Grilled Tuna Steak with Sweet Potato Fries & Salad
Golden sweet potato fries from a hot oven. A balsamic-rubbed tuna steak, seared in a grill pan until browned outside and still pink in the center. Tomato-cucumber salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar. Cottage cheese on the side.
That’s 45g of protein and 636 kcal from 8 ingredients in 25 minutes. And there’s something happening in the oven worth knowing: tossing sweet potato in olive oil before baking multiplies the beta-carotene available for absorption by 10 to 20 times compared to baking without fat.
Golden sweet potato fries from a hot oven. A balsamic-rubbed tuna steak, seared in a grill pan until browned outside and still pink in the center. Tomato-cucumber salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar. Cottage cheese on the side.
That’s 45g of protein and 636 kcal from 8 ingredients in 25 minutes. And there’s something happening in the oven worth knowing: tossing sweet potato in olive oil before baking multiplies the beta-carotene available for absorption by 10 to 20 times compared to baking without fat.
Ingredients
- tuna steak 1 piece
- sweet potato 5 oz
- olive oil 2 tablespoon
- mixed salad 1 handful
- tomatoes 2 piece
- cucumber 0.5 piece
- balsamic vinegar 2 teaspoon
- cottage cheese, 4% milkfat 6 tablespoon
Method
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Thaw the fish according to the package instructions. Preheat the oven to 390°F.
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Scrub the sweet potato under running water, pat dry and cut into long fries. Toss the fries with a third of the oil and spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the fries in the oven and turn them halfway through. Roast the fries for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Sprinkle the fries with some salt.
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Place the lettuce in a bowl. Cut the tomatoes and cucumber into pieces and toss them with half of the vinegar and a third of the oil through the lettuce.
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Rub the tuna with salt, pepper and the remaining vinegar and oil. Grill the steak in a hot grill pan for 4-6 minutes until nicely browned and pink in the center. Meanwhile, season the cottage cheese with some salt and pepper.
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Serve the tuna with the fries, cottage cheese and the salad.
Don’t skip the olive oil on the sweet potato fries. Research found that coating sweet potato in fat before baking increases the beta-carotene available for absorption by 10 to 20 times. The heat breaks down cell walls, and the oil gives the released pigment a lipid medium to dissolve into during digestion.
Nearly all the selenium in tuna muscle arrives as a single compound called selenoneine. Research identified it as 98% of tuna’s organic selenium, with strong radical-scavenging activity and the ability to bind heme proteins. Selenoneine is structurally unique to tuna and other deep-ocean fish.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Why toss the sweet potato fries in olive oil before baking?
It’s not just about crispiness. Research on heat-processed orange-fleshed sweet potato found that adding cooking oil increased beta-carotene bioaccessibility by 10 to 20 times. The heat breaks down cell walls, releasing beta-carotene, and the oil provides the lipid medium needed for absorption during digestion. So the olive oil coating in step 2 is doing more than making fries golden.
Read the full evidence reviewHow do I keep the tuna pink in the center?
Use a very hot grill pan and keep the total cooking time to 4 to 6 minutes, flipping once. High heat sears the outside fast while the center stays rare to medium-rare. If the pan isn’t hot enough, the surface takes longer to brown, and by the time it looks right, the center has cooked through.
Is 45g of protein in one meal too much to absorb?
Research on per-meal protein limits found that muscle protein synthesis responds to intakes well within this range. The old rule of thumb capping absorption at 20 to 30g per meal is a simplification. This recipe’s 45g, split between tuna steak and cottage cheese, falls within studied single-meal doses.
Read the full evidence review
