Seared Bonito with Torched Cucumber, Caviar and Finger Limes - Recipe by Chef Daniel Cabban

Ingredients

Bonito:

1 whole fresh bonito
25g fresh lemon myrtle leaves
300mL mirin
150mL gluten-free soy
15mL lemon juice

Nori dressing:

2 shallots, brunoised
2g salt
4 sheets nori, lightly toasted
200mL grapeseed oil
2 tsp lemon juice

Torched cucumber:

1 cucumber

To finish:

2 finger limes, podded and deseeded
Herring caviar
Baby shiso

Method

For the Bonito:

Gut, clean and fillet the bonito, leaving the skin on.

Remove the central bloodline and bones from both fillets cutting through to get 4 full length fillets. Trim these to be even in length.

For the marinate, put the mirin in a pot and bring to the simmer, then remove from the stovetop and add the lemon myrtle leaves, soy and lemon juice.

Cover and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. strain the lemon myrtle leaves out and let the marinate cool to 4 C.

Add the bonito strips to the marinate and cover with a cloth to ensure the fillets are completely covered.

Transfer to the fridge and let sit in the marinate for 1 hour.

Remove the fillets from the marinate and pat dry, transferring to a clean container and store in the fridge until required.

For the nori dressing:

Crush or cut the nori sheets into small pieces, no larger than 1 cm.

Put the shallot and salt into a mortar and pestle and crush until the onion becomes a wet paste.

Add the nori and one-quarter of the grapeseed oil. Continue mixing until the nori starts to deteriorate.

Add the rest of the oil and lemon juice and mix everything together.

Transfer to a clean container and store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

For the torched cucumber:

Peel the cucumber fully. Cut the cucumber lengthways in half, then with the flat side down, slice in half again.

Remove the seeds of each length at a 45-degree angle so that the outer sides of the cucumber remains.

Transfer the strips to a metal tray and with a blow torch, torch the outsides of the length until they start to blacken slightly.

Let cool down before proceeding to cut the lengths into 5mm strips at a 45-degree angle.

To plate:

Heat a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of oil until the pan barely starts to smoke.

Carefully add the bonito into the pan, skin side down and sear, keeping a slight pressure on the fish to ensure maximum skin contact on the pan.

Once the skin is crisped and coloured, remove from the pan and transfer to your plate.

Spoon the nori dressing on the top of the fillet, taking care not to let it run down the sides of the fish.

Place 1 slice of cucumber on a 45-degree angle 1 cm apart along the top.

Spoon half a teaspoon of finger lime into each gap between the cucumber.

Top the finger lime with a small amount of the caviar.

Garnish each cucumber with a sprig of shiso.