Flash Cured Yellowtail Demonstrated by Chef Marcos Rodriguez of Bolla
You don't always have to think inside the box when it comes to grilling or cooking out for a barbecue or tailgate party. Why not ditch the burgers and hot dogs and experiment for a change? Yes, the consequences might cause a riot in your backyard, but you will never know until you try it.
As we mentioned last week, this Sunday, April 25, is the sixth annual Taste of the NFL: The Ultimate Cowboys Tailgate Party that will benefit the North Texas Food Bank. Chef Marcos Rodriguez of Bolla will be one of the 22 chefs setting up a gourmet station at Glass Cactus for the event. Instead of regular tailgate items, Rodriguez will offer the flash-cured yellowtail.
The Bolla chef let us swing by one afternoon and watch as he prepared the dish from start to finish, and he even let us snag the recipe and take photos. For today's Appetite for Instruction, we present to you, City of Aters, the flash-cured yellowtail with a noodle salad and sriracha foam.
Ingredients:
8 oz yellowtail
1 Himalayan salt block
Sriracha Foam:
1 /2 cup sriracha sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 cups simple syrup
NOTE: (Simple syrup is one part sugar and one part water brought to a boil, then simmered for three minutes or until the sugar is dissolved into syrup).
2 cups lime juice
5 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons lecithin, ground
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup canola oil
Fried Noodle Salad Ingredients:
4 ounces uncooked rice noodles
2 1/2 tablespoons mellow white or sweet white miso
2 1/2 tablespoons mirin
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot or 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 oz thinly sliced red cabbage
2 oz cilantro leaves washed and dried
1 oz chiffonade of mint
1 oz chiffonade of basil
Minced scallion for garnish
Sriracha Foam:
Step 1: Puree the sriracha, salt, simple syrup, and lime juice in a blender.
Step 2: In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and lecithin. Add it to the blender and incorporate.
Step 3: Transfer the purée to a pot and cook over high heat until the liquid comes to a boil. Place the thickened liquid back into the blender and slowly pour in the oils to emulsify it.
Step 4: Pour the mixture into a siphon gun to make a foam. If you don't have a siphon gun, chill the mixture and leave it as is.
Fried Noodle Salad:
Step 1: Fry noodles according to the directions on the package and set aside.
Step 2: Combine miso and mirin in a small bowl. Heat oil in a large skillet, add minced shallot or garlic, and sauté over medium-low heat 1 minute. (Be careful not to brown garlic or it will become bitter.)
Step 3: Add miso-mirin mixture to the skillet, then add half of the noodles and rest of ingredients. Toss to evenly coat. (It may be necessary to add a little water.) Sauté 1 minute more, then remove from heat. Serve immediately with a generous sprinkling of scallion and garnish with left over noodles.
Yellowtail Albacore:
Step 1: Cut the fish fillets to your liking and then lay on the Himalayan salt block for 2 minutes on each side for curing.
Step 2: Serve the yellowtail on the side with the fried noodle salad and sriracha foam.
Side note: A Himalayan salt block is a translucent pink salt block used for sauteing,chilling, curing and more. One can be purchased at Sur La Table or online at www.aththemeadow.com