This Tuna Just Kissed the Pan
If you took a look at this photo without reading the post title or headline, would you have known you were looking at an 8oz. piece of fresh tuna? I’d have thought it was a nice, juicy cut of steak. When cooked well it has the texture of steak too.
I like my tuna to just kiss the pan. A very hot, well seasoned cast iron pan is my recommendation. This time I marinated the fish for 30 minutes and then coated it with black and white sesame seeds which added a pleasant crunch, the kind of crunch you might expect when biting into the char of a steak just pulled off the grill.
But for those of you that prefer your fish cooked, Salad Niçcoise is a delicious way to use a tuna steak that’s cooked through.
And if you’re lucky enough to have access to “sushi grade” fish, sushi, or sashimi is the way to go with tuna. If you’re really lucky and can score some fatty (toro) tuna, and have the funds to pay for it, a little wasabi paste, soy sauce, some pickled daikon radish and cucumber served with sushi rice that you’ve toiled over to get just right is possibly the perfect sumer meal. It’s light, low in points and filling.
And how’s this for exciting … an 8 ounce slice of raw tuna will cost you just 5, yes, that’s FIVE Weight Watchers Points Plus Values or approximately 240 calories! So what’re you waiting for? Go out there, find a trusted fish monger and get yourself a beautiful piece of fresh tuna.
Oh, and by the way, that’s an 8 ounce piece of tuna you see in the photo above. I cut it in half and made two meals out of it.
| Sesame Seared Tuna for a Light, but Tasty Dinner |
- 1/3 cup low sodium Soy Sauce
- 1 ounce Japanese Mirin (sweet rice cooking wine)
- 2 teaspoons grated, fresh Ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon Fish Sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon Sriracha (chili sauce)
- 4 oz. fresh Tuna
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons Black and White Sesame Seeds to coat top and bottom sides of the tuna
- Mix the first 5 ingredients in a non-reactive pan.
- Add the tuna, cover and marinate for 30 minutes, turning once.
- While the tuna is marinating, sprinkle sesame seeds on a plate and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Remove from the pan, letting the marinade drain.
- Press the tuna into the sesame seeds, turning to coat both sides. It’s not necessary to coat the sides. You’ll be able to watch the sear as the tuna cooks and pull it from the pan when it’s cooked to your liking.
- Heat a heavy pan (cast iron works well) on medium high to high.
- When hot, add sesame oil.
- Place tuna in the pan and cook for 3 minutes, turn and cook additional 4 minutes.
- Remove to a plate for serving.
This light and easy dish will cost you just 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus values — if you use the entire 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds. Halve the seeds to gain a point.
Watch the sides of the tuna to see how fast your fish is cooking. Pull from the pan when it’s cooked to the degree of “done” you prefer, leaving it on longer for a less red or pink center.
The Points Plus value for 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds is high. Two tablespoons of sesame seeds is more than you need to coat both the top and bottom sides of the fish, so if you want to be meticulous in your points calculation follow these steps:
Measure 2 tablespoons of sesame seeds onto a plate. Coat the tuna on both sides and place in the hot pan. Measure the amount of seeds remaining on the plate and subtract from the total and that will give you the exact amount of sesame seeds you used.
If you used 1 tablespoon, the Points Plus value will equal — 1. That number triples with 2 tablespoons. Yikes! And it won’t matter if you don’t cover the fish entirely with sesame seeds.
