salad season: seared tuna edition

One of my favorite salads is Café R+D’s seared tuna salad- let’s face it. I’m a sucker for a piece of deliciously raw tuna, and theirs does not disappoint. BUT, it’s $16 and it requires me to put on some decent looking clothes, leave the house and be social. Last Thursday was not that kind of night. So instead, I did my best to recreate it at home with a few of my own changes/twists… a sesame seed crust, NO BEETS (gross, no beets for me), about 3x the amount of veggies and lettuce and a spicier dressing.

Dressing: (adapted from Ina Garten)

• 1 tsp. wasabi powder
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 5 dashes of hot sauce, Tabasco or Cholula

Salad:

• 2-3 Handfuls of spring mix
• 2-3 small New potatoes, cubed, boiled until tender and cooled
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped red onion
• 1/6 avocado, cubed
• 6- ½ in. slices of cucumber, diced
• ½ -1 oz. goat cheese

Tuna:

• 3 oz. piece of fresh ahi tuna
• 1 Tbsp black sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp white sesame seeds
• S&P

Mix the dressing in a small bowl. (I thought it was a little on the lemon overkill side, maybe go easy on the lemon zest. )Prepare veggies for salad. In a large bowl, let the potatoes, red onion, avocado and cucumber marinate in ½ of the dressing while you prepare and sear tuna.

Dry the tuna with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper. In a small bowl mix 1 Tbsp of white sesame seeds and 1 Tbsp of black sesame seeds. Gently press the tuna on the mixture, top and bottom only, so the sesame seeds stick. Heat a skillet on medium with 1 Tbsp olive oil in the pan. Once the oil starts to shimmer, sear the tuna on top and bottom for about 1.5 minutes or until it reaches desired doneness. (I like mine really rare). Remove from pan and slice.

Mix lettuce, cheese with the marinating vegetables and top with sliced tuna.