Tuna steaks with piperade

(We've been away for a couple of days, so we're playing ketchup)

We had a pair of thick flash-frozen albacore tuna steaks from Trader Joe's. You have to take them out of the freezer 24 hours before you're going to use them, so they can defrost gently in the bottom of the fridge. If you forgot to do that, take them out for the next night and cook something else for dinner.

At dinnertime (whatever night), slice up onions, garlic, and red peppers for the piperade. Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté the vegetables, adding each (in that order) after two minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper only - the main flavor will be in the fish. While the piperade is cooking, bring out those tuna steaks and see if they're supple. If not, a quick wash in cold water may do the trick.

Heat some vegetable oil in another pan, preferably a cast-iron one, until quite hot but not sizzling. Pat the steaks dry, and dust them with smoked Spanish pimentón de La Vera, plus a little kosher salt. A good way to do this is to put the spice in a small sieve and shake it over one side of each steak, put the steaks in the pan spiced-side-down, and shake the spice over the other side while they're cooking.

Brown the tuna a few minutes on each side, to an internal temperature of 120 degrees - it needs to be rare, because frozen fish that has been overcooked tastes like rope. Serve with the piperade on the side. This dish may be Spanish, it may be Basque; I'm not getting into that quarrel.