TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Tonno con Cipolla alla SicilianaSicilian Tuna with Sweet-and-Sour Onions
A Sicilian home-style dish pairing fresh tuna steaks with white onions flavoured with balsamic vinegar. Tuna toughens when overcooked, so the local style leaves its centre rosy.
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Ingredients (2 servings)
- Fresh tuna steaksCut 2 cm thick. Bring to room temperature before cooking.400 g (2 steaks)
- Large white onionsSlice into thin half-moons.2 pieces
- Balsamic vinegar30 ml
- Fresh mintA Sicilian accent.10 leaves
- Unrefined cane sugar10 g
- Extra virgin olive oil50 ml
- Salt and black pepperto taste
Method
Slice the onions
- 1 Slice 2 white onions into thin half-moons.
Cook the onions
- 1 Slowly cook the onions in 2 tbsp olive oil over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until caramel-coloured.
- 2 Add 10 g cane sugar and 30 ml balsamic vinegar and cook for 2 minutes to make a sweet-and-sour sauce.
- 3 Remove the sauce from the pan.
Ready when
Continue when the onions are caramel-coloured, after about 15 minutes.
Sear the tuna
- 1 Add the remaining olive oil to the same pan and turn the heat to high.
- 2 Season the tuna with salt and black pepper and sear for 2 minutes on each side.
Ready when
Cook for 2 minutes per side, leaving the centre rosy in the local style.
Serve over the onion sauce
- 1 Spread the onion sauce on plates.
- 2 Place the tuna on top and garnish with mint.
About this dish
The waters around Trapani and Palermo in western Sicily were once among the Mediterranean’s largest tuna fishing grounds. The traditional tuna hunt called mattanza, held each year in May and June, dates back to Phoenician times and remained widespread until the early 20th century.
Tonno con cipolla uses fresh yellowfin tuna steaks from that tradition. Thick slices are seared in olive oil and coated with slowly caramelised onions and the acidity of wine vinegar. Agrodolce, or sweet-and-sour seasoning, is one of the traits of Sicilian cooking that has endured since the period of Arab rule.
Sicilian tuna fishers say: “Tuna is not caught by force. It is caught by reaching an understanding with the sea.”
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