Laurier Sesame Crusted Tuna with Roasted Beets and Thai Chili Vinaigrette

Serves four

Ingredients, Tuna:
3 medium beets, peeled and julienned
1 T butter
4 tuna portions, center-cut #1 Ahi or Yellowfin, cut 3” long by 2” thick, roughly 5 oz. each
1 C white sesame seeds
Ground chipotle
Olive oil for sauté
8 oz watercress for garnish
400 degree oven

Ingredients, Vinaigrette:
1 cup olive oil
2 T lemon juice
2 T Thai chili paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, minced
Salt to taste

To make the vinaigrette:
In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, chili paste, garlic and shallot. Add olive oil in a stream, whisking to combine into a smooth dressing. Hold for service (vinaigrette will break, just whisk again to bring it back together).

Roasting the beets:
In a hot sauté pan, add enough olive oil to thinly coat pan. When hot, add beets and add salt to taste. Toss on stovetop for a couple minutes to heat, then add butter and place in oven to roast for roughly 15 minutes until beets are tender. Keep warm and reheat for a couple minutes for service.

Cooking the tuna:
Place a metal sauté pan over high heat. Meanwhile, season tuna with chipotle to taste and coat lengthwise in sesame seeds. Add olive oil to sauté pan. When the oil begins to smoke, wait 30 seconds then add the tuna. As the tuna browns, turn to brown all sides (do not brown the ends) cooking roughly 30 seconds per side.
If you prefer rare tuna, serve it immediately sliced in 4 or 5 pieces.
If you prefer a more cooked tuna, when brown, remove from sauté and slice the tuna. Keeping the slices together, return the tuna to the sauté and place it in the oven to for an additional 1-2 minutes per side. This will further warm up the tuna, and since it is precut, allow you to served it sliced without the tuna falling apart.

To serve:
Plate a mound of hot beets in the center of a plate, then spiral the tuna on the beets showing its bright red center. Drizzle the tuna and the plate with the vinaigrette and top with watercress that has been dressed lightly with olive oil.