Seared Tuna Dinner with Balsamic Glaze: + Bean Side

Seared tuna steaks only take 3 minutes to cook! Serve them with this white bean and tomato side dish and you have a healthy slow carb or Pesco Mediterranean weeknight dinner.

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RECIPE
Frozen Fish vs Fresh
How to Cook Tuna
Balsamic Glaze
White Bean Side Dish
Pesco Mediterranean Diet

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Will Frozen Tuna Steaks Work?

Yes!! While frozen tuna steaks are not sushi-grade quality, they are delicious and available to the home cook. We’re not making sushi here!

Tuna steaks usually come in about 4 ounce steaks that average around one inch thick. They are a fairly meaty and rich form of seafood and recipes that would work with swordfish, or even steaks, are readily adapted to tuna steaks.

How Best to Cook Tuna Steaks?

Like most seafood, tuna should be cooked quickly, but unlike other seafood tuna should be left somewhat translucent or raw in the middle. This is because…

1. Tuna dries out quickly. I have included a balsamic glaze with this recipe that serves as a great dipping sauce in case your tuna gets dry;
2. Tuna will keep cooking once you take it off the burner. With steak, you will often see that it is important to let it rest. This is mostly to allow the meat juices to seep back into the meat. With tuna however, you want to serve it quickly to avoid overcooking or drying out.

Secrets to Perfect Seared Tuna:

• Use tuna steaks that are about 1” thick. Less than this and the inner portion of the tuna cooks too fast, more than this and the inner portion will still be cold
• Use a non-stick skillet
• Triangular shaped steaks will cook slower than rectangle shaped steaks
• Tuna steaks will continue to cook with residual heat once removed from skillet, so either serve right away for rare, or let sit for medium rare.
• Using a paring knife to peek into the center works better than a thermometer (clumsy) due to the speed with which tuna will cook.

Another popular way to cook tuna (or salmon) is with a nut crust. This pistachio crusted tuna with sour cream sauce turned out particularly well.

Seasoning Options for Seared Tuna

In the recipe below I used a jerk seasoning rub before searing the tuna (along with a little salt and pepper). Many different seasoning mixes work well with tuna however if you don’t care for spicy foods.

Ground fennel is another one of my favorite rubs. Salt and pepper alone or an Old Bay rub are also popular seasoning mixes for fish recipes.

If you are a fan of tuna but are looking for something great that you can make with tinned tuna, try this Mexican Tuna Salad (easy peazy) or this classic Nicoise salad made into a sandwich.

Balsamic Reduction Sauce for the Tuna

A balsamic glaze is truly quick and easy to make, and it enhances both the flavor and texture of the fish. I made the balsamic reduction sauce before searing the tun so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed and overcook the tuna.

It takes about 5 minutes to make and it can quickly be heated up if is cools down too much while your fish is cooking.

White Beans as the Best Side Dish

White beans and tuna are a classic combination in salads. They also work really well however for a warm dinner side dish.

I used Cannellini beans (white kidney beans), but the smaller navy (pea) beans, or the Great Northern beans work well also.

I don’t know why white beans are preferred with tuna over red beans, but it is much more traditional. I suspect some of it is visual, but we do eat with our eyes and white beans with red tomatoes served with the rich brown balsamic glaze is heavenly.

Differences Between the Types of White Beans:

• Navy (pea) beans are small, oval-shaped, and quick-cooking. Because they get creamy when cooked, they’re perfect for purees, stews and mashing. While all beans are high in fiber, Navy beans have the most at 19 grams per cup!
• Great Northern beans are medium-sized beans known for their mild, nutty flavor and firm flesh. They hold their shape better than Navy beans and tend to take on the flavors of the foods they’re cooked with.
• Cannellini beans are the largest of the group and because of their traditional kidney shape, they are also referred to as white kidney beans. Meatier than Navy or Great Northern beans, they have a nutty, earthy flavor, and they retain their shape and texture well.
• Baby lima beans are also called “butterbeans”. They are smooth, and creamy with a rich, buttery texture. They have more starch than the other beans and are therfore a higher carb option.

I used Cannellini beans in the side dish below, but really the white beans are pretty interchangeable. White beans pair nicely with spicy seared tuna. It’s all good, as they say!

Seafood and the Pesco Mediterranean Diet

I have been practicing a low carb lifestyle for many years now, but I have recently tweeked it a bit to include more seafood, more vegetables and less red meat.

This is essentially the basics of a Mediterranean diet, but it is currently being tweeked with intermittent fasting in the Pesco Mediterranean Diet. Whatever you want to call it, it is extremely healthy!

The biggest difference between Pesco Mediterranean and Low Carb is the addition of some of the healthier grains. Here are some other recipes that are delicious and fit both types of lifestyles:

Cioppino (or Bouillabaisse)

Low carb Cod Veracruz

Low Carb Almond Crusted Cod

Spicy Seared Tuna Dinner - Pesco Mediterranean Diet

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