Tavira, in the eastern Algarve, is as a sort of tuna hotspot of Portugal. It naturally follows that, in Tavira, they know how to serve tuna.
This recipe is for Algarve-style tuna steak, where the tuna is seared and stewed in a refogado of onions, peppers, garlic, white wine and tomatoes. It’s not the only way you’ll find tuna served in the Algarve, but it’s a very good one, and very much worth replicating in the comfort of your kitchen.
Tuna and Tavira
The area has a long association with tuna fishing, from the Armação Medo das Cascas (or the “Armaçao de Tavira”), a tuna fishing license granted to the area in the 1730s that allowed fishermen to catch tuna migrating from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean with ‘wall’-type nets. This loosely merged into the’ ‘General Company of the Royal Fisheries of the Kingdom of the Algarve’ set up by Marques de Pombal in the late 1700s.
Fast-forward to the 1800s, and nearby Vila Real de Santo António, which sits just a short boat ride from Andalusia and Spanish border over the Guadiana River, was the site of more than 50 Atlantic bluefin tuna processing factories. Savvy traders flocked from around the southern Mediterranean to establish tuna canning factories in the Algarve, and it’s even said that the world’s first ‘canned tuna’ – the type of conservas for which Portugal is still famous today – comes from this place, and this time.
Fast forward 150 years, and you’re reading this recipe for braised tuna steak, Tavira style.
Braised tuna steak
In the Algarve, you’ll find tune fried, flaked, brined and skewered. Tavira in particular, though, is known for a specific preparation of its famed tuna, which involves lightly braising the tuna in a kind of refogado with onions, garlic, tomatoes and different types of peppers.
Braised tuna is a relatively uncommon way of preparing tuna, more typical of Japanese cooking than Mediterranean cuisine, but doing it this way cuts out some of the more ocean-y tones from the tuna to help it pair with the earthier flavours of the cebollada.
Bell peppers aren’t super common in Portuguese cooking either, but they are grown around the Algarve, and particularly Tavira, where the Mediterranean climate and proximity to the Guadiana river makes growing conditions more favourable.
Bife de tuna de cebollada (literally: tuna steak prepared with onions), then, is a dish which brings together the bounty of water and earth around Tavira: Atlantic tuna caught as it migrates to warmer Mediterranean waters, bell peppers grown in the fertile soils surrounding the Guadiana river. Not quintessentially ‘Portuguese’, but very much Algarvian.
How to do it
Marinate the tuna steak for 30 minutes, then sear over high heat for a minute or so on each side to get some browning. Set the tuna aside.
Next, make the refogado: onions, then garlic and peppers, then tomato, thyme, white wine and red wine vinegar, seasoning appropriately at each stage.
After that, the idea is to return the tuna steak to the pan, cover, and lightly braise it for a few minutes. This is a good time to throw together a simple salad, and toss your potatoes (more on that below).
After a few minutes, plate the tuna, and put the vegetable mixture on high heat to cook down and concentrate the flavours, just for a couple of minutes. Serve the vegetables around the fish.
I plated`this with buttered cooked potatoes and a simple side salad of rocket and cherry tomatoes (seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, red wine vinegar and olive oil). It was healthy, hearty and picturesque, and I recommend you to do it like that. But don’t feel obliged.
Tuna à tavirense, bife de tuna de cebollada – Algarve-style tuna steak. Have a go.
Algarve-Style Tuna Steak (Bife de Tuna de Cebollada)
Ingredients
- 1 tuna steak
- 1 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic diced
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 sprig thyme
- sea salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley to garnish, optional
The potatoes
- 2 potatoes large, quartered
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary
- sea salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pat dry your tuna steak(s), season with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and set aside at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- Prepare the vegetables: slice the onion, cut the pepper into strips, dice the garlic and chop the tomato into small cubes.
- Peel and chop the potatoes into quarters, and place them in a pan of boiling water with 1tsp sea salt. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until tender when pressed with a fork.
- Add 2tbsp olive oil to a pan over high heat, add the bay leaf, and sear the tuna for 30 seconds to a minute on each side, until it achieves some slight browning and colouration (this is the mallard reaction). Remove the tuna from the pan and set aside; the bay leaf should stay in the pan, along with any residue stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Next, reduce the heat to medium and add the onions to the same pan. Sautée for 3-4 minutes or until translucent. If the edges of the onions start to brown, that’s fine – they should almost caramelise in the heat.
- Add the garlic and bell peppers to the pan, along with a pinch of sea salt.
- Sautée the vegetables for 3-4 minutes. Once the peppers have begun to colour and wilt, add a glug of white wine and reduce by around half.
- Next, add the tomato with the sprig of thyme, and another sprinkle of salt to cut the acidity of the tomatoes. Cook down for 3-4 minutes more.
- Add a splash of red wine vinegar, mix well, and reduce the heat to very low.
- Add the tuna back to the pan (along with any juices accumulated), blanket the tuna with the onion and pepper mixture, cover the pan (or just the tuna) and leave to braise for a few minutes. There should be a small amount of liquid in the pan at this point to achieve a braise: if not, top up with hot water.
- Remove the tuna from pan after 3 to 4 minutes, plate, and turn the heat to high. The idea is to cook down and concentrate the flavours of the vegetables, just for a minute or two.
- Meanwhile, toss the cooked potatoes with 1tbsp butter, sea salt, black pepper and 1tsp fresh rosemary.
- Arrange the potatoes around the tuna steak, and layer the vegetable mixture on top and around it. Top with fresh chopped parsley, if you want, and plate with a side salad.
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