This is delicious fish, but the coolest thing about this dish was the discovery of these little, green, acidic Persian plums. They are roughly the size and shape of cherries, and started appearing in the market at about the same time as early-season cherries. They are firm but juicy, with a delicious flavor reminiscent of normal plums, but quite tart. You can use a cherry pitter to pit them, though you have to apply more force than with ripe cherries. Here I sliced them thinly (with a knife, not a mandoline, because a mandoline will catch and mangle their skins), as well as juicing some of them. I love the look of the "ends" of the plums--the first slices, that is--when laid on their flat sides with the vivid, rounded skins facing upward.

I also thinly sliced some Spanish black radishes (from Heirloom Organic Gardens). These work fine on a sharp mandoline. Then I marinated them in some of the Persian plum juice.

The local, line-caught tombo (albacore) tuna (from Shogun Fish Company) was sliced across the grain into planks, sashimi-style. Just before plating it, I gave it a dredge in the Persian plum juice. Not too early, because I didn't want the acidity to cure the fish, ruining the beautiful color.

I made a radish-shallot streusel by blitzing some of the radish with fried shallots in a food processor with the addition of some tapioca maltodextrin to absorb excess oil. It also included a bit of spice from some togarashi just because that was the most convenient source available at the time.

Finally, I drizzled the fish with some of the plum juice and then some fruity Lucero Ascolano olive oil that was a gift from a Lazy Bear diner who works for the California Olive Oil Council. When drizzling the juice and the oil for this and similar applications, I like to use a pipette so that I can be precise. It allows me to apply the liquids without wetting the streusel or spilling into the bowl.

Posted by Barzelay on 2010/05/30 @ 15:22 | Comments (2) | Food Additives, Seafood, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese

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