If wrapping albacore steaks in bacon and blasting them under the broiler is hardcore, I suppose slowly poaching them in the oven bathed in olive oil is the softcore version. It’s less in your face and more pleasing to the ladies.
For this low and slow preparation, I followed David Tanis’s recipe from the New York Times with a few minor tweaks. For those of you out of the foodie gossip loop, he’s the former Chez Panisse chef who raised David Chang’s hackles for daring to serve unadorned figs on a plate for dessert. I was on the fence as to who I was cheering for in this squabble because I love David T.’s simple recipes but David C.’s f-bombs make me giggle.
If you’ve got fresh albacore, make this Whole30-friendly dish ‘cause it’s simple, tasty, and leftovers (which are stored in the braising liquid) keep for a week.
Time to make Softcore Albacore, A.K.A., Tuna Braised in Olive Oil!
Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds skinless albacore fillet
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon seafood seasoning blend (salt-free)
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- approximately 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle.
Cut the albacore filet crosswise into 1½ inch-thick steaks.
Season both sides of the steaks liberally with salt and pepper…
…and place them in a single layer in an oven-proof dish. Sprinkle the tuna with your favorite salt-free seafood seasoning blend…
…and the chopped garlic.
Pour olive oil into the dish until it reaches halfway up the tuna steaks.
Cover the dish…
…and put the tuna in the oven for ten minutes.
Remove the dish from the oven and flip each steak…
…before replacing the lid and baking for another ten minutes. The albacore should be barely cooked through when it’s finished. Don’t overcook it!
Before serving, cool the tuna to room temperature with the lid off. Drizzle the steaks with the olive oil braising liquid and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Softcore Albacore (Tuna Braised in Olive Oil)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds tuna albacore loin skinless
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon seafood seasoning salt-free
- 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle.
- Cut the albacore filet crosswise into 1½ inch-thick steaks.
- Season both sides of the steaks liberally with salt and pepper and place them in a single layer in an oven-proof dish. Sprinkle the tuna with your favorite salt-free seafood seasoning blend and the chopped garlic.
- Pour olive oil into the dish until it reaches halfway up the tuna steaks. Cover the dish and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Remove the dish from the oven and flip each steak before replacing the lid and baking for another ten minutes. The albacore should be barely cooked through when it’s finished. Don’t overcook it!
- Before serving, cool the tuna to room temperature with the lid off. Drizzle the steaks with the olive oil braising liquid and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Notes
- Use a snug baking dish to cook the tuna so you use less olive oil.
- You can store leftovers in the braising liquid in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Turned out dry, I cut it a little thicker feeling it would dry out, but after following the cooking steps to the letter it came very dry. I would decrease cooking time to 6 minutes.
would covering the dish with foil achieve the same results? my casserole dish came with a plastic storage lid, not an oven-safe one :(thank you!
Yes, foil works just fine.
Absolutely awesome make it every year from our first catch.
Can you do this recipe in a pan, for those who don’t have an oven?
I like to cook the tuna in an oven because the heat is more even. I haven’t tried it on the stovetop.