Appetizers · Fish & Sea Food

Tuna, Avocado Tartare

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A colorful and fresh tartare made of lightly spiced tuna, cilantro-lime marinated avocado dices and juicy watermelon for a fresh start this summer!watermelon tuna tartare

Tuna, avocado, watermelon tartare
Tuna, avocado, watermelon tartare

It’s hot, I don’t know for you but here in Spain it’s just terribly hot outside this summer. No way I’m going to cook anything on the stove for a while… I need freshness, I need light, I need easy-breezy, so no better recipe for hot summer nights than a nice tuna tartare, right?

Better safe than sorry

Tartares, whether it’s beef, salmon, tuna, are so easy to make and frankly super delicious BUT being made with raw meat/fish you need to extra careful with it’s manipulation and make sure it’s the freshest it could be!

Here are my golden rules:

  1. Ask your favorite Fishmonger if he does have a sashimi grade fish, they usually cost a tad more but well worth it!
  2. Come prepared at the FishMonger with a bag that keeps the temperature stable, plus an ice pack if it’s a long way back home.
  3. Buy the fish last minute so it doesn’t warm up while you shop around, buy meat/fish than straight home.
  4. First thing home, obvious one, in the fridge right away!
  5. Before manipulating the fish, CLEAN YOUR HANDS, this is the most important rule of all.
  6. Be sure to have clean cutting mat and knife.
  7. The lime marinade will help disinfect the surface of the fish if there are any pathogens left so give it a good 30 minutes in the fridge to let the marinade make its magic.
  8. Take out the fish from the fridge when ready to serve, don’t let it on the counter too long before serving.

This way you’ll be able to enjoy this fresh summer bite

Tuna, avocado, watermelon tartare

A tuna story

I usually don’t do personal stories here, but just because this one is close to my heart… My astrological sign is Pisces, I spend my childhood in the pool doing synchronised swimming, then I’ve moved closer to my element by taking diving classes. Today I do love to go diving when the wallet permits it. The last time I went diving was up north of Barcelona, at the far end of the national park Cap Creus, where I’ve add the most magical encounter of my diving career; a magestic tuna looking right at me. He was about 1.5 metres long floating with agility there higher than us in the deep blue sea, looking at me through those big round eyes. He was probably judging us, humans, doing our bubbles and moving quite uneasy underwater… thinking we must not be from around here… I couldn’t believe my eyes, a freakin tuna was looking right at me! I’ve never heard of anyone seeing one while diving, since it’s usually a deep sea fish. That magical moment lasted a second before, I’ve tried to show the fish to my buddy and “poof” he was long gone. You know when you witness such an fantastic thing and you are just so high for hours after that… Since then I’m always thinking of this amazing encounter when I eat tuna… such a beautiful elegant fish under and over water.

So let’s do this tartare!

Tuna, Avocado and Watermelon Tartare

Makes 2 portions | Preparation: 45 minutes | Difficulty: easy

Ingredients
TunaTuna, avocado, watermelon tartare
  • 250g fresh tuna cut into small 1 cm cubes
  • 1/2 lime
  • 1/4 tbsp wasabi (1cm long from the tube)
  • 1 tbsp of olive oil
  • salt and pepper
Avocado
  • 1 avocado cut into small 1 cm cubes
  • few leaves of Cilantro finely chopped
  • 1/2 lime juice
  • salt and pepper
Watermelon
  • 250g watermelon cut into small 1 cm cubes
  • salt
Directions
  1. Start by mixing all the ingredient of the tuna tartare and let marinate in the fridge for 30 to 40 minutes
  2. during that time cut the watermelon and add a sprinkle of salt on it to let the water come out, leave in a sieve
  3. 10 minutes before serving make the avocado mix
  4. In the centre of a plate, add a cookie cutter about 10 cm diameter fill with a layer of watermelon, topped with the avocado mix and finally the tuna

Serve with a few black sesame seeds and cilantro leave. Enjoy!

Tuna, avocado, watermelon tartare

27 thoughts on “Tuna, Avocado Tartare”

  1. What a spectacular dish to serve! Love the flavour combinations you have chosen. I know what you mean about being high for hours after one of those magical moments. I felt the same way the first time I saw a cougar. Our eyes met for what seemed like a very long time, and then he was gone, into the forest. I’ll never forget it!

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    1. Cougar! Wow! I would have adrenaline from fear also going through my veins if I would see one! But I’m sure it was magical! Nothing like a pure encounter with nature!

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  2. I love your buying and handling tips for raw meat! It’s so true, you cannot cheap out and you can’t take it lightly — respect the meat!
    This recipe is stunning — I want to dive right into it. Omg. Nothing beats a delicious and citrusy tuna tartar. And wasabi!! ❤ They never give you enough of this good stuff at restaurants. I swear, I could eat piles of it. Haha. I guess the only answer is to make some myself 😉

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  4. Loving the tuna / watermelon combo! I used to have to make tartare and ceviche of all sorts at work, but I have never made it at home for some reason. I’ll need to give this a shot at home, it’s perfect for a light lunch or afternoon snack after all!

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  7. Yum! I love everything about this dish — the vibrancy of the flavours, the simplicity of the recipe and the elegant presentation. Your tips about buying sashimi grade fish are great! I’m going to keep them on hand this summer. Thanks for another gorgeous recipe!

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  8. Wonderful combination of ingredients! I can almost taste it already 😀 I’ve got some leftover compressed-and-grilled watermelon in the fridge from yesterday’s BBQ, I think I’m going to shadow-hop (the only way to move around town without being burned into a crisp right now…) to my usual fishmonger and see if he’s got a nice piece of tuna for me~ I really hate living so far from the sea at times like these…

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    1. It’s really hot those days! I wish I could just teleport myself down to Australia or Chile to get just a breath of fresh air! The tartare should help also;)

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  9. This sounds delicious! The weather is also starting to warm up where I live (Eastern Washington), so this would be perfect for one of those lazy evenings when you don’t want to turn the stove or the oven on. I don’t have access to fresh tuna though. Do you think this would be good with fresh halibut or salmon?

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  11. these looks incredible and I love the watermelon in there. i would love to do these now in the summer while it is in season and also very refreshing with this heat.

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  13. What a fantastic recipe, I must confess to being a huge fan of tartares, ceviches and sashimis, and am just loving the colours in this! And I can totally dig the tuna story; on one of my very first dives in the Philippines some 20+ years ago, I came face to face with a hammerhead that was just cooly studying us!

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