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Tales of Tuna: Tuna Confit with Sun-Dried Tomatoes,
Tapenade, and Pine Nuts

February 17, 2009

Posted in: The Recipes

I just made something delicious, and inspired, if I do say so myself. Though it’s true that my cooking is in the vein of the Mediterranean, I find that I oft avoid the clichés of this region, and as such have unwittingly eliminated olives and sun-dried tomatoes from my cuisine. Quelle domage, I know. This happened quite by accident, I’m sure, and my discovery of the offense was as serendipitous as it’s origins unintentioned. You see, I was sent a recipe for Panisse the other day, of which I made a giant batch and have been dining on ever since (panisse is the true term for chickpea fries, another food that has, to my chagrin, become trendy in America.) I studded my panisse dough with black olives, and served it with a tomato & pine nut relish, redolent of garlic. I shall post that recipe, which in fact precedes this one in conception, later. A few days ago I splurged and bought some frozen, wild caught Yellowfin tuna. If you are recoiling from the screen in horror, I am with you in spirit. Frozen meat is a colossal tragedy, frozen fish condemnably so. But, voiyez kind people, I am landlocked, in ze middle of Texas, so one does what one can. Needless to say, the texture of the fish was less than pleasing, and the taste unremarkable. Turned off by this, I ignored the fish for a few days and feasted on the leftover offerings of the restaurant (and yes, even though I declared to my kitchen crush that nothing must transpire between us, he still makes me food constantly. I am developing a roll, and a double chin! I wonder how long I shall remain appealing to him?) This morning, I once again returned to thoughts of tuna, and what to do with my thawed,old, less-than-delicious extravagant expenditure. Confit! Indeed, the French, particularly in the region of Landes, in Southwestern France, have made preserving meats by pre-salting them and then slowly cooking them in fat, in which they are stored, a defining culinary tradition. So, pourquoi pas? I gently poached my tuna in the olive oil I’d retained from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, so that it would infuse it’s flavors into the fish, added a couple slivered garlic cloves, some lemon zest, two handsome sprigs of rosemary, and some chiles. And now, back to what I was saying before: having again recaptured the romance of Mediterranean clichés, I finished the dish with diced sun-dried tomatoes, black olive tapenade, and a sprinkling of pine nuts. C’estait delicieux! What more could a girl ask for?

Ingredients, for 2, as a nice lunch or light supper:

For the Tuna:

• 12 oz lb tuna, preferably fresh
• Salt
• 2 cloves garlic, slivered
• 2 small sprigs rosemary, left intact but crushed between your fingers
• 1 T lemon zest
• Scant 1 t dried chili flakes

For the Tapenade: (this isn’t a traditional tapenade, in that I don’t include capers or anchovies; I find that the simplicity of    this olive paste is better suited to the dish, producing a cleaner, fresher result.

• 12-16 oil cured black olives
• 2 t lemon zest
• squeeze lemon juice
• small handful parsley
• black pepper

• 12 sun-dried tomatoes, of the sort that is stored in olive oil
• 2 small handfuls pine nuts
• 1/2 lemon

Procedure:

For the Tuna:

1. Cut the tuna into small “walnut size” chunks, as advised by The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Salt 3 hours in advance, and allow to rest in refrigerator so that the salt can flavor and soften the fish.
2. 1/2 hour before cooking, remove the fish from the fridge and let it come to room temp while preparing the other ingredients it will cook with (zest the lemon, crush the rosemary, sliver the garlic.)
3. Put all the fish chunks and all the other ingredients into a small pot, so that the pieces fit snugly (this will minimize the quantity of oil necessary.) Use 3/4 to 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, or enough to just cover the fish.
4. Uncovered, allow the oil to come to a bare simmer, and gently poach the tuna for 25 minutes. DO NOT ALLOW THE OIL TO BOIL, or you shall find yourself with a bizarre approximation of deep frying. This result, though tasty, will lose all the soft texture and refined excellence of it’s poached counterpart.
5. Let the fish cool in it’s oil, then serve (I like it barely warm for this dish.) In a glass jar, the tuna will keep for a few days in the refrigerate.

For the Rest:

1. In the meantime, while the tuna poaches, run the pitted olives, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and pepper through a mini food prep, or mince finely by hand.
2. Coarsely dice the sun dried-tomatoes.
3. When the fish is ready, carefully spoon a portion into the center of a plate. Sprinkle half the quantity of sun-dried tomatoes around it’s edge, and follow with the pine nuts. Spoon a dollop of the tapenade on top of the tuna. Squeeze 1/4 of a lemon over the dish, sprinkle with pepper, and a few leaves of parsley or cilantro, depending on your preference (I like cilantro for this!)
4. Presto!

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