Shea Gallante of Cru Makes Crudo with Red Apple Vinaigrette

[relaxing music]

In the restaurant, we do crudo, which is a variation

of Japanese sushimi with a touch of Peruvian ceviche.

We have anywhere from 10 to 16 crudo on the menu

at all times.

We use the highest quality fish that we could possibly find.

That's pretty much what dictates the crudo menu here,

you know, all the time.

And each fish has a distinctive garnish

for the style, the fat content, the texture

and just the integrity of the flesh of each fish.

When you're slicing raw fish, follow the grain.

You can see where it goes with it and you kinda always want

to go against which way the grain is going.

The grain's going that way so, therefore,

if we cut it that way, it's gonna cut an uneven slice.

If we cut it this way, it's gonna put pressure on itself

and it's gonna enable us

to get a clean evenly sliced piece of tuna.

So, what you wanna do is you wanna put your fingers

on the edge, just on the top and one securing the bottom

and you kinda want about, maybe, an eighth of an inch slice.

People use so many different forms of fish to create crudo.

Some people will just, basically, make sushimi

and put a few drops of olive oil on it.

My style is that I turn each crudo, each fish

into it's own completely thought-out dish.

We are using a Bigeye tuna, which right now, is in season.

You can find bluefin tuna, pretty much,

in any specialty store.

You can see the even consistency in the slices,

which is what you want.

I'm using a Montevertine olive oil from Sienna.

It has a very aromatic, sweet olive flavor.

I just want to gently coat it with olive oil,

just drizzle it on top.

I'm using a little bit of Maldon salt for this,

not too much.

Maldon salt's got a nice crunch to it.

We're gonna add a few drops of lemon juice to this.

Just one little drop on each one.

You wanna do this right before it's gonna be served

cause the acid will start to cook it,

in the style of, like, a ceviche.

What we do here, is we evenly plate it.

So for the garnish for this dish, it's kind of a marinade

of sugar snap peas, chopped black Cailletier olives, capers

and tossed with extra virgin olive oil.

This is micro frisee but you can buy any baby frisee

from the supermarket and these are purple radish sprouts.

Radish sprouts are probably the most common form

of microgreen that's readily available

in the little plastic cello packages.

All's you do is, you take 'em, you pick 'em.

So, we're just gonna put a few drops

of the red apple vinaigrette in the salad.

[metal pinging]

Toss it up.

Gently lay the salad on top of the tuna.

The reasoning for this is, this isn't sushimi.

While we want the flavor of the fish to come through,

what we want to do, is we want to accompany the fish.

We want to compliment it.

So you know, in this style, you have a little bit of garnish

on each end and you have the salad covering

so, with each piece, hopefully, you would take a little bit

of the garnish and the salad and eat it all together.

And that's the Bigeye tuna with snap peas, capers

and red apple vinaigrette.

[relaxing music]