I have really wanted to sear tuna lately. Why? I have no idea. For some reason it has been one of those dishes that gets stuck in your head and you can’t stop thinking about it until you finally make it yourself! But what would we do with this seared tuna? I didn’t really want to put it in a salad. The brainstorming began at 2:30ish between Mandi and I over email. Mandi wanted avocado because Thursday is usually taco night and if she couldn’t have tacos, some avocado would at least ease the pain. I thought mangos would be a nice compliment to the lightness of the tuna. After looking for awhile online, I was reminded of a raw tuna nacho appetizer I had at Mesa Grill in New York. I saw a recipe that included an avocado and a chipotle crema and decided to make these, wing a mango salsa, and put it all on a corn tortilla. The results were delicious!
Sushi grade tuna from the store. FROZEN?!?!?! Yes. Frozen. Sushi Grade actually MEANS frozen! I mean, if you are at the best sushi places, I am sure you are getting fresh fish caught that day, still alive in the back. But at your average sushi place, they are getting all the fish in frozen. It is ok though because the fish is actually deep frozen for a specific time and temperature that kills all the parasites that may be on the fish. Here is a bunch of boring paragraphs that go into more detail on the subject. But trust me it’s real boring, you won’t read it. You probably aren’t even reading this paragraph it is so boring.
I have fired up the coals and they are getting ready for later. They need to be crazy crazy hot.
To cut the mango, first cut it in half like you would an avocado. Make sure your knife goes around the pit. You will know the pit because it is tougher then the rest of the flesh but it isn’t obvious so go slow and feel it out. Then make these cross cuts in the mango
And turn it inside out like this, cutting off all of the chunks.
Similar technique with the avocado.
this is
1 large avocado1 cup mayonnaise1/2 cup sour cream1 tablespoon minced garlic1/2 lime, juicedHot sauceSalt and freshly ground pepper
The mango salsa has mangos, lime juice, jalapeños, onion cilantro, salt and pepper.
This is
2 to 3 whole canned chipotle peppers, seeds removed1 cup mayonnaise1/2 cup sour cream1 tablespoon minced garlic1/2 lime, juicedHot sauceSalt and freshly ground pepper
The tuna looked great when it thawed. I thawed them in cold water in the refrigerator.
These are some gourmet salts to roll the tuna in.
Mandi was warming up some tortillas.
This grill is cray hot! You can’t see in the pictures but flames are actually coming through the grate. That’s what you want here.
This turned out to be too much salt. We have been trying to get the hang of these fancy salts but this was an experiment gone wrong. In my opinion, if we just left out the black smoked salt, it would have been much better. (the food was still fantastic, just slightly too salty)
Hot hot hot ha ha hat hot hat hot. I have no hair left on my right hand.
One cooperated better than the other, but they both still tasted great in the end.
Perfection. See how the redder salts sort of melted into the surface to form a crust? But the black ones stayed chunky.
That’s how its sposta look kids
This was a fancy meal so we treated it that way and tried a few different plating designs.
Mango salsa
Mangoslime juicejalapeñosonion cilantrosalt and pepper
Avocado Crema: 1 large avocado 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 lime, juiced Hot sauce Salt and freshly ground pepper Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth and creamy. Season with hot sauce, salt, and pepper, to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Chipotle Crema: 2 to 3 whole canned chipotle peppers, seeds removed 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1/2 lime, juiced Hot sauce Salt and freshly ground pepper Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth and creamy. Season with hot sauce, salt, and pepper, to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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