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Home > Recipes > Blue Fin Tuna Recipes > Bluefin Otoro over Cucumber Fennel Mandarin Salad


Bluefin. Just say it out loud. “Bluefin.” I’m pretty sure when you said it you didn’t have a single, negative thought in your head… unless of course one broke your heart right at the gaff. From a culinary standpoint, it’s arguably the cleanest, smoothest, and most flavorful fish to eat in its raw preparation. “Like butter” is a common phrase during a bluefin feast, especially when it comes to Toro.

Always keep the tuna dry. Wrapping the large pieces in paper towels and changing them for at least the first two days is a must to avoid fishy fish. Properly cared for toro/akami/maguro is one of the greatest delicacies on Earth, so just do it right.

Ingredients

Fennel Salad:
  • 4-6 Persian cucumbers
  • ½ Fennel bulb
  • ½ Can mandarin oranges with juice
  • 1 TBSP fresh ginger or 1 ½ TBSP pickled ginger
  • 2 Green onions
  • 1-2 TBSP masago or tobiko
  • Sesame seeds (1 TBSP black and 1 TBSP white)
  • Lemon and lime wedges
  • 1 TBSP blood orange EVOO (plus another for later)
  • 1 Tsp sesame oil (plus another for later)
  • 1 Tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tsp champagne vinegar
  • 1 TBSP ponzu shoyu/soy sauce
  • 1 TBSP juice reserved from mandarin oranges
  • Cyprus flake salt (or similar) to taste
Fish:
  • One bluefin belly (Toro) and one loin (Maguro/Akami)

Preparation

  1. Like always (and I mean every single time) pat fish dry.
  2. Cut fish to size in preparation for sashimi slices and return to fridge.
  3. Cut cucumbers and fennel into thin slices (fennel in quarter-moon slices).
  4. Mince the mandarin oranges, ginger, and green onion.
  5. Mix all ingredients in a small mixing bowl, plus 1 Tsp salt and put into a Tupperware or Ziplock bag with all the cut/minced ingredients and shake. Return to fridge and shake every 30 minutes.
  6. After a couple of hours and when you’re ready to eat, open the bag and pour out all the liquid…then transfer the ingredients into a mixing bowl, where you want little to no liquid. Add another tablespoon of the blood orange evoo, another teaspoon of sesame oil and squeeze a few wedges of fresh lemon and lime.
  7. Now is the time to add the black and white sesame seeds and mix. Add salt if needed, do a final mix, and lay out on the serving platter.
  8. At the last moment, remove the fish from the fridge, cut sashimi slices carefully against the grain and lay the slices around the salad.
  9. Spoon the masago or tobiko over the top of the salad and serve with your preferred ponzu/shoyu/soy sauce with wasabi.
Recipe courtesy of BD Outdoors
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/recipes/recipe-bluefin-...