Seared Sesame Seed-Encrusted Ahi Tuna with Arugula Salad
Inspired by a lunch menu item on the Houston Restaurant menu; if you can find fresh, sushi-grade tuna, this is a fabulous way to enjoy it.
After Decades, It’s Still on the Menu
There are not many Houston's Restaurants left. They opened the first one in 1977 in Nashville, Tennessee and the chain quickly grew in popularity through the ‘80s and well into the ‘90s. Since the 2000s, however, , the Hillstone Restaurant Group, owners of the brand, have converted many of the old Houston's to Hillstone Restaurants or to one of their other 12 restaurant brands, or closed them outright. But of the 11 or so Houston's still around, they still have Sashimi Tuna Salad on their lunch menu, made with sushi-grade Ahi Tuna. They periodically alter the salad greens and vinaigrette, but the star attraction, a very quickly pan-seared fillet of very fresh tuna, is a staple.
For a long time, I avoided any preparation of fresh tuna. Until I started eating this dish at Houston's in the '80s, and learned the only way to prepare it is to barely cook it, indeed merely to sear it, I would always overcook this delicious fish, which yielded nothing short of an extremely disappointing experience.
If you can find sushi-grade Ahi or Yellow Fin Tuna, this is the way to prepare it. But make sure it is, in fact, sushi-grade fish and says so on any signage.
But the only way you will know if the fish is fresh is to smell it. If it smells like fish, don't buy it.
Seared Sesame Seed-Encrusted Tuna with Arugula Salad
Ingredients
- 2 4-oz tuna fillets of equal thickness (about 1-1/2")
- 8 tbsp blond toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 4 cups fresh baby Arugula leaves
- 1 cup fresh Mache or baby Spinach leaves
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- pinch fine sea salt
- 6 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
- juice of 1 fresh lime
- 6 tbsp light soy sauce (like, Kikkoman Less Sodium)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp fresh grated or jarred ginger
- 1/2 tbsp Coleman's Mustard powder
- 1/2 tbsp dried orange peel
- 1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce (like, Kikkoman Less Sodium)
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar (like, Marukan)
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Wasabi paste
- 1 tsp dried cilantro
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 7-8 grinds freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Mix the arugula, mache or spinach, red bell pepper and green onions in a large salad bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the rest of the dish
- Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients, except the oil. Whisk together well, then add the oil in a steady stream while whisking briskly to emulsify it. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes so the flavors amalgamate.
- Whisk all of the dipping sauce ingredients together and then pour into ramekins.
- Lay the blond and black sesame seeds onto a plate and combine. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the surfaces of each piece of tuna, and then press each side firmly into the sesame seeds so they stick to the surface.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick skillet over medium high heat until shimmering.
- Carefully lay the sesame seed-encrusted tuna fillets into the hot oil and sear for about 2 minutes on each side. Watch as the surface of the fish turn grey in the hot oil, but you want the rest of the fish to remain pink.
- Remove from the skillet onto a cutting board, and then carefully slice the fish against the grain into 1/2 inch slices.
- Toss the greens with the vinaigrette, and place a portion on a dinner plate.
- Lay the sliced tuna next to or around the salad greens and serve alongside the dipping sauce.
