Lennox Hastie’s grilled crudo recipe

This recipe will change the way you appreciate eating high-quality fish.

Lennox Hastie’s Romesco and crudo recipe. Picture: Nikki To

While grilled crudo sounds a little unusual given crudo means “raw”, this recipe will change the way you appreciate eating high-quality fresh fish. I came across the notion of grilled crudo 14 years ago when my mentor, Bittor Arguinzoniz, and I visited Japan. It was the first time I experienced ­traditional tataki. ­Literally meaning “to hit”, it’s a brief searing technique in which fish is cooked over an intense fire (traditionally made from rice straw). The flames dance with wild abandon around the fish, leaving it profoundly smoky.

Back home, I set about trying to find a way to get the best of both worlds; raw fish that is gently warm and lightly smoky. Charring the skin directly on embers quickly creates additional texture and flavour, melting the fat running under the skin but protecting the delicate flesh underneath. The fish remains largely raw but not chilled, enhancing its natural flavour.

READ MORE: How to grill a fish to perfection, The secret to cooking the perfect steak,Lennox Hastie’s stuffed peppers recipe

Although I love the clean, natural oiliness of bonito I find that snapper, coral trout, flathead, whiting or mackerel also work well. Choose sashimi-grade fish that have been killed “ike-jime” (which translates as “sudden death”), as these die quickly and humanely. While this fish will go well with almost anything, at the end of summer I like to pick the ripest, most flavoursome tomatoes I can find; the ones that, when you close your eyes and smell the skin, are bursting with the smell of summer among the vines.

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RECIPE: Grilled crudo

Ingredients

• 1 loin bonito (approximately 300g) or other firm-fleshed fish
• 200g tomatoes
• ½ clove garlic, finely chopped
• 30ml sherry vinegar
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 green salad onion, finely sliced, and placed in iced water
• 2 radishes, finely sliced
• Zest of ½ orange
• 20g caperberries
• Handful red shiso leaves
• Sea salt flakes

Method

1. Remove your fish from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
2. Light your fire or barbecue. If cooking with fire, spread the embers evenly across the base of the grate and set your grill rack directly upon the embers. Season the flesh side of the fish and grill (skin side down) above evenly distributed embers for 10 seconds until the skin is lightly charred. Remove immediately.
3. Alternatively, season the flesh of the fish and sear in a very hot pan with 10ml of good olive oil for approximately 10 seconds skin side down. Remove immediately, seasoning the skin with salt.
4. Place the tomatoes on the rack directly upon the embers to gently blister the skin. Once blistered, remove from the grill, peel, and chop into bite sized pieces or leave whole if small enough. Season with the chopped garlic, salt, a couple of torn shiso leaves, the red wine vinegar, the orange zest, and the olive oil, and allow to macerate for 5-6 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, slice the bonito loins into bite-sized pieces and spread over two plates, followed by the tomatoes.
6. Garnish with slices of salad onion, radishes, and the caper berries, before pouring over the tomato liquid and any remaining shiso leaves.

Serves 2

Chef Lennox Hastie’s recipes appear fortnightly in The Weekend Australian Magazine. His column alternates with Elizabeth Hewson’s home-cook recipes