Sesame Crusted Seared Tuna with Chilli Coriander Pesto, Grated Tomato, Cucumber and Crispy Bits

A Summery Tuna Crudo which is much easier than it looks!

It’s been swelteringly hot this week and this is all I’ve been craving. I am not built for heat and I’ve been wilting in the kitchen so the idea of an (almost) no cook recipe is beyond appealing to me and I hope to you too.

As I’m sure you know, I worked as a private chef for 10 years and my bread and butter was drinks parties where I would make hundreds and hundreds of canapés every week. One of the most popular canapés I did that I could never take off my menu was the sesame seared tuna with a chilli and coriander pesto. It’s so simple but so incredibly good. People would linger by the door to the kitchen at events to gobble all of these before the waitress could carry them out to the rest of the room. They are bursting with flavour, they’re light and fresh. And very quick to prepare which makes them even better.

Here I’ve jazzed it up a bit and made it (slightly) more substantial. This is for days when you just want something light. And this is a practically “no cook” recipe as all you have to do is sear the tuna. And that takes just a few minutes. Then you can turn off the hob and the rest is just a little bit of grating, mixing and assembling! As someone who cooks a lot, there are times I actually love not “cooking” and assembling instead.

This is a kind-of crudo. “Kind of” I suppose because the tuna is seared and crudos normally consist of something raw. You could swap in some salmon sashimi if you really cant face any kind of cooking. That would be delicious and lots of supermarkets seem to have a sushi section which are actually really good. A crudo is a great Summer dish - you just need something raw (doesn’t have to be fish, can be thinly sliced vegetables) a dressing to splash over and some crunchy, crispy toppings. The possibilities are endless! I often make a salmon one with a miso and lime dressing, topped with avocado and thinly sliced radishes. So easy and so delicious.

This dish has gazpacho / pan tomate vibes with the way we are using the tomato and it’s so fresh and delicate but bursting with flavour. Using the best tomatoes you can find is important here but that’s easier now tomatoes are at their best.

If you want to make this a slightly more substantial meal, or you live with someone that would not consider this a proper supper, you could serve with a bowl of sticky rice on the side. That would be lovely. Or it could be a starter.

Now let me tell you about the coriander pesto which is so good. Not a pesto in the traditional sense, no parmesan, no pine nuts. It’s a mix of finely chopped coriander, chopped red chilli, olive oil, garlic, a little sesame oil and sesame seeds. So good drizzled over this and pretty much anything. It would be delicious with a simple tomato and burrata salad. (more ideas on this below). If you don’t like coriander, you could use basil instead or a mix of basil, parsley and chives.

Let’s talk about buying tuna. The key to buying tuna is that you should look for tuna that is evenly coloured, and a nice dark red. The less sinews the better! I find generally speaking that you get better tuna in good fishmongers than in supermarkets and also then you can tell the fishmonger what you plan to do and they can make sure they give you a good piece. But that’s not always the case as you can get good quality stuff in supermarkets these days. So as long as you buy good-quality fresh tuna, it’s perfectly fine to serve it rare or very pink - you don’t want to overcook it as it ends up tasting like tinned tuna (not a bad thing but not what we are after here!). If you can get your hands on “sushi grade” tuna, that’s brilliant, but if not, don’t stress, you can still do this with really good quality tuna steaks.

Serves 2