Grilled Fresh Tuna Carnitas and Crunchy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

This recipe was one I adapted from Rickbayless.com and holy cow is it simple and amazing to eat. The salsa was so good that I ended up eating the leftovers with a spoon. I couldn’t wait to find another use for the leftovers. It’s so fresh and green and full of wonderful flavor. Caramelized onions are also amazing on this.

Preparation is a snap. If you have two people in the kitchen — one can do the salsa while the other is working on the meat and you’ll both be done in less than 10 minutes.

Clean up was also easy as we never made it out of the kitchen. It was too good to wait to eat!

Tuna Steaks

  • 2 tuna steaks
  • 1-2 T Olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  1. Season fresh (or thawed) tuna steaks with a little salt and pepper.
  2. Cut tuna into 1 inch chunks
  3. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium high heat.
  4. Add tuna chunks to oil and cook until just starting to brown. Approximately 5 minutes.

Crunchy Tomatillo-Avocado Salsa

  • Food processor, blender, or meat grinder
  • 8 ounces (about 4 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup (loosely packed) coarsely chopped cilantro
  • 1-2 small serranos, stemmed and roughly chopped
  • 1 ripe avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin
  • 1 small white onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • Salt
  1. Roughly chop half of the tomatillos and scoop them into a food processor (or blender) with the cilantro and green chiles. Measure in 1/4 cup water and process to a slushy, coarse puree. Alternative Method: Put all the tomatillos (quartered), cilantro and chiles through a meat grinder to chop them (no water necessary), then stir in finely chopped avocado and rinsed onion.
  2. Roughly chop half the avocado, add it to the processor and pulse until it is incorporated into the salsa. Scrape into a serving dish.
  3. Scoop the onion into a small strainer and rinse under cold water. Add to the salsa.
  4. Finely chop the remaining tomatillos and add them, too. Finally, chop the remaining avocado into 1/4-inch pieces and stir them into the salsa.
  5. Taste and season with salt, usually about 3/4 teaspoon.

Assembly

Take your tortillas and warm over a skillet or microwave. Fill with tuna and salsa. Enjoy.

Posted in , on January 5, 2010
Recipe entered by: Lena

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