Seared Ahi Tuna on the Green Egg
From time to time, I get really lucky and receive awesome care packages from a friend of mine that I work with. If you read my blog regularly, you probably know what these packages consist of – fish that has been just caught right out of the gulf, cleaned, filleted, and delivered right to me at work in a cooler filled with ice. How lucky am I? This weeks catch – YELLOWFIN TUNA!! Yes, thats right, fresh yellowfin tuna caught on Sunday, and delivered to me on Tuesday morning; boy it really is incredible how completely different a piece of fish that fresh not only smells, looks, tastes, and also feels is…
I did a post a while back called “Seared Ahi Tuna” and ironically since I know a ton of the recipes I post are fish, this was the first time I had ever actually cooked tuna at home. Ken, (my super cool co-worker who gives me all these beautiful fishies), brought me fresh caught tuna at the time, and I will admit that I was completely clueless, nervous, and pretty apprehensive to cook it on my own. And now… I laugh at old me because it is so dang simple to cook a really fresh piece of tuna!
This recipe I am about to show you is probably as simple as it can ever get, without just slicing and eating the tuna raw with nothing to accompany it. When I found out how fresh the tuna really was, I tried to keep the recipe as simple as possible, not really changing the flavor of it. Now, I realize not everyone is able to get their hands on tuna this fresh, and in that case I have provided an alternate marinade below which I love.
How awesome is this picture of them reeling in the fish? The photos from this trip are my favorite part.
We happened to be over at a friends for dinner the day it was delivered to me, so we brought it along to cook up on his green egg. We simply salted it, doused in black sesame seeds, and cooked it over a medium/low temperature until it was seared on the edges but still rare in the middle.
Is your mouth watering yet?
We finished off the tuna by serving with fresh avocado slices and ponzu sauce to dip.
- 1 large tuna steak (10 oz.), or two small
- 1 tbsp. black sesame seeds
- salt, to taste
- 3 tbsp. ponzu sauce, for dipping
- 1 avocado, sliced thinly
- Optional marinade for the tuna: 1 tbsp. honey, 1 tbsp. mirin, 3 tbsp. soy sauce)
- Begin by heating your grill to to about 400 degrees F.
- Salt the piece of fresh tuna (if the tuna isn't quite as fresh as the one we used, I would marinate it in the optional marinade listed above for 5 minutest), and then cover with sesame seeds on all sides. Place the tuna on the grill and be sure to watch it very closely, you only want to sear it lightly on all sides, so that the middle still stays pink - this is about 1- 1½ min on each side.
- Remove from the green egg and let the tuna sit for about 5 minutes. Serve with fresh avocado and ponzu!
Glad you enjoyed it Lizzy! I will have to bring you something different next time! 😉
This looks amazing! My family will go to Alaska and go halibut fishing with the rest of our family that lives up there.. We’ll also sometimes get to eat fresh crab (that we catch off the boat there) and so this reminds me of that!
Now that is some fresh tuna, what an amazing experience.
There is nothing better than super fresh fish, this tuna looks amazing!
Sounds fantastis!
You have amazing friends because they send you Fresh fish. What a wonderful package to receive. Your recipe is very creative.
Aww thanks!! I know, I got pretty lucky 🙂
That looks like you had a great time! The recipe looks good too! 🙂