RECIPE: Seared tuna steak with strawberry salsa and young asparagus

Strawberries are amazing, aren’t they? I have warm memories of picking strawberries with my mother when I was a child, as I'm sure many of you do too. We often associate strawberries with desserts or in jams, but for this recipe I’m using strawberries in a savoury dish, pairing them with a seared tuna steak. 

A salsa with strawberries will add a velvety, sweet, summery backdrop to the smokey, peppery, silky tuna steak.

I particularly love the fact that all items – with the exception of the olive oil and cannelloni beans – are from Perry Court Farm, my local farm shop. I'm celebrating some key Kentish flavours here, even the tuna was from South Coast Sea Fayre, which is based in Perry Court Farm Shop.

This is exactly the type of dish we love to cook for our clients at Bear n Mind Catering, however this time it is a dish I will be cooking at the Medway Food & Drink Festival in the grounds of Rochester Castle on Saturday 8th June. The festival runs across the whole weekend, but I will be there on the Saturday, so do come along and say hello!

But, I digress... onwards to this tantalising recipe!

Seared tuna steak with strawberry salsa & young asparagus....

This is a very simple and refreshing dish, with very little cooking required. It's actually only the tuna steak that needs searing, but you could quite easily replace the tuna with crab, pork or any fish to be honest.

If meat and fish is not your thing, the salsa alone is great, the cannelloni beans add enough protein into the dish for the salsa to be healthy treat on its own. Alternatively, if you're feeling adventurous, try it with some seared watermelon!

Let me explain what's in the salsa....

Running through the strawberry salsa is some cannellini beans; to add some creaminess and richness (they are also packed with fibre and protein). There are some tomatoes and shallots to add a little texture and acidity, which also compliments the sweet mellow flavours of the wonderful Kentish strawberries. This is all brought together with some lime juice, olive oil, mint and basil to create a refreshing cool medley of flavours, which sit ever so nicely with the smokey tuna steak.

Recipe Serves 4 people Recipe Time: 15 minutes

Equipment

• Mixing bowl

• Frying pan

• Knife

Ingredients

• 2 tuna loin steaks

• Maldon salt or course sea salt

• Cracked black pepper

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients for the salsa

• 200g Kentish strawberries

• 100g Kentish baby plum tomatoes

• 1 small shallot

• 7 spears of young asparagus

• 10 leaves of fresh basil

• 10 leaves of fresh mint

• ½ tin of cannellini beans

• 1 lime

• 50ml extra virgin olive oil

• Maldon salt or course sea salt

• Cracked black pepper

Method

In a bowl add

• Shallot which has been cut into small dice

• Tomatoes which have been cut into ¼'s

• Raw asparagus which has been sliced into thin disks (I kept some spears for the presentation, but up to you)

• Strawberries which have been cut into small cubes and ¼'s creating different textures

• Olive oil

• Lime juice

• Salt and pepper

• Chopped basil

• Chopped mint

Leave this to sit in the fridge whilst you cook the tuna, and this is where the magic happens! The strawberries and tomatoes will begin to macerate, reacting with the lime juice and olive oil, and the result is a wonderful refreshing red juice that coats all the other ingredients.

For the tuna

• Season the tuna steak on both sides with salt, cracked black pepper and a little olive oil, return it back to the fridge and leave for 5 minutes.

• In a very hot (dry) frying pan, carefully add the tuna steak and cook for a couple of minutes on each side. We are aiming for a rare tuna steak here, and we want to have a high heat, so the middle doesn't cook!

• Once cooked, remove from the frying pan, chill in the fridge for a few minutes and then slice.

• Plating is quite simple, it's a one plate wonder. A great dish for sharing, summer evenings or BBQ’s on a hot day.
  

Tip

• Try cooking your tuna on a BBQ, using exactly the same method

• Keep your tuna cold before you cook it

• Only use fresh tuna, that is firm and deep red in colour

• When you are cooking the tuna steak, look for a colour change on the surface which is touching the heat. Once that colour change is ½ a centimetre thick, it's time to turn your tuna over.

Hope you enjoy!

Ian