Tuna Steak Au Poivre With White Beans And Bitter Greens Salad Recipes

TUNA STEAK AU POIVRE WITH WHITE BEANS AND BITTER GREENS SALAD

Steps:

• If you are planning to roast your red pepper, rather than use store bought, place your pepper under broiler to blacken. See red pepper method below.
• Preheat a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Pat tuna steaks dry and season with a little coarse salt. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over tuna and lightly coat steaks on both sides. Coat 1 side of the steaks with a generous amount of coarse ground black pepper. When the pan is very hot, add steaks, peppered side down. Sear and brown steaks 2 minutes, then turn, and immediately reduce heat to medium. Loosely cover pan with aluminum foil tent and allow steaks to cook 5 minutes for rare, 7 minutes for medium. Steaks should be firm, but have a little give and some pink should remain at the center.
• In a second skillet over moderate heat, coat pan with olive oil, add garlic and onion, and saute 3 minutes to soften onion bits. Add beans and chopped roasted red pepper to the pan. Heat beans through, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in rosemary and parsley and season beans with salt and pepper.
• Combine escarole and radicchio in shallow dish. Coat greens with lemon juice, then a drizzle of oil. Season salad with coarse salt and toss well.
• To serve, pile a serving of beans on a dinner plate and top with tuna steak. Serve salad greens along side beans and fish. You can also serve this with sliced bread that has been toasted and then rubbed with half a garlic clove.
• To roast red peppers: Preheat broiler to high. Split and seed pepper and place skin side up close to hot broiler. Blacken skins of pepper. Transfer pepper to brown paper bag and seal. Let pepper cool to handle. Peel charred skins away from pepper flesh.

STEAK AU POIVRE

Steps:

• Remove the steaks from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour prior to cooking. Sprinkle all sides with salt.
• Coarsely crush the peppercorns with a mortar and pestle, the bottom of a cast iron skillet, or using a mallet and pie pan. Spread the peppercorns evenly onto a plate. Press the fillets, on both sides, into the pepper until it coats the surface. Set aside.
• In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter and olive oil. As soon as the butter and oil begin to turn golden and smoke, gently place the steaks in the pan. For medium-rare, cook for 4 minutes on each side. Once done, remove the steaks to a plate, tent with foil and set aside. Pour off the excess fat but do not wipe or scrape the pan clean.
• Off of the heat, add 1/3 cup Cognac to the pan and carefully ignite the alcohol with a long match or firestick. Gently shake pan until the flames die. Return the pan to medium heat and add the cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and whisk until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 6 minutes. Add the teaspoon of Cognac and season, to taste, with salt. Add the steaks back to the pan, spoon the sauce over, and serve.

TUNA STEAK AU POIVRE

Steps:

• Stir together soy sauce, water, lime juice, ginger, sugar, and scallion.
• Coarsely crush peppercorns and coriander with a mortar and pestle or heavy skillet. Sprinkle tuna with 3/4 tsp salt, then press spice mixture evenly all over fish.
• Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sear tuna, turning once, about 6 minutes for medium-rare.
• Serve with dipping sauce.

WHITE BEANS AND TUNA SALAD

Steps:

• Combine beans with water and bring to boil. Boil briskly for 2 minutes, remove from heat and let beans soak for 1 hour. Then cook them again in soaking water over low heat for another 1 1/2 hours, or until tender, adding more water, if necessary, to keep them covered. Drain.
• Combine oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and pour over beans while still warm. Add green onions and parsley and mix gently. Refrigerate.
• To serve, drain tuna, break into chunks and place on top of beans.

GRILLED TUNA WITH WARM WHITE BEAN SALAD

Steps:

• In a large saucepan simmer beans in salted water with crushed garlic until tender, about 1 hour, and drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. In a small bowl mash 1/2 cup beans with a fork and return mashed and whole beans to pan with reserved liquid. Chop 1 cup arugula and stir into beans (off heat) with garlic paste, onion, parsley, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep bean salad warm, covered, over very low heat while cooking arugula.
• Prepare grill while beans are cooking.
• Rinse and pat dry tuna. On a plate combine tuna steaks with remaining tablespoon lemon juice, turning to coat, and sprinkle both sides with fennel seeds, pepper, and salt to taste. Grill fish on a lightly oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals about 3 minutes on each side, or until barely cooked through. (Alternatively, fish may be cooked in a heated well-seasoned ridged grill pan in same manner.)
• Arrange bean salad and remaining cup arugula on 4 plates and top with fish. Squeeze lemon over the fish.