Farmers' markets are great opportunities for us to meet and talk with those familiar and unfamiliar with our sea salts as well as with people of all ranges of culinary chops. Chef Kerry Heffernan (restaurants, Top Chef Master, etc.) introduced himself to us at one market and has become a wonderful customer and resource, eager to share with us his recent creations and ideas. Here is one.
Tuna Cru
Ingredients
- 1 pound yellowfin or ahi tuna, cleaned
- 4 caperberries, sliced into circles
- 4 Nicoise olives, meat sliced off the sides so you're left with 4 pieces per olive
- 4 picholine olives, sliced like the Nicoise olives
- 1 shallot peeled + very finely minced
- 2 tbs fresh, chopped chives
- 1 ea. freshly squeezed + strained lemon
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium bulb fennel, fronds cut off + bulb washed
- 1/2 seedless, English cucumber
- Amagansett Sea Salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Method
For fennel and cucumber salad: Thinly slice fennel starting on the opposite end of the core. Cut cucumber in half lengthwise + with a spoon, gently scrape out the seeds. Cut the cucumber into thin, crescent moon slices. In a non-reactive mixing bowl, combine the fennel and cucumber with about 1/4 cup olive oil and black pepper. Set aside.
Portion the tuna into 3 - 4" bars: cut even slabs of the tuna across horizontally starting from where the head would be towards where the tail would be. Rotate the slab 90 degrees + cut the slabs into bars.
Assemble the tuna: lay 4 sticks of tuna parallel to one another on a plate. Place one slice each of the caperberries and both types of olives on each bar of tuna in a consistent pattern. Drizzle about 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil over the tuna. Season with pepper. Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons each of the minced shallots + chives over the tuna.
Add about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, + 5 tablespoons olive oil to the fennel + cucumber salad. Season with Amagansett Sea Salt. Place a small mound on the plate with the tuna bars.
Drizzle lemon juice over each of the tuna bars + season with Amagansett Sea Salt right before serving.
