The following recipe featuring SOS Chefs' spices was written by the Executive Chef Nir Mesika at Timna, a Mediterranean restaurant located on 109 St. Marks' Place in the East Village.
This recipe is great to make it with a Spanish mackerel, but definitely can work with fresh salmon or Arctic char as well, it's a fusion between the Mexican cuisine with a twist of Israeli cuisine with downtown New York style.
Ingredients:
For the smoked fish:
1 filet of Spanish mackerel boneless
1 liter of water
50 gram sugar
50 gram salt
1 lemon grass
2 star anise
For smoking:
200 gram wood chips
Double container with net in the middle
For the salsa "Pico de Gallo"
2 heirloom tomatoes
1 red onion
1 bunch of cilantro
1 stick of celery
1 small piece of ginger
1 jalapeño deseeded
Cilantro seeds
Cumin
2 fresh lime
Salt
Ground Black pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
For the avocado mousse:
3 riped hass avocados
2 fresh lime
100 gram of canola oil
1 teaspoon of yellow madras curry
Salt
For serving:
Raw tahini
Fresh radishes
Fresh cilantro leaves
Crispy quinoa
Instructions:
For the fish:
Mix all the ingredients together in a container until the sugar and the salt melt well.
Place the fish inside the brine and cure it for 4 hours, after 4 hours dry it well and brush it with a little bit of olive oil.
For the smoking:
Place the wood chips in the container on the stove and warm it up on high flame, until smoke starts coming out, turn the fire down, place the fish on the net and cover it well, cook it for 40 minutes until the fish is fully cooked and has the smokey flavor, when ready, you can serve it immediately, or you can store it in container with olive oil.
"Pico de Gallo"
Dice the vegetables very small and super fine.
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and season it until balanced perfectly (it should be spicy and soury enough to balance the smokiness from the fish and the creaminess from the avocado mousse).
Avocado mousse:
Place the ingredients in a blender and grind it all
while grinding, drizzle slowly 100 gram of canola oil until you get a very smooth avocado purée.
Crispy quinoa :
Cook 100 gram of red quinoa until is fully cooked, dried it in the oven on 330 f' for 25 minutes
Fried it up in a net until it's puffed.
For serving:
On the plate, spread the avocado mousse; on top of it place the "Pico de Gallo" and on top of the salsa place the smoked fish, finish it with dots of raw tahini puffed quinoa and fresh cilantro or oregano
Bon a petit.
Timna Website: timna.nyc