Grilled Tuna with Warm White Bean Salad

Makes 4 servings

Wendy Miller

ingredients

1/2 pound dried Great Northern beans (1 1/4 cups)
4 cups salted water
2 garlic cloves, 1 crushed and 1 chopped and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed arugula leaves, washed well and spun dry
1 small red onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
four 4-ounce skinless tuna steaks (each about 1/2 inch thick)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
freshly ground black pepper
Accompaniment: lemon wedges

1
In a large saucepan simmer beans in salted water with crushed garlic until tender, about 1 hour, and drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid. In a small bowl mash 1/2 cup beans with a fork and return mashed and whole beans to pan with reserved liquid. Chop 1 cup arugula and stir into beans (off heat) with garlic paste, onion, parsley, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Keep bean salad warm, covered, over very low heat while cooking arugula.
2
Prepare grill while beans are cooking.
3
Rinse and pat dry tuna. On a plate combine tuna steaks with remaining tablespoon lemon juice, turning to coat, and sprinkle both sides with fennel seeds, pepper, and salt to taste. Grill fish on a lightly oiled rack set 5 to 6 inches over glowing coals about 3 minutes on each side, or until barely cooked through. (Alternatively, fish may be cooked in a heated well-seasoned ridged grill pan in same manner.)
4
Arrange bean salad and remaining cup arugula on 4 plates and top with fish. Squeeze lemon over the fish.