ACADEMIA BARILLA
Welcome back to Academia Barilla! Today’s recipe is Tuna Stake with Caponata. Caponata is the typical Italian dish from the south of Italy. And it is based on a pan fried vegetables flavored with the basil, garlic, nuts, capers, sugar and white vinegar.
I start preparing the caponata because it has a longer preparation time. We peeled the red onion, we cut in half and then we cut it in small cubes.
First we soak the sultana and then we can start preparing the other vegetables. I am going to cut the eggplant in small cubes and then again zucchini and the red pepper will be chopped in small cubes.
The amount of vegetables should be the same as the tuna stake for two people, one pound of tuna stake is enough until you need one pound of mixed vegetable.
In the caponata, eggplant is traditionally deep fried to get more flavor, and it is added and the other ingredients only at the end. In a frying pan, we put extra virgin olive oil and then we will start cooking the red onion first, then the red pepper, and at last the zucchini.
After few more minutes, we can start adding the other ingredients: Capers, salt sultana, pine nuts, sugar, white vinegar, pistachios, and the deep fried eggplant.
Once the caponata is ready, you can keep it in a warm place and start cooking the tuna.
Season the tuna stake with salt and pepper. Tuna stake should be at least one inch thick and then in a hot pan, we put extra virgin olive oil, crushed garlic and when it is really hot, you start cooking the tuna.
With a very hot pan after one minute, it is time to flip it over and as you can see, it is perfectly sealed, same time on the other side, so nearly one minute—one minute and a half.
You can decide to serve the whole stake as it is or cut it in slice and serve it next to the caponata.
For the caponata, you can use this ring. And then we put the tuna slices on the side. You can finish the plate with some extra virgin olive oil. Sea salt flavored with orange zest and freshly ground pepper.
The final touch is deep fried basil leaves.
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