On Me This Time!!

Me

Micro ball ice cream in Tokyo

Ok, so I feel its time to write a little about me.  Here are some of the standard profile comebacks:  My name is Molly, I am 33 and a professional sushi chef of over 11 years- most would say I’m pretty good at what I do.  I have worked and lived in a few different countries like Dubai, Japan, Israel, Lebanon and Argentina.  I am currently living in Stockholm, Sweden but not working.  I’m traveling to gather stories for my blog and hopefully eventually a book.  I love cooking, but the restaurant industry is something I am trying to phase out of.  It’s a damn hard business.  I’ve been in the business for many years and I used to be a partner in a restaurant in Argentina that did not do so well, but what of it- live and learn (I learned more in that time than in two years of business school!).  I have a love/hate relationship with the restaurant industry; it’s an addiction that you can’t shake.  My ego loves the customer interaction at the sushi bar, people constantly telling how fucking awesome you are all day long, but my head and body get bloody burned out.  Its like the mafia, you try to get out but it always brings you back in, I’m sure many chefs can agree…  I am currently going to school online for holistic nutrition and I would like to learn acupuncture eventually.   I do work, in Cape Cod but only during the summer season at a little restaurant in a town called Wellfleet.  The people I work for are great and I make enough money to afford me my travel expenses for the winter, I feel fortunate, its not a bad gig at all!!

At work in Dubai

I have a fairly big family; typical functioning dysfunctional American family with loads of half and stepbrothers/sisters… its great though, the more the merrier!!  I am Korean, adopted to American parents when I was 7 months old.  Never been back to Korea, although I am entertaining the idea.  But more on that at a different time….  I grew up in Minnesota, in a very musical and artistic household.  My father is a cellist and my mother a teacher of music and elementary age kids, so I was raised taking loads music lessons; art classes and some theater.  I have a huge appreciation for the arts thanks to them.  When I was a kid music lessons were painful for me, I was extremely shy and recitals were horrifyingly nightmarish.  I regret my resistance now, wish I would of stuck with it but sometimes you miss the boat on things. 

Seared scallops with a pickled plum reduction

Well that’s a little bit of me in a somewhat superficial nutshell, at least all I’m prepared to share at the moment.  I’m sure you’ll read more about me as I write on.  I will leave you with a recipe from my plethora of dishes in my head for a yummy Yellowtail ceviche, try it and leave a comment on how you like it or what you think of it!

Keep eating!!

Cooking at home

P.s. I apologize in advance for the lack of photos for the ceviche, I will try to explain everything in detail to understand my meaning.  It may be a time consuming, but it is not difficult so don’t worry!!

Yellowtail Ceviche with ginger infused rice vinegar

Serves 2- 4

½ pound Yellowtail fish, diced into bite-size pieces (1”x1”)

Ceviche marinade:

1 cup Japanese rice vinegar

¼ c  sugar

2  tbls  Japanese Yuzu juice *

1 tbls sea salt

1 clove of garlic, ground into a paste

2 large pieces of ginger, very finely grated into a pulp

½ jalapeño, finely grated like the ginger

Garnish:

½ small white onion, thinly sliced

½ cup of shredded daikon (Japanese radish)

1 tbls wasabi tobiko (wasabi flavored cavier used in sushi, green in color)

3 sprigs of daikon sprout

Method:

First thinly slice the onion and put them into a small bowl with ice water.  This will take away the strong bite of the onion that can overwhelm the ceviche.  Let them sit in the ice water for about 20 min.  After the 20 minutes, put the onions into the marinade.  Next take the daikon and shred it with a mandolin length-wise, use the smallest blade possible. Rinse them with water until the pungent smell is gone.  If you do not have a mandolin, slice the daikon the thinnest possible, length-wise, stack the slices and again slice down as thin as possible.  They should look like thick, short strands of hair. After you rinse them, keep them in a bowl with a damp paper towel over it so they do not dry out.

To make the marinade, first pour the rice vinegar into a bowl.  Add the sugar little by little and taste as you go.  You can adjust the amount of the sugar if you need, the flavor should be slightly tart and not too sweet.  After the sugar is dissolved, add the Yuzu and sea salt.  Next, ground the garlic using either an oroshii grater (a Japanese grater used to make grated daikon for sushi) or the finest side of a cheese grater, it should be like a paste.  After you add the garlic into the mixture, lightly peel the ginger with a spoon- all the flavor of the ginger in just under the skin.  Grate the ginger with the same side of the grater you used for the garlic.  This is a little bit of work but you want only the pulp without all the tough fibrous strands, they’re not too pleasant to eat.  When you finish with the ginger, do the same with the jalapeño.  You can use more jalapeño if you want it spicier; seeds are ok but take them out if you can.  Mix all together and let it sit in the chiller while you prepare the fish.

Preparing the fish:

Skin the Yellowtail using a sharp thin-bladed knife.  If there is an indented line running through the middle of the fish, cut closely along both sides of the line and throw it away.  Dice the fish into bite-size cubes about 1”x1”, then take he back of the knife and gently hit the cubes with it.  This will open the cubes up a bit and let the marinade really get into the fish.  Put the Yellowtail into the marinade while you prepare the dishes to be plated. 

Plating:

Take small bowls and put the shredded daikon on the bottom.  Gently spoon in the Yellowtail, onions and some of the marinade over the diakon.  Mound the fish a bit higher in the center of the bowl.  To garnish the ceviche, spoon the wasabi tobiko over the top of the mound of fish in the center of the bowl, letting the tobiko fall naturally down the sides.  Top it off with the daikon sprouts and serve right away!!

* Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit kind of like a cross between a lemon and lime in flavor, a bit bitter and unique.  It is used on delicate white fish or scallops, is also made into marmalade and added to hot water for a tea in Japan.