Layered Tuna Sashimi Salad
By: Brad White
Published: Thursday, December 31, 2009 - 2:51am

Ingredients




1 pound sashimi grade tuna (we used Chu-toro)
1 head Boston Bibb lettuce
1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 ripe avocados, sliced
 cup green onions, sliced
 cup light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons wasabi paste

Preparation

1 In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and wasabi paste. 2 Thinly slice the green onions. 3 Save 2 tbsp of onions for garnish. 4 Place sliced onions into the sauce bowl. 5 Set aside, allowing the wasabi and green onions to infuse the soy sauce as you prepare the rest of the salad. 6 Rinse the lettuce and red cabbage. 7 Finely shred the red cabbage. 8 To arrange the salad, start by placing leaves of bibb lettuce around the bottom.  This is the foundation of the salad. 9 Once there is a full layer of green lettuce, create a layer of the red cabbage on top of the bibb lettuce.  As much as possible, begin to form a pyramid of lettuce by concentrating the slices in the middle of the bowl. 10 Set the bowls aside as you prepare the avocado and tuna. 11 Cut the avocado in half, lengthwise. 12 Remove the pit (one easy way to do this is to hold one half of the avocado in one hand and strike the pit with the sharp part of a chef's knife.  Twist slightly and the pit comes out smoothly). 13 Then, slice the avocado lengthwise, in quarter-inch-wide slices.  Remove slices with a spoon, taking care to keep the long slices intact. 14 Continue building your "pyramid" by overlapping the slices of avocado with one end of each slice always in the center of the bowl (like bicycle spokes from a center hub). 15 Now, slice the tuna into half inch slices.  Make an "X" by putting your (sharp) knife perpendicular to the natural lines of the tuna. Slice at about a 45 degree angle, pulling the knife towards you as you cut. 16 Once the tuna is sliced, repeat the same procedure as with the avocado, creating an overlapping layer of tuna on top of the avocado slices. 17 Drizzle the salad with the soy-wasabi dressing and sprinkle with the fresh green onions. 18 Now, enjoy this clean, flavorful, and eye-catching salad!

About


Watching "Julie and Julia" with Rachael this summer was a total revelation for me.  At several moments throughout the movie, I felt as though I was watching hidden camera footage from the last year or so of our life since Rachael starting her food blog.  My incredible wife, whom you have all come to know and love as the brains and heart behind Tokyo Terrace, is constantly whipping up new recipes and ideas for her site. Seeing "Julie" and her hubby go through the joys and struggles of this food blog world was an interesting look in the mirror.
Nearly everyday, I get to come home to a meal for which I would gladly pay top dollar in a restaurant anywhere in the world.  The photos and recipes she posts just can’t do it all justice.  Rachael’s food is amazing and yes, I do realize how fortunate I am to be on the receiving end of her passion for cooking!
As of this week, it has been five years since our first date (back in college when Rachael cooked for us using only a dorm microwave).  Thinking about all this reminded me that Rachael deserves the same kind of treat that I get to enjoy so often.  Today, I tried, in my I-don’t-really-do-this-since-I’m-married-to-a-fantastic-cook kind of way, to return the favor.
After school finished and my second graders went home, I went to one of our favorite local indoor markets for some “inspiration,” as Rachael calls it. 
Once I passed by a beautiful piece of fresh tuna, I knew I had to buy it.  Congratulations, Brad.  You’ve got yourself a hunk o’ fish.  Now what?  After racking my brain and wandering aimlessly for a few minutes, I saw some avocados in another store and had an idea.  How about some sort of inside-out tuna roll…minus the rice?
Sadly for me, the avocados in this particular store weren’t ripe yet, and they weren’t in the next store either.  The third time was indeed the charm though, and I bought two gorgeous, slightly soft avocados.  Next was a little Boston Bibb-type lettuce, some red cabbage, and a couple green onions for a little extra color, texture and flavor.
My idea was to have alternating layers of green and red and to my surprise, it worked!  The base of the salad was the green lettuce, topped with thinly sliced red cabbage.  Atop the lettuces laid the creamy avocado wedges and slices of fresh blue-fin tuna in a sort of pyramid of deliciousness.
I tried three different sauces, since I eat a lot of them but have no idea what actually goes into one.  In the first, I tried balsamic vinegar, but that just didn’t go with the tuna (maybe with a steak salad it might work…).  Then, I tried a mix of soy sauce and sesame oil.  Sounded promising, but the sesame overpowered the tuna.  Finally, I just whisked a little wasabi paste and soy sauce together and just knew that with some tiny little green onions, the simple combination would be the perfect dressing for this salad.
So, here is my first and only "Tokyo Terrace" recipe.  Bradley-san’s layered tuna sashimi salad.  There’s no rice in this recipe, but I suppose that could also make a nice base or side dish next time around.
Cheers to Rachael for all the wonderful things she does here at Tokyo Terrace.  Happy anniversary hun- I hope you enjoyed your night off!