SEARED TUNA WITH FREGOLA PUTTENESCA & CAPERBERRY RELISH

For a brief time in my early 20's, I dropped out of college and moved to Salt Lake City.  I quickly met a boy and soon (waaaaay too soon) we got an apartment together.  A short walk from downtown, it was one of those vintage buildings, built in the 20's, still full of original details and charm.  The bathroom had little hexagonal tiles on the floor and the living room still had a niche where a murphy bed was once stored.   The kitchen was narrow and painted the dull off-white every apartment seems to be painted and at one end there was space near a window for a small dining table and a couple of chairs, not that we had any of those things.  Instead dinner would be eaten off a box while watching the tv we'd placed in the murphy bed niche.  At the time I cooked almost exclusively from cans, boxes and packets.  I don't think I ever bought anything from the produce section at the grocery store other than bananas for breakfast.  Rather we ate lots of boxed macaroni and cheese doctored with jarred salsa and/or canned tuna or pasta tossed with a creamy "pesto" sauce from a packet, courtesy of Knorr.  The latter I'd gussy up with a couple spoons full of capers and think I was so very gourmet.  In retrospect I'm not sure it was a good idea, but I loved it at the time.  Of course I also loved Kraft fat free American singles.

I have no idea what ever possessed me to buy capers in the first place.  We never had anything with capers growing up and even in college I can't imagine what I ever would have eaten that would have capers in it.  I was hardly an adventurous eater.  Although it sort of makes sense that I'd like them.  As a child I loved sour, vinegary pickles and capers are sort of in the same family. 

When I came across this recipe in Nancy Silverton's book, Twist of the Wrist, my interest was piqued.  Caperberries were something I was not familiar with.  I mean I've heard of them but never had I tasted them.  I headed to a stylish little gourmet store over on Melrose, near Fairfax and picked up a jar, having struck out at Whole Foods.  So for those who don't know, the caperberry is what the little caper will grow into, assuming they aren't picked.  They look like small green olives with stems and their flavor is reminiscent of a caper but a little different.  First of all the texture has more of a crunch not as soggy, and it sort of tastes like a cross between a caper and a cornichon - subtly briney but with more of a pronounced vinegar taste.  Needless to say, after first tasting one, I was smitten. 

INGREDIENTS
(for the relish)
1/2 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 big clove of garlic, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons capers, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup caper berries, thinly sliced
1/4 cup really good extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley

(for the puttanesca fregola)
2 or 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
a pinch of red pepper flakes (how big a pinch depends on your taste)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup diced tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup black olive tapenade (store bought or homemade)
1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
1 cup fregola or Israeli couscous
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

(for the tuna)
1 6 ounce sushi grade tuna steak per person
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

METHOD
First make the relish. 

In a small bowl, combine the red onion, garlic, capers, caper berries, parsley, and olive oil.  Stir gently to combine.  This can be made ahead but not too far ahead.  The red onions sort of end up dying everything pink.

Next start the fregola.  Fill a medium pot with water, cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Once the water comes to a boil, add the fregola (or Israeli couscous) and cook according to the package instructions, making sure to taste about 2 minutes before the package states it should be done.  It might not need as much time as the instructions state.

Meanwhile move on to the puttanesca sauce.  Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it has softened but not browned.  Add the pepper flakes, stir and cook for another minute or so.  Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and tapenade.  Stir to combine, reduce heat to medium and cook for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a little.  Turn off the heat and add the parsley and taste, adjusting the seasonings if necessary.  It will likely need salt.

By this point, the fregola should be cooked.  Drain in a mesh colander, reserving about 1/2 cup of pasta water, and then toss in with the puttanesca sauce, stirring to coat everything.  Add several tablespoons full of the pasta water if the sauce seems too thick.

And finally our last component of the meal - the tuna.  Season the tuna on both sides with salt and pepper then slather with a little olive oil. Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat for at least 5 minutes.  It should be really hot.  Swirl in about a tablespoon of olive oil and when it's almost smoking gently lay in your tuna steaks.  Cook for 1 minute and then flip over and cook for 1 more minute.  The steaks should be still nice and rare inside, practically raw.  Immediately remove from pan and set on cutting board while you dish the meal.

To serve, spoon a mound of the puttenesca fregola onto a plate.  Lay the tuna steak over the fregola and then spoon some of the caperberry relish over the fish.  Serve extra relish in a bowl at the table.

So I have written about Ms. Silverton's book before, and gone into my issues with it so I will spare you here.  However I will say that in the book, the recipe instructs you to just use a jar of store bought puttenesca sauce which then gets doctored with extra garlic, pepper flakes, olive oil and parsley.  As I was getting my ingredients ready, I realized that puttenesca sauce is really nothing more that tomato sauce + tapenade.  Isn't that great?  Now I happened to have some homemade tapenade on hand (as I always do), but if you don't you can either buy a jar OR just go ahead and buy the premade puttenesca like Nancy says, but you will have to live with the fact that you cheated.

If you make the puttenesca the way I describe, the sauce  ends up surprisingly robust, which I think comes from the combination of canned diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.  The sauteed garlic, red pepper, and tapenade, flavored with black olives, capers, anchovy adds a richness and depth of flavor.  Stirring the sauce into the fregola is a nice, unexpected twist, instead of a regular old boring noodle or some sort of tubey pasta.  It's such a fun shape.  I feel like it would be great in a simple chicken soup.  Tyler Florence recently made a chicken soup where he used chicken sausage and made little meat balls.  How cute would it be to combine the chicken meatballs and fregola?  I might have to do that.

Complimenting and contrasting nicely with the puttenesca, the caperberry relish adds freshness, a vinegary and sharp flavor that cuts through the tomato, and a pleasing, subtle crunchy texture.  Both the relish and the fregola work well with the tuna in different ways.  But let's be honest, the dish is less about the tuna than what the tuna is served with.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  With such tasteful sides, the tuna doesn't need anything more than salt, pepper, and olive oil and it's perfect.  Whether you sear it as described above, or even grilled it either outdoors on a barbeque or inside with a grill pan, be advised that the dish really is superior if the tuna is cooked to be very rare.  I speak from experience.  I've made this twice - the first time the tuna ended up over-cooked, while the second time, it was still a deep pink through the center and the difference on the overall meal was astounding.  Soooo much better.  The fact that it barely takes any time at all makes it a great candidate for weeknight dining, although it's totally fancy enough to serve to guests. 

Serves 4

Comments

[superluckykitchen]

i LOVE tuna, i must try this.

[Karen]

This looks like what I want for dinner.

I'm LOVING fregola right now, and can't get enough of it.

And little hexagonal tiles in the bathroom win me over every time!

[sarah]

good grief - what a perfect way to eat tuna. now i only wish that i wasn't bitch-slapped into a MERE 3 oz of tuna a week

[dicker]

Radtastic recipe! I made it with Cod cause I'm cheap. And the grocery store was out of caperberries so I just put in additional capers. It rocked. Thanks!