Juicy watermelon and soy-marinated Ahi tuna with cucumbers makes a delicious, light, summer salad appetizer or first course when you need a dish to impress!
Ahi Tuna Watermelon Salad
More of my favorite tuna recipes are Seared Tuna Salad with Wasabi Butter Sauce and Sesame Crusted Tuna Steak on Arugula.
A year ago, Liz, Lexi and I said let’s plan a blog food blogger retreat in the Hamptons, so we did! A weekend filled with great food, lots of laughs, rosé and quality time with some fellow entrepreneurs and creatives I highly admire. We hired private Chef Renee Blackman to cook for the group one of the nights, and this tuna watermelon salad was on the menu. It was so good, we knew the rest of the meal would be epic! Renee was so kind to share her recipe with us, which I slightly adapted and shared here.
Here’s a glimpse of the crew and what our Hampton’s weekend looked like (and a fun video)!
Our group in the Hamptons included some very talented bloggers including Beth, Trevor & Jennifer, Gerry, Julie, Liz, Heather, Andie, Lauren, Heidi, Kristin, Maria, Lexi and myself.
Day 1: Everyone came from different cities, so we started in NYC and stayed at the gorgeous Lotte New York Palace Hotel that had some of the largest rooms I’ve ever seen in NYC. My room had killer views of the skyline and St Patrick’s cathedral. Dinner was an uber ride away to the Meat Packing District where we dined at Fig & Olive.
Day 2: Breakfast at the Villard restaurant in the Lotte Palace where we had a full spread of everything on the menu from farro porridge, billionaires bacon, avocado toast, smokes salmon, banana and bacon beignets (oh my!). After that, lunch was at Mamo NYC in Soho, Italian hospitality with Provençal charm.
Getting out of NYC in Friday traffic was pretty crazy, but finally made it to the gorgeous Hampton’s house, so worth the wait! The house we rented in Water Mill was the house of my dreams!!
Upon arrival, we prepared charcuterie boards with Delallo cheese, meats and olives (see my Epic Charcuterie and Cheese post here), amazing Hot Mexican Hummus Dips made with Sabra from Liz’s The Lemon Bowl’s blog plus some cold salads from my blog, the Zesty Shrimp and Avocado Salad and Southwestern Black Bean Salad.
Day 3: Mornings for me always start with Nespresso and lucky for us, they sent us 2 of their coffee pots along with their new limited edition summer line of coffee called Nespresso on Ice. For breakfast, we created a DIY Avocado Toast Bar with whole grain and gluten-free breads, hard boiled eggs courtesy of Vital Farms, avocados, cheese, and all the fixins!
Lunch was at Union Cantina (I shared their lobster taco recipe here a few weeks ago!) and Discover Long Island set up a wine tasting trip to Bedell Cellars on the North Fork where we had some amazing Frosé (see Lexi’s frosé recipe here). The views were stunning and the wine was delicious.
And thanks to Halo Top we cooled off with a fun ice cream bar!
More Tuna Recipes:
- Chickpea Tuna Salad
- Mayo-less Tuna Macaroni Salad
- Italian Tuna and Brown Rice Salad (Riso e Tonno)
- Tuna Deviled Eggs
- Canned Tuna Ceviche
- Tuna Lettuce Wrap with Avocado Dressing
Ahi Tuna Watermelon Salad
Ingredients
- 1 lb sushi-grade tuna
- 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, or GF soy sauce, coconut aminos for Paleo or W30
- 2 1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 3/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 cups watermelon, half-inch cubes
- 1 Persian cucumber, sliced 1/8-inch thick with mandolin, rolled tight
- 1 shallot finely sliced, for garnish
- cilantro or cilantro micro greens for garnish
Instructions
- Using a very sharp knife, trim away any skin from the tuna fillet. Cut the tuna into 1/4-inch cubes and place in a bowl.
- In a medium bowl whisk soy sauce, lime juice, oil, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes.
- Pour over tuna, add salt to taste at the very end. Marinate at least 45 to 50 minutes in the refrigerator.
- To serve, grab 4 plates, divide the tuna and place a few watermelon cubes around, add cucumber and garnish with shallots and cilantro.
Last Step:
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Disclosure: This weekend retreat couldn’t have happened without the help from our sponsors, a huge thank you to our sponsors who helped make this retreat possible: DeLallo, Sabra, Green Giant, Lorissa’s Kitchen, Vital Farms Eggs & Butter, Halo Top & Nespresso. All thoughts are my own. Photography by Alejandro Photography.
