This Cherry Blossom Smoked Yellowtail Tuna Recipe with Apple Sala, Soy and Yuzu Dressing was created by Chef Conor Dempsey.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Tuna
– 4*80g fillets of Yellowtail Tuna
– 100g of cherry blossom smoking chips
– 1 tbsp of Nori powder
Apple Salsa
– 2 Granny smith apples
Pickled Radish
– 4 breakfast radish
– 100g sugar
– 200g rice vinegar
– 200g water
– 1 sheet Kombu seaweed
Salad
– 1 head yellow curly endive
– 1 handful of picked mixed soft herbs (dill, chervil, tarragon)
– 2 tbsp of white miso
– 2 tbsp rice vinegar
– 1 tbsp yuzu juice
– 4 tbsp spoons light olive oil
– 1 tbsp soy sauce
Soy dressing
– 100g soy sauce (preferable aged organic soy sauce)
– 100g Japanese mirin
– 100g sake
– 50g yuzu juice
– 50g black Japanese rice vinegar
Method:
Tuna
1. In a small pot, burn wood chips until smoking, add the yellowtail tuna, cover with a lid and allow to smoke for two minutes. Remove the tuna from the pot and dust with the nori powder.
Apple Salsa
1. Peel and finely dice both apples.
Pickled Radish
1. Cut radish into quarters, bring other ingredients to boil in a small pot, add radish and let steep for one hour.
Salad
1. Pick the curly endive, discarding any green coloured leaves.
2. Add soft to the endive in a small salad bowl. Blend all other ingredients with a hand blender until emulsified.
Soy Dressing
1. Add all ingredients to a small pot except the soy sauce, reduce by half and finally add the soy sauce. Set aside
To Finish
1. Slice the smoked tuna in four slices each. Mix the salad with the miso dressing and artfully arrange all components. Serve immediately.
Conor’s formative years as a chef were spent firstly in London where he worked in the “Oak- room” the famous 3 Michelin starred Restaurant owned and run by Marco Pierre White. After London, he travelled to France where he worked in Burgundy in the 3 star Michelin Restaurant “La Cote Saint Jacques”.
It was here while working along side Japanese chefs, he began to learn about Asian flavours and techniques, the essence behind the cuisine of Amuse Restaurant.
Since opening, Amuse Restaurant has garnered rave reviews from the Country’s most trusted and renowned food critics. Praise has flowed for Conor’s individual style of cooking, which brings Asian flavours, namely Japanese, to modern French cuisine.