Tuna with Rocket, Garlic and Pinenuts

Often enjoyed raw as quality sashimi-grade fish, tuna are also incredibly tasty when cooked. With a pink to deep red moist and firm flesh, Tuna are best cooked rare or pink in the middle so the flesh does not become dry. Available all year round, but at peak quality during winter when the flesh has a higher fat content, tuna is most flavoursome especially for sashimi.

This week get the best of both worlds with Sydney Fish Market's Tuna and potato, rocket and pinenut salad.

Tuna with Rocket, Garlic & Pinenuts

Serves 4

1 x 600g piece sashimi-grade tuna (see notes)

Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

100g wild or baby rocket, washed and dried

¼ cup pinenuts

600g kipfler potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced (see notes)

3 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced (see notes)

1 ½ tablespoons verjuice (see notes)

Toss tuna with salt, pepper and enough olive oil to coat. Set aside.

Place the rocket in a bowl, dress with a little olive oil and salt. Heat the pinenuts in a large heavy-based frying pan, over a medium heat, until pale golden. Tip onto a plate to cool. Add remaining oil to frying pan and cook the potato slices until golden on both sides. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel.

Increase the temperature to high. Place tuna in frying pan and cook for 30-60 seconds on each side until well seared all over, it should still be rare in the centre. Remove, and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice thinly.

Meanwhile, reduce the heat under the frying pan, add the garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, until pale golden. Remove to a plate using a slotted spoon. Toss with rocket and potatoes.

Arrange Tuna slices in a circle on 4 plates and place salad in the centre. Add the verjuice to the hot pan, swirl a couple of times and drizzle over the salad.

Notes: Sashimi-grade fish is normally sold trimmed, if it is not, trim off any skin and dark muscle before cooking. Kipflers are waxy potatoes that hold their shape well when cooked; other waxy potatoes include charlotte or pink fir apple. Use a Japanese mandolin to cut thin, even slices of garlic. Verjuice is the unfermented juice of unripe grapes, it has a delicate sour flavour and can be used in place of vinegar or lemon juice in sauces and dressings.

Alternative species: Atlantic Salmon, Swordfish, Yellowtail Kingfish.

TUNA FACTS

There are more than 10 different species of tuna found all around the Australian coast. The most highly sought after species are yellowfin tuna, big eye tuna and Southern bluefin tuna, these are the most popular for sashimi – to be consumed raw. Albacore, bonito and skipjack also belong to the tuna family, these species tend to be lower in price. Tuna averages between 17-25kg and 1-1.5 metres in length. Big eye, yellowfin and southern bluefin can all grow to at least 2m and in excess of 100kg. Tuna is available all year but the winter catch is considered the best quality, the seasons vary for each species and region. Tuna is mostly wild caught by long line fishing, aquaculture is a developing industry in South Australia where they are catching Southern bluefin and “ranching” or fattening the tuna, it is mostly exported to Japan. Tuna long liners catch the larger species of tuna and other pelagic (open water species) are caught as by-product including swordfish, striped marlin, moonfish and shark.

Sashimi tuna refers to the quality grading of each fish, to retain the quality and freshness fishermen use Japanese style processing: on capture, each fish is brain spiked (ike jime), bled, gutted and ice slurried (chilled in a mixture of ice and sea water). As Tuna is warm blooded, these handling techniques prevent deterioration of the flesh caused by stress and overheating. Tuna is sold at Sydney Fish Market using a “sashimi pavilion” for a voice auction that is separate from the computerised Dutch Auction used for the bulk of product.

TO BUY: Tuna is sold as a side, steaks and occasionally as fillets or cutlets. Sashimi grade tuna is usually retailed in a separate section, trimmed and ready to use. Look for lustrous flesh that has a good pink to deep red colour, is firm, moist and has a pleasant fresh sea smell. “Marbling”, the white lines of fat permeating the meat, is considered a quality point for high grade sashimi.

TO STORE: Wrap well in plastic wrap or place in a covered container. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or you can freeze for up to 3 months, providing your freezer operates at –18ºc.

TO PREPARE: Trim away any skin and the dark muscle. Slice fillets or steaks into serving size portions of an even thickness. Although tuna is oily, it can dry out quickly once heat is applied so it is best to serve tuna rare or pink in the middle.

TO COOK: Tuna is the most popular fish for sashimi, traditionally sashimi consists of thin slices of raw fish arranged artistically on a plate, served with soy and wasabi. Sushi is raw fish served on or with vinegared rice, it can be shaped in a variety of ways. Carpaccio and tartare are traditional European raw tuna dishes, usually lightly dressed and served with bread. Tuna suits most methods of cooking, and is moist and flavoursome when served rare. Use thick steaks for barbecuing, marinate in olive oil and herbs and baste while cooking. Buy a large piece of Tuna, cut a pocket and fill with a variety of herbs then wrap in foil and bake. Poach thin slices in an Asian hot pot with shitake or oyster mushrooms. Tuna goes well with strong-flavoured ingredients such as onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, soy sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, red wine and fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, basil or tarragon.

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