Gavin Pederson's seared Tuna With Celeriac & Soy Salad
Tuna is absolutely amazing when prepared well and served with light, salad-type garnishes like guacamole and this celeriac salad – which is almost noodle-like. Tuna is destroyed once it is cooked beyond the colour shown in this photo. Sorry, but if you want it well done, open a can of the stuff. Tuna can be very pricey and mediocre – so finding a good fishmonger is important. Avoid tuna that has blood lines or bruising. Remember that 100 g is good for a starter, 200 g for a main course.
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:10 minutes
Level of Difficulty:Easy
Servings:4
Ingredients
- For the base:
- 1 celeriac
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- Squeeze of lime juice
- Salt and black pepper
- 2 tomatoes, finely diced
- 1 avocado, peeled and diced
- Small bunch coriander, finely chopped
- 400 g tuna, probably 2 x 200 g tuna loin steaks
- Olive oil
- 50 g butter
Method
- Cut the celeriac in half and then quarter it.
- Cut off the skin and discard.
- When you have manageable pieces, cut into very long thin strips (like short spaghetti).
- Bring a small saucepan of water to boil, and add the lemon juice.
- Have a colander ready in the sink.
- Blanch the celeriac in small batches in the boiling water for about 1 minute.
- Transfer the celeriac “spaghetti” to the colander using a slotted spoon, and rinse under cold running water.
- Continue until all the celeriac is blanched and refreshed. When it has drained, pat dry with paper towel.
- Place the celeriac in a bowl with the olive oil, soy sauce and lime juice.
- Taste and season.
- You could also drizzle a little sesame oil or add toasted sesame seeds into the mixture.
- Mix with the tomato, avocado and coriander and set aside while you sear off the tuna.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil per steak until the oil is smoking.
- Season the tuna super-generously, especially with the black pepper, and cook for 15 seconds on each sides.
- It’ll take this long, providing your pan is hot enough.
- Lay the fish in the pan, and count: “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” etc. until you get to 15, then chuck in a generous knob of butter, flip the steak over and repeat the Mississippi chanting!
- Transfer to a clean plate and repeat with the other steak.
- Leave the tuna to rest for at least five minutes and then cut into 1-2 cm thick slices.
- Serve with the celeriac salad, or even some guacamole.
