This light and savoury grilled tuna features a marinate with cilantro; red wine vinegar and fresh green herbs. Its a terrific and flavorful grilled fish dish.
This is grilled steak tuna fish with herb marinade is one of my favourite fish recipes. It is quick and simple and very delicious.
I first made a variation of this about 20 years ago (yes I know that I am aging myself here) for a barbecue and it was an unexpected hit. It was a Friday night barbecue for a group of IT guys and their significant others, way back when. Because I knew that most of the persons in attendance were predominately meat-eaters, I made a limited amount of fish. Surprisingly it was the first thing to go and people were asking for more. Since then, this is one of my preferred marinades for preparing grilled fish.
The fresh herb marinade recipe is quite versatile and you can use your choice of fresh herbs. I love cooking with fresh herbs and always have them on hand. Cilantro is one of my favourite herbs for fish because of its fresh and citrusy flavour and because it also pairs well with acidic flavours like lemon, and vinegar. I usually make this with fresh green herbs. but you can use dried herbs as well. Some other types of herbs you can use include dill, tarragon, sage, oregano and rosemary. Of course, the flavour will vary depending on the combination of herbs you use.
Choice of vinegar
While this herb marinade is perfect for any type of steak fish, it can also be used with poultry or meat. My favourite vinegar to use in the marinade is tarragon vinegar, however, this hasn’t been available at my supermarket for a few years now. So over the years, I’ve used a variety of vinegars for this herb marinade including apple cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar, and balsamic vinegar. you can try those options as well if you don’t have red wine vinegar. Additionally, if you are making more or less of this recipe a good rule of thumb for the oil to vinegar ratio is 2:1.
I used tuna steaks for this recipe, however, you can use your choice of steak fish. Note that this recipe does not use lime or lemon to clean the fish beforehand. The vinegar in which the fish is marinated will do the same job as limes so there’s no need to wash with lime. A word of caution, ensure that your fish isn’t too thinly sliced. If it is, the vinegar could start to “cook” the fish while it is marinating similar to a pickle.
Prepare the fish steaks by rinsing fish in running water, at dry to remove excess water and set aside. Two pounds of fish should give you about 7-8 steaks.
Make Marinade
To make the marinade, place the herbs, garlic, onion in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer the finely chopped herbs to a medium mixing bowl, add the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper and mix well to incorporate fully. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add the fish steaks to the herb marinate and combine well. Coat all of the fish with the marinade, cover, and place in the refrigerator. Let sit for 4 to 6 hours.
Grill the Steaks
Once you are ready to grill the fish, preheat the grill on high heat. Remove the marinated fish from the refrigerator and grill each steak for 3-6 minutes on each side. You can tell that your fish is cooked when the steaks are opaque in the center. The length of time will depend on the thickness of your steaks.
Place in your serving dish, garnish with parsley and lemon and serve immediately.
If you don’t have a grill, you can make this on the stove by pan searing it.
Grilled Tuna with Herb Marinade
Equipment
- Grill
- Mixing bowl
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Tuna Steaks (about 7-8 steaks)
- 6 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Cilantro
- 1/2 medium Onion
- 2 tbsp Chives
- 2 tbsp Green Peppers
- 2 tbsp Parsley
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1 tsp Tarragon optional
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Rinse the tuna steaks with running water, pat dry and set aside.
- Place all of the herbs in the food processor and pulse until finely minced.
- Place the minced herbs in a bowl and add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix the herb marinade well to throughly combine all of the ingredients.
- Place the tuna steaks in the marinade and thoroughly coat the steaks with the marinade.
- Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours.
- When the tuna is ready for grilling, preheat grill.
- Remove the marinated tuna from the fridge
- Grill each tuna steak for 3-5 minutes per side until each steak is opague in the center.
