Seared tuna with artichoke & potato salad recipe - Recipes - BBC Good Food

Make the satay sauce. you can do this a day ahead and keep it in the fridge if you want, you'll just need to warm it gently before serving so it's spoonable. Gently fry the ginger, chilli and shallot in a little olive oil until it is soft but not coloured. Add the peanut butter and a shake of fish sauce and stir, then stir in half of the coconut milk. Now blend the lot with a handheld blender (or in a blender) until it's smooth. Thin it down with a little more coconut milk if it is too thick, you don't want it to be too cloying.

To make the potato salad, first of all you need to cook the potatoes in their skins. Ideally you'd do this the day before so they cool and firm up nicely, and if you are entertaining, anything you can make ahead is good. Rub them in a little oil and bake them for 20 minutes at 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 until just tender. Once the potatoes are cool, slice them into thick discs. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and when it is hot, fry the potatoes on each side until they are nicely coloured then tip into a bowl. Now cook the artichoke in the same way. While they are cooking, add the shallot, crème fraîche and rosemary to the potatoes and fold them together.

Bring the tuna to room temperature before you cook it - that means taking it out of the fridge a good 20 minutes before cooking. Heat a pan and add a little olive oil, season the tuna and add it to the hot pan. cook for 1 minute and then turn over and cook for another minute. If you have really thick steaks, give them another 20 seconds, if not take them out. Rest on a plate for 2 minutes.

If you've gone to all the trouble to cook well, you should always present your food as nicely as possible. Start with a ring of potato slices and dot some artichoke pieces around the edge. Cut each tuna steak into pieces by slicing it along the grain of the fish on a diagonal. Lay the tuna on top of the potato and add a spoonful of the satay sauce - a dome shape (quenelle) looks best.

Making it healthier Ditch the satay sauce. It'd be a shame but if you must, you must. Cook the potatoes and slice them but don't fry them. Ditto the artichokes. Use half-fat crème fraîche. Cook the tuna in a non-stick pan and use only the tiniest amount of oil.