Salty Like the Sea

Grilled Tuna Steak and Tomato Fennel Salad with Currants & Pine Nuts

Popping in quickly today as it’s been a bit manic since we got back from Canada. I promise a more robust installment next week… But, I do have a fun recipe and a discount code for some of my favorite Jacobsen salts! 

I’ve known Ben Jacobsen for over a decade and it’s been amazing to watch Jacobsen Salt grow. I lived in Portland briefly around the time he started the company in 2011. Back then it was a smaller business where he primarily harvested sea salt from Netarts Bay on the Oregon Coast and created the most delightful flaky salt. 

Since then, he’s grown the company tremendously and has developed countless other fun products such as infused sea salts with ingredients like lemon zest, garlic, rosemary and more. In addition, he has created insanely delicious salted caramels and now offers kosher salt and fine sea salt to boot. There’s honey too… 

So you can imagine how happy I was when I was asked by my friends over there to develop a recipe with their Jacobsen Italian sea salt timed with the salt harvest happening in Sicily. A no brainer!

It’s also my pleasure to share with you my own selection of Italian Jacobsen products. And, now through 10/18 if you use the code COLUCOOKS15, you’ll receive 15% off items in the collection.

Take a peek below for the recipe!

Grilled Tuna Steak and Tomato Fennel Salad with Currants & Pine Nuts

For this recipe, I wanted to utilize the last of the season’s sungolds and keep things fresh and simple. I seasoned the tuna steak with the Italian seasoning which has lemon, rosemary and basil and grilled it quickly over high heat. As a nod to Sicilian ingredients, I tossed together the tomatoes with some fennel, currants and toasted pine nuts and topped it all with fresh mint and basil. I was very pleased. Make sure to salt your tomatoes about 10 minutes before serving so they can release their juices, which will result in a more intense flavor. If you don’t want to use tuna, cod, halibut or swordfish would also play nicely. The one thing I do ask is that you eat it outside in the late September sun. We’ve got a few days of summer left - enjoy them. 

Serves 2 

Time 20 minutes 

INGRIDENTS

For the salad:

1 pint sungolds or other small pretty tomato varieties

Jacobsen Italian fine sea salt

2 teaspoons currants 

1 small shallot thinly sliced 

2 teaspoon good quality Champagne vinegar 

1 cup scant thinly sliced fennel 

2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted 

¼ cup loosely packed basil and mint 

For the tuna:

1 12-ounce tuna steak 

2 teaspoons olive oil 

2 teaspoons Jacobsen Italian seasoning  

METHOD

Slice your tomatoes crosswise and season with a good pinch of Jacobsen Italian fine sea salt

and stir together. Set aside. 

Add the currants and shallot to a small bowl and cover with the vinegar and a small pinch of salt and set aside. 

Meanwhile,  heat a gas grill or build a charcoal grill to medium-high heat. Season your tuna with the olive oil and the Jacobsen Italian seasoning salt. Grill until rare, about 1 ½ minutes per side. Transfer to a plate while you assemble the rest of your salad. 

Add the fennel to the bowl with the tomatoes along with the currants, shallot and vinegar and drizzle with the olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Stir together and adjust seasonings accordingly with more vinegar and salt as needed. Gently stir in the herbs. 

Transfer the salad to a platter and top with the tuna steak. Slice and serve. 

Grilled Tuna Steak With Tomato Fennel Salad, Currants And Pine Nuts

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Ciao for now.

With love,

Colu x