Tuna Bresaola & Fennel Carpaccio

Tuna Bresaola and Fennel Carpaccio

This dish is one of my current favorites. It’s all about 3 beautiful, quality products- that’s it. The “Bresaola de Thon” or Tuna Bresaola is an air dried tuna and Sicilian speciality. In Paris the only place I have found it for retail is at the speciality shop La tête dans les olives where I also get my best olive oil. The tuna takes on an amazing texture; if you closed your eyes and did not know what you were tasting, you could honestly mistake it for cheese. The texture is smooth and buttery and the sharp saltiness of dried fish pairs perfectly with the crisp freshness of thinly shaved fennel and the added depth of the fennel seeds. Of course a fruity extra virgin olive oil is indispensible.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a starter)

1 piece of Tuna Bresaola (approx 150 grams or an average tuna steak portion)
1 small fresh fennel bulb
1 teaspoon dried fennel seeds
Really Really good olive oil
Cracked black pepper

Using a very sharp knife, slice the tuna as thinly as possible and arrange it on a plate. Shave the fennel bulb very thinly using a mandolin and place this over the tuna. Sparingly scatter dried fennel seeds then season with black pepper and drizzle with top quality olive oil.