Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish)

Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes

Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish)

It just happens that I was reading an old recipes book published in 1918 and my eye caught an interesting recipe for a sauce that was prepared with leftovers. The sauce is to accompany fish dishes, especially grilled fish and I thought that it would be great taking inspiration from that old text and developing  a sauce we can use over our contemporary tuna steaks! However, similar sauces can be found in the Sicilian culinary tradition, especially to accompany grilled swordfish (like the salmoriglio sauce), but for this I will write the recipe in the future, the first time I get some good swordfish steaks at the fish counter. For the moment, let's speak about tuna steaks and see how to prepare this dish.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 650 kcal
Italian Apron
Serving bottles
Classic Italian Cooking

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Ingredients
 

  • 4 Large tuna steaks Despite the picture above featuring only 2 tuna steaks, the ingredients will make enough sauce to top 4 large tuna steaks.
  • 100 ml (4 fl oz) Extra virgin olive oil
  • Lemon zest from one small lemon (finely chopped)
  • 40 grams (1 1/2 oz) Capers (finely chopped) Capers are usually preserved in vinegar or salt so, before chopping them, rinse the capers under fresh running water and then pat them dry using kitchen paper.
  • 3 grams (1/2 tsp) French mustard
  • 10 grams (1 tbs) Anchovy paste
  • 10 ml (a bit less than 1/2 fl oz) Lemon juice
  • Salt for seasoning

Instructions

  • Pour the olive oil into a small glass bowl.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Add the lemon zest.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Add the capers.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Add the mustard.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Add the anchovy paste.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Add the lemon juice.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Finally, add the salt according to taste.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Next, take a small pan and fill it half way with boiling water. Now, set the heat to low and simmer the water (not boiling).
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Put the glass bowl, containing all the ingredients, over the pan (the bowl should not touch the water) and cook bain Marie for about 5 minutes. While cooking, gently stir with a spoon. This technique allows the ingredients to blend together without subjecting the sauce to excessive heat. After 5 minutes turn the heat off and leave the bowl on the pan, to keep the sauce warm.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Next, brush the tuna steaks with olive oil.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Put the grill pan over the heat for 5 minutes so it will be very hot and ready for the steaks.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Then, put the tuna steaks onto the grill pan.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • I like the tuna steaks cooked rare so I usually cook them for 2 minutes on each side, but this is just my personal choice. If you want the steaks cooked medium, you will probably need 3-4 minutes on each side.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • These are the steaks turned after 2 minutes cooking on one side.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
  • Finally, cover each of the steaks with some of the caper and anchovy sauce you have prepared.
    Caper and anchovy sauce (grilled fish) | Seafood recipes
Italian Apron
Serving bottles
Classic Italian Cooking

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal
Keyword Seafood
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Published
Categorised as Seafood

By Federico

Federico Pezzaioli is an ex-badass Italian Paratrooper on a mission - to make creating delicious authentic Italian food really easy. He researches, writes and photographs each recipe with the same attention to detail he used to apply to packing his parachute.

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