Tuna belly tuna with onions recipe
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Total: 1 h 5 min Diners: 2
The tuna belly is one of the most coveted parts of the tuna for its high fat content, an infiltration that makes it a silky and extremely tasty meat while scarce because each animal has only two belly. The Japanese, great lovers of bluefin tuna caught in Spain, differentiate in turn within the belly several areas (toro, chutoro, otoro) since there are also different degrees of fatty infiltration that can provide very different characteristics when preparing it raw or cooking it.
Ingredients
Tuna belly, 360 g Large sweet onion, 2 u Large purple onion, 2 u Garlic clove, 1/2 u Extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons Salt, 1 teaspoon Sherry wine, 50 ml Rum, 50 ml Fish stock (or even chicken stock), 100 ml
How to cook tuna belly correctly?
As a recommendation, if we are faced with a tuna belly or any other animal, it is important to be aware that we either leave it raw to fillet it very thin (sushi, carpaccio…etc) or we cook it completely. Why? Because the fat is not tender and if the heat does not reach it the cut can be stringy and not pleasant in the mouth.
So for this tuna belly with onions the trick, in addition to preparing a good onion stew, will be to leave the tuna belly cooked in its point but juicy, so that the heat enters the inside of the piece completely and the fat melts being totally mellow. Warning: if you get it, you will not want to eat anything else.
Bluefin tuna from Almadraba, a great treasure of Spanish fishing
The bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus) used for this recipe is almadraba, but you should know that most of the tuna can not be because the almadraba is not a race or a type but an art of fishing, ie a way to catch these fish that is practiced in southern Spain and only during a certain time that is when the tuna migrate from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, looking for warmer waters. Almadraba tuna only represents a small percentage of the tuna consumed in Spain, as most of the tuna we consume usually comes from pools in the sea itself, and it is also of high quality.
How to make tuna belly tuna with onions
Of course, you can cook the belly tuna just grilled, with tomato, stewed, grilled…. or you can make this onion stew that is a wonderful accompaniment.
Step 1
In a fairly large frying pan, over very high heat, sear the ventresca on all sides. The ideal is to spread the cut with a little oil, before pouring it into the pan, so that it browns evenly. When it is ready, set aside.
Step 2
Peel the garlic clove, keep half and leave it whole, peel the onions and cut them into thin julienne strips and put it all in the same pan where we have sealed the ventresca, with the oil and a little salt. We will leave it over medium heat stirring it from time to time so that it browns but does not burn.
Step 3
After four minutes like this, lower the heat and let the onion continue to poach slowly for about 30 minutes, so that it sweats well to lose the water and caramelize little by little.
Step 4
When it is well cooked add the alcohol and let it evaporate over high heat again.
Step 5
Add the fish stock and reduce again, now over low heat. If we want the sauce to be thicker we could then add a little corn flour diluted in the cold broth itself.
Step 6
Add salt and black pepper to taste (you can add a bay leaf when you add the broth, to give it another flavor) and put the ventresca back into the onion stew, over very low heat, cover and let it cook as gently as possible for 5 minutes so that the ventresca cooks inside and becomes soft and mellow. The ideal is to consume on the spot, but it can also be cooled and then reheated in the microwave, in gentle batches, little by little so that it does not dry out.
