Food Musings

When travelling to San Francisco, I always make time to visit Taylor’s Automatic Refresher in the Ferry Building.  Not only does it have a surprising good selection of wines by the glass, Taylor’s also features a fabulous menu for take out or dine in.

My favorite item on the menu is the  Ahi Tuna Burger with Ginger-Wasabi Mayonnaise.  It features thick grilled ahi tuna steaks and crisp cabbage slaw with a delicious sauce.  At only $14.99, it’s an excellent value!  I can’t even describe how tasty this meal is but I did find the recipe in Bon Appétit Magazine a few years ago and have successfully prepared it several times.

Recently I visited Central Fish Market in Fresno and was pleased to find fresh sushi grade ahi tuna.  I purchased a slice and headed home.  

I asked the fish monger to cut a slice of the large end of this beautiful Tuna!

When I began to prepare the burger, I realized I already had all the ingredients needed to prepare the legendary tuna burger except for hamburger buns. So I changed the burger into a sandwich with excellent results!  In fact, you could even skip the bread and make a salad as I did with leftovers the next day.

So, when you take a trip to San Francisco, try out the Ahi Tuna Burger at Taylor’s with a glass of wine.  However, you no longer have to wait for the trip as you can now make it at home!

Ahi Tuna Sandwich with Ginger-Wasabi Mayonnaise

4 servings

• ½ cup mayonnaise
• 6 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
• 1/3 cup drained pickled ginger from jar*
• 1 tablespoon plus ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons wasabi paste (green Japanese horseradish paste)*
• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 1/2 cups paper thin slices of cabbage
• 1 ¼ cups shredded carrots
• 4  6 ounce 1 inch ahi tuna steaks
• 4 hamburger buns or 8 slices of bread
• Room temp butter

Blend Mayonnaise, 2 tb lime juice, ginger, 1 tb soy sauce, wasabi paste, and sesame oil in a food processor until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix cabbage and carrots in a medium bowl.  Add 4 tablespoons lime juice; toss.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Place tuna on a plate and pour ¼ cup soy sauce over it, turn it to coat.  Let tuna and cabbage stand at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour, tossing cabbage and turning tuna occasionally.

Prepare barbeque (med high heat) (I used a grill pan on the stove top instead). 

Grill buttered rolls or bread (I toasted my bread in the toaster instead).

Transfer bread to 4 plates.  Spread cut sides with wasabi mayonnaise.  Mound ¼ cup cabbage slaw on each bottom piece. 

Grill tuna until cooked to desired doneness – 1-2 minutes per side for medium-rare.  Place tuna on cabbage, top with more cabbage, more sauce and then top bread.

*Available in the Asian foods section of most supermarkets.