Seared Fast, Pink in the Middle, Mango on the Side

I will tell you a secret about tuna steak. Most people cook it like a pork chop. They put it in a warm pan, they turn it, they turn it again, they wait until it is grey all the way through to be safe, and then they wonder why it tastes like a tin. A good tuna steak wants the opposite. A very hot pan, a very short time, and the courage to take it off while the middle is still pink.

Back home in Guadeloupe, tuna is not a luxury. The small boats go out past the reef to the floating rafts the fishermen anchor far offshore, and they come back with yellowfin, big ones, heavy as a child. On the quay the fishermen cut it into thick red slices right there on the board, and my mother would buy two or three for the whole family. Seven children, one pan. She did not have time to be precious with it.

What she did was simple. Lime, garlic, a little chilli, salt. Ten minutes in the bowl while the rice was cooking. Then the pan, smoking hot, and the fish went in with a hiss that made us all run to the kitchen. One minute and a half each side. Out. Sliced. On the table before anyone had finished arguing about who sat where.

That is the tuna steak recipe I want to give you. It is a weeknight dinner, honestly twenty minutes from the fridge to the plate, and it tastes like a holiday. The heat comes from my Caribbean Hot Sauce, the freshness from a quick mango salsa, and the rest is just you being brave with the pan.

Recipe at a glance

• Cuisine: French Caribbean (Guadeloupe)
• Prep: 15 minutes (including 10 minutes marinating) • Cook: 5 minutes • Total: 20 minutes
• Serves: 4
• Featured sauce: Caribbean Hot Sauce
• Heat level: 7/10, a proper Scotch bonnet warmth, cooled by the mango
• Diet: Pescatarian, gluten free, dairy free

What you’ll need

Buy the best tuna you can find, from a fishmonger you trust or the fish counter, and cook it the day you buy it. You want steaks about 2 to 2.5cm thick. The fish should look deep red and glossy, smell of the sea and nothing else, and feel firm when you press it.

For the tuna and the marinade:

• 4 tuna steaks, about 150g each and 2 to 2.5cm thick
• 2 tbsp Full Feast Caribbean Hot Sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• Leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• A small pinch of ground allspice
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus 1 tbsp for the pan
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the mango salsa:

• 1 large ripe mango, peeled and cut into small cubes
• Half a cucumber, deseeded and diced
• Half a small red onion, very finely chopped
• A small handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp Full Feast Caribbean Hot Sauce
• A pinch of salt

To serve:

• Lime wedges
• Cooked white rice, or one of the sides further down

How I make it

1. Take the tuna out of the fridge. Lay the steaks on a plate and let them sit for 10 minutes while you do everything else. Cold fish cooks unevenly. Pat them dry with kitchen paper.

2. Make the marinade. In a shallow dish, mix the Caribbean Hot Sauce, the lime juice, the grated garlic, the thyme leaves, the allspice and 1 tbsp of oil.

3. Marinate, but only for ten minutes. Turn the steaks in the marinade so every side is coated, and leave them. Ten minutes, fifteen at most. Lime starts to cook the fish on its own, and if you leave it an hour the outside goes pale and chalky before it even sees the pan. This is the one rule of a good tuna steak marinade: short.

4. Make the salsa while you wait. Put the mango, cucumber, red onion and coriander in a bowl. Add the lime juice, the teaspoon of hot sauce and a pinch of salt. Stir gently so the mango keeps its shape. Taste it. It should be sweet, sharp and warm all at once. Leave it be.

5. Heat the pan properly. This is how to cook tuna steak in a pan the right way. Use your heaviest frying pan, cast iron if you have one, and put it on a high heat for a good three or four minutes until it is smoking slightly. Open a window. Add 1 tbsp of oil and swirl it.

6. Season and sear. Lift the steaks out of the marinade and let the excess drip off (keep what is left in the dish). Season both sides with a little salt and pepper. Lay them in the pan, away from you, and do not touch them. Listen to that hiss. For a pink middle on a 2cm steak, give it 90 seconds. For 2.5cm, give it 2 minutes.

7. Turn once. Flip each steak with a fish slice and give the second side the same time. If you want it cooked through, go to 3 minutes a side, no more.

8. Glaze in the pan. In the last 30 seconds, spoon the leftover marinade over the steaks. It will bubble and catch on the edges and turn sticky. Take the pan off the heat straight away.

9. Rest and slice. Move the steaks to a board and rest them for 2 minutes. Then slice each one across into thick strips so everyone can see the pink, deep red at the very centre, brown and glossy on the edges.

10. Serve. Spoon the mango salsa over and around, put a lime wedge on every plate, and eat it while it is warm.

The role of Caribbean Hot Sauce in this dish

Tuna is a meaty fish with a clean, mild flavour, and it needs something with backbone. My Caribbean Hot Sauce is built on Scotch bonnet, with sweet white onion and garlic behind it. In the marinade it does three jobs at once. The chilli gives the fish its warmth, the onion and garlic give it a savoury depth, and the oil and vinegar help it cling to the surface so it catches and caramelises in the hot pan.

That crust is the whole point. When the leftover marinade hits the pan at the end, the onion in the sauce sticks and darkens on the edges of the steak, and you get a little glaze that is sweet and fiery against the cool, soft centre. The teaspoon in the salsa is there to tie the two together, so the mango tastes like it belongs on the same plate.

Tips from my kitchen

• Thickness is everything. Ask the fishmonger to cut the steaks at least 2cm thick. A thick steak lets you get a dark crust and keep the inside pink. A thin one is grey before it is brown.
• Dry fish browns, wet fish steams. Let the marinade drip off before the steaks go in the pan. If the pan stops hissing, it is too crowded, so cook in two batches.
• Use the same marinade on other fish. If you like this, try the Caribbean Hot Sauce and lime idea on salmon too, or for something sweeter, my mango glazed salmon is another twenty-minute dinner my family asks for again and again.
• Taste before you salt. The hot sauce already has salt in it, so season the steaks lightly.

What to serve tuna steaks with

At home I serve this with plain white rice to catch the juices, and that is all you need on a Tuesday. If you have a little more time, my rice and peas with coconut and thyme turns it into a Sunday plate.

For something crisp on the side, fried plantain, bananes pesées are perfect, sweet and salty next to the heat of the fish. A green salad with avocado and lime also works well.

If fish on a weeknight is your thing, keep my pan-fried sea bass with Caribbean sauce for fish in your pocket for next week. And if anyone at the table does not like chilli, a spoon of Fresh Herbal Sauce over their slice gives them all the freshness with none of the fire.

FAQ

How long do you cook a tuna steak on each side?

For a steak 2cm thick in a smoking hot pan, 90 seconds each side gives you a dark outside and a pink middle. For 2.5cm, 2 minutes each side. If you prefer it cooked through, go to 3 minutes a side and stop there, or it will dry out.

Why is my tuna steak tough?

It is almost always overcooked. Tuna has very little fat, so once it is grey all the way through, it goes dry. A pan that is not hot enough is the other reason, because the steak sits there too long trying to brown. Get the pan smoking, keep the cooking short, and let it rest for 2 minutes before slicing.

Can you eat tuna steak rare?

Many people do, and in Guadeloupe we eat it pink all the time, but only when the fish is very fresh, has been kept cold and comes from a good fishmonger. If you are not sure about where your tuna has been, cook it through. If you are pregnant, follow the NHS advice, which also says to eat no more than two tuna steaks a week.

Can you cook tuna steaks from frozen?

I would not. The outside will be overcooked long before the middle has thawed. Frozen tuna steaks are fine to use, just defrost them overnight on a plate in the fridge, pat them very dry, and then follow the recipe as normal.

Is this tuna steak recipe gluten free, and what about allergens?

Yes, as written it is gluten free and dairy free. All the Full Feast sauces are gluten free by lab test. The dish contains fish, so it is not for anyone with a fish allergy.

Final word from me

This is the dinner I make when I come home tired and still want something that tastes like my island. Twenty minutes, one pan, a bowl of mango, and the kitchen smells of lime and Scotch bonnet. Be brave with the heat, be quick with the turn, and take it off while it is still pink. You will not go back to grey tuna again.

JP