Romano Pepper Wrapped Tuna with Orange & Wasabi Dressing

Takes 45 minutes

Serves 2

This is a superb dish, sweet and succulent and juicy and rich. If you’re not fond of raw tuna (we very much are!), you can cook all the fish rather than leaving half of it uncooked.


2 x 130g sushi quality sustainable tuna steaks

2 x large Romano peppers, orange or red

1 just ripe avocado

Your favourite salad leaves; we find peppery ones like mizuna, rocket or watercress to work well

4 dstspns mirin

2 dstspns light soy

½ tsp wasabi

2.5cm chunk of very fresh, juicy ginger, peeled and very finely chopped, or squished in a garlic press, the juice that runs out of it saved

150mls fresh orange juice from the chiller cabinet

Juice of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lime

1 tbspns extra virgin olive oil

1 tbspns avocado oil

2 tbspns groundnut oil


  • Set your oven as high as it will go. Put a baking tray on the middle shelf

  • Mix together the mirin, light soy, half of the wasabi and the ginger, and put it in a dish just large enough to take the tuna steaks. Put the steaks in, make sure they’re evenly covered, cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 30 minutes

  • While the fish is marinating, put the peppers in the oven, directly on the top shelf, and a baking tray on the next shelf down. Then set your timer for 10 minutes. When it beeps, turn the oven off and the grill on, until they are blackening and blistered (the tray should catch any drips). Turn them a couple of times while this is going on. Remove the peppers, wrap loosely in foil, and set aside

  • Combine the orange, lemon and lime juices, and bring to a rolling boil in a small saucepan. Turn it down and bubble gently for 8 minutes

  • Take the tuna out of the marinade, scraping off any bits of ginger, and pat dry with kitchen paper. Sieve the marinade into the citrus juice mixture, and bubble till it’s reduced to about 75mls. Take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes, then add the wasabi, stirring till it’s dissolved, then whisk in the olive, avocado and groundnut oils, 1 tablespoon at a time. Season, and set aside

  • Peel and dice the avocado

  • Unwrap the peppers, and carefully peel off the skin. Chop off the top bit, then open them out, lay them flat, and remove any seeds. Then cut each into 4 long strips. Set carefully aside

  • Cut one of the steaks into 6 equal sized chunks, and carefully wrap each in a strip of pepper, securing the pepper with a cocktail stick

  • Heat a scant splash of ground nut oil in a frying pan till it’s nearly smoking, then add the other tuna steak, searing it for 1 minute on each side. Remove from the pan, and cut it into 6 equal sized chunks. Carefully wrap each chunk in a strip of pepper, securing the pepper with a cocktail stick

  • Put a pile of salad leaves on each of two plates. Arrange 3 raw and 3 cooked tuna wraps on each plate, scatter the avocado chunks around, splash some dressing over and serve