Easy seared tuna and Panzanella salad
Eating seasonally is a fantastic way to bring variety into your meals especially if you’re bored of the same repetitive dinners. This week’s recipe, potato parma ham broad bean salad uses up this month’s seasonal ingredient, the FRESH TUNA!

Seared tuna panzanella salad
In the UK, the majority of tuna is enjoyed out of a tin. Preserved in extra virgin olive oil is my favourite. But let’s park that thought today as there is something so wonderful as enjoying a fresh tuna steak.
A lovely meaty fish with a flaky but firm texture is a great alternative to salmon or cod during these summer months. A member of the mackerel family, its high oil content gives it a rich strong flavour.
Plus, if you’re someone who wants to cook an easy and quick dinner without substituting flavour and goodness then tuna is a fantastic option. It dries out fast so it all it requires is a quick flash in a pan.
Here is a fantastic recipe with seared tuna with Panzanella tomato basil salad for you to try out this summer. It’s EASY, it’s super DELICIOUS and mega fun to cook at home.
Why not inject some new seasonal flavours into your cooking with this recipe.
Remember – Cook food that makes you feel good.
Seared tuna Panzanella salad
Ingredients (2 people)
- 100g sourdough or ciabatta
- 400g ripe vine tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
- 50g pitted Kalamata olives
- 1 tbsp capers
- Fresh basil
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tuna steaks
- Sea salt
- Black pepper

Tips
- Remove your tuna from the fridge with plenty of time to reach room temperature. When you sear tuna, it remains uncooked in the middle. So the last thing you want is ice-cold tuna in the middle which masks its beautiful flavour.
- You want to cook it on high heat. Rare tuna steak – cook for 30 seconds per side. Medium tuna steak – cook for 1-2 minutes per side. Well-done tuna steak – cook for 3 minutes per side.
- Once cooked it’s best to leave tuna to rest under foil for 3-4 minutes before serving..
Cooking instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6.
- Tear the bread into crouton-sizes pieces. Place on a baking tray, drizzle over with extra virgin olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, onion, olives, capers and roughly torn basil. Add the bread, season and toss well.
- Whisk together the oil, vinegar and garlic. Season and pour over the salad. Mix well.
- In the meantime, heat a frying pan on high heat. Lightly coat the tuna steak in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Flash fry the tuna for 30-60 seconds on each side until seared. Cook for longer if you wish it more well done.
- Serve the salad with the tuna steak on top
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