Chef Benny Doro

Details

• Prep Time:
  10 min
• Ready Time:
  10 min

Ingredients

• 16 oz sushi grade tuna will run you about $20 per pound.
• good extra virgin olive oil find an olive oil that you just love with bread and it will be the OTHER important flavor in this dish
• finely chopped chives
• kosher salt

Directions

This one is all about execution and the quality of the fish that you are using. Start by taking the plates you are going to use and put them in the freezer right before you begin preparation. Now on a cutting block or a plastic cutting board cover the surface with cling film completely as you can see in my photo.

Now take your tuna and cut it into 4 pieces  and place them a few inches apart from each other on the plastic. Now cover completly on top with another piece of cling film. Now comes the only tricky bit, using a meat mallet start carfully pounding out the pieces of the tuna almost with a pulling motion towards the outside. What you are trying to do is flatten it out so it will be one even thickness about 1/16th of an inch very thin. Take as much time as you need and go slow you don't want to crush the flesh and your don't want to break it. Stop and check every few pounds of the mallet and feel the flesh to see where it is at. You might find one big uneven lump you can pound it very carefully until it is all even.

Now that you have it that done find a ring mold or a plate about 6 inch around and this will be your guide to cutting the tuna. Now at this point take out your plates from the freezer, they should be cold but not frozen with ice forming (remember I said put them in right before you start) . Now take your plate or ring mold, take the top layer of the cling film off and cut around the mold until you have a good clean cut.

Using a flat spatula carefully lift the tuna out of the cut and place in the center of the plate. Sprinkle some of the chives over the tuna and drizzle some of that olive oil on top and a little around the plate. Finish with a few grains of kosher salt and serve immediately.

This is as good as some of the $28 tuna carpaccios you will find in some of the upper crust restaurants. Serve this as a starter it could not get any easier, any healthier and any more delicious.

Benny