Pan Seared Pepper Crusted Ahi Tuna and Roasted Mushroom and Sunchoke Bisque

    I love to watch the food network. It gives me exposure to ingredients and techniques that I normally wouldn't have. Some ingredients come up multiple times and I store them in the back of my head and keep an eye out for them. One such ingredient that comes up on "Chopped" every so often is a sunchoke, or also called a Jerusalem artichoke. I honestly have no idea what the thing is but every time it came up on the show them seemed to be happy about it and create tasty sounding dishes.
   So the other day when I was at a veggie store that I like to frequent because of its variety I came across a package of sunchokes. I had no idea what I was going to make with them but I bought them none the less and brought them home. This morning I sat down and started searching. Most people were saying to just treat it like a potato, but it looks like a ginger root so I figured there had to be a little more to it than that.
   After some more searching I found a recipe that sounded amazing and decided to go for it. The recipe was for a Roasted Mushroom and Sunchoke Bisque and I figured I would make some form of chicken with it. I figured the bisque would be great on its own but I was cooking it for the Friday shabbat (sabbath) meal and it is a meal that is supposed to be a little grander. I had most of the ingredients but had to head to the store for a few minor items.
  While looking around the store, however, I came up with a much better idea than the chicken. I've been on a fish kick recently and I saw on sale some really nice ahi tuna steaks. While I have had seared ahi tuna in restaurants I hadn't ever made it and I thought it could go very nicely with the bisque. So I bought a few steaks of it at a very good price and brought it home.
  I started by slicing the sunchokes. The recipe said that as long as I scrub them I could leave the skins on and they would taste great. As I sliced into them they do have a similar smell and texture to a potato but it is also different. There is a sharpness to it that reminded me of horseradish. However, it doesn't bite like horseradish. My best description is a cross between a potato and a horseradish, but it doesn't do it justice. Try one. They're great!
  Anyways, I sliced the sunchokes and diced the yukon gold potato and mixed that with minced garlic and a drizzle of olive oil and season with it with sea salt and cracked pepper in a dish large enough to spread them out. In another dish I took the sliced mushrooms and drizzled them with olive oil as well and put both in the oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. While that was roasting I heated up the butter in a stew pot. Then sauteed the onions until they were translucent.
   Add in the roasted veggies into the stew pot. Add in 2 cups of water and 3 cups of mushroom broth, chopped fresh sage and sprinkle with sea salt. If you have never had mushroom broth, keep your eye out for it. It is super tasty and can be used for many recipes. Stew the flavors together on a simmer for 20 minutes.
   While it was simmering I created a marinade for the fish. Soy sauce, toasted sesame seed oil, mirin and tons of freshly ground pepper. Setting the fish to marinade for a bit, make sure to flip in half way thru. When the bisque was done simmering I let it cool for a few minutes. Then on to the blender. Blend it in batches, filling no more than half of the blender with each batch. Make sure you get all the chunks pureed and blended. Put it all back in the pot and add 1/2 cup of milk, stir and set back to simmer.
  As that simmered I seared the tuna. Melt some butter in the pan and add some more fresh ground pepper and a few spoonfuls of the marinade. Make sure its nice and hot. Sear the fish on both sides (its a fish that is great raw so don't be scared that the center is raw). It is a little over cooked in the picture because it continued to cook after I took it off the plate and this was the extra piece so it had cooked a little more than it should have.
  One might think that the fish would be the highlight of the meal but the bisque was in the end. It had such a rich, complex flavor. It was amazingly addicting. I can't wait to have more of it tomorrow for lunch because I know it will be amazing reheated as well. If you ever come across sunchokes try this recipe!! You will fall in love with it as quickly as I did.

Bisque
1lb Sunchokes
1 Yukon gold potato
2 minced garlic cloves
8 oz sliced mushrooms (I prefer crimini)
About 2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
1/2 of a large yellow onion
1 tbs chopped fresh sage
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 cups water
3 cups mushroom broth
1/2 cup milk

Ahi Tuna
Tuna
Toasted sesame seed oil
Soy Sauce
Mirin

Note: The bisque was originally a vegan recipe and I'm sure it would be just as good! Just substitute butter with vegan butter and the milk with soy milk.