The colder evenings and the falling leaves remind us that we are well into the autumn season. With the finer, drier weather over the past couple of weeks we are getting to experience something of a summer that we desperately missed this year. When I went to Galway market yesterday and picked up some end of season tuna I was inspired by Mediterranean ideas and the freshness of soft herbs, and the simplicity of Italian cooking in letting the quality of the ingredients sing.
From one fish to another, please don’t be put off by the anchovies that appear in both the salsa verde and puttanesca recipes. It simply acts as a salty seasoning in much the same way as fish sauce does in Thai cooking. The final result will not end up with a “fishy” taste I promise. Olives also tend to be another of those ingredients that people love or loathe. Again, in the puttanesca sauce they act much like a seasoning in the same way as the anchovy. Try it and you might be converted. If the idea still seems abhorrent to you then leave them out. Food should be accessible and the spaghetti dish will still be an excellent accompaniment to the tuna without the olives.
Each of these are stand-alone recipes and can be used in different ways. The salsa verde is excellent with grilled fish or meat, with potatoes, or as a sauce for vegetables. The puttanesca is a dish on its own and is a quick delicious supper topped with Parmesan shavings and fresh torn basil. I’ve added the crushed fennel as I think it works well with the fish. Tuna is a super fish with a meaty texture and needs to be treated in much the same way as a good steak. It really needs to be cooked rare to prevent it from going very dry. Even if you eat your steak cooked more than medium rare I implore you avoid that with tuna. As with a steak it depends on the size of the tuna, the heat of the pan etc. Here I had very large tuna fillets, about 250g each and were about 1 inch thick. I cooked for 2 of us but these measurements serve four.
Serves 4
Salsa Verde
Puttanesca Sauce
Tuna
Method
For the Salsa Verde
I really think this recipe benefits from hand chopping to allow the flavours to mingle but if you are short on time or just don’t want to pop everything into your food processor and pulse until chopped and combined
For the Puttanesca Sauce
The tuna and bringing the dish together
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