Seared Tuna on Seaweed Salad

This is such an easy, and beautiful appetizer.

I have been thinking up ways to make this appetizer since tasting a similar bite at an event by Brad Steelman, the chef de cuisine at The River Cafe in Brooklyn, NY.
He served fantastic appetizers of seared tuna on seaweed & avocado mash on some sort of sesame crisp.

How can I recreate this at home?

Easily.

I wasn't really certain what I should use as the base. A thick cut or homemade potato chip? A sesame cracker? A tortilla chip?
All of the above would probably be fine. I wound up buying some light sesame crisps in a gourmet shop and they seemed to be a perfect vehicle for the tuna and seaweed salad.

Start with making the seaweed salad. The green stuff that you get in sushi bars.

Seaweed Salad from ehow.com:

2 oz. ounce dried wakame seaweed (found in Asian markets and some supermarkets)
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon white sesame seeds
Hot chili flakes
Fresh chopped cilantro (optional)

Soak the wakame seaweed in a bowl of warm water for five minutes. Drain water and pat seaweed dry with paper towels. If needed, cut wakame into thin noodle-like strips. Put seaweed in refrigerator.

Combine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl. Whisk together until sugar is disolved.
Slowly add the sesame oil and whisk dressing together.
Add seaweed and toss with dressing. Add the sesame seeds and chili flakes to taste.
if it looks dry, you can add some more sesame oil.
*I added chopped cilantro to the recipe.



Now for the tuna.
I bought a 1 lb. ahi sushi grade piece of tuna. I cut it into 3 long rectangles.

Place the 3 rectangle logs in a glass pie dish. Sprinkle a little olive oil over the fish, and roll in kosher salt and 2 tbsp of poppy seeds. Yes, poppy seeds.
I got that idea from Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini. She does a great poppy seed crusted seared tuna.



In a non stick skillet, add a little olive oil and cook the tuna logs for about 1 minute on each side, turning only once. They should be very pink inside and just a little white on the outside (I have a bad habit of cooking the tuna that minute too long!).



On a cutting board, slice your tuna into little square shaped slices.

Lay out your sesame crisps or whatever you are using for the base, and with your fingers, put a pinch of seaweed salad on each cracker, then lay a slice of seared tuna on top.

Can be made one hour ahead.