Grapefruit crudo, avocado, chervil and capers – this isn’t tuna!
I was goofing around with cutting citrus fruits into cubes the other day, and the red grapefruit looked so much like tuna. Not that I eat tuna, but of course I see other people eat it at sushi restaurants. I tried slicing it vertically into slabs instead, which was also beautiful. You could take this concept in a sashimi direction, but I opted for crudo instead – a.k.a. Italian sashimi.
Crudo is typically dressed with olive oil, sea salt, and a citrus juice, which in this case is built in. I added capers, chervil, and a slice of avocado for some fattiness. I haven’t quite decided whether this dish works better cold or at room temperature. If you try it, let me know what you think.
To cut the grapefruit, use an uber-sharp chef’s knife. Remove about a 1/2″ or so slice from the top and bottom. Resting on the bottom, make four vertical cuts to produce a rough cube, removing all of the skin and pith. Now slice vertically into 1/3″ thick slabs, avoiding the core. If you get just a little bit of core you can put that side down on the plate. Slicing grapefruit this way produces a lot of waste material. I think I got about 5-6 useable slices from a single fruit. So be sure and juice the rest for a cook’s treat.
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Grapefruit Crudo with Avocado, Chervil and Capers
Serves 4 as an appetizer
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
- 2 red grapefruit, sliced as described above
- 1 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
- about 12 chervil sprigs
- 1 tablespoon capers, briefly soaked to remove some salt and drained
- 2 tablespoons fruity extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt (Maldon!
)
- fresh ground black pepper
- Arrange grapefruit pieces pleasingly on a plate.
- Top each slice with 1 piece of avocado, 1 chervil sprig and a few capers.
- Drizzle olive oil on plate and fruit.
- Add a few grains of crunchy sea salt and some grinds of black pepper to each slice.
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ooh, I totally thought it was salmon: you fooled me! Great photo and a very interesting combination.
Wow! It looks EXACTLY like tuna…down to the texture.
What a unique recipe! I love grapefruit and love this idea!
BEAUTIFUL! I’m definitely going to try your recipe.
This sounds like the perfect holiday amuse bouche. I might add a little ground coriander seed in the dressing. I can’t wait to make this. The plating is great.
That completely looks like tuna – I was shocked that you had made a fish dish but was reassured by the title
What a brilliant dish! I’m going to have to try this one of these days.
Michael, this is gorgeous and makes me super hungry.
I so wish I lived next door so you could feed me properly.
all my love xx fanny
How fun! When I first saw your photo, I thought it was tuna. Beautiful!
This recipe looks wonderful!
I’m going to try this as a grapefruit-avocado salad, using less wasteful wedge sections of grapefruit.
I just discovered your blog today and I love it! Thank you for posting such wonderful vegetarian recipes!
Thanks sixseven! How did your salad turn out? That definitely would be less
waste.
I just made this for a New Year’s Eve party. It’s simple enough that I was able to bring the ingredients, do the work in a few minutes on a little bit of countertop at the party, and juice the “waste” grapefruit into a pitcher for the bar right next to me. I substituted ground white pepper, and I think that it worked a little better than the ground black pepper.
The response was terrific. People loved this dish. The main reaction was like “This tastes great, and I never would’ve though to put these things together!”.
A couple of the grapefruit pieces had some tough membrane, and the people who got these weren’t as happy. So, just be careful with your cutting—just like cutting fish, I suppose.
Todd – awesome, I’m glad it went over well with your crue! I could totally
see the white pepper working well in it. Thanks for the feedback. And nice
use of the juice too… Greyhounds?
avocado & grapefruit must taste delicious together. I am going to try this, and you dont have to be a veg to try this!!
Yes, it does look like tuna! I have had tangerine and avocado salad; they were delicious together so I am looking forward to trying this combination.
this looks amazing and very similar in appearance to the roasted watermelon steak! thanks for letting us discover your site.
Wow, that really looks like tuna, and sounds delicious! My mouth is watering