Cold Smoked Tuna Steaks with Smoked Vegetables

Ingredients

6 6-8 ounce Tuna Steaks

1 cup Creamy Balsamic Dressing, divided (page xxx)

1 1/2 cups Red Bell Pepper, julienned

1 1/2 cups Green Bell Pepper, juilienned

1 1/2 cups Red Onions, julienned

1 Tbl Kosher salt

2 tsp Black Pepper

1-2 cups soaked wood chips

Instructions

Place tuna steaks in a large Zip-Loc bag, and add half of the Creamy Balsamic Dressing. Place the other half of the dressing in a baggie with the peppers and onions. Seal both baggies and refrigerate for two hours.

Remove the vegetables and tuna from the baggies and season with the salt and pepper.

Prepare the grill or smoker for very low-heat smoking. Place the tuna steaks on the grill as far away from the heat source as possible. Place the vegetables into a metal colander and place them in the smoker with the tuna. Add wood chips to the coals and smoke the tuna and vegetables for 1-1/2 hours, being careful too make sure the tuna does not cook. Add more wood chips as needed to keep a heavy smoke going (tuna should still be rare when removed from the smoker).

Remove tuna and vegetables from the grill. Transfer vegetables to an airtight container. Place the tuna steaks on a cookie sheet and refrigerate both for at least 3 hours. Wrap in plastic. This step may be done a day in advance.

To eat: Prepare the grill. Place a grill screen over direct high heat. Spread the vegetables over the hot grill topper and cook 6-8 minutes, turning once while cooking. Remove the vegetables and the grill screen. Hold the vegetables in a warm place until needed. Place the tuna steaks on direct high heat and cooked to desired doneness, 5 minutes for medium rare. Turn the tuna once while cooking.

To serve, place a small mound of the vegetables on the serving plate. Rest the tuna steaks on top of the vegetables and serve.

Yield: 6 servings

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