Ahi Tuna Tartare with Avocado

Ahi Tuna Tartare w/avocado, crispy shallots and soy sesame dressing

A great appetizer that we tried out on some of our friends and no one died. Make this for your next dinner party and pair it with a great white wine.


Research:

We used a recipe that we found on Zen can cook's website, CLICK HERE.

Plan:

Gather the following ingredients:

10 ounces of sushi grade Ahi Tuna
2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
2 ripe avocados
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and fresh pepper

canola oil for frying
1 big shallot finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons rice krispies
salt

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey

note that we bought 20 ounces of tuna as the recipe called for but our mold is small so we used 10 ounces and that served 6 people a nice appetizer sized portion.



Execution:

First the tuna comes frozen solid and there is a process to thawing it. Follow this video:




Then dice the tuna and avocado and shallots before you have too much wine. Remember to always do the knife work first.


Here we combined the tuna and avocado, the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. You could have separated these and layered the tuna and avocado also.


Then toss the shallots in the flour and sauté for 45 seconds. Yes, 45 seconds...


then mix with rice krispies


and assemble - this is where I deviated from the plan and mixed the avocado and tuna rather than layering. Much discussion later ensued regarding my decision but i stand by my call and it turned out Michelin Star quality.



then pour in the sauce


bon appétit




Verdict:

These are fantastic and were a big hit with our guests. We made them several hours ahead of time and kept them cool in the fridge. When our guests arrived, we served with a great white wine.