Sesame Crusted Seared Albacore Tuna Tataki

Sesame Crusted Seared Albacore Tuna Tataki

Ingredients:

- seasalt

- butter

- raw yellow fin tuna  

- raw untoasted sesame seeds

- 3 tablespoons of oil

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Directions:

1. Take sea salt and liberally cover both the top and bottom of a piece of rawfresh tuna with it. Leave the salt on the tuna for ½ hour to help season the salmon. After 30 minutes wash the salt off, pat dry the tuna, wrap it in saran wrap. You can either leave it to cure at room temperature for 30 minutes or you can freeze it and use it later. The salt coating helps to keep it fresh and to prevent it from having that fishy taste when you defrost it and use it a later.
2. After you rinse the salt off of the tuna, pat it dry with a paper towel.
3. Pour the raw untoasted sesame seeds into a pan and completely cover your tuna with the seeds. Press them on to the tuna gently using your hands so the seeds will stick to the surface of it.  The reason for using raw untoasted sesame seeds is because if you use toasted sesame seeds, when you cook the salmon you will be cooking the seeds a second time and then they will get burned. To prevent them from getting burned you need to use the raw sesame seeds. Note: Western stores use yellow fin tuna because it is a lean fish and the fat inside it will not break when you cook it.
4. After you cover it with the sesame seeds cover it with a little bit of sea salt and press it into the salmon so it will stick.
5. Add in 3 tablespoons of oil and evenly coat the pan. Turn on the heat at high and wait for the pan to heat up.
6.  Cut your salmon loin in half so it will fit inside your frying pan. If the pan is at the correct temperature the moment that you put your tuna in the pan you should hear a sizzle.
7. Flip over the tuna when the sesame seeds are golden brown. The meat should be ¼ cooked on one side. At the end our goal is to have a medium rare tuna filet.
8. Add more oil if the fish has absorbed it all, and turn the tuna onto its side on the pan so it will cook. Proceed to sear each side of the filet in the pan so they are browned a bit. Once all the sides are seared flip the tuna onto its back and sear that side last. After the back is seared take it out and put it to rest on top of a paper towel. This does two things: 1) it allows the oil to drain off of the fish and 2) it allows the fish to rest. If you try to slice the fish once it comes out of the pan the sesame seeds will fall off.
9. After the tuna has rested for 5 minutes you can plate and garnish it. To cut the loin, pull the knife towards you instead of pushing it forward. Make ¼ in slices. You can add in sliced fresh garlic.
10. You have a couple of plating options: When the risotto has relaxed it doesn’t hold it’s shape so it doesn’t matter what you with it . You can put it in a straight line, curve it, lay out the risotto and lay the tuna on top of it. You can also add thyme and pea sprouts as garnish.