If wrapping albacore steaks in bacon and blasting them under the broiler is hardcore, I suppose slowly poaching them in the oven bathed in olive oil is the softcore version. It’s less in your face and more pleasing to the ladies.
For this low and slow preparation, I followed David Tanis’s recipe from the New York Times with a few minor tweaks. For those of you out of the foodie gossip loop, he’s the former Chez Panisse chef who raised David Chang’s hackles for daring to serve unadorned figs on a plate for dessert. I was on the fence as to who I was cheering for in this squabble because I love David T.’s simple recipes but David C.’s f-bombs make me giggle.
If you’ve got fresh albacore, make this dish ‘cause it’s simple, tasty, and leftovers (which are stored in the braising liquid) keep for a week.
Want to see how I made the Skinemax version of albacore?
Here’s what I gathered to serve four people:
- 2 pounds skinless albacore fillet
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon Tabil seasoning
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- approximately 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Here’s how I made it:
I preheated the oven to 350 F and grabbed my albacore fillet…
…and cut it crosswise into 1-½ inch steaks.
I seasoned both sides of the steaks liberally with salt and pepper…
…before putting them in a single layer in a oven-proof dish. I sprinkled the tuna with Tabil seasoning…
…chopped the garlic…
…and added it to the fish.
I poured olive oil into the dish until it reached halfway up the tuna steaks…
…covered the dish…
…and put the tuna in the oven for ten minutes.
I removed the dish from the oven and flipped each steak…
…before replacing the lid and baking for another ten minutes. The albacore should be barely cooked through when it’s finished. Don’t overcook it!
Before serving, I let the tuna cool to room temperature with the lid off. At dinnertime, I drizzled the steaks with the olive oil braising liquid and a squeeze of lemon juice.
