Tuna is a fish that has not only excellent taste, but also easy to prepare. There are several ways to cook tuna fillet, with which ready-made dishes can take on different flavors.
Beneficial features
Due to the taste, tuna is often called "sea veal." It contains a small amount of fat, so that fish is often called diet. Dishes with tuna in their ingredients are often included in the daily diet of those on a diet.
Studies by scientists have shown that people who regularly eat tuna fillet dishes are less likely to experience problems with the cardiovascular system and brain activity. With frequent use of this fish variety, vision is normalized and the risk of developing cancer is reduced.
What nutrients does tuna fillet contain in its composition? First of all, this is Omega-3 - one of the most useful acids. Of the minerals and amino acids in it there are phosphorus, iron, calcium and magnesium, as well as selenium.
The calorie content of tuna is small - only 140 kcal per 100 grams of finished product.
What to cook from tuna
There are many dishes that can be prepared from the fillet of this fish. Due to the large size of the carcass, excellent steaks are obtained from it. From this type of fish you can cook a delicious and low-fat soup. No less successful is the fried tuna.
It is better to buy such fish in fresh-frozen form - so it retains the maximum amount of nutrients.
Provencal tuna steak
This dish is very easy to prepare. All ingredients listed in this recipe are for four servings.
At the very beginning of the preparation, spices and herbs should be prepared, in which it will be necessary to roll the tuna fillet before the roasting process. To do this, you need to take a little black pepper (a quarter teaspoon), a pinch of salt, a couple of teaspoons of a mixture of Provencal herbs. These ingredients should be mixed thoroughly. Each tuna steak should be coated with a small amount of olive oil and breaded in prepared herbs with spices.
In the meantime, you should heat the pan, then fry the fish fillet on it (for 3-4 minutes on each side) until the slices are lightly browned - this will be an indicator of the readiness of the dish.
A tuna steak will look more impressive if, at the time of serving, it is decorated with lettuce and lemon slices.
Tuna fried with pesto marinade
An original recipe for fried tuna pre-marinated in pesto.
First of all, you should make a marinade, which is prepared in a blender. To do this, a medium bunch of chopped basil and 3-4 crushed cloves of garlic will stir in the bowl - they need to be beaten to a homogeneous mass, in the process adding a tablespoon of olive oil. A third of the resulting sauce should be separated and added to it peeled and chopped medium cucumber. In this composition, the mass should be refrigerated.
Now you should start cooking tuna fillet. For this dish, it is best to take a whole piece of fish fillet initially. It should be carefully greased with soy sauce and pour in a mass of basil and garlic (without cucumber). Now the fish must be marinated in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
When the fillet is ready, you should heat the grill and, having greased its grill with oil, lay out the fish without marinade. It must be baked over high heat, periodically turning over and pouring on the marinade. Cooking tuna fillet with this method will only take about 15 minutes - eventually a light brown crust should form on the fish. Now the meat must be cut into small portions and pour the sauce from the refrigerator.
Tuna fillet stuffed with vegetables
The amount of ingredients indicated here is calculated on 2.5 kg of fish.
The carcass should be washed well and separated from the skin in such a way that it retains its integrity. After it must be cut into pieces of medium size.
Now you should cook the vegetables. It is necessary in one pan to fry 300 g of carrots and 400 g of peeled tomatoes, grated, and on the other - chopped onion rings. A third of the onion should be added to other vegetables, add a few spices there (to taste) and bring to a boil. Separately, make a gravy of one tomato.
Prepared tuna fillet should be chopped in a meat grinder and add the remaining onion to it. This mass also needs to be salted and pepper and stuffed with it the skin removed from the fish.
This dish is being prepared in the oven, in a deep dish. Pour tomato sauce into the container, put the tuna in it. From above, all this is poured with gravy from carrots, tomatoes and onions. In this form, fish should be baked at a temperature of 180 degrees. The finished dish should be cut into portions.
Baked tuna
The baked tuna filet in the oven is very tasty. To prepare such a dish, you need to wash and dry a kilogram of fillet with a towel and cut it into small portions. They should be pepper and salt, smear with crushed garlic (3-4 cloves) and put in a baking dish well greased with olive oil. The form should be covered and sent to the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for 10 minutes. After this, the fillet pieces should be turned over, cover the dishes again with a lid and bake exactly the same amount. Tuna is ready.
Fried tuna
It turns out very tasty fried tuna fillet in a pan. So, 0.5 kg of fish should be washed and dried with a paper towel. A large piece should be divided into portions, 3 x 3 cm in size. Separately, a marinade is prepared, for which 4 tablespoons of soy sauce are mixed, half a teaspoon of salt and paprika, as well as a teaspoon of ground pepper. Soak slices of fish with this marinade and leave to marinate under the lid for 30 minutes.
Then the fish is fried in a pan with hot vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes on each side. After this, the pan must be covered and removed from the heat for a while - it will reach.
Roasted tuna can be served with lettuce and fresh vegetables.
How to make fresh-frozen tuna
It is best to purchase fresh-frozen tuna, as with this type of storage, the fish retains the largest number of useful trace elements. From such fish you can cook aromatic kebabs. To do this, take the frozen tuna fillet and hold it for some time in water. For 250 grams of fillet, cut into small cubes, you need to take a little salt, pepper and very little spices. You should wipe the fish with these spices, sprinkle with a small amount of olive oil and wrap each piece in large basil leaves. Now the fish must be strung on skewers soaked in water. Skewers are baked on the grill or on fire for 7 minutes.
Tuna Carpaccio
Very often in the menu of expensive restaurants there is an Italian dish - tuna fillet carpaccio. The recipe is simple, but the result is a very original work of culinary art.
For such a dish, 100 grams of fish fillet should be cut into thin slices. Separately, prepare the sauce. For it, mix 100 g of olive oil, 10 ml of lemon juice, and 15 ml of soy sauce. This sauce is poured into a plate on which the finished dish will be served. After that, chopped tuna fillet is laid out in the sauce. The carpaccio recipe involves adding black and white sesame to the dish, but this ingredient can be excluded.
On top of the fillet, put a little grated Parmesan and lay the vegetable salad, which is prepared from chopped cherry tomatoes (15 g), lettuce (10 g) and chopped avocado (20 g) seasoned with a small amount of olive oil.
Baked tuna
If the question arises "how to cook fresh-frozen tuna," then there is a simple answer: fish can be baked with lemon. To prepare the dish, you need to take the whole tuna, clean it of bones, wash well and dry with a paper towel. Then the fish should be thoroughly wiped with a mixture of peppers with the addition of salt, vegetable oil and juice of half a lemon.
How to cook tuna fillet in the oven so that the fish at the exit does not turn out dry? There is only one answer: in foil. The fish coated with marinade should be placed on the foil (matte side), wrapped and baked in the oven for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees.
Italian style canned tuna salad
Another practical answer to the question of how to cook tuna fillet is preservation. Canned fillet can be added to different salads - it will be ideally combined with well-chosen ingredients.
In order to make Italian-style salad, you need to take washed and dried lettuce leaves, tear them and put them on a plate. On top of the salad, put grated mozzarella cheese (150 grams), and olives cut into small rings (100 grams) are laid out on top of the cheese. This is followed by small tomatoes - cherry (200 grams), which, if desired, can be cut into halves. Then fish is added to the salad, which must first be squeezed from the brine and knead with a fork (200 grams).
An ideal dressing for such a salad would be the juice of one lemon mixed with a small amount of olive oil. Top with a small amount of pine nuts (40 grams). Now the dish is ready - it must be sent to a dark and cool place so that it is saturated with juice - it will take about a couple of hours. Before serving, the prepared salad should be gently mixed to evenly distribute the ingredients.
Cold tuna noodles
Not sure how to cook tuna fillet? Try pairing it with noodles. There is one very original recipe in which these two ingredients blend perfectly.
To prepare such an original dish, you must first prepare the sauce. To do this, in one small container, combine two tablespoons of olive and sesame oil, as well as soy sauce. There you should add a teaspoon of Chili paste - it will give the necessary sharpness.
Now is the time to start cooking pasta. Soba noodles or long Italian pasta are ideal for such a dish. Boil pasta until half-cooked, then rinse thoroughly in ice water.
Then 150 grams of tuna fillet should be cut into thin strips so that the thickness of the strips does not exceed the thickness of pasta. After this, the fish should be combined with the remaining pasta and, pouring the sauce, mix thoroughly, but so that the ingredients do not stick together. The dish is ready. Now it needs to be divided into portions and put on plates. Each portion can be sprinkled with fried sesame seeds on top.
Tuna soup
When the hostess thinks about what to cook from tuna, a soup with this fish can be an excellent option. The most delicious soups are obtained with canned tuna.
To prepare such a tasty, nutritious and, most importantly, healthy soup, three medium-sized potatoes should be peeled and cut into medium cubes. Potatoes must be cooked over high heat, gradually reducing it to medium (about 20 minutes).
Meanwhile, you can do the cooking of the roast. To do this, cut the onion into thin rings, and carrots into strips. Vegetables should be fried in a hot pan, in butter, until a rosy color is formed. After that, they should add one grated tomato (without peel). In this composition, the vegetables need to be slightly stewed, and then added to the soup. After that, there you should send a can of canned tuna (200 grams) and bring the contents of the pan to a boil. As soon as this happens, seasonings and bay leaves are added to the dish. Then the pot of soup should be removed from the stove and left to infuse for a while.
Tuna Cooking Tricks
As can be seen from the recipes above, tuna is a fish that is very easy to prepare. However, some tricks should be observed in the process.
First of all, it is worth remembering that the most delicious dishes are obtained from fresh tuna. Fresh fish is considered to have been lying in the refrigerator for no more than four days.
If you need to boil this type of fish for cooking, then it is worth remembering that it will gain the best taste after 10-12 minutes of cooking - after it starts to lose the brightness of taste, and the finished dish will no longer have the desired saturation.
If there is a need for pickling tuna, then it is best to do this in soybean, olive, sesame oil, lemon or orange juice, as well as in your favorite spices. In the case of spices, it should be remembered that there should not be many, so that the taste of the fish is not lost.
If it is necessary to fry the tuna, then to give the treat the most vivid taste, just rub the carcass with salt. In the event that prior to the roasting process it was processed with soy sauce, it must definitely be salted to preserve the juiciness.