Steamed tuna

Inspired by Fred and Ginger, I'd planned to steam fish this week and since they were so sweet and gave me a packet of lovely green peppercorns the other day, I got some tuna steaks, broccoli, mange tout and a selection of fresh herbs - dill, mint, basil and lemongrass. I was particularly excited about the lemongrass as I've never used that before, it always looks so dry in the shop and I've never felt tempted to buy it. I've missed a lot there, I realise that now.

So, without further ado

Ingredients

4 tuna steaks
3 tbsp ginger paste
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
4-5 sprigs dill
4 sprigs mint
2 sprigs basil
2 stalks lemongrass
1 head broccoli
200 g mange tout

Method

1. The ginger paste is just plain ginger that has been run in a food processor into a pulp. A couple of times a year, I buy about a kilo of fresh ginger, spend a couple of hours in front of the TV peeling it all, then process until fairly smooth, distribute into ice trays and freeze.
2. Press the garlic and mix with the ginger, oyster and soy sauces. Place the tuna steaks on a large plate and distribute the mixture over them and rub it in on all sides. Leave for a few minutes.
3. Wash all herbs, cut the lemongrass lengthways in two, wash the mangetout and the broccoli and cut into florets.
4. As I don't have a bamboo steamer, I had to make do with my metal one and as it's smallish, I used the one for my pressure cooker as well. And because they are both metal, I placed two layers of cheese cloth at the bottom, so the fish wouldn't stick.
5. Place the fish at the bottom of the steamer, then all the herbs on top, then mangetout and broccoli on top.
6. Steam for 5-6 minutes. I left to steam a bit too long and the fish was slightly overdone. I also forgot to take off the lid of my pressure cooker after turning off the heat and sadly tomorrow's dinner will be even more overdone and the veg will be the dreaded yellowy hue.
7. I served with Canadian wild rice, which I'd prepared before, as it takes 45 minutes.

Needless to say, this was one yummy and quick dinner. Definitely a repeat.



Also since we'd been so very very healthy with this, we had scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam for dessert. Happy thoughts!