Kosher Kopycat: Tuna Carpaccio

A refreshing and surprisingly different way to serve your tuna crudo.

At our house, the girls have a bit of an obsession with raw fish. The boys at the table have learned to look the other way and stick to their chummus with garlic confit and sourdough, while the girls polish off another form of crudo. We still love this tuna ceviche, we prepare it weekly. We also love this salmon crudo salad which makes more of an appearance during the summertime as a light dinner. 

Naturally, when we go to a restaurant, we look forward to trying all the raw things available. Whether beef carpaccio or fish, we love tasting what today’s chefs have to offer. 

When we recently ate at Teva in Deal NJ, we found ourselves dissecting their “Tonno Carpaccio” (tonno is tuna in italian). We loved all the flavors, and we guessed most of them (yes, we eat to go home and recreate–keep up). But we couldn’t figure out how they got the tuna to be sliced so thinly, like a real beef carpaccio. That part was still a mystery. 

And then, we discovered that the restaurant had these amazing videos posted online (the type that make you really hungry).

Lucky for us, they had one featuring the process behind the making of their tuna dish. We watched in awe how the chef pounded the tuna between two layers of Saran wrap (so that’s what it was!)

This sounded like a perfect addition to our Shabbos menu (or a spectacular Sunday lunch like we enjoyed). 

Ever since we left Teva that day, we have been replicating our own version of this dish at home. I must say that we got pretty good at it and are quite happy with the results. 

Cover a cutting board with plastic wrap.

Slice the tuna

and keep pieces over the plastic.

Drizzle with olive oil,

then cover with another layer of plastic wrap.

Use a meat pounder to flatten the tuna down, until it is really thin and covers the entire surface.

Once the tuna is between the layers of plastic and pounded–you can even freeze it like that.

We love this method because you can prep ahead a dish that is so fresh and not really the type that you would prep ahead. Get it? Prepare a few of these at a time and keep them in the freezer until you want to serve them. 

About 1 hour before serving, remove from freezer and remove one layer of plastic wrap. 

Place upside down on a serving plate or cutting board. Remove the other layer of plastic wrap and let thaw.

It’s time for the toppings. If serving this on Shabbos, you can prepare all the cut up ingredients in advance.

I like to place a bit of paper towel underneath the cut up vegetables to absorb any eventual moisture.

Capers,

diced very small.

If preparing in advance, add some oil and a bit of salt to the onion as well. 

Once the tuna is thawed, use your hands to make sure the entire surface is spread evenly with the tuna carpaccio.

Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the surface of the tuna.

Sprinkle with the diced jalapeño, red onion

and capers.

Finish off with a bit of Maldon salt flakes. 

Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with crackers or sourdough bread.

Note: The original recipe has a sprinkling of lemon juice on it, which works really well. If serving on Shabbos, ask your LOR whether this constitutes as cooking the fish, and if it is permissible to squeeze some lemon over the fish right before eating. The tuna is delicious even without the lemon juice.