Arugula-stuffed Yellowfin Tuna Steak
By Narayan • 20:39 on Monday, March 11, 2002 • Comment
This recipe, also from Mark Bittman’s Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking, is easy to prepare (despite its intimidating name) and quite tasty, especially if you use both arugula and garlic for the stuffing. A few tips from someone who’s made this numerous times: the type of tuna steak this recipe calls for will probably require you to ask your fishmonger to cut the steaks from a large slab of fish. Call ahead and ask them to cut you the steaks you need or to leave some of the big slab until you get there. Also, keep in mind that 1.5 lbs of fish is a lot of fish. One of these should easily serve 2 people, 3 if you have enough sides. You can make smaller steaks, but they’re harder to stuff. Be liberal with the stuffing, or it won’t register on your tastebuds against the very flavorful tuna. Lastly, a grill is really the way to go with this recipe.
- Juice of 3 limes
- 1/4 cup high-quality soy sauce
- 1 medium-size clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon strong mustard
- 2 teaspoons peeled and finely minced fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup dry white wine or water
- 1 cup arugula leaves
- 1 tuna steak, no less than 1 1/4 inches thick, about 1 1/2 lbs.
- Mix together all the ingredients except the tuna and arugula, marinate the tuna in it for no more than 1 hour (less is fine). Refrigerate if the weather is warm. Wash and pick over the arugula, remove woody stems.
- Start a charcoal or wood fire should be quite hot, or preheat a gas grill or broiler. Remove the tuna from the marinade and dry it gently with paper towels. Toss the arugula with the marinade. Using a sharp, thin-bladed knife (a boning knife, for example), make a small incision halfway down any edge of the tuna steak. Insert the knife almost to the opposite edge of the steak, then move it back and forth, flipping it over and creating a large pocket. Be careful not to cut through the top, bottom, or opposite edge of the tuna, and try to keep the entry point small.
- Stuff the pocket with the arugula, still drenched in marinade. If you’ve kept the pocket opening small, seal it with a toothpick, if it’s more than 1 to 2 inches wide, use a couple of skewers. Grill the tuna, turning once, about 6 minutes per inch of thickness (if your steak is 1 1/2 inches thick, for example, turn it after about 4 minutes and cook 4 to 5 minutes more). Serve, cut into quarters or 1/2 inch thick slices.
For garlic stuffed steaks, stuff the steaks with a mixture of 1/4 cup minced garlic, 1/2 cup chopped scallions (green and white parts), 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper. Let the mixture mellow in the fish mixture of soy and oil before and during grilling.