C R U D O
you don’t have to be a sushi master to make excellent crudo.
my eyes were opened at one of Dave Pasternak’s NYC restaurants in the early oughts.
‘wait i can get great quality fish and zhuzh it up with a couple other high quality ingredients and let it all speak for itself’?
yes. you can.
ALBACORE CRUDO
serves 2-4
1/2 Lb raw sashimi grade albacore
healthy drizzle of good olive oil
small drizzle of Calabrian chili oil
squeeze of lemon juice
zest of lemon
pinch of za’atar
pinch of coarse flaky sea salt
micro greens - you can find sunflower or radish sprouts in most asian markets - but if you can get your hands on micro cilantro sprouts get those
the hardest part here is feeling comfortable with the fish market. these days it’s not too difficult to find sashimi grade fish and you can sub any tuna or hamachi here.
once you trust the quality of the fish you’re working with you’re literally just going to slice it up and dress it. just make sure your knife is sharp and you’re slicing thinly - the trick here is to pull the knife slowly and in one long stroke towards you. if you start sawing through the fish you’re going to get ragged looking slices. which isn’t a problem, but it’s not going to look as sexy.
make sure you put the plates you’re going to serve on in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to serving. it will help keep everything feeling light and cool.
drizzle the olive oil all over the sliced and plated fish.
drizzle a small amount of Calabrian chili oil.
add a squeeze of lemon.
using a microplane grate some fresh lemon zest over the top.
ad a pinch of za’atar, chunky sea salt, and finish with your greens.
all done in like 5 minutes and you will impress the pants off of your friends.