Seared Tuna with heart of Cardoni and bagna cauda

My parents' next door neighbors have two children who I used to babysit. Now they are in college and the son is taking an interest in cooking. He is a sashimi fanatic, but has, like me, also taken to enjoying the occasional seared tuna. He asked me to show him some techniques on searing tuna, so we made a deal. He bought the fish and I did the teaching.

Searing tuna is remarkably easy, and can be customized to a variety of tastes. Phillip and I like ours nearly raw, with only a slight crust of seared fish around a red core. Others like their cooked through. It is easy, once one is set up to cook to order.

First, you need fresh, sashimi grade fish. Lesser cuts need to be cooked through (might I suggest tuna confit?).

Then, over very high heat, brush the skillet with olive oil. For the nearly-sashimi set, 30 seconds on each side is enough. For the cooked through set, 2 minutes on each side. Don't forget the edges, no matter which option you go for.

For a sauce you can steep a chopped shallot in balsamic vinegar and dress the fish with that and olive oil, you can make the red wine reduction that I use in the tuna tiramisu and use it without the zabaglione, you can finish with a splash of sesame oil, or whatever. Basically, if you like tuna, this is one of the great quick meals.

I had some leftover heart of cardoni and a jar of truffled anchovies that had to be used, so I made bagna cauda:

Roast a head of garlic by chopping off the ends, drizzling with fragrant olive oil, wrapping in foil, and placing in a hot oven.

Chop the truffled anchovy (or use salt-packed anchovies revived in milk), and gently heat in olive oil. Add creme fraiche and squeeze in the roasted garlic.

I topped the seared fish with the cardoni and drizzled the bagna cauda over it.

We ate this with potato latkes (the neighbors are Jewish, and this was Chanukkah), parboiled and sauteed salsify and a mixed green salad with persimmon slices and shaved pecorino romano cheese. Yum. Left to my own devices I would not have done the latkes, but I am glad we had them, as they were the perfect foil to the strongly flavored meal.

With the leftover tuna pieces we are going to make a confit out of them by slowly finishing them in olive oil, then we are going to make a spuma di tonno, a tuna mousse, which I learned from watching Michael Chiarello.