It’s our third fishy French Fridays in January, but we’re not talking mussels this week. Spice-crusted Tuna is today’s headliner. The caveat to this delicious recipe, however, is that it’s more about bold and brazen spices than tuna. Poor Charlie, shoved to the back of the boat again.
Spice-crusted Tuna with lemon wedges and Roasted Vegetables
I bought this week’s tuna at my local seafood store but when I was lucky enough to be in Sanary-sur-Mer, it became an off-the-dock purchase. A tiny fishing village founded in the 16th century, Sanary is a dream destination in southeastern France.
Le Thon, fresh off the boat, is for sale in the harbor’s daily market. Sanary-sur-Mer
Spice-crusted Tuna can be midweek fare. It takes only 15 minutes to plate this entrée. First, put cardamon seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds, fresh ginger slices and salt into your mortar and pestle. I also added Dukkah, a nut and spice blend containing almonds, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, (more) coriander seeds and anise seeds. Pound the spices until coarsely broken but not pulverized to a powder.
Fisherman and Fishmonger, rolled into one. Sanary-sur-Mer
Rub the tuna with olive oil and then sprinkle the spice mixture on both sides of your tuna and press slightly to stick. Pour olive oil into your skillet and, when hot, add the tuna. Two minutes on each side. Done. Think pink. I served it rather plainly, a drizzle of olive oil and some lemon wedges. Fruit chutney or salsa would be a tasty addition also.This is tuna with personality, a guaranteed palate pleaser.
With my leftovers, today I am slicing it thinly and making Salade Niçoise, a composed salad of tomatoes, tuna, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, Niçoise olives, capers and anchovies, dressed with a vinaigrette and served on a bed of lettuce.
I’ve continued to march onward in my Winter of Wanna Do’s quest. (Need an explanation? Click here.) Most food bloggers admit the easiest part of blogging is making the recipe. What’s most difficult is writing, photographing and posting about it. It’s astounding to me that so many bloggers do this well.
The spices and ginger slices are thrown into the mortar and coarsely crushed with my trusty pestle.
As for me, I love the writing. The posting with its high tech mumbo jumbo drives me bonkers. There are times I curse Steve Jobs (May he rest in peace.) and despise Bill Gates. However, it’s the photography that I wanna do better. This winter I have a plethora of pictorial opportunities so here’s the plan.
Since arriving in California, I’ve taken a photograph each day, representing something, anything or, even, nothing about this area. At the end of the winter, each of the 90 photos will be a fond memory. What I’ve already discovered is becoming more aware of and curious about my surroundings. During the past 12 days I’ve not only captured food and landscape images but also zebras, elephant seals and a turkey vulture eating carrion. (not food blog-appropriate)
Here’s the tuna just after I poured the spice mixture on both sides. After taking this picture, I lightly pressed the spices into the tuna. The olive oil provides the glue.
For example, here’s Day #11 Photo.
Factoid: The eerily beautiful plant hanging from this dead sycamore tree is not, as commonly thought, California Spanish moss or fishnet moss. It’s really Lace Lichen, Ramalina menzieslii, a combination of fungus and algae and not a moss.
Sprinkled throughout this Central California coast area are thousands of these nondescript white boxes which are visible from the highway. They contain honey bees. While not image inspiring, they are a reality so I stopped at several sites for photographs. Through research I found their story to be incredibly inspiring. The bee hive boxes are trucked here to spend a warm winter before almond pollination begins. In total, 1,800,000 hives are estimated to be in California (54 billion bees). Unfortunately, the United States lost over 30% of its honey bee colonies last year. Since our top 100 human food crops, 70 of those crops supplying 90 percent of the world’s nutrition, need bees for pollination, let’s keep these little honeys alive.
French Fridays with Dorie is an international online cooking group making it’s way through Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan. To see what my colleagues photographed this week, go here.
Wow, off the boat fresh fish – that is impressive! Have a great weekend Mary.
Love those photos of sea-fresh tuna! And love the idea of your photo a day project, it’s definitely practice that does make perfect (still getting there myself!)
The only fresh from the dock seafood I’ve eaten was oysters in Scotland—my dad slurped down a dozen and one was enough for me. Color me green with your fresh tuna find when you were in France—not sure I want to know the age of the tuna I bought in Indy, but I did enjoy it.
Gorgeous pictures. A friend of mine did a picture per day post to Facebook a few years ago. She kept it up for exactly one year and said that she really enjoyed the experience. I’ve also been poking around looking for a photography course. Unfortunately, most of the ones in my area seem focused on serious photographers with serious cameras. Not sure what they would think of me wandering in with a funny american accent and a little point-n-shoot camera, asking how I can take better pictures of my dinner:-)
So now I am going to the store (wish it was at the market in Sanuary-Sur-Mer instead of Basalt-Sur_montaigne) and buy some tuna. This reminded me that I was ran out of the dukka you gave me years ago so I am going to get some of that too or order it on line. Love your mortar and pestle and how clever of you to include this in your travel dopp kitt. I can only imagine you had to make some hard decisions about what to bring in your traveling food show.
Meanwhile, I checked Wikipedia to see how our local Usnea is related to the Ramalina menziesii…in the same Order but one family away. Sure looks like Usnea to me.
and Great PIX!
Hugs, TTR
Great post Mary! I really enjoy your explorations of the California coast! Those turkey buzzards are ugly characters… aren’t they? We have a lot of them around here, and I find them fascinating!
What kind of camera are you using? Your photos are lovely. Funny how the photography is taking on a life of it’s own. I sometimes enjoy it more than the cooking. Happy Friday, Mary!
You are doing a very nice job with your photography Mary! And you are in the perfect picturesque spot to work on it more. I love your stories about you area. Getting better with my camera is always on my to do list! Oh, I tried your idea of writing down your worries and then doing all your worrying at a pre-chosen time. I like it. I’ve also been surprised at how little I am worrying these days. I’m glad you enjoyed your beautiful tuna!
how cool! 😉 I started doing a photo journal like that but little ones it got too difficult and I could never get the shots that I really wanted, oh well. 🙂 Your dock-side tuna looks and sounds amazing by the way! I love how coarse your spices were, I loved this recipe!
Your spice crust looks wonderful, Mary. I love your dedication to learning more about photography! Good luck!
Your dinner looks wonderful, and I bet your leftover Nicoise salad was wonderful too. I enjoyed my leftovers as a tasty sandwich!
I can’t get over how large just a section of tuna is… I’ve never seen a whole fish? Have you? You really captured how intent the fishmonger was about cutting just the right piece for you. You have a good eye. I think the punch was the extra spice you added, we found this mixture quite tame.. but we have been eating a lot of spicy Asian food lately and I think the more spice you have the less intense it is the next time you eat it.
Love those photos of France, Mary! Actually, all of the photos in this post are fabulous and I especially love the close-up of the spice crust on the tuna. I love photos that emphasize texture! I look forward to seeing the photos you post of the central coast AND of the food as you work on this wanna do! Have a great weekend!
Lovely, lovely post. And your photos are simply gorgeous. For the record, you are inspiring me to learn more about photography (and try to get my act together so I am not taking photos of fish soup at 11pm :). Wow- I will be circling back to read about your winter wanna do list. Love it already. And the fish photos again make me long for a vacation to France. Heck, anywhere. Love that you researched what all the bee hives were. Not surprised and so fun for us to learn what is going on with that game plan. I found that tree photo particularly interesting- great shot.
My Wanna Do list is never ending. I love your winter quest idea. I’m looking forward to following it. I’m not sure if I’m brave enough to try my own quest this winter, but you’ve inspired me to think about it. Your next-day nicoise salad sounds delicious. I usually just used canned tuna (I’m sure fresh was even better!), but I do love nicoise.
Mary, I have a wanna do list too. I wanna do it all, just can’t get my act together. Love your photos, great idea for a winter project. Love the info about honey bees. I remember when Jim and I were driving thru Portugal, we came across all the cork trees that were “harvested” and were simply amazed, I had no idea. N ever even gave cork a second thought, unless it didn’t come out of the wine bottle properly.
Your tune looks so delicious, perfect with those veggies.
You continue to inspire me, Mary, my friend! I love your photo of the day project! And, I well know how much help the honeybees need. Glad you enjoyed the fish. We did too. I love your THICK spice crust. Did you bring the mortar and pestle with you to CA or do you have a dream kitchen at your rental?
Mary I always learn something from your blog, I love it. Have you seen the documentary More Than Honey? It is good and about the bee industry. I applaud your efforts to learn something new. I should improve my photography too. Have a great week.
Love that bountiful plate of goodness of spices, tuna and mixed vegs! Always a pleasure to visit you!
Love the pictures and your off the boat tuna. Glad you are enjoying your time in warmer climes.
P.S. You asked how I do it all, the answer is… I don’t 🙂 Something usually slides to make room for the other things. I’d never survive if I didn’t do it that way. The house usually bears the brunt of it all…
So jealous as to how fresh your fish is!