Tuna Crisp Inspired by Joey’s Ahi Tuna Club

I don’t know how many of you have been to Joey but I love this place.  I know here in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) they have 3 locations; Yorkdale, Eatons, and Shops at Don Mills (likely more on the way).  I think they have a lot more locations on the west coast and I think they even have some in the US as well (Seattle if I’m not mistaken).  Please let me know if I’m wrong.  Anyways, The point of this story is to talk about the Ahi Tuna Club.  I’ve been there a few times before but never ordered this.  I keep hearing people rave about this sandwich so last week on my cousin’s birthday, we went to Joey at the Shops and I said I’m definitely going to order it this time.  Wowzers, this is a great sandwich the description is “AHI TUNA CLUB grilled rare, bacon, red pepper relish, arugula, panko onion rings”.  Sounds amazing, right? Well A few days later, I decided, I wanted to have a go at some tuna.  The thing that really stood out in this, was the red pepper relish, its really good.  This is my attempt at recreating it.  I will put up what I used here for the relish but i’m still working on it, I’m not completely happy with it.  But for anyone who wants to try, this red pepper relish is still good, just avoid all the liquid because its very liquidy. Originally, I wasn’t going to put it up because I’m not completely happy with it, but its still pretty good, and I think the red pepper relish is what makes this dish.  Feel free to ask me questions about it though.  Sorry for the long intro, here we go!

On this particular day, I was going out with the family for dinner.  Ironically, we were having sushi!  Well before going out, I was hungry since I only had one meal earlier that day.  This was a 2 days after having the Ahi Tuna Club from Joey.  I decided to make a myself a little something before heading out.    This became a practice run for the dish I made the next day.  I seared the outside of the tuna and left the center raw.  Mixed some Sriracha hot sauce with some mayo, squeezed some hot mustard and made a little orange pepper relish with onions sugar and vinegar.  It was awesome!

Here is what happened on the next day.  I chopped up 1 red pepper and half of an onion.  This is for the red pepper relish (still working on it).  I also chopped some cucumbers into long strips or julienne to throw in some culinary lingo.  I also did the same to some green onions but forgot to take pictures of it.  You don’t need  a lot, you just need around 1 strip of each for every tuna slice.

This is the spicy mayonnaise I put together.  Its really simple.  Just mix around 1/2 cup of mayonnaise with 1/8 cup of Sriracha hot sauce or hot sauce of your choice.  I used miracle whip even though Hellmann’s is probably better.  And 1/8 cup? i don’t know if that even exists, from my eye, I judged it to be half of the 1/4 way mark on the cup so I’m going to go with that; 1/8 cup!  This can be made way ahead of time, and sit in the fridge.  You wont use it all for this tuna dish, but works great on sandwiches or anything you want to add a little zing to.

This is what the red pepper relish ended up looking like.  I cooked the red pepper and onions in a pan.  When cooked down, I added a bit of red pepper flakes, vinegar, sugar and Mirin (a sweet Japanese rice wine).  As you can see, it ended up being really liquidy (I don’t think that is a word).  I’m still working on the recipe for this.  Perhaps change the ratios up a bit.  I actually went to Joey at Yorkdale few days later for dinner and was able to pick up a sample of their red pepper relish, mine is a bit sweeter and missing a little something; I’ll figure it out soon!  This is still very good, its just not exactly where I want it.

While the relish cooks down; you can just let it simmer in the vinegar while you cook the tuna.  This is around 1/2 lb of sushi grade tuna.

I toasted a flour tortilla in the toaster oven at 400 for about 10 minutes to crisp it up.  You can use corn tortillas (I think they will work better, I just didn’t have any) too.  Its only for a little crunch.

On high heat and a little bit of oil, Just sear each side for about 1 minute.  By every side, I mean the sides too.  Season with salt and pepper and place that side down first.  Then on every flip, season the side that hasn’t been seasoned yet.  In simple words, season every side.

Cut the tuna into strips.  As you can see, the tuna is still raw in the middle, thats exactly what we’re going for here, you don’t want to cook the tuna all the way through.  The tortilla should be really crisp at this point.  I just broke them into little pieces and picked out those roughly the same size as the tuna slices.

Place the toasted tortilla down and place tuna slices on top

Now just add everything on top.  I started with the spicy mayo.  Then spooned some of the red pepper relish on top

Next, I squeezed some spicy mustard straight from the bottle, no embellishments here.

Next add the cucumbers and green onions on top.  I did a little cross to get fancy.  And that is  it!  This is where your creativity comes in, there are definitely many ways to dress this and make it look beautiful.

And here is me playing around with some close up shots. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb Sushi grade Tuna

Cucumbers julienned (into long thin strips)

Green onions julienned (into long thin strips)

Flour totilla

Salt and pepper

Spicy Mayonnaise:

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

1/8 Cup Sriracha hot sauce or hot sauce of choice.  You can always add more if you want it more spicy

Red Pepper relish: 

1 red pepper

Red pepper flakes

1/2 Medium White onion or 1 whole small onion

 3/4 cup White Vinegar

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 Mirin

Directions:

1. Chop half an onion and red pepper into little cubes.  Cut green onion and cucumbers into long thin strips

2. Mix 1/2 cup of mayonnaise with 1/8 cup Sriracha hot sauce or hot sauce of your liking.  Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until later (this makes more than enough for this dish. It can sit in the fridge for a while, and works great with sandwiches)

3. Cook onions, red pepper, and pepper flakes in a pan.  When onions are peppers are soft, add in vinegar, sugar and mirin.  Turn the heat down to low and let simmer

4.  While relish simmers, place a flour tortilla in a 400^oF toaster oven for about 10 minutes just to crisp it up

5.  In a hot pan, sear the tuna on every side for about 1 minute each.  Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper.  When done set aside to rest a bit before touching.

6. The relish should be done now.  Just take it off the heat; It will be used soon

7. Remove tortilla from the toaster oven and break into little pieces.  Place pieces on a plate.

8.  Cut tuna into strips and place on top of tortilla bits

9.  Add spicy mayo, red pepper relish, hot mustard, and top with cucumber and green onion.