with culinary expert Hollenstein from Movenpick Hotel Hanoi

Anyone who has visited the American Riviera will have fallen in love with the sea, the mountains and of course, the Pacific coastline’s irresistible culinary specialties.

How about tuna with garden vegetables, flowers and orange relish for love at first sight, or rather, bite?

Ingredients: serves 3-4

For the tuna:

300g tuna fillets without skin

1cm ginger, fresh

1 tbsp organic flowers, dried

For the garden vegetables:

4 spring carrots

4 mini zucchini

8 asparagus tips, green

40g snow peas

4 spring onions

1 handful mesclun salad

2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt, black pepper to taste

Cress to your taste

For the orange relish:

4 oranges – juice from 4 and zest from 2

4 tbs mayonnaise

Culinary expert Hollenstein

Method:

For the tuna:

- Season the tuna fillet (use sushi-grade tuna) with grated ginger, sea salt, black pepper and wrap in baking paper.

- Sear for 2 minutes on all sides in a non-stick frying pan over a high heat.

- Immediately plunge into ice-cold water along with the baking paper for roughly 10 seconds.

- Remove the baking paper, roll the fish in the dried flowers, and then portion into three wedges.

For the garden vegetables:

- Prepare all the vegetables and portion the correct amount. Blanch in salt water until cooked through, rinse in ice water, drain and pat dry.

- Season vegetables and mesclun salad leaves with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, garnish with cress.

For the orange relish:

- Simmer the orange juice down with the freshly grated orange zest till it thickens to a syrupy liquid.

- Carefully mix the orange reduction with the mayonnaise. You should still be able to make out the swirls of orange in the mixture.

Serving:

- Colourfully position the vegetables on an elongated plate and garnish with the tuna fillet pieces. Garnish the mesclun salad leaves and cress with some orange relish and serve alongside in a separate bowl.

You can sample the dish at Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi, 83A Lý Thường Kiệt St, Hoàn Kiếm Dist, Hà Nội. Tel: +84 24 38 22 28 00 ext 6133.