Fresh Tuna Caesar Salad

Wednesday March 12

The theory of the dish is simple - a Caesar salad topped with slices of 'ahi tuna steak (yes, the flash-frozen stuff from Trader Joe's - after all, sashimi-grade tuna is ALWAYS frozen, not schlepped to Japan in a constant process of decay).

The salad part was easy. Tear up a small head of romaine lettuce, wash and dry it, and pile it onto plates. No croutons? Skip the croutons, but throw in a few marinated artichokes we had sitting around.

Check the Caesar salad dressing recipe in New Joy; skip the egg, and whip up some white vinegar, a little lemon juice, and olive oil with minced garlic, a chopped-up chunk of hardened Gentleman's Relish (almost pure anchovy) from the back of the fridge, and the teeniest drop of Worcestershire sauce. Droozle a bit on the salad-laden plates, and top with grated parmesan.

It's hard to get frozen tuna steaks right - overcook them and they taste like string. This time they were perfect, so what were we doing right?
First, the tuna defrosted all day in the fridge. When we came home to cook it, we put the whole vacuum-sealed package in a sinkful of cold water to fully defrost, until the steaks were pliable.
We pan-fried them in the thinest film of vegetable oil instead of grilling; the heat is more controllable.
Instead of messing with thermometers, we cheated, cut, and peeked. We cut one of the steaks open, felt the center, and tasted it. If it had been cold, we would have cooked it more.
We did not fear the rare. The tuna had a good band of red inside, and was just warm. If we had let it get piping hot, it would have been overcooked.
We sliced the steaks immediately (no resting!), piled them on top of the salad, and poured the rest of the dressing, with another grate of parmesan, on top.

Done!