Atún encebollado: tuna with caramelized onions

This is a dish from Cádiz where the ancient Almadraba red tuna harvest takes place. It's fairly easy to make, but has a rewarding flavor from rich ingredients. I like mine a little saucy, not soupy, but juicy, not dry. It's frequently served with bread to sop up any remaining juices.  It may seem like a lot of Onions, but they'll cook down significantly, and it is the name of the dish.

Tasty, but not photogenic

Some recipes cook the tuna as steaks and top with the onions, but I prefer chunks of tuna that give more opportunity to grab some onions. Most don't marinade nor sear the Tuna, but I think it gives more flavor than cooking it naked in the onions.

Look for red tuna (átun rojo) -- the traditional tuna from the Almadraba -- but yellowtail can be used if that's not available. Don't use the luxurious Ventresca cut, it's fat is too luxurious.

Serves 2, measurements are flexible

300 g       Tuna, fresh, cut into steaks
            Olive Oil, extra virgin
            Salt
500 g       Onion, large, sliced into strips [4-5 whole onions]
  2 cloves  Garlic, sliced thin
  2 whole   Bay Leaf
            Oregano
 50 ml      Sherry
  5 g       Pimenton picante (spicy) or dulce (sweet) [1/2 Tbs]
            Parsley, minced, for garnish

Marinade the Tuna with Salt and Pimenton for a while, then slather with Oil and let them marinade a while longer -- over night is OK.

Slice the onions into strips and sauté in Olive Oil with the Garlic until very soft and golden brown; this will take a while. It goes faster if you cover it, but remove the cover if it's too wet. Stir occasionally. Add Pimenton and stir to cook briefly. Add the Sherry to deglaze and combine.

Meanwhile... Sear Tuna hot and fast, very briefly, to develop flavor and texture;  you don't want to cook it because you'll finish it later in the onions and don't want it to dry out. Remove and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Add the reserved Tuna back to the Onions and combine. Adjust Salt, Pepper, and Pimenton. Cook just a few minutes until the Tuna is barely cooked through -- do not overcook the Tuna, it will become dry.

Garnish with Parsley and serve.

This is frequently served with bread to sop up any remaining juices, or roasted potatoes or rice. You could add a fresh salad with tomatoes and roasted bell peppers. 

A dry white wine or Fino Sherry would go well.

Samin Nosrat's Ligurian Focaccia Bread

I've been working on Focaccia here because our excellent bakers don't sell it by the slab, only as finished sandwiches and such. My latest attempt gave me a lofty rise and good texture with minimal work. A Silpat prevents sticking, but parchment or foil should make a better bottom crust.

This recipe won The Kitchn's bake-off and they gush about it in another post. In the recipe, one commenter transcribed the amounts by weight from the video, which is where I'm starting from. If you combine the water from the dough and brine, you get an 85% hydration, about as high as I've seen.  A follow-up suggested adding Barley Malt, which I might try after mastering it the honey.

I can't get Diamond Kosher Salt here, so am using basic cooking salt, but measuring by weight so the density shouldn't be a factor. I'm baking in my small oven's baking tray, which is 38x30 cm (15x12 inch), which is a 77% the area of her 18x13 inch pan. In practice I've been using a 93% scale which fits comfortably enough, and that's what the SCALED amounts below are based on.

My first attempt at this used the food processor and more yeast because I didn't plan ahead for the overnight rise: it was promising but both rises took 5 hours, and the bottom burned a bit because I put the tray directly on the oven floor. The second attempt with her long rise took more than 14 hours for the first rise and 2 hours for the second, didn't come out lofty as I'd hoped, and it stuck to the tray. For the third try, I increased the scaled Yeast to 3 grams and got a good bubbly first rise overnight (12 hours) and a one-hour second rise; I baked on a Silpat which made removal easy but the bottom was a bit soggy so try parchment next time, but the rise and texture of the bread was rather good.

ORIGINAL   METRIC  SCALED BAKER%

Dough:

2 1/2 C     600 g   560 g ( 75%) Water, lukewarm

  1/2 tsp   1.7 g   3.0 g (0.4%) Yeast (increase from original)

2 1/2 tsp    15 g    14 g (1.8%) Honey (or Barley Malt)

5 1/3 C     800 g   750 g (100%) All Purpose Flour

    2 Tbs    18 g    17 g (2.2%) Salt

  1/4 C      50 g    47 g (6.2%) Olive Oil, Extra Virgin (plus extra)

                                 Rosemary, chopped (optional)

5 

Brine:

1 1/2 tsp     5 g   4.7 g (0.6%) Salt

  1/3 C      80 g    75 g ( 10%) Water, lukewarm

In a medium bowl, mix Water, Yeast, and Honey.

In a very large bowl, sift Flour and Salt, then add in Yeast liquid and Oil.

Stir to combine with a spatula and scrape down edges; this is easy since it's so fluid;

cover with film and let rise 12-14 hours, overnight is convenient.

Line the 38x30 cm tray with parchment or foil (the Silpat shown here keeps it too moist).

Spread 2-3 Tbs Olive Oil over the lined tray.

Fold the dough gently onto it self and pour into the tray.

Pour additional 2 Tbs Olive Oil over dough and spread gently.

Gently stretch the dough to the edge of the sheet by placing your hands underneath and pulling outward. 

It will pull back but let it relax over 30 minutes, repeating the stretching a couple times to fill the pan.

Add chopped Rosemary if desired.

Dimple the dough with finger pads

Make a brine by dissolving the Salt in the Water, then pour over dough to fill dimples.

Let rise about an hour until the dough is light and bubbly.

About 30 minutes before the rise is due to finish, heat oven to 230C/450F.

Sprinkle dough with Flakey Salt.

Bake 25-30 minutes on a preheated surface; putting the tray directly on the floor the full bake time overcooked the bottom but might be OK for half the baking.

Bake until the bottom crust is crisp and golden; if needed, move the tray to an upper rack for a few minutes to brown it.

Remove and brush with 2-3 Tbs Oil over the whole surface; use a fancy Oil here if you have it.

Let cool 5 minutes then release Focaccia from pan with metal spatula and transfer to a cooling rack.