Rare seared tuna with shaved fennel salad

Name: Rare seared tuna with shaved fennel salad
Yield: Serves 4 as a starter
Ingredients: 2 skinned tomatoes, deseeded and diced, to garnish; 2 tbsp Chardonnay vinegar or 2 tbsp good-quality white wine vinegar mixed with 1 tsp caster sugar; salt and freshly ground white pepper; 2 tbsp olive oil; vegetable oil, for frying; 400 g good-quality, very fresh yellow fin tuna; 2 small fennel bulbs, any feathery tops reserved and finely chopped; 10 fennel seeds, crushed

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a starter

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fish etc.

By Mark Hix

Published 2004

About

The tuna must be yellow fin and as fresh as possible. It should be bright red and not look dull or discoloured, as this means that the blood has oxidized and it can then taste rather bitter.

Ingredients

vegetable oil, for frying
400 g good-quality, very fresh yellow fin tuna
salt and freshly ground white pepper

Fish course
Starter
Pescatarian
Gluten-free

Method

Rub a heavy-based frying pan, preferably non-stick, with a little vegetable oil and heat until the oil is almost smoking. Meanwhile, season the tuna with salt and pepper, and sear it for about 30 seconds on all sides until lightly coloured, then refrigerate until required.
If the fennel’s outer leaves are fibrous, peel them. Quarter the bulbs and cut out the cores