Thanks Shigefumi, The Tuna Tartare is Delicious!

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 | posted by mike

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. That was the case back in 1984 at the Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills where chef Shigefumi Tachibe was hit with a challenge. When a table of 6 told him they didn’t like the idea of eating raw beef tartare and they wanted something different, the chef went back to his kitchen and began scanning his possibilities. He noticed a nice loin of sashimi grade tuna. Being a French trained chef, he knew how to prepare an amazing tartare and being Japanese, he knew the wonders of super fresh sashimi grade tuna. Problem solved! The table of 6 loved it, the dish made its way to the menu and its popularity swept the nation (almost to the point of overkill).

tunaIt seemed like everyone was serving a version of tuna tartare, which was a bit scary since the fish is served raw and must be impeccably fresh. Not every restaurant should even be attempting such a dish since there is a good amount of expertise in the buying and grading of these fish. Tuna is graded according to fat content, color and translucency to name a few factors. Price is set on how high a grade the tuna is. Grade 1 plus is the crème de la crème but a strong 2 plus can be suitable if it’s nice and fresh and was properly graded.

In buying tuna for tartare, make sure you’re buying from a market that you trust and can guarantee a fresh high-grade fish. Tell the merchant that you’re serving it raw and make sure the fish is being cut separately from other raw products on its own cutting board and with separate knives. Also, beware of the ever present, inexpensive, CO2 frozen tuna that lots of stores and restaurants sell. Flash frozen with carbon dioxide, it can make a lower grade and even an oxidizing, browning tuna turn bright red. Sometimes sold as “saku blocks” the only good thing about this product is its color. The creamy, “melt in your mouth texture” of fresh tuna is lost. In the samples I’ve tasted, the fats and water seemed to separate leaving a watery texture and an oily aftertaste. Watching food cost and rationalizing that the customer won’t tell the difference (slap enough wasabi in there), this product shows up in even the “finer restaurants” and stores.

If tuna is cheap it probably is. Bottom line, buy cheap and weep! Buy from people that you know to be trustworthy.

This recipe, an adaptation of Chef Eric Ripert’s, is a fantastic summertime dish that makes an easy and elegant appetizer or light supper. We served it last night with an arugula salad and a cold “lazy linguine” pasta dish made by my sister-in-law, Nancy. It made a fine meal. Fresh, light, and elegant. Yum!

Thank you chef Shigefumi.

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Tuna Tartare

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 4

1 lb. sashimi grade tuna: yellowfin or bigeye

1/2 of a cucumber, peel 1/2 of the skin off lengthwise to create striped pattern, then cut into thin slices

3 T olive oil

3 t pickled ginger, finely chopped (available at Monahan’s)

1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped, use 2T in the tartare, the remaining for garnish

1 t jalapeño (or more if you like a little more heat), finely chopped

11/2 t wasabi powder

1 t toasted sesame seeds

1 T scallions finely chopped

11/2 T lemon juice plus 1/2 a lemon

1 ripe avocado, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

Kosher or sea salt, fresh ground pepper

Rice crackers, thin sliced baguette or wonton crisps

With a good sharp knife, cut tuna into 1/8 inch cubes (I cut around the small amount of the tough sinew and finely chop that part)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl, except the 1/2 lemon, extra cilantro and avocados

Gently mix ingredients then carefully toss in the avocados

Arrange slices of cucumber around the outside edge of 4 plates

Pack tartare mixture in an oiled 11/2 inch by 21/4 inch round mold in the center of plate, repeat on each plate (If you don’t have a mold use a small, oiled bowl that will hold a nice serving size)

Drizzle each serving with olive oil, squeeze of lemon and sprinkle with remaining cilantro

Serve with rice crackers, thin sliced baguette or wonton crisps

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Tataki Time!

Friday, January 13th, 2012 | posted by mike

Japan has given us seafood lovers many fantastic preparations for fish and shellfish. Japanese freshness, quality and beautiful presentation have been an inspiration to us for years. One of the most delicious and scrumptious looking dishes to me is tuna tataki. If you love tuna sashimi and sushi, you’ll probably really go for this dish because it’s basically sashimi that is seared and served raw in the center. The searing gives the fish a little added flavor and texture, especially if you coat the outside of the fish with sesame seeds or peppercorns (I use both).

Super fresh #1 tuna (we sell yellowfin and big eye) will have a nice fat content along with bright color and a nice translucence to it. It should almost look like the light is passing through the fish. When seared with the sesame seeds and peppercorns and then sliced, the contrasting colors and textures are a sight to behold.

This dish makes a great appetizer, small plate, first course, or increase the portions and make a meal of it- served with rice and maybe a mixed green salad.

The dipping sauce for tataki is usually Ponzu, a great vinegar, citrus, bonito flake sauce that is added to soy sauce to make ponzu shoyu. The recipe for ponzu is a bit time consuming so we’ve come up with a good quickie sauce that’s made with Kikkoman Ponzu. You’ll be amazed that you can create such an impressive dish in just minutes!

P.S.  On rare occasions we see sushi grade bonito at the market. A little darker and fuller flavored than big eye or yellowfin, it’s incredible for tataki.

Here’s the recipe.

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Tuna Tataki

Friday, January 13th, 2012 | posted by mike

Serves 4

1/2- 3/4 lb. Sashimi grade tuna- cut into long, approximately 1¼ x 2 ½” logs

1/4 cup black sesame seeds

1 T coarse black pepper

1 T peanut oil or olive oil

 

Mike’s Makeshift Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup Kikkoman  ponzu

1/2 T fresh lemon juice

1 t fish sauce

1/2-1 t sriracha sauce to taste

1 T sake or vermouth

(all ingredients except sake or vermouth available at Monahan’s)

 

Mix sesame seeds and black pepper and spread out on a cutting board

Roll and press tuna log to evenly coat each side

Heat a heavy pan or skillet over med- high heat

Add oil, when hot add tuna and sear about 1-2 min on each side – flip when fish looks cooked about 1/8 inch into the log

With a thin very sharp knife, slice thin (about 1/8 inch) and fan out on the plate

Serve with dipping sauce

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The Ultimate Salad Nicoise

Friday, July 15th, 2011 | posted by mike

A true meal in itself. You can cook the potatoes, eggs and green beans in the same pot to cut down on cooking time and dishes. Salad Niçoise is a composed salad that looks gorgeous on a platter, and there’s lots of room for improvisation when it comes to ingredients (you can add roasted red peppers, feta, toasted walnuts, or other Mediterranean components). The following recipe is the classic style of southern France, but topped with seared, fresh, sashimi-grade tuna. Serves 4.

Ingredients for vinaigrette:

  • 1 minced clove of garlic
  • 1/2 t Dijon mustard
  • 1 1/2 T red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 lemon, juiced
  • 1 T chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 T minced fresh tarragon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Ingredients for Salad:

  • Fresh baby greens, Boston lettuce or Romaine to line the platter
  • 1/2 lb. small new or fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 lb. French green beans, stems removed
  • 1 lb. fresh sashimi-grade tuna
  • 1 T extra-virgin olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 cup niçoise olives
  • 8 anchovy fillets
  • 1/4 cup capers

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together until emulsified then set aside for the flavors to meld.

Bring potatoes to a boil in a kettle of salted water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the eggs. You can either steam the beans above the boiling water for about 5 minutes, or simply add them to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. In the end, you want the potatoes to be fork-tender and the beans to be slightly crisp. Drain everything in a colander under cold water, then put back in the pot with cold water and ice to shock and chill the ingredients.

Heat a heavy bottom skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high. Rub the tuna with olive oil and a bit of the vinaigrette and salt & pepper. When the pan is hot, sear the tuna for 2 minutes or so per side…you don’t want it to cook all the way through. Remove from pan and place on a cutting board while you compose the platter.

Composing the platter
Line the platter with lettuce or fresh baby greens. Use a bowl to coat the individual ingredients (potaotes, beans, capers, tomatoes, olives and anchovies) in vinaigrette before arranging the separate ingredients like a dial around the platter. (We actually mixed all the ingredients together, but the classic version keeps things in separate piles so guests can choose how much of each ingredient to add to their plate.) Halve or quarter the eggs and arrange on the platter then slice the seared tuna and arrange attractively in the center of the dish. Drizzle the platter with remaining vinaigrette.

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Hawaiian Sashimi-Grade Tuna Makes a great Poke!

Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | posted by mike

Did you try last week’s ceviche recipe? Well here’s another fantastic summertime favorite—Hawaiian Poke!

Pronounced “poh kay” it’s loved throughout the islands but is still little known on the mainland. The word poke means to cut, slice, or section in pieces. Early Hawaiians seasoned raw fish with salt and whatever other seasonings that were on hand, such as different types of Limu (seaweed) or Inamona (toasted insides of kikui nut). Later when soy sauce, onions, chiles and tomatoes came to the islands, things started to get creative. Nowadays most pokes are soy sauce based with Inamona (we substitute toasted macadamia nuts), onions, sea salt, chiles, some type of Limu and sesame oil. Some people add toasted sesame seeds or oyster sauce or maybe a pinch of brown sugar.You can really create your own as long as you’re using a fish that’s sushi grade.

I first fell in love with poke on a buying trip to Honolulu back in 1980. After getting up at 4 a.m. to visit the Honolulu fish auction, which was amazing in itself, we headed over to the Tomashiro Market for a breakfast of raw marinated fish. The market was awesome, with loins of number 1 Yellowfin, Bigeye and Bluefin tuna laid out in rows the way we display lake perch. It seemed like they had a whole wall of different styles of Poke. I tried the Ahi (tuna) and Tako (octopus) and immediately realized why it is the national obsession. The clean fresh saltiness was like a sweet slap in the face from the Maui surf.

It’s no wonder  you can find Poke all over the Islands, even in the smallest little grocers and general stores. One of those small stores is the Fukushima Store in Haiku on Maui. George and Alice Fukushima have been running their shop for over 34 years (even longer than Monahan’s). The store is famous for their amazing bright red hot dogs, sashimi and sushi, and of course, poke. Their son Gene studied naval engineering at U of M and we were fortunate to have him at our market for a few years. Gene learned a lot from working with his dad— hard work, not wasting a thing and some good recipes, including poke.

It’s a little hard to make authentic poke without kikui nut or Limu, preferably Lipoa, but our version is pretty darn good. I spoke with Gene’s mom Alice earlier today and she said maybe George could send us some Inamona and Lipoa, but until then try this.

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Ahi Poke

Thursday, July 7th, 2011 | posted by mike

  • 1 lb. Sashimi grade tuna cut in 1 inch cubes
  • 1/4 cup Maui onions (or sweet onion like vidallia) chopped
  • 3 scallions finely sliced- use part of green part
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce- use Japanese it’s lighter salt than U.S. Soy sauce
  • 2 t oyster sauce (optional)
  • 1 t  brown sugar
  • 1 t sriracha chili sauce (or to taste)
  • Pinch of Hawaiian sea salt or kosher salt
  • 1 T toasted macadamia nuts finely chopped (toasted, see below)
  • 2 t toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 t sesame oil
  • A not traditional but nice addition if you’d like is to add about 2 T Wakame salad—coarse chop – available at Monahan’s

Roast Macadamia nuts at 300 degrees for 5 to 8 min. Until golden brown.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, gently stir in tuna and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour. Serve as is or on romaine leaves or in lettuce cups.

Alice Fukushima says the new craze at their store is Ahi Poke on top of sticky rice on a Nori sheet.

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