Albacore Tuna Gilda

A Basque-style pintxo: have a bit of fun with this skewer of confit fish, olives, pickled chilli, and anchovy. Utilising a beautiful fish in a way that it is preserved in the Picual oil from Mount Zero, as well as Mount Zero olives. The ingredients are to make 1, multiply the quantities by the amount you wish to serve.

Author

Jason Staudt, Stokehouse Head Chef

Ingredients

• 40gm Albacore tuna (you can use swordfish)
• Early Harvest Picual extra virgin olive oil
• 15gm (2 split) Cerignola pitted Mount Zero olives
• 3ea Guindilla chillis (I like Ubidea, but all are pretty good)
• 2pce (15g) Pickled Red onion
• GOOD QUALITY ANCHOVIES (I love Convservas Angelachu Anchovies)
• Small slice of lemon, rind on
• Fresh crack of black pepper
• 1 red onion
• 200ml Chardonnay Verjus/vinegar
• 100gm sugar
• 5gm salt
• 2gm black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. Make a quick pickle liquid by simmering 2 parts chardonnay vinegar, 2 parts water, 1 part caster sugar(200ml chardonnay vinegar, 200ml water, 100gm sugar) a few black peppercorns and a bay leaf until the sugar dissolves.
2. Cut red onion into small strips (about the same size as the Guindilla chilli). Pour hot liquid and seal in a covered container at room temp at least 2 hours (chambering is the term I call this).
3. Let chill in fridge a few hours (ideally overnight). You'll have far more liquid than you need for one serving, so scale it down or save the rest.
4. Cut albacore tuna into a small rectangle (about 40g).
5. Pour enough oil into a small oven dish or pot submerge the fish, and warm it to 40-45C (just warm, not hot, keeping all the health benefits & antioxidants intact of the oil). Slide the tuna in, chamber with a sealed lid. Leave it to cook gently off the heat as the oil cools, it poaches in the residual heat. About 30min at room temp, in a warm spot.
6. Once cool, keep it in the oil until you're ready to serve.
7. Keeps up to 3 – 6 days in the fridge(freshness of fish depending).
8. On a short skewer, layer a piece of the confit tuna with a couple of split olives, a guindilla (pickled green chilli), a little pickled red onion, and a Spanish anchovy fillet draped over the top with a small lemon slice.
9. A drizzle of the cooking oil finishes it, and a crack of black pepper.  Serve at room temperature, not too cold – or you won’t get all the flavours from the tuna, olives & oil.