar in it, Japanese-style: flavored rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, etc. It really adds a lot to the tuna. They serve it at a local chain here. Serve on a bed of wild organic greens so that the extra sauce serves as dressing for the greens.
drooling now
Only thing I’d change is that I ‘bread’ mine with sesame seeds (brush the bricks or planks with olive oil, sprinkle with salt&pepper, and dredge in sesame seeds) and I don’t sear them as much - about 15-20 seconds per side, but then I like mine essentially raw. YMMV.
Steamed in a Taro leaf with some pork belly and Hawaiian Red Salt. Butterfish gives ya diarrhea. Ahi Lau Lau…
Peanut oil and butter in the pan. Heat it up nice and hot, salt and pepper the ahi and throw it in the pan. Do the front and back, then the sides as well. You’ll have a nice crispy steak with that pink center.
Sometimes, I’ll cut out the salt in favor of pouring soy sauce on it after cooking.
I’m sure there are better ways to do it but tuna is so tasty on its own that I just keep the recipe as simple, easy and fast as possible.
I agree,
You can also coat the tuna with sesame seeds and sear, but use a little oil.
That vinegrette sounds great too. I often substitute fermented black beans for the olives, and serve it on dressed sprouts of some sort.
This isn’t precisely what you had in mind, Johnny L.A., but it’s freaking good.
Dice the ahi into 1/2 cubes. Salt and pepper them (with red pepper), and sear them quickly in a very hot skillet in a little vegetable oil and a couple of tablespoons of chopped white onion. Remove when the cubes are barely colored on most sides.
Put the ahi cubes and the barely warmed-through onions in steamed corn tortillas and add some cilantro and salsa and squeeze lime wedges over all. Best fish tacos I ever had.
Amen.
It doesn’t matter how it’s prepared, cook it and toss it into a corn tortilla with some other “stuff” and you’ll be a happy boy.
Ahi tacos rule.