Grilled Tuna and Provençal Summer Vegetables

This post is also available in: Italiano

On Saturday mornings I walk to Wakefield Farmer’s Market by the big lake to get the freshest and best priced fish I’ve found from a fisherman named Bob (of Roberto’s Seafood). This week I got two nice pieces of tuna and was staring sadly at the last of my summer vegetables hanging on for dear life my bucket garden.

I guess I was trying to hold on to summer and my minded wandered back to the summer of our road trip honeymoon across Italy, into France and through most of Spain. It was such an romantically epic trip, one place that I’ll always remember is Provence. The garmin navigation took us down a small road lined with oak and cypress trees, then to my surprise, I saw large gardens growing through a break in the trees. Lettuce, lavender and sunflowers everywhere. I felt like I was in a Van Gogh painting.

We stopped in the town of SaintRémy-de-Provence for a light lunch and I picked up a baguette, some wonderfully stinky cheese, and a bottle of wine to enjoy on out hotel terrace that night. I saw the same Herbes de Provence spices in ceramic crock that Williams Sonoma sells in one of the small shops in town. To this day, I have not found another spice mix that I enjoy more – thyme, basil, savory, fennel, lavender flowers, all the flavors of those beautiful winding roads.

This recipe brings together the flavors of Provence and is finished off with an easy aioli (no raw egg yolks just good mayo) that brings everything together.

Grilled Tuna and Provençal Summer Vegetables

Recipe by Colleen BeckettCourse: Fish, Recipes
Servings

2-4

servings
Prep time

15

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 tuna steaks

  • 1 large zucchini

  • 2 eggplant

  • 1 large heirloom tomato

  • 1 heaping tablespoon of herbes de Provence

  • 1 garlic clove

  • s & p

  • Aioli
  • 1/2 cup good mayo

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • half a lemon

Directions

  • Cut the zucchini and eggplant in half then into quarters. Place in a bowl and coat with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
  • Cut the heirloom tomato into large diced pieces and place in another bowl, seasoning with salt, and adding the herbes de provence and a whole garlic clove to marinate with it for flavor.
  • Season the tuna steaks with olive oil, sat and pepper and set aside for the grill.
  • Aioli
  • Place a half a cup of mayo into a small bowl, along with the juice from half a lemon, and grate 1-2 garlic cloves on a microplane grater into the mixture. This way you will not have large chunks of garlic, just a nice puree.
  • Grill Time
  • Grill tuna steaks (about 5 minutes on each side) internal temperature should be 125-145 F. 125 F for rare (chef’s recommendation and mine).
  • Plate the vegetables on the bottom with the tuna steak on top and drizzle with the aioli. Bon appetit! (buon appetito).
 

Comments are closed.