Tuna Taco Salad
Every once and a while David and I will catch something different (something like lobster, flounder, tautog, or tuna) while offshore grouper fishing. When this happens, we usually split it for “crew food”.
Well, this past trip Dave and I caught a 30-lb. blackfin tuna on the light line while anchored up. This was a 30-minute battle, but we prevailed and boated the big meatball.
So in this issue I bring you a tuna dish. Here I’ve made a twist to a well known recipe, substituting in tuna meat where most people are used to seeing ground beef.
To begin you will need:
1 pound fresh tuna
1 bag Fritos (big scoops)
Mexican cheese (shredded)
1 large red tomato (diced)
1/2 white onion (diced)
1 romaine heart (sliced thin)
Sour cream
1 large jalapeño (diced)
Hot sauce (your favorite)
Small bunch of cilantro (chopped)
Cumin
Salt & pepper
Granulated garlic
First it’s best to do your preparation, so start with all the chopping and dicing. And once all the ingredients are prepped, put them in individual bowls and set aside for later.
The next step is to heat the sauté pan to medium high. While the pan’s heating, season your tuna with equal parts ground cumin, salt & pepper, and granulated garlic.
Once the pan gets to the desired temperature, add 1/2 tablespoon oil. Then add the tuna and brown on all sides (approximately 10-12 minutes for pink center). I recommend cooking till medium well for this dish, because you will need to flake the tuna over chips.
Once the tuna is ready, begin on the assembly. Grab a couple of large salad bowls and place Fritos in the bottom of each bowl. Then flake the tuna over the Fritos.
After you have the foundation—Fritos and tuna—each person may add whatever other ingredients they like, such as the cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, etc.
Personally, I like mine all the way with extra hot sauce.
Feel free to get as creative as you like with this dish. For instance, you may also add black beans to jazz it up.
Eat American caught seafood!
Chef Danny H.
Danny Hieronymus was born and raised in Wrightsville Beach into a commercial fishing family and has been catching fish throughout NC all his life. He has also been cooking with his mother since he was 8 years old in the family restaurant. He can be reached at capefearcookin@yahoo.com.
