TORO! TORO!: RARE PAN-SEARED TUNA

So it's not complicated and not terribly unique, regardless, seared tuna is damn tasty and especially palatable as a light summer dish. I've tasted it twice and it already saved me from a poor gumbo last Wednesday. Ahead tonight, a lot of knife-work.

More after class on the jump...

DISH: Rare Pan-Seared Tuna With Gazpacho Vinaigrette And Black Olive Couscous (Nouvelle France), Tournedos De Thon A La Vinaigrette De Gazpacho, Couscous Aux Olives Noires

RECIPE:
Gazpacho Vinaigrette
10 Tomatoes
2 Seedless European-style Cucumbers, peeled
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Bulb Fennel
2 Celery Stalks
1½ Red Onions
Salt
Tabasco, to taste
60 ML Sherry Wine Vinegar
120 ML Blended Olive Oil
4 Basil Leaves

Couscous
280 ML Chicken Stock or Water
450 G Couscous
4 Tablespoons Chopped Flat-Leaf Parsley
60 G Nicoise Olives, pitted and diced

Tuna and Service
Eight Pieces Tuna Fillet, 100-G/each
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
60 ML Olive Oil

Procedure:
GAZPACHO VINAIGRETTE Emondez 10 tomatoes and remove seeds and interior ribs. Slice 2 cucumbers lengthwise and remove seeds. Seed the yellow pepper and string the 2 celery stalks and bulb of fennel. Ciselez the 1½ red onions. Cut rest of the vegetables in large brunoise.

Combine all vegetables and season with salt and a few drops of Tabasco. Add the vinegar and olive oil and stir to combine. Hold at room temperature. At the last minute during service, but the basil in chiffonade and add to the vegetables.

COUSCOUS Season stock or water and bring it to a boil. Place the couscous in a bowl and pour the liquid over it. Stir and cover tightly for 5 to 7 minutes until the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and fluf with a fork (égrainer). Add chopped parsley and diced olives.

TUNA & SERVICE Season tuna fillet with salt and pepper. Cook tuna over moderate heat in a nonstick pan with a touch of oil. Turn tuna as it cooks, using ends as a guide to judge the doneness, keeping it a bit underdone. Mold the couscous in the center of a warm or room-temperature plate, and spoon some of the vinaigrette around it. Slice the tuna fillet and arrange it next to the couscous. Reheat the plate in the oven for 10 seconds to slightly warm the tuna and the couscous.

BREAKDOWN: So unfortunately, expediting caught up to me tonight. I'd gotten away with only doing it once thus far, while working the meat station. If you're not familiar with expediting, it's basically keeping track of orders coming into the kitchen for service in the restaurant. This means making sure you're watching when the appetizers go out. When they're brought out to the dining room you star a board at the front of the kitchen and the cooks know how many fish dishes are going to be needed pretty soon. When the waiters come in and tell you to "fire a table" that means start cooking. Your job as expediter is to monitor the board but also to help everyone communicate, the waiters with the cooks and the cooks with the cooks, especially ensuring that the two different fish dishes that can go out with one table are ready to go out at just about the same time. You don't want any food sitting around under the heat lamps-- that's how rare, pan-seared tuna cooks and completely ruins the dish.

I did get to do some work on the dish before I went up to the board at 8 p.m. I helped leave my mark by seasoning the gazpacho vinaigrette amply with tabasco and salt. The way I look at it, the fish is delicious (I can eat raw fish with soy sauce or salt anytime) but with a light dish like this, with a fish that's going to take up some flavor, how about some kick! My teammate (right) was in full agreement.

The only other addition was a basil-infused olive oil. Olive oil was blended with cleaned basil leaves and a few ice cubes to keep the oil cool and the basil green. The oil was used as a garnish around the edge of the gazpacho. Family meal was better today (better sauces: a good dressing, good dip for catfish and a decent compound butter for the cornbread) but I still couldn't resist a plate of the tuna for myself. It's so light, crisp and fresh, the vegetables crunching in your mouth with that salty-tang of the tabasco and the refreshing bites of fennel, celery and red onion. A great summer dish.

Meanwhile, my friend Sampurna continued to make her delicious Indian vegetable plates. Dosa stuffed with more delicious potatoes (right), mashed with a different spice (no tumeric this time) than the other night, but really wonderful, even cold. I've got to get these recipes.

It was a good night except for the beginning of class. We had a test and I completely spaced on it. I'm usually a nerd about these tests but between the soft launch yesterday of Kitchen Toro I forgot and only studied for an hour before-hand. It's probably my worst test. I forgot:

• What a gastrique is: vinegar and sugar
• The soft ball stage of sugar: 230ºF-240ºF

I barely remembered the fat percentage of pate (20%) and I think I forgot one more thing. That already puts me at a best-case scenario of 70/100. Luckily, I've done very well on most of the other tests and the 6 grades are added together, averaged and then figure as 25% of my grade for this level. My evaluations have been pretty good (I got a 90/100 for Pastry tonight) and hey we've got one more test for this level next Wednesday.

There's some construction going on at the school (a new culinary theater/test kitchen, new locker rooms which we've moved into, new stairways and new offices) so it was student appreciation day. They were giving out free ice cream and water bottles during service. Unfortunately I couldn't get away from the expediting board so no bottle for me. I might stop in tomorrow when they'll be doing it again.

Also, with the end of Level Three quickly approaching our chef told us that we may be changing groups. Since there's no Entremetier (Vegetable Station) for Level Four students one of our groups will be dissolved and the group members distributed among the rest of the groups. That means that our group which is already 5 strong, will have six people. Tonight while I was at the expediting board I was near the Level Four students which was a six person group. It's not a great thing. There are way too many people in a small space with too little to do. I'm beginning to see why Level Four students complain-- it's not even as though you can bring extra recipes to work on because there aren't any free burners really. We might be able to use the a la carte stove (there's a separate station and cooking area for restaurant service before we start cooking at 8 p.m. which we call a la carte for some reason even though they also serve a prix fixe) but it doesn't look that promising. A good thing is that during Level Four we get to do two dishes a night on the Salad (Garde Manger) and Pastry (Patisserie) Stations.

My goodness, October is right around the corner. I've got to really start moving on my final project!