New Year's - week 1 of 52

Inspired by the movie Julie/Julia and my love for all things food, I decided to try a food experiment in 2010. As a busy working girl in Toronto, I can only manage to try one new recipe a week and post pictures and recipe. The recipes will be tested on my friends who have bravely accepted to being my guinea pigs.

So, here’s to 2010 – a year of eating well, friends and food!

For New Year’s I decided to try to make an appetizer that I’ve had a couple of times – tuna tartare. How hard can it be? Recipe is courtesy of Rob Feenie. I made a couple of changes – instead of tamari, I substituted soy sauce and I left out cilantro. The avocado was mixed with the lemon, but I did not mix it with the tuna mixture.

To serve I put the avocado mix in the bottom of a round entremet ring (imagine a tall round cookie cutter to mold the mixture), and topped with the tuna mixture. I bought the ring at Golda’s Kitchen in Mississauga. Serve with tortilla chips and a dab of wasabi.

I have to say it turned out really well!

Enjoy and bon appetit!

Did you know : (stuff I learnt along the way) - Ponzu is a citrus-based sauce commonly used in Japanese cooking (not alcohol, as I initially thought). Ponzu is made by boiling mirin, rice vinegar, katsuobushi flakes (dried fermented tuna), and seaweed over medium heat. The liquid is cooled and then strained to remove the katsuobushi flakes and the juice of Japanese citrus fruits and sometimes also lemon are added.


Tuna Tartare - 8 appetizer-sized servings

$$$$$

Ingredients
• 1 Pound ahi tuna, cut into 1/4 inch dice

Tamari Vinaigrette
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons tamari
• 1 tablespoon Ponzu sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, finely, shredded
• 1 teaspoon toasted black sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped green onion
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 2 tablespoons shredded nori
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 lemon
• tobiko
• daikon radish sprouts
• many of these ingredients can be found at Asian supermarkets such as T&T

Directions

Tamari Vinaigrette
1. Combine orange juice, vinegar, tamari, and ponzu sauce. Gradually whisk in sesame oil until emulsified. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
2. In a mixing bowl, just before you are ready to serve, combine tuna, cilantro, black sesame seeds, green onion and tomato dice. Add 4 tablespoons tamari vinaigrette and mix gently. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add shredded nori and lemon zest and lemon juice. Peel, seed and dice avocado and and gently add to mix.

To Serve
1. On individual spoons, place a small amount of tuna tartare. Top with a little tobiko and garnish with daikon sprouts. Serve immediately.