Tuna

This recipe went through several incarnations before it came out perfect. The heat of the chile, the sesame, and the minty shiso leaves is amazing. Shiso is one of those ingredients, like lemongrass, that has no real substitute. The leaves taste a little like mint and look like lily pads. If you can’t find them in a specialty or Asian market, just buy a few from your neighborhood sushi restaurant. (That’s what I do.)

The Japanese man I buy my fish from gave me this recipe. One day I noticed that he was making hand rolls for lunch from the trimmings of a No. 1 grade A tuna loin. He let me have a roll since I’m such a good customer, and I have to say it was the best spicy tuna roll I’d ever had. You’ll get the hang of rolling these in no time—practice makes perfect.

Salads are quick and painless to throw together on a work night, and you won’t feel like you’ll have to do double time at the gym the next day. If you’re on your own, this is also a speedy and healthy dinner for one: Just use one tuna steak and a few less vegetables. The colors of this sophisticated and simple salad really pop. I like hothouse cucumbers because they have minimal seeds and tender skin. The mustard packets that you get from Chinese takeout are really put to good use in this Asian vinaigrette.

This is my version of the classic French salad I enjoyed time and again in Nice. Roasting concentrates the flavor of fresh green beans.

Tuna steaks are delicious when the exterior is browned but the center is rare. These steaks can be done on an outdoor grill, but when that isn’t feasible, the convection oven does a wonderful job.

Ascoli is a city in the Marche region known for its big green olives. They add a distinctive local flavor to this sauce of tomatoes and canned tuna, a pasta dressing found in many regions of Italy. If you can’t find Ascolane olives, other green Italian olives will do. Do not be afraid to alter some of the other ingredients to make your own version of this tasty sauce. For example, anchovies add complexity, but you could omit them if you choose. And though chopped parsley is fine, a little mint and/or a little oregano could go far. Also, do not feel compelled to use the exact pasta shape: I call for ziti here, but fusilli, shells, or mafalde could all add a new dimension to this dish.

Thick tuna steaks are not just for grilling. The stovetop technique here is quick and convenient. You use one big skillet for browning the fish steaks, make a simple (yet complex-tasting) sauce, and put the two together for a final brief braise that marries the flavors perfectly. This is the true alla Genovese method. If you prefer grilling to pan-cooking, however, you can certainly omit the first step of flouring and frying the steaks, and make the sauce separately. Use a smaller saucepan in this case, preparing the sauce as in the recipe, starting with the sauté of garlic, anchovies, and porcini in 2 tablespoons olive oil. (Use the other 3 tablespoons olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, to season the fish before grilling.) One advantage of a separate sauce is that it can be finished ahead of time, so when your guests arrive you only have to fire up the stove and cook the fish. And you’ll find it delicious with bass, codfish, or salmon as well as tuna. In fact, this sauce is so good, I suggest you have a good slab of focaccia to mop up the pan.

Be a bean counter! The new USDA guidelines recommend having 1 1/2 cups of legumes weekly for their protein, fiber, iron and more. This hearty, lightly tangy dish gets you a third of the way to your goal.

Frazzled? Feast on fish! Tuna is high in vitamin B12, which stimulates the brain's production of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps you relax.

The Seattle Mariners serve tuna "Ichirolls" in honor of all-star Ichiro Suzuki.

A restaurant in McAllen, Texas, called Republic of the Rio Grande Grill and Cantina invented this entrée-size grilled tuna salad with grapefruit sections and red onions on top. It's a classic combination of South Texas flavors—and a very healthy dinner.

This dish isn't a makeover, per se. But there are so many beloved— and believe it or not, unhealthy—seared tuna dishes out there in the restaurant world that I thought I should offer at least one healthy version. The tuna is never the problem. Tuna is rich in nutrients, low in fat, delicious, and just a good bet all around. It's the stuff that's put on top that's the problem—anything from seared foie gras to deep-fried tempura crispies. Sure, it tastes great, but those additions turn a healthful dish into an artery-clogging one.

The rooftop of chef Rick Bayless's Chicago restaurant Frontera Grill is dedicated to growing tomatoes, hot peppers and herbs for fresh salsas. Multicolored heirloom tomatoes can be sweeter than other types, Bayless says, and they offer a hefty dose of infection-fighting vitamin C.

Guam has a hyperactive barbecue scene, with an annual festival that gives away tens of thousands of dollars in prize money. No family or social event is complete without the firing up of a grill (often half of a 55-gallon drum). Given Guam's proximity to the Philippines and Japan, it comes as no surprise that soy sauce, ginger, and wasabi should figure prominently in the local grilling. Here's the Pacific Island version of a grilled blackened tuna from my Guamanian barbecue buddy, Steven Cruz. The tuna is crusted with Old Bay seasoning. (OK, it's a long way from Baltimore to Guam, but apparently this Maryland seafood seasoning enjoys great popularity on the island.) Ginger, wasabi, and chiles give the dipping sauce a triple blast of heat.

We sympathize with the purists when it comes to tuna salad sandwiches: the combo of canned tuna, just a little mayo, and just good white bread is an eternal verity. But we have developed this fancier variation that is also delicious. It preserves the tuna flavor, it's not too rich, it's loaded with crunchy vegetables, and it flies out of the store every day.

Snacking on this tapa could keep you serene: The omega-3s in tuna may help quell anxiety. Seek out pole-and-line-caught bonito tuna; it's safe to eat and sustainable.

In Galicia, empanadas are large enough to serve many people, unlike the individual empanadas of Latin America.

Mixed-olive tapenade is available in the refrigerated deli section of many supermarkets. Use a version that is chopped, not smooth.

The Original: Any old canned tuna mixed with cream of something (chicken, celery, mushroom) soup. Our Version: Oil-packed albacore in a roux-thickened sauce flavored with leeks, dill, and Gruyère. Our one old-school concession? A crunchy, crushed-potato-chip topping.

I met twelve-year-old Frank Liranzo when I was teaching a kids' cooking class at the YMCA's environmental camp in Huguenot, New York. The kids learned how to tap trees to make maple syrup, a process I'd read about but never seen in action. Frank was one of the campers, and he got to experience firsthand the old art of making maple syrup. "You put tubes into the trees so the sap flows out," he says. "When it first comes out of the tree, it tastes like sugary water. Then we went to the sugar shack where we saw the sap boiled down until it tasted like syrup." At the camp, I made this Maple-Glazed Tuna with Pear-Potato Salad for the kids. "I thought it would taste really sugary, but it didn't," Frank told me. "First I tasted the fish, then a hint of mustard, and then an aftertaste of the maple syrup." I love how the syrup adds sweetness and a beautiful caramelized crust to the meaty tuna steaks, while the sweetness of the pears in the accompanying potato salad balances nicely with the glazed tuna.