Tuna Fillets on a Sorrel Bed

Wednesday October 3

We rootled around in the freezer this morning and found a package of Trader Joe's tuna fillets, which we left to defrost at the bottom of the fridge. Of course, they were still rock-hard when we got home for dinner, so we decided to poach them. We still find it difficult to get the timing right for frozen tuna; it's easy to overcook. But there are a few useful tips here.

First we diced some month-old carrots (still good), an onion (slightly less good), and celery (almost not-so-good) into a mirepoix, which we sautéed in butter. Then slid in the two fillets, added a healthy glug of white wine and covered. We use an instant-read thermometer to tell when the fillets are almost done, but peek-and-cheat is good too, so long as you dig well into the center of each one to see if it's still frozen.

Miraculously enough, when everything else in the garden is suffering from drought and heat, our sorrel seems to have enjoyed it and was bushy with new growth. We plucked a whole salad-spinner full of leaves and sliced them into a chiffonade; when the fillets were done (really they should be just underdone, as they continue cooking), we put them aside in the warming oven, reduced the poaching liquid, and tossed the sorrel in the pan. Once it wilted down a bit, we added cream and reduced it to a lush creamy texture. Holt's fancy footwork on fillet shifting got us plated out with a fillet each on a lovely bed of sorrel.

Barbara had also picked us a little bowl of cherry tomatoes, served with balsamic vinaigrette, but it turned out to be rather unnecessary. Sorrel was all the vegetable we needed.