Ingredients
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2 bunches basil leaves
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4 x 100 grams pieces yellowfin tuna loin sea salt
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freshly ground pepper
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1/4 red coral lettucetorn into small pieces
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1/4 green coral lettucetorn into small pieces
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4 sprigs chervil
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Mustard Seed and Soy Vinaigrette
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50 millilitres soy sauce
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2 limesjuice only
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30 millilitres pickled ginger juicedrained from pickled ginger
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2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
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375 millilitres olive oil
Directions
Only sashimi-grade Yellowfin tuna will do for my signature dish. If your fishmonger can’t deliver, shop around somewhere else or put the recipe on the backburner for another day.
Mustard Seed and Soy Vinaigrette
- Combine the soy sauce, lime juice, ginger juice and mustard seeds in a large glass bowl.
- Slowly add the olive oil, whisking continuously, until combined.
- Place the vinaigrette in the fridge to infuse for 2 hours.
Basil
- Blanch the basil leaves in a saucepan of boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunge into a bowl of iced water.
- Remove and drain, then gently pat dry between two clean tea towels.
How to Prepare the Tuna
- Place the tuna on a length of plastic film and season with salt and pepper.
- Cover each piece of tuna with the blanched basil, stretching the leaves over the top and overlapping a little down the sides so that no part of the tuna is left exposed.
- Turn over and repeat on the other side, until the tuna is completely covered by the basil.
- Tightly wrap each piece in the plastic film.
Garnish
- Toss the coral lettuce in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette and arrange on the serving plate.
Final Preparation & Plating
- Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add the wrapped tuna.
- Remove from the pan after just 30 seconds and gently unwrap the plastic film.
- Slice the tuna on the diagonal, then dip into the bowl of reserved vinaigrette to cover completely.
- Take out straight away and arrange on the lettuce.
- Sprinkle the tuna with salt, place the leaf of one chervil on one half of each plate and serve.
This recipe, together with other delicious recipes, can be found in the cookbook Food for Friends by Guillaume Brahimi.
