The Perfect Plate to Mark the Transition From Summer Into Autumn

Last night I hosted with a friend, and the guests were ourselves. We cooked for each other, together. 

This particular friend is an excellent cook, our friendship being formed through the accumulation of instances in creative home cooking with one another, each delicious outcome cementing our friendship further, in a series of alchemical bondings in the kitchen across time.

Having not seen her for months, we arranged to meet at Nourished Communities on Upper Street before embarking on a cooking quest at her place. On this occasion, we were drawn to a punnet of broad beans, their pods blemished with black but still pretty with the fade of summer. Into the basket also went two handsome steaks of tuna, on her suggestion. Considering the broad beans and remembering that tuna and almonds sit well next to each other we go a bit further a-field on the hunt for some Marconas (the lord of all almonds), as our ‘small plate’ unfolds. My friend later suggests sweating the broad beans with shallots in her wizard way which I am excited by.

The combination of our own culinary repertoires and of our specific cravings led us to this particular plate, very transitional – perfectly on the cusp of summer into autumn.

The dish consists of seared rare tuna, still pink; torn along its contours and laid on the base of the plate, dressed with lemony olive oil and adorned with almonds. A-top of the tuna, pale jade pebbles of braised  broad beans are  in a loose tangle with softened shallots. Glowing in faded pastel shades of pink and green,  the dish’s textures sit across a spectrum of softness. We chased each mouthful with a petal of white endive feeling quite pleased with ourselves and our friendship plate. The perfect cusp-season appetizer for two. 

Recipe as follows, for two. 

500g tuna steak
400g broad beans in pod
400g marcona almonds, roughly chopped
1 shallot, peeled and halved, and sliced into 2mm slithers.
100ml good extra virgin olive oil
2g Maldon salt

Season the tuna steak with salt.

Remove the broad beans from their pods and gather in a bowl. 

Take a medium-sized saute pan, and on a medium heat begin to braise the shallot in 20ml of olive oil with a generous pinch of salt. Using a wooden spoon, ensure the shallots are in constant motion in the pan, guiding them as they soften to the bite without taking on any colour. Once the shallots are adequately softened, add in the broad beans, with a 20ml splash of water and using the spoon, intermingle the beans with the shallots, sauteeing on medium heat for one minute before securing the pan with a lid to enable steaming, and turning the heat to low. Cook on low heat until the broad beans transform to a pale jade colour and begin to look handsomely wrinkled, after about three minutes. Taste for seasoning, and leave in the pan off the heat, lid on. 

To sear the tuna, put a frying pan onto a high heat, and wait for it to become sufficiently hot to the touch. 

Drizzle 50ml of the olive oil over the seasoned tuna steak before placing onto the hot pan upon which it should sizzle. 

Fry on high heat for one minute, applying weight if you like, seeing the flesh into the pan.

Flip over the tuna once sufficiently golden and repeat on the other. Remove from pan and Leave to rest on a plate, drizzled with 50ml of extra virgin olive oil until it reaches a warm, room temperature. 

While waiting for the tuna to rest, squeeze the juice of a quarter of a lemon into 50ml of good extra virgin olive oil to create the dressing. It shouldn’t be overly acidic. 

To assemble: tear the tuna across the gradients of its flesh and lay over the base of your sharing plate. Season with a little Maldon salt, and pour half of the lemon olive oil dressing. Next, cover the tuna with the broad beans and braised shallots, so that you can still see moments of its pink flesh underneath. Finish with the rest of the lemon olive oil dressing and an extra scattering of almonds. 

Serve with petals of endive dressed with olive oil.

Hannah Hammond is a London-based chef who has worked at the River Cafe and Leo’s in London, and Le Servan in Paris. All photography by Hannah Hammond.