Tuna Tartare (In Homage to Morton's Steakhouse!

Submitted by Marcinho Savant

"I decided on making Tuna Tartare for lunch today! My homage to the Morton's presentation. Added cilantro bed, and Sriracha. I like a little heat! Sashimi-Grade Yellowfin Tuna, Avocado, Roma tomato, Tellicherry black peppercorns, cilantro, sea salt, red pepper flakes, Sriracha."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 2

ingredients

• 2 (6 ounce) sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna fillets
• 2 large roma tomatoes
• ground tellicherry black peppercorns (to taste)
• 2 1⁄2 cups chopped cilantro
• sea salt, to taste
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• sriracha sauce, on the side, as condiment
• 1 large avocado
• 1 dash champagne vinegar or 1 dash your choice vinegar, a light sprinkle
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice or 2 teaspoons lime juice, Divided one spoon per portion
• light sour cream

directions

1. Cube the well-chilled Tuna into 1/2 inch cubes. Place into a clean bowl.
2. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste, gently stir well, coating all the cubes with the oil, and refrigerate. You will season each component (bowl) individually, so BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO OVER SALT/Season.
3. Dice the tomatoes into a similar sized cut, place into another bowl, DRAIN OFF the excess juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, gently stir well, coating all the cubes with the oil, and refrigerate.
4. Score the Avocado in half (the long way). Spin the two halves to gently separate them. Remove the pit. Cube the Avocado, in the skin, by gently, carefully, scoring (horizontally, and vertically) into cubes--- approximating the sizes of the tuna, and the tomatoes.
5. Using a spoon, gently scoop the cubed avocado from the skin, and place into another bowl. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, gently stir well, coating all the cubes with the oil, and refrigerate.
6. Remove the bowls from the fridge.
7. Gently toss the fish with the lime juice, and/or vinegar.
8. On your surface, place some wax paper, or butcher paper beneath your vertical food mold.
9. Starting with the tomatoes, fill the mold with equal parts of each bowl's contents, one third of the way, with each item. Gently press down between layers. Then avocado, THEN TOP with the tuna.
10. NOTE: If you do not have molds, use matching "Rocks" glasses, or similar, to shape the dish's presentation ("Timbale" shaped).
11. Put your, CHILLED, plates onto your work surface, OPTIONAL: You can lightly drizzle, or swirl some sort of design onto the whole plate (using Sriracha sauce), and then lay a bed of COLD, chopped, cilantro in the center of each plate--- leaving about a one-inch border of the edge of the plate clear.
12. GENTLY lift your mold, AND PAPER, and quickly center it onto the mound of Cilantro--- gently sliding the paper AS YOU PLATE the mold, so that the paper is removed.
13. Gently tamp down the layers with the back of a wooden spoon, or with fingertips--- to, TENDERLY, firm the mold.
14. Let it SIT for three to five minutes, and gently remove the mold from the dish, leaving the tuna, avocado, and tomato timbale standing firmly in place.
15. Grind some more black pepper, and sprinkle it lightly onto the top of the timbale.
16. OPTIONAL: You may ALSO add a few capers, or some chopped black olives as a garnish--- on the top of the timbale. You may also sprinkle some around the edge/border of the plates.
17. It would be excellent to offer wedges of lemon, and/or, lime for squeezes.
18. OPTIONAL: Dollop of LIGHT SOUR CREAM onto each plate.
19. SERVE with Baguette slices, mini Croissants, or Water Crackers, and glasses of a well-chilled Sancerre, Chardonnay, Riesling, or Gewürztraminer.