Yellowtail Tiradito – California Style

I travel a fair amount in my line of work.  This, has allowed me to try some of the more unique and delicious foods that different cities and countries have to offer.

Back in 2011 I went to Peru for an implementation and was treated to Tiradito for the first time.  For those of you who have never heard of the dish, it’s similar to a ceviche, but there are a few key differences.

First, the fish is typically more raw vs many ceviche’s that are left to “cook” in the lime.  Second, is the sauce.  It’s made of a hot pepper called “Ahi” and it’s blended to a cream and mixed with lemon and oil to make a creamy delicious sauce that is poured over sushi grade white meat fish.  The traditional fish used is the Corvina.

I have made Tiradito in the traditional way, but finding fresh “Ahi” peppers is a challenge, in fact I ended up growing some myself.

So I decided to experiment.  I used the technique used in making the Tiradito sauce, and simply replaced it with local jalapeño peppers.  I then experimented further by adding garlic in to the mix (because garlic is awesome) to see what this new take on an already delicious dish would be like.

It did not disappoint.

Ingredients

• Roughly 1lb of fresh yellowtail. (This will also work with other white meat sushi grade fish)
• 4 Cloves of Garlic
• 5 Jalapenos
• 3 Yellow Chiles
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic Salt
• Handful of Chives
• Two large lemons

Preparation / Cooking Steps

1. Slice the Jalapenos Yellow chilies in half and put them off to the side (De-Seed and De-vein if less heat is desired).
2. Finely mince the chives and put aside.
3. Blanch the Jalapenos and Yellow peppers for 3-5 minutes. This will also reduce the heat so if you can’t handle spicy food, don’t worry.

1. Put the blanched peppers into a food processor and begin blending.
2. Squeeze the lemon into the food processor and continue blending.
3. Pour the EVOO into the blender. The quantity is going to vary on the size of the peppers, I normally let pour for about 3 seconds to begin with and then add EVOO to taste.  The idea is to have the sauce creamy and emulsified.

1. Add Salt to taste and blend to integrate the salt into the sauce.
2. Slice the fish into thin slices (about ¾ inch or so) and plate it on your serving tray.
3. Pour the sauce over the fish (Be liberal on your application of the sauce, you will likely have left over).
4. Add the chives on the fish for garnish.

1. ENJOY!

Laboca

This post was posted in Exotic Cooking, Grampy Ray's Recipes