If you find some fresh tuna at the market and want to try something different, try making these stuffed braised baby onions.
The onions are stuffed with a mixture of seared tuna, sauteed peppers, and garlic cooked in white wine, with pine nuts and parsley.
If you can’t find small onions, peel an extra outside layer or two off your onions until they are the desired size.
Slow-Braised Baby Onions Stuffed with Seared Tuna Salad
If you find some fresh tuna at the market and want to try something different, try making these stuffed braised baby onions. The onions are stuffed with a mixture of seared tuna, sauteed peppers, and garlic cooked in white wine, with pine nuts and parsley.If you can’t find small onions, peel an extra outside layer or two off your onions until they are the desired size.
Ingredients
- 8 small onions, peeled and left whole
- 2 Tbsp sunflower seed oil
- 2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper, medium dice
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 Tbsp white wine
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp sunflower seed oil
- 4 oz fresh tuna fillet
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, for finishing the stuffing
- Zest from ¼ of a lemon, for finishing the stuffing
- Juice from ¼ of a lemon, for finishing the stuffing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 370F.
- Coat the onions in a large bowl with the sunflower seed oil and Kosher salt.
- Wrap each onion loosely in aluminum foil, and place the individually-wrapped onions on a sheet tray lined with more aluminum foil.
- Bake the onions in the oven at 370F for roughly 3-4 hours, or until the onions are caramelized, golden-brown, and completely tender.
- While the onions are still cooking, begin making the tuna filling for the onions.
- In a medium-sized saute pan, add the olive oil and the diced red bell pepper.
- Cook the bell pepper on medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the peppers are almost tender.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the white wine, and continue to cook until the wine has mostly evaporated.
- Add the toasted pine nuts and fresh parsley, and season with Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
- Set the bell pepper, garlic, pine nut, and parsley mixture aside for later.
- When the onions are cooked after 3-4 hours, remove them from the oven and set them aside for when you are ready to serve.
- Salt the tuna fillet lightly on both sides.
- Add the 1 Tbsp of sunflower seed oil to a hot saute pan on the stove.
- Cook the tuna on high heat for about 2 minutes per side.
- Remove the tuna from the heat, and allow to rest for 3 minutes.
- Cut the tuna into medium-diced pieces.
- ombine the diced seared tuna with the bell pepper, garlic, pine nut, and parsley mixture that you made earlier.
- Drizzle the mixture with some olive oil, and add the zest of ¼ of a lemon, along with the juice of ¼ of a lemon.
- Stir the combine.
- Take each braised onion and use a small spoon to create an opening in the center of each onion.
- Stuff the center of each slow-cooked onion with a large spoonful of the seared tuna filling mixture, and serve while still warm.
Notes
The braised onions can be made in advance and re-heated in the oven or microwave before stuffing with the fresh seared tuna salad mix.