Tartar: For simple, tasty and refined meat and fish dishes

It is a delicious and refined dish.
It is a simple yet sophisticated dish.
And finally, it is one of the most loved dishes, both by Italians and the tourists that visit Liguria.
We are speaking of the tartar: a dish that shows off its taste and the high quality of the ingredients.

We would like to introduce you two different types of tartar, the most famous and the most delicious ones: meat tartare and fish tartare.
Those dishes are extremely requested in our restaurants, as they fully represent all the freshness and the authenticity of italian cusine and its products.

What is the tartar?

The name of this dish has a particular origin. It comes from a nomad community of central Asia: the Tatars.
According to a legend, they used to put under the saddle of the horses some meat to dry it out, because they did not have time to cook it.

Today, this word indicates any type of food, finely chopped and served raw.
For this reason, you can also find vegetable or fruit tartars.
This plate in origin was composed by high protein foods, such as raw meat (beef) or fish, which you can season with oil, salt, lemon, onion, mustard or egg white

Meat tartar: facts and tips

• Meat tartare originated in France, but it is very easy to find in Piedmont, Liguria and northern Italy.
• Not all kinds of meat are suitable for this dish: pork, chicken and other winged animals, may be very dangerous if consumed raw.
  For this reason, the tartar must be prepared with beef.
• As for the cuts of meat to use, you can ask advice to your butcher: normally it is prepared with loin or steer.
• The meat must be fresh!

Meat tartar: The recipe by our chef

Beef filet tartar on Castelmagno D.O.P cheese with porcino mushrooms and fresh arugula

Preparation: clean up the filet from the fat and connective tissue, chop it into small cubes and season it with some delicate Extra virgin olive oil and some salt.

At the same time, prepare a creamy sauce with Castelmagno cheese, by boiling some fresh cream on low heat. Then add it to the previously reduced in flakes cheese. Add some salt and pepper. Once all the cheese melts, strain the sauce in order to remove any possible impurities.

How to serve it: locate the tartar at the centre of the plate and pour some Castelmagno sauce around it. Lay some mushroom slices on the cream and place some arugula leaves on top of the tartar. Add some Extra virgin olive oil and serve at room temperature.

Fish tartar: facts and tips

• Before you prepare the tartar it is vital that you make sure the fish you are going to use has been brought to -20°C (ask your fishmonger). In fact, this way you are sure to kill any possible parasites.
• In case you do not find any fish that underwent this procedure you can buy some fresh fish and keep it in the freezer for at least 24h.
• Fish tartar can be prepared with many types of fish. The most common fish is: salmon, tuna, sword fish, amberjack and prawns. Needless to say they are all delicious!

Fish tartar: The recipe by our chef

Golfo Paradiso Gilthead tartar on avocado sauce, sided with chopped strawberries and mint.

Preparation: fillet the gilthead and remove both the spines and the skin. Chop it into small cubes (not too thin), add a couple of finely cut mint leaves and some Extra virgin Olive Oil and a pinch of salt. Chop the strawberries into small cubes and season them with some salt and oil.
Blend the avocado.

How to serve it: with the avocado sauce create two large drops on the plate. Position a pastry ring on the palate, and fill it with gilthead tartare and then with chopped strawberries, creating two layers. Take the pastry ring off and season it all with some black pepper and some olive oil.