Nectarine and coriander leaf salsa with seared tuna steaks

It may not be particularly summery in London, but if you read as many blogs as often as I do, then you will start to experience summer vicariously through all the lovely summery dishes that people like Susan, Kalyn and David, Pille and Anne have been posting.  Clearly in some parts of the world it has been hot – just not here – so I’m enjoying it vicariously. A sort of summer by proxy, if you will.

The summery delights that have tempted me the most include watermelon recipes, 101 uses for blueberries, and… salsas.  It seems everybody’s doing it this summer.

And eventually I could take it no more.  Must.  Have.  Salsa.

And not any old salsa – a fruit salsa was what I was after.  And what I usually crave with a fruity salsa is a tuna steak, just barely seared.  When Nick went shopping last weekend, I asked him to get tuna steaks.  He came home with… two whole sea bass.  Umm… lovely, dear, but where’s my tuna?  He had decided that tuna was too expensive if not on special, and that sea bass would do just fine.  Now, wonderful as sea bass is, it isn’t tuna.  And my craving was not to be denied.  Must. Have. Tuna. With. Salsa.

So I subsequently went to the supermarket myself (you know what they say about if you want a job done properly…!) and picked up two small and beautifully fresh tuna steaks.  Expensive… but I’m worth it.  I already knew that the nectarines in the fridge would form the backbone of the salsa, but we still needed some bite.  What better to provide a counterpoint to the sweetness of nectarines and ripe tomatoes but coriander leaf (a.k.a. cilantro or dhania).  I’ve already written reams about this wonderful herb that people either love or hate, so I’m not going to repeat myself.  Suffice to say that if you are a lover of cilantro, the fresh, green zing that it adds to this salsa is its crowning glory.

If you’re not a lover of cilantro, of course, it ruins the entire dish 😉

NOTES: The tuna steaks were prepared super-simply:  brushed with sunflower oil, sprinkled liberally with Thai seven spice mix, then seared on a pre-heated cast iron skillet for no more than a minute per side to get that wonderful pink interior.  You can cook them for longer if you don’t share my taste for almost-sushi-raw tuna.  As a starch, I made couscous and added finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes for flavour.  I had no red onions to hand for the salsa, but would recommend them instead of white.

NECTARINE AND CORIANDER LEAF SALSA

Ingredients

1 fully ripe nectarine
1 fully ripe tomato
1/2 a sweet red onion
a good handful of coriander/cilantro leaves
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp raspberry vinegar

Method

Finely chop the nectarine, tomato and onion.  Mix in a bowl with the coriander, oil and vinegar.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes or so before serving.

The charming hostess for Kalyn’s event Weekend Herb Blogging this weekend is the lovely Katie from Thyme for Cooking – do check her site for the roundup this week!