Sesame Wasabi Encrusted Tuna

Although I cook a variety of foods in my kitchen, I will admit that I don't cook nearly enough seafood.  Bret and I have decided to introduce more fish and seafood into our diet this year and I decided to start the new year off right with a simple but flavorful tuna dish.  Besides the tuna, I used three other ingredients - roasted sesame seed oil, sesame seeds and wasabi powder. 

To start, I got to work on my veggies.  I put a pot of water to boil on the stove.  I had a bunch of asparagus that I wanted to steam for a side dish.  For some reason, I love eating asparagus with fish.  I cleaned and trimmed the asparagus and put it in the steamer basket.

Earlier in the day, I purchased a pound of tuna steak.  I cut the tuna in half, patted it dry and lightly salted both sides to draw out all of the moisture.

In a small bowl, I combined a three tablespoons of sesame seeds, two tablespoons of wasabi powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Using a paper plate (it makes for easy clean-up), I dredged each tuna steak on both sides with the sesame and wasabi mixture.

I warmed up a non-stick pan on the stove with some cooking spray.  When the pan was hot, I added a few tablespoons of the roasted sesame seed oil to the pan.  I seared the tuna steaks on high heat for about two minutes each.  The smell of the sesame seeds toasting in roasted sesame seed oil was unbelievable!

When the tuna had a nice sear on each side, I set the tuna aside to rest while I got my asparagus out of the steamer basket.  I didn't want to overcook my fish as I like my tuna a nice medium-rare.

The tuna had a nice spicy kick to it.  I wished that I had added a little more wasabi powder because I like things super spicy.  The sesame seeds added some nice texture to the tuna as well.  I always forget how filling tuna steak can be and I could only manage to eat about half of my tuna steak.

How often do you cook or eat fish or other seafood?