With a summer garden of pickled vegetables backing a flash-fried fillet of Bluefin tuna that’s been marinated in the pickling brine, this dish is a carnival of textures and tastes that’s as fun to look at as it is to eat. While it does take a few days for the vegetables to pickle the rest of the preparation is relatively quick and all the components can be prepared in advance. If you have trouble finding the baby vegetables, you can use regular sized ones that have been cut down in size.
Although this Bluefin Tuna Tartare sticks closely to the classic French recipe for steak tartare, the raw egg yolk has been replaced with a wasabi espuma for a novel modern twist on the original. Parsley juice infused with wasabi and thickened with raw egg whites, the mixture is charged with nitrous oxide in a siphon to turn it into a light-as-air foam. Served atop a mound of silken cubes of tuna seasoned with capers, onions and mustard, this simple appetizer looks far more involved than it actually is.
These Spanish-style tuna "meatballs" are an addictive canapé when served with picks but can also make for a delightful tapa served with a loaf of crusty bread. By hand-chopping the Bigeye tuna, it retains some of its texture while coming together with the other ingredients to form moist, tender albondigas that are redolent of garlic and smoky pimentón.
This classic appetizer may not be new and exciting, but there's a reason why it's still around. Like a carefully rehearsed orchestra each component layers on top of each other creating a harmony of tastes and textures that changes with each bite. Building on a base of ultra-fresh Bigeye Tuna, the olive oil adds richness and a creamy mouthfeel. Salty capers and pecorino romano adds savory bursts of umami. This is all accented by the sharp tang of the lemon juice and peppery bite of the watercress.