Seared Tuna Loin Fillet With Spicy Tomato Fusilli Pasta Recipe
Gordon has been cooking and experimenting with food since childhood. He loves coming up with new and tasty culinary creations.
Tuna loin fillet is seared, sliced and served on a bed of fusilli pasta in a spicy tomato sauce
Tuna and pasta of one type or another is a fairly popular combination but the tuna used in such recipes is perhaps most often canned. Where available, fresh tuna loin takes this classic but simple dish to whole new levels. The tuna can be seared in a standard, non-stick frying pan as in this instance or on a griddle, grill or even barbecue. Whichever method you employ, however, it is important both for texture and fullness of flavour that the fillet always be left at least that little bit pink in the middle. If it is even slightly overcooked, it will dry out and lose most of its unique appeal.
Cook Time
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Ready in: 20 min
Yields: 1 serving
Tuna loin fillet
Ingredients
- 1 large garlic clove
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 8 ounce can chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
- 1 large, medium strength green chilli
- Salt and pepper
- 1 coffee mug full of dried fusilli pasta spirals
- 4 to 6 ounce tuna loin fillet
- 1 tablespoon freshly chopped flat leaf parsley, plus extra to garnish
Sliced garlic is added to heated olive oil
Instructions
1. Peel the garlic clove and finely slice. Pour a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in to a small saucepan and gently heat before adding the garlic slices and sauteing over a very low heat for a minute or so until just starting to soften.
Canned tomatoes are added to softened garlic
2. Pour the tomatoes in to the pan, stir well and turn up the heat until the mixture starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to achieve as gentle a simmer as possible.
Sliced chilli and seasonings are added to saucepan
3. Cut the top off the chilli and discard. Finely slice the body and add to the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and continue to simmer as gently as possible while you cook the pasta and tuna.
Dried fusilli pasta
4. Bring a large pot of fairly heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Fill a coffee mug with fusilli pasta (or measure it out in whichever way you choose) and pour the pasta in to the boiling water.
Fusilli pasta is added to boiling salted water
5. Stir the pasta around in the water with a large spoon and bring back to a simmer. Adjust the heat to maintain a gentle to moderate simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Tuna fillet is added to searingly hot frying pan
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6. A couple of minutes before the pasta is due to be ready, pour a little extra virgin olive oil in to a non-stick frying pan and bring it up to a very high heat. Season the tuna fillet on both sides with salt and pepper before laying it in the pan to fry for an initial minute and a half.
Tuna fillet is turned to fry on its second side
7. A plastic spatula is best used to turn the tuna fillet before it is fried again for a minute and a half on the second side.
Seared tuna fillet is removed from frying pan
8. Lift the tuna from the frying pan to a warmed plate and leave it to sit and rest for a couple of minutes while you finish preparing the pasta and sauce.
Drained pasta and chopped parsley are added to sauce
9. Drain the pasta at your sink through a large colander or sieve and leave it to sit for a couple of minutes to steam off and dry out. Pour the pasta in to the sauce, add the freshly chopped parsley and carefully stir fold to combine.
Spicy tomato fusilli pasta
10. Spoon the pasta and sauce in to a deep serving plate and spread it out to form a bed for the tuna.
Sliced tuna is arranged on spicy tomato fusilli pasta bed
11. Lift the tuna to a chopping board and use a very sharp knife to slice across the grain to a thickness of around half an inch.
Enjoying seared tuna fillet with spicy tomato fusilli pasta
12. Arrange the tuna slices on top of the pasta in a circular fashion—like the spokes of a wheel—and garnish with the last of the parsley.
© 2018 Gordon N Hamilton
Comments
Gordon N Hamilton (author) from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom on March 19, 2018:
Thank you Dianna and I'm glad you're a fellow tuna lover. I hope this is an idea you get to try very soon and that you enjoy it very much.
Dianna Mendez on March 18, 2018:
Always on the hunt for tuna recipes. This will go on my must try list.
Gordon N Hamilton (author) from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom on March 18, 2018:
Thank you, Louise. I have to admit that it was very enjoyable and the fact that it is so quick and easy is a huge bonus.
Louise Powles from Norfolk, England on March 18, 2018:
This has made my mouth water, it looks delicious.
