Seared Tuna with Soba Noodles

Bret, I think it has been a month since I promised to submit more recipes... so here we go. Simple, fast and delicious. Make sure to get high quality, sashimi-grade tuna for this, since it will be pretty raw (for those living in Berkeley, Tokyo Fish Market is the place to go). I found the recipe on BBC's Good Food site.

- 1/2 lbs Hamachi tuna (fresh and almost wiggling)

- 4 tbsp sesame oil

- 4 tbsp sesame seeds (I used sesame salt, a mixture of black sesame seeds and coarse salt sold in Japanese markets)

- soba noodles

- 1 small cucumber, cut into matchsticks

- 4 spring onions, chopped

- 4 tbsp lemon juice

- 4 tbsp soy sauce (I used the one with less salt)

- 1-inch chunk of fresh ginger, finely grated or chopped

- 3 tbsp mirin

- 1 tbsp sugar

Drizzle the tuna with 1 tbsp sesame oil and season with salt and pepper. Roll in sesame seeds until coated. Heat a pan until very hot, sear the tuna on all sides and chill until using. Make sure not to overcook the fish, you want to achieve a nicely seared crust while keeping it raw in the center.

Boil the noodles in salt water, drain and rinse well in cold water. Divide noodles between bowls. Arrange the cucumbers and spring onions on top. 

Mix the lemon juice, soy sauce, ginger, mirin, sugar and the remaining sesame oil to make a dressing.  Slice the tuna and arrange on top of the noodles. Pour the dressing over and sprinkle with some sesame seeds.

Image (c) www.bbcgoodfood.com

Broiled fresh sardines with a simple potato salad

Ok, I am going to give it a try... This Monday (a joyful day off work) I was passing by my favorite fish supplier in the Bay Area. Actually, I have never found such a good fish store anywhere, so this store deserves my subjective "Best Ever" award. Yes, I am talking about Tokyo Fish Market on San Pablo Ave. They had fresh and wiggling sardines so I decided to grab a pound (did I mention how I love the fact that the staff there cleans, scales and cuts the fish for you for free?). I was too lazy to fire up the grill and decided to use the convenience of having an oven. A similar recipe in one of Gordon Ramsay's shows provided the inspiration.

Here it comes: very simple and tasty broiled sardines  with an even simpler potato salad:

To serve 2 you will need:

4 fresh sardines (or more if you really love them), cleaned, scaled, boned and cut in half like a butterfly

6 potatoes (I had Yukon Gold)

4 tbsp Creme fraiche  (Bret, forgive me for the missing accents)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp chives

olive oil

salt & pepper

lemon wedges

Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Drain and crush lightly with the back of a fork. Let cool. Add the creme fraiche, lemon juice and snipped chives. Season well with salt and pepper and set aside. If you don't want to spend money on creme fraiche, you could use sour cream, mixed with a tablespoon or two of heavy cream. Using sour cream alone would make the salad too tangy. Nothing compares to good old-fashioned creme fraiche though. 

Heat the broiler (set it to something like "very hot"). Lay the sardines skin-side up on a baking sheet brushed with olive oil. Broil for 4-5 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 3 minutes or so. The cooking time will depend entirely on your oven. My Wedgewood is from the 1930s and heats up like a nuclear plant. Remove the sardines from the baking sheet and season well.

Arrange the potato salad in a pretty pile on a plate (if you want to be fancy, you can place it on some lettuce leaves). The hot sardines go on top of the salad. Make sure to drizzle this dish with some freshly made dressing (lemon juice + some water + olive oil + salt & pepper). The water in the dressing is Gordon Ramsay's idea and I have actually come to like it. It makes the whole thing lighter while still preserving the flavors.

Serve the salad and fish with some lemon wedges.