Just over a year ago, I went to Miami for a conference and had the pleasure at dining at Nobu in Miami. If you like good sushi this is a great place to visit, provided you are prepared to pay top dollar. While I was there I saw that they had “Tiradito” on the menu. As previously mentioned, I’m a huge fan of Tiradito and decided to try it.
When it arrived, it was clear that this was in no way the classic Peruvian Tiradito. There was no creamy pepper sauce, just sushi grade fish sitting on top of sauce with some spices and a hot pepper on it.
So it wasn’t true Tiradito, but it was absolutely delicious. I looked up some recipes to learn to try to clone this technique, so I could try it with my freshly caught yellowtail.
The problem was that many of the ingredients, such as yuzu sauce, weren’t readily available in my Super Market so I decided to improvise using commonly found ingredients.
The end result was a delicious fish dish that was amazingly close to the original, using ingredients you should be able to get in any Super Market. If you want to impress your friends with a visually stunning and delicious dish that is super easy to prepare, this is the recipe for you!
Easy Nobu Tiradito Clone Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 Lb Fresh Yellowtail Can substitute with other sushi grade white flesh fish.
- 10 tbsp Ponzu sauce enough to fill the plate so that the fish is partially submerged
- 2 Jalapeños
- 4 tbsp Dark Chili Powder
- 2 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Green Onions
Instructions
Mix the Garlic, Chili and Salt to create theseasoning. You can vary the size of thebatch but I was using roughly 4 parts chili pepper, 2 parts salt and 1 partgarlic power and set aside.
Cut the fish into thin slices and put aside.
Slice the Jalapeno into very thin slices cutting the short way on the pepper. (If you want less heat remove the seeds and veins).
Finely chop your green onions and set aside.
Pour the Ponzu sauce into your serving tray so that the tray is completely covered.
Arrange the fish on the tray making sure thatthe fish is in the sauce.
Takes a pinch of the chili seasoning and hiteach piece of fish with it. Regulate theamount based on the amount of heat you want.
Put a jalapeno on each piece of fish.
put the chopped green onions as garnish.
Serve and enjoy!
Keeping it Keto: How to make these delicious Chorizo Poppers
If you have ever gone on a low carb or ketogenic diet you know that if followed properly, it’s super effective.
There are drawbacks though… Boredom, lots of boredom because so many food types are no longer available to you.
This recipe is one that will help you to beat the boredom.
This Chorizo Popper recipe was one I came up as an entree for a recent cinco de mayo gathering that we had.
It’s easy to make and super delicious!
Make these amazing poppers that are really Keto friendly
If you are having people over and are looking for a keto friendly recipe, these little poppers are the thing to make. Just be careful that you don't eat too many, you'll spoil your appetite!
Ingredients
- 10 Jalapeños or other Chile Peppers
- 1/2 Stick of Butter
- 1 Cup of Tequila
- 2 Limes
- 9 Ounces of Chorizo
- 12 - 15 Strips of Bacon
- 1 tbsp of Salt
- Mexican Cheese
Instructions
Cut the Jalapeños in half and de-seed and de-vein them. (You can leave some in if you want more heat.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan and add the Tequila and juice of the 2 limes into the mixture. The end result should be a nice balance between the tequila and lime. Because the juice varies in each lime, you may need to add more of the other ingredient if one is overpowering the other.
Let the sauce reduce for 5-10 minutes depending on your preference.
Heat up the chorizo in a sauce pan, and add about 1/2 half of sauce into the chorizo and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
Lightly cook the bacon until it's about 20% done on a pan or grill, this will ensure you get a nice crispy piece of bacon once it's done.
Use a slotted spoon to fill half of a jalapeño with the chorizo.
Drip additional sauce on the chorizo.
Fill the other half of the jalapeño with cheese.
Gently close the halves together and wrap them with enough bacon to fully cover the pepper. Use Toothpicks to keep the popper together.
Put the constructed popper in the grill on indirect heat and cook it for another 15-20 minutes. You will know that it's done when the bacon is crispy, the chorizo should already be pretty well cooked.
Rinse and repeat for the remaining poppers.
Spicy Kanikama Salad
Today we are going to be making a Spicy Kanikama Salad. I first had this dish as an appetizer in a Shabu Shabu restaurant in New York and I absolutely loved it. It’s nice, light and packs a little bit of a kick.
It goes great with other Japanese cuisine but you can have it as meal all by itself.
Here are the ingredients you will need.
- One 12 ounce package of imitation crab meat.
- ¾ of a Cup of Mayonnaise – Get it here on Amazon http://amzn.to/23vgCzl
- Juice of ½ a Lemon
- 3 tbsp. of Rice Wine Vinegar – Get it here on Amazon http://amzn.to/25TpJw5
- 2 tbsp. of Sriracha sauce – Get it here on Amazon http://amzn.to/1SqSg1U
- ½ of a Large Cucumber
- 2 Green Onions
- Panko bread crumbs – Get it here on Amazon http://amzn.to/1N2UlF4
Preparation
Because the imitation crab meat is already cooked, there is no actual cooking that happens. The first thing you will need to do is shred the imitation crab so that you have stringy flakey bits. This will add to the texture and presentation. It should look something like this:
Once the crab is shredded we are ready to prepare the cucumber. I made the cucumber into noodles using the Spiralizer. If you want to learn how to use this great device, you can click here and read an earlier post I made.
Chop the green onions into fine bits, this will be used as garnish later.
The Sauce
Pour the mayonnaise into a mixing bowl. Mix the Lemon juice, rice vinegar, and Sriracha into the mayo and whisk it until it has a nice pink consistency. Once the sauce is ready pour the shredded imitation crab meat into the sauce and mix it until it coats the meat.
You are now ready to assemble the salad.
- Grab a bowl and first put the cucumber as a base.
- Lump the crab meat on top of the cucumber
- Sprinkle the desired amount of panko on the crab
- Garnish with the chopped onions and serve
Feel free to experiment with the recipe. I began with some recipes that I found on the internet but found that they were too heavy on the mayo and not enough on the vinegar. I added the citrus element and it really improved the sauce. The next time I make this I will likely up the citrus even more and see what the results are.
Be creative, that’s what makes cooking fun.
Thanks for reading
Smoked Salmon Spinach Salad with homemade honey mustard vinaigrette
One of the difficult things about cooking during the week is that time and energy often come up a bit short when you get home to cook an elaborate meal. This challenge is magnified when you are trying to make the meal not only taste good but be healthy for you as well.
Luckily, this recipe manages to be healthy, tasty and quick to make. This is the holy trinity when it comes to weeknight dinners as far as I’m concerned. I can’t take the credit for this one however as it was my lovely wife’s idea.
The only real work you have to do is making the homemade vinaigrette.
Prep
- Put the Spinach in a salad bowl.
- Slice the grape tomatoes to your preferred size.
- Put the salad aside while you make the vinaigrette.
Ingredients for the salad
- 1 Bag of fresh spinach
- 1 small smoked salmon filet
- ½ a box of grape tomatoes
Ingredients for the vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup of extra virgin Olive Oil
- 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of mustard
- The Juice of ½ lemon squeezed
- 1 teaspoon of dried dill weed
- ½ shallot finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons of honey
Making the vinaigrette
- Mix the lemon juice, mustard, vinegar, dill weed and shallots in a bowl
- Whisk them vigorously until they are well mixed together
- While whisking, slowly stream in your olive oil to help integrate it with the vinaigrette
Final Preparation
- In a slow stream pour the vinaigrette over all part of the salad and then toss it to ensure the vinaigrette is well integrated.
- Cut the smoked salmon in half and place it on top of the salad for final presentation.
This is definitely one of the simpler recipes we have done but the end result is fantastic. The smokiness of the salmon pairs perfectly with the tangy and slightly spicy finish of the vinaigrette. We paired this meal with a Geyser Peak Sauvignon Blanc which will be a “Wine under Nine” selection in an upcoming post.
So if you are looking to be healthy on a weeknight, give this recipe a try and let us know what you think!
Stuffed Chorizo Portobellos with a Tequila Lime Sauce
One of my favorite parts having people over and entertaining is getting to cook an elaborate and tasty meal. It also usually means that I’m making appetizers to go with the main dish. I love making appetizers, I think appetizers allow to be more creative than other dishes. You can experiment with flavors that might be too much in the context of an entire meal but work great as bite sized snacks.
This dish ware originally conceived on a weekend when we were going to have family over. We were making our Beer Can Chicken and we wanted to something tasty to munch on while the main course finalized.
Enter the baby Portobello. If you haven’t cooked with these mushrooms let me assure you that they are very versatile. In this instance, we decided to give the meal more of a Mexican flair. Here are the ingredients that we used:
- 1 dozen Portobello mushrooms with the gills removed
- 1 package of Pork Chorizo
- 1 package of Monterrey Jack Shredded Cheese
- ½ a Cup of Tequila
- Juice of two Limes
- 1/3 of a stick of butter
- A pinch or two of the EME Fish & Poultry Seasoning
- 5-10 Shakes from a Sale Shaker depending on your preference
- 1 tbsp. of flour to thicken (I used low carb flour)
Prepping the Mushrooms
- Use a small spoon to remove the gills from the mushrooms. You have to be careful and gentle while you are doing this because it’s fairly easy to break them. And once their broken it’s hard to stuff them. They should look like this:
Making the Sauce
- Now it’s time to make the sauce you’ll need a small sauce pot for this step. Grab the butter and put in the pot at high heat until it fully melts.
- Once the butter melts, pour the tequila in and squeeze the lime.
- At this point I back off the heat to about medium and let the sauce reduce.
- Once it has reduced I put the flour in and whisk it with a spoon, this will thicken the sauce.
- Keep the sauce on a low heat so it doesn’t overly thicken.
Final Cooking Instructions
- Once the sauce is made it’s time to cook the Chorizo. All I do here is put it on a pan on high heat until the chorizo is fully cooked. I did not bother seasoning it at all since we already have a sauce for it and chorizo is flavorful on its own.
- Once the chorizo is done, put it in a bowl and put it aside.
- Heat up your grill to about 400 degrees or so and put the Portobellos on the grill BY THEMSELVES. This step is key, because as the mushrooms heat up they produce a lot of liquid.
- Use tongs to grab the mushrooms and drain the liquid into the grill. You want them to be as dry as possible so that your sauce doesn’t get watered down by the mushroom juice.
- Once the mushrooms have been drained, use a spoon to stuff them with the chorizo.
- Pour the sauce onto the chorizo as it will do a good job of absorbing it.
- Finally, put the cheese on top of the chorizo and close the lid of the grill.
- Once you have the mushrooms stuffed you just need to leave them long enough for the cheese to melt.
Once the cheese is melted the mushrooms are ready to eat. They were a big hit the last time I made them. If you make them let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading.
Product Review – The Spiralizer
We have recently begun a Paleo/ Low Carb style diet to lose some weight and get healthier. If any of you have attempted this lifestyle change, you know that you begin to miss certain types of foods and textures.
I’m married to an Italian, and so the concept of not having pasta or something that even resembles it is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of trying to go paleo.
Enter the Spiralizer.
This product allows you to slice fruits and vegetables in all shapes and forms. In our recipe, we made “noodles” out of healthy foods like Zucchinis or Squash. Do they taste like pasta? No, of course not, they taste like the vegetable that you used to make the “noodles” but the can still be delicious.
How to use
Using the Spiralizer is easy you simply cut the ends off of the vegetable you are going to use and secure it to the Spiralizer.
Once secure, all you have to do is crank the handle and the vegetable or fruit you put on will become noodles or whatever form you choose to attach. In this recipe we are choosing to make noodles out of zucchini.
As you can see, the end result are some beautiful zucchini “noodles”. In this case, we sautéd the “noodles” with some olive oil, butter, salt, garlic powder and granulated onions. The end result was a delicious side dish that paired nicely with our meal.
Cleanup
Once you are finished using the Spiralizer, the main components can also be easily removed and washed individually so cleaning up after using is easy to do.
I highly recommend this product, especially if you are cooking paleo or low carb meals.
Here is the link to Spiralizer in Amazon
If you end up picking up a Spiralizer and using it, let us know what you think.
Thanks for reading.