Being a physician/scientist/mother/wife, one of my fantasy is to have a lovingly (read, unhurriedly) prepared meal waiting for my family as they return home.  This almost never happens.  From my Weeknight Warriors post, you might be familiar with the real hectic weeknights in my house.  Tonight Monkey King had a big project deadline and was working late, so I decided to surprise him with a yummy spread  upon his return home from a grueling work day.  After putting Plumster to bed, I rolled up my sleeves and set to work.

In addition to the fresh berries and herbs that I picked up last weekend, there was also this amazing local fisherman who sold ecologically responsible, sustainable seafood.  I normally buy salmon and tuna from him.  This weekend, I decided to give Yellowtail he caught just the day prior a try.

After consulting various cookbooks and websites, I came up with my own versions of Yellowtail Two ways: Yellowtail Nobu-Inspired, and Yellowtail with Mango Salsa

Yellowtail Nobu-Inspired

Makes 2 servings

 Ingredients:

•  sashimi-grade yellowtail
  
•  3 cloves grated garlic
  
•  1 thinly sliced jalapeno
  
•  Ponzu soy sauce (I bought it straight from a Japanese grocery store.  If you don’t have one available, use equal parts ponzu sauce to soy sauce)
  
•  1 Tbs hot smokey vegetable oil
  

Steps:

•  Use a sharp carving knife, slice sashimi-grade yellowtail thinly
•  Coat each piece with grated garlic and place the garlic side up

• Place thinly sliced jalapeno atop each piece of fish
  

• Heat vegetable oil in high heat until smokey
• Ladle a tiny amount of the hot oil onto each piece of fish
  
• Pour ponzu soy sauce around the fish
  

Yellowtail with Mango Salsa

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

•  1 cup ripe mango
  
•  1 clove minced garlic
  
•  5 chopped mint leaves
  
•  half diced red onion
•  5 minced thai chili pepper
  
•  pinch of salt
  
• 1 dash of Ponzu sauce
• and last but not least, the fish!
  

 Steps:

•  Mango Salsa: can be made in advance
  

• Mix the mango, mint, red onion, garlic, chili pepper, salt and ponzu sauce well and store it in an air-tight jar.  I made mine last night.
• Season one side of yellowtail with salt and pepper
• Heat vegetable oil in a pan with medium to high heat
• Place the non-seasoned fish side on the left-over graded garlic
• Sear the side with salt and pepper first, about 20 seconds
• Flip and sear the garlic coated side last, about 15 seconds
• Immediately plate the fish so that it doesn’t cook all the way through

Voila!

All done in no time!