Name: Fresh Tuna with Green Olives, Capers, Celery, and Mint
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 1¼ pounds fresh yellowfin or bluefin tuna steak, about 1 inch thick; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; Flour, for dusting; Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper; 2 tablespoons minced fresh mint, for garnish; 3 tablespoons yellow raisins, soaked for 5 minutes in warm water and drained; 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar; 3 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and drained; 18 green Sicilian-style olives, blanched 1 minute, drained, pitted, and quartered; ½ cup thinly sliced tender celery; 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2003

About

A. few years ago, on a visit to Sicily, I was invited for dinner at the home of Giuseppe and Julia di’Martino, who moved to the island forty years ago. After we finished a series of pastas, platters of local dishes were brought out, among them the Siracusan specialty, stimperata, a beautifully cooked slab of tuna smothered in a sweet-and-sour blend of capers, olives, mint, celery, sugar, and vinegar.

The word stimperata derives from the Latin temperare, meaning