Black Pepper Crusted Tuna with Soy Basil Sauce

I found this recipe on my Epicurious (Epi) app on my iPad, and although I tweaked it a great amount, the essence of encrusting with black pepper and creating a dipping sauce stayed the same. It was my lunch today, and loved it so much that I packed some up for my husband and brought it to him at work! (Yes, I definitely get those good wife points here!)

Time: 15 minutes

Serves 2

Prepare sauce

Mix together in a small bowl

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ginger, grated

1 scallion (white and green parts), finely chopped

4-5 small basil leaves, finely chopped

1/2 Serrano pepper, finely chopped (optional)

1/2 tsp togarshi powder*

Prepare tuna

Wash and pat dry 1/2 lb tuna steak

Coat with 1 tbsp olive oil and kosher salt

Crust generously with freshly ground black peppercorns generously

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan on high

Grill the tuna for 1 minute on the first side and then 3 minutes on second side, or until dark and crusty on the outside and pink and rare inside. 

Transfer the grilled tuna steak to a cutting board and cut them into 1/4-inch slices. Fan out the tuna slices on a serving platter, drizzle the sauce on top and serve hot.

*Tōgarashi (seven flavor chili pepper), is a common Japanese spice mixture containing seven ingredients.

A typical blend may contain:

• coarsely ground red chili pepper (the main ingredient)
• ground sansho (Sichuan pepper)
• roasted orange peel
• black sesame seed
• white sesame seed
• hemp seed
• ground ginger
• nori or aonori