The end of summer tuna brunch. The summer is slowly waning here in NYC but I still love a lite summer brunch that is nothing more than straight protein and veggies. It also goes famously with some iced soju or rosé.
I have always been a fan of a quick seared tuna (sushi-grade) especially Albacore. I fell in love with sushi long, long ago but was reunited with my love affair one weekend with my Dad and brother.
We ventured off to Cabo San Lucas one weekend for a family fishing trip. I’m sure we all had internal bets and agendas on who would catch the biggest fish as most men do, but the long and short of it is we did manage to land a nice size tuna that hot summer day from our little Mexican “Panga”. I went to work gutting and filleting the tuna for an onboard feast. Right there. The tuna tasted like a brackish butter. The captain had some soy sauce (yes, I know real sushi is done with wasabi only) that we lightly seasoned it with. and Oh Gawd. OH GAWD. Even Morimoto’s mouth would have been watering.
The tuna tasted like a brackish butter. The captain had some soy sauce (yes, I know real sushi is done with wasabi only) that we lightly seasoned it with. and Oh Gawd. OH GAWD. Even Morimoto’s mouth would have been watering.
Here is a recipe for a deliciously simple brunch.
- 2 fresh sushi-grade Albacore steaks
- 2 TBL black sesame seeds (natural will work as well)
- 1 TSP sesame oil
- 1 head of baby Romain lettuce
- 4 quail eggs
- 1 TSP course bread crumbs
Salad Dressing Ingredients
- 2 TSP anchovy oil
- 1 TSP fresh lemon juice
- 1 TSP olive oil
- 1 quail egg
- 1 clove garlic paste (done with your knife)
- Dash of Worchestire sauce
Tuna Sauce Ingredients
- 1 TSP agave
- 1 TSP Yozu juice or a sour orange
- 1 TSP soy sauce
- 1 TSP white Miso paste
- 1 TSP water
This is so easy you will be able to do this blind-folded after a couple times. The great thing about this dish is that you don’t have to keep it under some lamp or timer or some “salamander” (kinda like a toaster oven). This can all be served cold, cool or room temp but always fresh.
The only part of this that requires a tiny bit of culinary knowledge is how to poach the tiny quail eggs.
- Bring a quart of water to a roiling boil then add a big splash of white vinegar
- Start making a little whirlpool in the water with a small slotted spoon
- Gently crack the egg and drop it into the center of whirlpool
- Give it about 15 seconds then bring it gently out with the slotted spoon.
Wah-laah. Poached.
Outside of the poached egg everything else is straightforward. You whisk together both dressings, rub one side of the tuna with some sesame oil and soy sauce, dip that same side of tuna in a bed of black sesame seeds and sear that same side for 30 seconds.
You have just made an award winning brunch. Drink up.