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Raspberry ribs with tuna tataki and blooming onion
Get ready to serve the summer feast that you've been waiting for!
SERVES
4
TO
5
Ingredients
For the tuna tataki:
- 200 grams tuna (Albacore loin will work just fine; but sushi grade is also a great choice)
- 125 grams fish sauce caramel (below)
- 500 milliliters nori-matcha cotton candy
- 2 plantain (cut on a bias into 2.5 centimeter pieces)
For the fish caramel:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup cream
For the blooming onion cake:
- 4 sweet onions, cut vertically – remove the outer layers and reserve the center 4 layers
- 1 c buttermilk ranch (below)
- Lemon balm (red-veined sorrel would be great, or just fresh dill and fennel frawns)
- 2 cups squid ink tempura mix (below)
For the buttermilk ranch:
- 300 milliliters buttermilk (the higher quality, the better – you want that lemon tang)
- 100 milliliters mayonnaise
- 1/4 bunch of dill frawns
- 1/2 lemon (zested)
For the squid ink temura mix:
- 200 grams all-purpose flour
- 30 grams corn starch
- 20 grams baking powder
- 1 tablespoon squid ink
- 1 can of club soda
For the raspberry ribs:
- 2 full-racks of St. Louis-cut ribs (trimmed down w/o sinew)
- 2 cups smoky-sweet dry rub (below)
- 2 cups raspberry agrodolce (below)
- 3 jalapenos (2 brunoise and 1 left whole)
- 1/4 bushel cilantro, brunoised (reserve the stems for the agrodolce)
- 1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds, roughly chopped
For the dry rub:
- 30 grams coriander seed
- 30 grams whole cumin
- 30 grams fennel seed
- 30 grams mustard seed
- 30 grams onion powder
- 30 grams garlic powder
- 30 grams kosher salt
- 30 grams black pepper
- 30 grams cayenne pepper
- 30 grams smoked paprika
- 100 grams brown sugar
For the raspberry agrodolce:
- 2 pints of raspberries
- 1 Jalapeno, de-seeded
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1 medium sized onion, rough cho
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Chopped cilantro stem (reserved from picked cilantro)
- Salt, to taste
Directions
For the tuna loin:
- Remove any sinew, or just general soft/unappealing parts of the tuna that may be left on. Anything that looks like it can’t be eaten raw, most likely is not.
- Bring skillet with oil on high heat, season fish thoroughly and sear quickly and evenly – let rest and cool in the fridge until entirely cooled
- Cut into small 30 gram (or slightly smaller) slices that fit neatly on the chip – if you’re having trouble keeping it on the chip, cut the fish down to more approachable size.
For the plantains:
- Fill deep pot with enough oil to fully submerge the plantains and fry them; cut plantains into two centimeter rounds on a bias (a fancy word for an angle).
- Heat oil to 300 F (keep an eye on it!), blanche plantains in oil until soft; remove from oil onto tray lined with paper towel.
- Smash plantains with the heel of your hand to make a “smushed” chip shape; now it’s time to re-fry!
- Bring oil up to 350F (keep an eye on it…again!) and place smashed plantains in oil until crispy and delicious.
- Remove from oil & season with salt (tajin is also great for this).
For the fish caramel:
I like to go heavy on the fish sauce to provide the unctuous, intense flavour that pairs nicely with the caramel
- Stir together and place pan on medium heat until liquid becomes golden brown (try not to agitate the pan or else the sugars will crystalize) – add in cream once caramel starts to turn golden and stir vigorously.
- Once caramel begins to tighten up, add in fish sauce (add it to taste, some like it more intense than others; but be mindful of the colour – the darker the caramel the more difficult it is to use)
- Nori Cotton Candy – unless you have a cotton candy machine this will be a difficult one to execute; instead of cotton candy I would recommend crushing up a sheet of nori with one teaspoon of white toasted sesame and 1/2 lime zested
Plating: Brush sliced fish tatki with fish caramel and generously top with nori blend. Place plantain chip down, add a dot of caramel to hold it in place then place the garnish fish on top. Voila!
For the onions:
- Cut vertically, discard or repurpose outer layers; keep that tear-drop shape of the onion by not removing top of onion (where the green sprouts out).
- Cover inside of onion w/ canola and heavy salt, sear in pan on high heat until onion becomes slightly tender.
- Remove from heat & dry on paper towel-lined tray to remove excess oil – the onion should be caramelized, borderline charred; separate each layer to create onion “petals".
For the buttermilk ranch:
- Place all ingredients in a blender, blend at high until smooth and a nice vibrant green.
- Season to taste with salt & a splash of vinegar (red wine or cider goes great).
- Place in a squeeze bottle if you have one.
For the squid ink tempura mix:
This recipe works best if the tempura is kept ice cold (place a bowl inside another bowl of ice, combine all dry ingredients (if you can’t get squid ink, don’t sweat it – it’s more aesthetics than anything); you will also need a deep pot of oil (a liter or so should do) at 350F for frying the batter.
- Pour in cold club soda until a paste texture is achieved (similar to pancake batter consistency).
- Using a fork, dip it into tempura mix and drizzle over the hot oil, remove tempura bits from hot oil and let cool on paper towel-lined tray. The tempura bits should be crispy and crunchy.
- Rinse & pick fresh herbs for garnish.
Plating: Arrange onion petals in a circle so that each point sticks out and looks (sort-of) like a flower; slowly drizzle the buttermilk ranch into each onion petal to fill it with this light green against the white onion; drop a handful of tempura bits into the center of the onion flower (hence the “blooming”) into a nice mound then cover with fresh rinsed/picked herbs to add a splash of colour
For the ribs:
- Pre-heat oven to 225F.
- With the dry rub on the ribs, set up two sheets of tinfoil down on oven-safe tray; place ribs on and brush thoroughly with sauce (both sides); cover with second set of tinfoil wrap to create tight-wrapped packet (fold the edges to retain the heats & flavour).
- Place in preheated oven (crucial) for between three and half to four hours – give them a check at the three hours mark just to make sure they are on-point. Reserve drippings in a separate pan and reduce until it gains a glaze-like consistency (it should coat the back of a spoon), then re-glaze the ribs.
- Set oven to broil (a grill would do the same work) and place glazed ribs about 15 centimeters below heat source – let the sugars cook and become sticky/charred to your liking.
Plating: Remove from the oven, carefully cut the ribs into desired portions and cover (literally cover) with garnish.
For the dry rub:
**Ultimately, make whatever rub you like – I use this because I like that smoky, sweet spice; but any rub you prefer will go great as well.
- Toast seeds and grind until fine.
- Mix together thoroughly and rub all over ribs thoroughly; leave overnight in fridge (covered) to marinate until the morning.
For the raspberry agrodolce:
- Sweat out onions, jalapeno and garlic until they begin to soften; add in washed raspberries.
- Let raspberries cook out until they begin to breakdown.
- Add in vinegar & sugar until it starts to tighten up – the pectin in the raspberries will cause this to happen.
- Blend agrodolce until smooth.
