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Watermelon Faux Tuna Poke Bowl

Tracy Scheckel
Apr 19
2 min read

What do tuna and watermelon have in common? You're about to find out. First, I want everyone to know that I planned on sharing this recipe closer to summer, but while out to dinner with our friends MJ and Brian, surprise, surprise, we were talking about recipes and cooking fun things. Because I'm a geek, my phone is filled with photos of the food I cook (some people fill theirs with their kids, I know, just not me). When I showed off the images of this recipe, Brian asked for the recipe. It's easier to post it early than write it for him and post it later, so here ya go Brian!

Early last spring I was binging on some PBS cooking shows and caught a Yankee Magazine "Weekends with Yankee" episode that visits places of interest and restaurants in New England. They visited the Thompson House Eatery in Jackson, NH which has sadly closed permanently, but that's where I first saw this done. Then after a bit of research, I came up with my own faux tuna poke bowl.

THE RECIPE:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Transforming the Melon

Slice watermelon into 1' or more thick slices and remove the rind

Place slices in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for at least 1 hour per inch of thickness.

This step bakes most of the water out of the melon and transforms the texture to greatly resemble tuna steaks.

NOTE: I baked it for an our but in hindsight should have left it a bit longer, maybe another half hour.

Marinating the 'Steaks'

For the marinade:

You can use a bottle of your favorite Asian salad dressing, OR.......

1/4 C soy sauce

1/4 C tamari

1/4 C rice vinegar

2 T chili crisp

1/4 C sesame oil

Whisk the dressing until well blended

Place the steaks in a container to marinate and pour the marinade over the top. Marinate for at least 2 hours and turn the steaks once or twice to ensure that they are well marinated.

Grilling the Steaks

Brush with sesame oil to coat and heat a cast iron grill or frying pan.

Place steaks in the pan and sear for 3 minutes per side.

At this point, you can serve just like any tuna steak or take it a few steps further as I did with a Poke Bowl.

For the Poke Bowl

While there are some traditional ingredients for poke bowl, it's one of those dishes that really has no right or wrong. These are the ingredients I had kicking around, but feel free to be creative with what's in your fridge.