Tuna Confit
Appetizers Spanish Fish and Seafood
1001 times better than the canned tuna you can buy here (I specified this to make it clear that we're excluding the fish preserves from Spain which are exceptional 🤤 ). I made tuna confit for the whole week. I will use it in salads, as an appetizer alongside olives and pickled hot peppers, for breakfast on crostini with avocado. Basically anything that canned tuna is good for, this tuna is good for too. Except it's more refined, aromatic with citrus. With a flavour from San Sebastian.
Ingredients
4 tuna fillets (700 g total; approximately 10 cm length, 7 cm width and 2-3 cm thickness)
minimum 500 ml olive oil
zest from 1 small organic lemon
zest from 1/3 organic orange
1 bay leaf
1 generous sprig of thyme
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
sea salt
How to prepare tuna confit
- Pat the tuna fillets dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with salt all over, including in any cut areas. Use slightly more salt than you usually would for seasoning (about 2 teaspoons). Let sit at room temperature for up to 1 hour (until the infused oil is ready).
- Put the oil in a saucepan/skillet that will hold the tuna pieces as perfectly as possible in a single layer. Don't use a much larger pot, you'll waste oil.
- Slowly heat the oil until it's hot. Add the aromatics (citrus peels cut into strips with a vegetable peeler, pepper, bay leaf and whole thyme). Remove from heat and let cool until just warm (between 30 minutes and 1 hour). During this time the oil will infuse with the aromatics.
- Reheat the oil again, this time to 100°C (use a kitchen thermometer). Remove from heat and carefully add the tuna pieces. The oil must cover the tuna. Let the tuna cool in the oil, during this time it will confit. You can check with the tip of a knife in the center of a piece, the tuna should be whitish all the way through.
- When cooled, transfer the tuna to a glass container with a lid. Add enough oil to cover it. Store in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 weeks. Serve at room temperature because it has a better texture, but also because the oil needs to melt, as it solidifies when cold.
Ton in uleiul fierbinte
Tonul e confiat
Aperitiv cu masline verzi si ardei iuti murati (guinidilla)
