Making in the Kitchen: Seared Ahi Tuna Steaks

Sounds fancy doesn’t it? Well it is, but it’s not. This is one of those dishes that uses very few ingredients, but if you use top quality ingredients, tastes out of this world. During “The Neff Invasion” described in my last post, my brother Zach made this for us. He got his recipe from the fabulous website, allrecipes.com, and it was originally posted by Bethany Joyful. If you haven’t been to this site, it’s a great one! The amounts listed below would serve two people.

What you will need:

• 2  5oz. Ahi tuna steaks
• 1 t. salt
• 1/4 t. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 T. butter
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 t. whole peppercorns

First lay out your tuna slices and season with cayenne and salt.

Next, get your skillet nice and hot while you melt the olive oil and butter. But not too hot, because you don’t want to burn your butter. Cook the peppercorns in the oil/butter on medium-high until they pop — they actually pop like little pieces of popcorn! As you can see, Zach held a lid over them so they didn’t jump out all over the place. This took about 5 minutes.

This final step will only take a few minutes. (So I hope you’re hungry!) Gently place your tuna steaks in the skillet. To cook them rare, which I believe is how Zach fixed them for us, only sear each side for about 1-1/2 minutes. Cooking the steaks this way will get you the most flavor out of the tuna. But if you are pregnant like me, or simply ”frightened” by rare meats (ahem, Mom!)  then you can always cook them a little longer on each side so there is no pink remaining. It was still really good this way. But don’t be afraid of the pink, people! Just TRY it! You may surprise yourself.

Zach, thanks for cooking this for us, and for letting me invade the kitchen with my camera.  It was simply delicious. Stay tuned for his delectable side dish:  Asparagus Cashew Rice Pilaf. Oooooh……Ahhhhhh……