The inspiration for this dish was the wonderful southern French salad, Niçoise. The traditional salad is quite hearty, with tuna boiled potatoes, green beans, capers, anchovies, olives and boiled eggs. Way more than 5 ingredients. This is my minimalist version. You can serve the tuna as a whole steak or tear the cooked tuna into chunks, mix it with the tomato, capers and rocket and drizzle over some mayonnaise.
Seared Tuna and Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tuna steaks approx. 1cm thick
- 2 handfuls cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons capers optional
- 1 bag rocket (arugula) arugula or other salad
- 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Instructions
- Heat a large frying pan or skillet on medium-high heat.
- Rub tuna with oil. Season.
- Add fish and tomatoes to the hot pan. Sear for about a minute on each side.
- Serve steaks sprinkled with capers (if using) and tomato. Serve rocket or salad and mayonnaise on the side.
Variations
vegan – use 2 portabello or field mushrooms per person and sear until tender, about 4 minutes each side. Use a vegan mayo.
carnivore – replace tuna with minute beef steaks, pork or lamb cutlets.
vegetarian – try halloumi sliced 1 cm thick and pan-fried until golden on both sides – about 3 minutes a side.
egg free – use a vegan mayonnaise or serve with hummus or a big squeeze of lemon juice instead.
different fish – try different fish fillets or steaks. Most will work well with the tomatoes.
carb lovers / more substantial – serve with roast or mashed potatoes, roast root veg or crusty bread and butter.
more substantial (low carb) – serve with avocado.
keto / ultra low carb – skip the cherry tomatoes.
more veg – add grilled zucchini & eggplant.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
tuna steaks – freeze.
cherry tomatoes – use for another meal or try these home dried tomatoes.
capers – pantry if salted or in the fridge if in brine and jar is opened. Keeps for years.
rocket (arugula) or salad – best to use for another meal. Can be frozen but will wilt when defrosted.
mayonnaise – should keep in the fridge for months. Don’t freeze as it will split.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
This one jumped out at me from the meal plan, and it was easy to make, but I wasn’t thrilled with it. It is difficult to find good fish here in the desert, and I have discovered that in addition to not liking canned tomatoes, I apparently also don’t care much for seriously cooked ones. We skipped the mayo, and I made a sherry vinaigrette for the arugula. The one good thing about the tomatoes is that they did a great job of taming the flavor of the arugula. If I do make this again, since I cook my tuna more than just to sear it, I would add the tomatoes about halfway through cooking. I have not heard any comments about the meal, but I’m betting my husband would be fine with my not making it again…
Good to know Susan – if you’re not using mayo I think you need another sauce to bring it together rather than just the vinaigrette.
1 person, 15 minute or less, pantry version. Heat 100g of frozen green beans (I microwaved mine for 4 minutes @ 800 watts). Add 1x200g tin of fish fillets (I used herring in tomato sauce), 1/4 cup/30g/12 kalamata olives, halved, and about the same quantity of sun-dried tomato pieces. Continue to heat until the mixture reaches the desired temperature. Serve with 2 Tbsp of mayonnaise and something to mop up the juices. Pretty good.
Love it Mark! I’m going to get some frozen green beans – I used to hate them as a kid but thinking it’s time to reconsider. Especially with herring 🙂
Thanks. I was never that fond of them either, but freezing technology seems to have advanced significantly.