Miso-Grilled Tuna & Watermelon Salad with Wasabi Shallots

Umami erupts in your mouth from the savory miso marinated tuna, while fresh watermelon, saturated in soy sauce and lime juice, cools the heated punch from wasabi soaked shallots. These bold flavors disguise the fact that each serving is only 265 calories, a far cry from your everyday “healthy diet” dinner. With cook time taking literally seconds, this dish will dazzle your dinner guests, while leaving you time to revel in their praises.

This is the fourth recipe that I have made from my new cookbook Mad Delicious. My husband and I have enjoyed every single one, from the Roasted Tomato Passata to the Chicken-Pecan Meatballs with Charred Nectarine Passata. This is a wonderful cookbook, as it offers home cooks background information about each ingredient and cooking method.

Due to the fact that I live in the middle of nowhere, our local grocery store typically does not have unique ingredients. Since white miso paste was no where to be found, I bought it on Amazon for $15.99 and had it shipped to me within 2 days.

Winter is finally over.

I have been waiting to get outside and paint myself a new food background. Once I saw this recipe, I knew that it would look incredible on a distressed-wood pallet painted white. So everywhere I went, I kept an eye out for this type of material. It finally appeared to me on the playground at my school (I’m a teacher). So after I got permission from the principal, I lugged the heavy pallet to my car. My husband graciously sawed off the separated wood planks and fit them together like a puzzle. I spent a good part of today painting and sanding down this piece of art. Remember, this is all for the Miso-Grilled Tuna recipe that I’m about to share with you. That’s called dedication.

Ingredients

Miso-Grilled Tuna 

cooking spray

1 tablespoon white miso paste

1 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons oil, olive or grapeseed

4 tuna steaks, raw

Wasabi Shallots

3 shallots, coined thinly

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons wasabi paste

Watermelon Salad

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons ground pepper

2 cups watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes

Garnish

Chives, minced

Instructions

• Turn on the grill
• Spray the rack with cooking spray, away from the heat
• Mix all Miso-Grilled Tuna ingredients in a bowl
• Rub the Tuna Steaks all over with the miso mixture (above on the right)
• Let that marinate in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes
• Now mix all the Wasabi Shallot’s ingredients in a bowl
• Toss and let that marinate at room temperature, tossing occasionally (above in bottom left corner)

Prepare the Watermelon Salad:

• Cut off the base of the watermelon so it does not roll
• Cut off all four sides so that you have a square (see above)

• Cut off the top, forming a cube (see above)
• Cut vertically three rows
• Cut horizontally three rows

• Put the watermelon cubes in a large bowl
• Toss all Watermelon Salad ingredients with the melon
• Let it sit at room temperature until dinner time

• Sear the Tuna on the grill for 45 seconds on each side (the inside should be rare)
• Cut tuna in 3/4 inch thick strips, against the grain
• Fold the Tuna in with the Watermelon Salad (be gentle)
• Serve garnished with Wasabi Shallots and Chives

This meal is light, refreshing and, dare I say, sexy. My husband raved about it with every bite. The best part was we felt satiated but energized. We even played tennis right after dinner! Oh and what do you think of the white pallet I painted today?