Chargrilled tuna with oregano oil & beautifully dressed peas & broad beans

From Cook with Jamie
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the oregano oil
1 small bunch of fresh oregano or marjoram, leaves picked
sea salt
juice of 1 lemon
best-quality extra virgin olive oil
For the tuna, beans and peas
4 handfuls of podded peas
2 handfuls of podded broad beans
80 ml best-quality extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground back pepper
1 small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
juice of 1 lemon
4 x 200 g tuna steaks, from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, cut 1cm thick

To make your oregano oil, pound the oregano with a good pinch of sea salt in a pestle and mortar until you have a paste. Add the lemon juice and 4 tablespoons of olive oil and stir until you have a good drizzling consistency.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add your peas and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon or sieve. Add the broad beans to the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, depending on their size. Drain and leave to cool, then pinch the skins off any big beans (you can leave the skin on any small or medium ones).

To dress the peas and beans you want the same balance of acid and oil as you would have in a salad dressing. So, put the olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a large bowl. Chop up most of the mint and throw it in, add the peas and beans and mix everything around. Add lemon juice to taste. You can serve the dressed peas and beans hot or at room temperature.

Heat a griddle pan or barbecue until hot, season your tuna steaks with salt and pepper and pat with some of the oregano oil. Place in the pan and sear for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Personally, I like to keep my tuna a little pink in the middle as this tastes much nicer, but if you’re going to cook it through please don’t nuke it.

Tear the tuna into 2 or 3 pieces and toss in a large bowl with the rest of the oregano oil. This will give you a lovely combination of flavours. Serve the fish immediately with the peas and broad beans scattered with the rest of the mint leaves.

P.S. Sometimes I love to throw random delicate greens like baby spinach, watercress, even rocket, in with the broad beans for 30 seconds before you drain them. The combination of peppery irony greens, creamy broad beans and sweet little peas makes the veg taste even better.

Pasta Puttanesca or Working Girl’s Pasta

Jamie’s Dinners
Serves 4

Ingredients:
A handful of fresh basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Two 8-ounce tuna steaks, chopped into bite-size chunks, or 2 cans of good-quality tuna, drained
14 ounces penne or spaghetti
8 anchovy fillets
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 handfuls of soaked capers
A handful of black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 to 3 small dried chiles, crumbled to your taste, or 1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely sliced
2 handfuls of really ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
Optional: a swig of white wine
A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Smash the basil to a pulp with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest and juice and 2 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil. Mix this up and either rub over your chopped-up fresh tuna or mix with your broken-up canned tuna and allow to marinate.

Get a large pan of salted boiling water on and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. As soon as you put the pasta on, put 3 or 4 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil into a large frying pan and put on the heat. As the pan starts to get warm, add your anchovy fillets and allow them to fry and melt. At this point add your garlic, capers, olives, and chili and stir around for a couple of minutes. If you have used fresh tuna, add it to the pan now with all of the marinating juices and sear it on both sides. When done, add the tomatoes and a little swig of white wine if you have some. If you have used canned tuna, add it to the pan at the same time as the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer for around 5 minutes, stirring regularly with a spoon, breaking the tuna up into smaller pieces. What you don’t want to do is overcook the tuna so it goes tough. You want it to be soft and silky. Correct the seasoning carefully with salt and pepper.

The pasta should now be ready, so drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Toss the hot pasta with the hot tuna sauce, add the parsley, and mix well. You may need a few more lugs of olive oil and a spoonful of cooking water to make the sauce nice and loose.

One of my go-to recipes for good wholesome seafood pasta.

Salade Niçoise

BBC GoodFood 101 Mediterranean Dishes
Serves 4
Ingredients

5tbsp olive oil, plus a little extra for frying and drizzling
2tsp finely chopped fresh oregano
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
16 new potatoes, halved
100g green beans
4 X 100g fresh tuna steaks
handful of black olives, pitted
8 anchovy fillets, thinly sliced in strips
16 cherry tomatoes
4 small eggs, soft boiled, halved
grated parmesan, to serve

Whisk the five tbsp of olive oil with the oregano and enough of lemon juice to taste, in a large bowl. Season, set aside

Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water for 10 minutes or until tender, adding the beans for the last 4 minutes . Drain well and toss well while warm in the dressing.

Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Add the tuna and fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Add the olives, anchovies and tomatoes to the potatoes and gently toss. Scatter the salad over four plates, top with the tuna, eggs, Parmesan and a drizzle of oil.

Fusilli salad

From The Silver Spoon
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
16 fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove
olive oil for drizzling
350g fusilli
80g canned tuna in oil, drained and flaked
12 black olives, stoned and halved
120g mozzarella cheese, diced
salt

Put the tomatoes, basil and garlic in a serving bowl, drizzle with oil and season with salt. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted, boiling water until al dente, then drain. Remove and discard the garlic, then tip the fusilli into the bowl. Add the tuna, olives and mozzarella, toss and serve.

Had a craving for pasta today and so I went through my cookbooks to find a good summery pasta dish. This is what I came up with. Really simple and the key to this dish is really the freshness and quality of the ingredients.

Tuna, tomato and rocket pasta salad

From Bowl Food

Serves 4
Ingredients
350g dried fettucine
350g tuna steaks
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained, roughly chopped, reserving 2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup sun-dried capsicums, drained and roughly chopped
100g capers, drained
1 cup black olives, pitted and quartered
100g baby rocket leaves

Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain. Meanwhile, lightly brush a chargrill plate with oil and cook the tuna for 1-2 minutes each side (it should be rare in the middle) or until cooked to your liking. Cut the tuna into 2.5cm cubes. Keep warm.

Heat the reserved sun-dried tomato oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the tomato, garlic, capsicum, capers and olives, and cook, stirring, for 5-6 minutes, or until the mixture is heated through.

Place the pasta, tomato mixture and rocket in a large bowl, season and toss to combine. Divide among four serving plates and top with the tuna. Serve with lemon wedges and shaved parmesan, if desired.

Too warm today to cook anything complex; so it’s a simple and healthy salad for Saturday lunch. I didn’t add the pasta as I prefer to eat the tuna with ciabatta bread.

Marmitako

From Spanish – the cookbook
Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 green bell peppers seeded and chopped
4 light tuna steaks
400g can tomatoes with juice
2 tsp paprika
3 potatoes, diced
350ml dry cider
salt and ground pepper
chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Heat half the oil in a shallow flameproof casserole big enough to take the fish. Fry the onion gently until softened, then add the garlic. Add the peppers and chilli and stir fry gently.

Season the fish steaks. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and fry the fish steaks for 2 minutes on each side over a high heat. Add the tomatoes to the casserole and stir-fry gently. Add the paprika, then salt and pepper to taste.

Slip the fish steaks into the sauce, moving the peppers into the spaces between them. Cover with the potatoes, pushing them as flat as possible. Add the cider and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook very gently for about 45 minutes, or until the potatoes are done.

Check the seasoning, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve immediately, straight from the casserole.

According to the cookbook, this is a traditional fisherman’s stew, often made at sea, with meaty tuna steaks. I like the addition of paprika which gives it a distinct spicy, smokey taste which distinguishes it from the other fish stews I have made.

Btw I forgot to buy a can of tomatoes for the soup, so instead I used fresh tomatoes and some fish stock to replace. I think it should work just as well.

Tuna casserole

From I Know How to Cook by Ginette Mathiot
Serves 6
Ingredients

For the marinade:

100g carrot, sliced
100g onion sliced
10g shallot sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, sliced
1-2 cloves, ground
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf broken up
2-3 sprigs of thyme, chopped
750ml white wine
175ml white wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil

600g tuna
250g bacon rashers
2 tbsp oil
350ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 shallot chopped
30g butter

Cover the tuna with the carrot, onion, shallot and garlic, then sprinkle with the cloves, salt and pepper, bay leaf and thyme. Pour over the wine, vinegar and oil. Marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, turning it regularly. Drain, reserving the marinade.

Wrap the tuna in the bacon rashers. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the tuna parcels and cook over a medium heat, turning once, for 8 minutes.

Pour in 150ml of the reserved marinade and the stock, season with salt and pepper add the garlic and shallot and dot with the butter.

Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes.

I am not too sure when it started but I have developed a taste for (some) sour flavours (probably not as intense as sour plums) This tuna casserole is refreshing and light; therefore appropriate for the spring/summer heat. There’s no tomatoes or cream in this casserole, just white wine and white wine vinegar which gives it a sour base and in a way reminiscent of the sour fish soups you get in south east asia (see lainey’s filipino fish soup). I feel quite comfortable and happy for my gut after eating this meal.