If you know me, you know I enjoy any number or ‘raw’ foods. I’m not talking about fruits and vegetables, of course, but raw meats. When I am in Boston, and eating at Bokx 109, I will frequently order the ‘raw surf-and-turf’ – a combination of 2 appetizers, steak tartare and tuna tartare. I like the pleasing texture, and subtle flavor of raw food.
This has not always been the case. Frankly, as a kid growing up in middle Georgia, raw meat and fish was, to say the least, completely unheard of. Even after moving to Tallahassee, raw meat and fish were nonexistent in the 70s and 80s. But one day, during the formative stage of my cooking life, I wandered into a bookstore to search for cookbooks. I chanced upon a book titled ‘The Art of Sushi”. After looking at the pictures, I decided 2 things: 1) Anything that looks that good must also taste that good, and 2) I was definitely going to try it. One big problem – there were no sushi restaurants in Tallahassee at the time. Serendipity intervened, however, and I soon found myself heading to California to help my brother move back to Florida, after leaving the Air Force. He picked me up, and before we even had a chance to get back to his place, we had stopped at a sushi bar. As I expected, it was delicious, and I never looked back.
Crudo is a mediterranean-style of serving raw fish. Rather than dipping it in soy sauce, a crudo, is normally flavored with salt, olive oil and something acidic like vinegar or citrus juice. Unlike the latin ceviche, there is not enough citrus juice to ‘cook’ the fish, nor is the citrus flavor as pronounced as in a ceviche (try my version of ceviche). Instead, there is a blend of the 5 tastes (excepting bitter) in the dish. In this crudo, I have used a little sea salt, as well as green olive and salmon roe to feature the salty taste, but balanced it with red grapes for a sweet element, grape tomatoes for a little sweet and acid flavors, lemon juice and peel for even more of the sour flavor, and finally by smoking the fish and shrimp to enhance the umami flavor. The only problem with this preparation is that I should have made a lot more !
Ingredients (per serving)
- 4 small shrimp
- 4 sashimi style pieces of raw white fish
- 1 heaping tablespoon salmon roe
- 5 grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
- 5 small green olives, sliced in half lengthwise
- 5 red grapes, sliced in half lengthwise
- zest of 1/4 a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- a pinch of sea salt
- 1 pinch of black pepper
First, we have to cook the shrimp, since it is not actually served raw. For each shrimp, insert a toothpick or small bamboo skewer lengthwise through the shrimp, along the shell. This will keep the shrimp form curling up while cooking. Place the shrimp in boiling water, sweetened with a little sugar, and cook for about 2 minutes. Drain the shrimp and allow them to cool. When cool, remove the shell and slice each shrimp lengthwise, almost completely through. Open the shrimp, and flatten them under a plate, while cooling.
Now, as previously mentioned, I smoked the shrimp and fish to add more flavor. To do this, I used a ‘smoking gun’, a small, handheld device which generates cold smoke. You can omit this step, or purchase such a utensil. This is the one I bought. DO NOT hot smoke the fish – you do not want to cook it at all, just give it a smoky taste. So if you can’t cold smoke it, just omit this step.
After that, it is all about arrangement. In my presentation, I staggered the fish and shrimp around the sides of a small bowl. In the center, I placed the salmon roe, sliced grapes, tomatoes and olives, then put the lemon zest on top. Dash it all with the olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle a little sea salt and black pepper on top.
ckentmills / TASTE 