This dish was inspired by the Tsuji Cooking Academy in Osaka, Japan, where I have a long relationship as both student and teacher. The professors and I tested more than 800 recipes for the opening of one of my restaurants in New York…and this was one of our favorites. It’s an easy dish to prepare but nutritionally complex, filled with minerals, calcium, zinc, probiotics, and protein.
SERVES 6
YUZU-MISO DRESSING
⅓ cup tomato water (from 3 beefsteak tomatoes; see step 1)
⅔ cup sweet white miso
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon yuzu juice
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper
TUNA SEASONING BATH
⅓ cup sake
⅓ cup mirin
¼ cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon yuzu juice
1 small piece kombu seaweed
8 ounces sashimi-grade bigeye tuna
1 cup micro greens and/or herbs (celery, shervil, tarragon, radish, dill, basil)
FOR THE YUZU-MISO DRESSING
To make the tomato water, blend the tomatoes, seasoned with ¼ to ½ teaspoon salt, into a smooth purée. Place in a cheesecloth-lined strainer set over a bowl; let it strain overnight.
In a bowl, combine the miso, tomato water, crème fraîche, oil, and yuzu juice; whisk or blend until smooth and completely emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and let the dressing rest overnight in the refrigerator.
FOR THE TUNA SEASONING BATH
In another bowl, combine the sake, mirin, soy sauce, yuzu juice, and seaweed, and let the mixture rest overnight in the refrigerator.
TO SERVE
Thinly slice the tuna into wide square pieces—the thinner, the better. Then bathe it in the seasoning bath for 2 minutes. On each plate, spread the yuzu-miso dressing in a thin round. Take the tuna from the bath and let the liquid run off. Place the tuna slices over the dressing, and garnish with the micro greens.
