Octopus Ceviche, Nobu Style

We used the recipe for "Seafood Ceviche, Nobu Style" from Nobu the Cookbook.  You don't have to use only octopus - you can use it in combination with other fish or shellfish, or not at all.  But we had that whole octopus, so that's what we went with.

Ceviche is basically seafood and citrus in combination with other salad elements - onions, tomatoes, herbs, etc.  But the citrus is important - it's what cures or cooks any raw seafood you might be using, and it's also bright and refreshing.  This is a great summer dish.

There are two components to this dish - the dressing, and the salad ingredients.

Here's how you make the dressing.

Nobu's words are in bold, my notes are in italics.

Ceviche Sauce

4 T lemon juice

2 teaspoons yuzu juice (yuzu is Japanese citron - I didn't have any.  I used pink grapefruit juice, though yuzu is actually LESS sweet than lemon.)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp finely grated garlic

1/2 tsp finely grated ginger

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp aji amarillo paste (a fruity, dried chili, orange in color.  We had a dried habanero from the garden - I used that, minced, and without the seeds.  I didn't make a paste - I just added the minced pepper to the rest of the sauce.)

Combine all the ingredients. 

Yield:  5 Tablespoons and 1 tsp.

Pretty simple, right?  Let me tell you - it's a bright, intense, delicious powerhouse of a sauce.

Now, on to the salad...

Seafood Ceviche, Nobu Style

6  1/2 ounces of seafood (delicate-flavored varieties such as fresh white fish and shellfish, boiled octopus, boiled shrimp), cut into bite-size pieces

4 tsp finely chopped cilantro

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, peeled (if necessary) and cut into thin round slices

4 each red, yellow and orange mini tomatoes, halved (I just used red grape tomatoes - it's not tomato season at the moment)

5 T plus 1 tsp Ceviche Sauce (see above)

Mix all the seafood and vegetables together well.  Combine with Ceviche Sauce and transfer to a serving dish.  Top with a cilantro sprig.

And that's all you do.  We made it this evening after the kids' swim class and I think, working together, Bill and I had it done in less than fifteen minutes.

We did a less intense version for the kids, because they wanted octopus and I thought the Ceviche sauce would be too spicy for them. 

I was wrong.  They both ate the less spicy version Bill put together, and then wanted more octopus.  They were told that all we had left was the spicier stuff - didn't matter.  Alex ate some of the octopus in the ceviche, and Julia went all out and had a piece of the red onion, too.

And they liked it.  Which is why we keep telling them - all we ask is that you TRY it. 

So go ahead - you try it, too!

Comments

[Elaine]

Why cook the shrimp and octupus? I thought the citrus cooked it

[Kathleen]

That's what I am wondering. Do you have to boil octopus?

[Patrick]

Yes. cook the octopus. Fish (and sometimes shrimp, bay scallops, etc...) can be added raw and the acid and salt will cure it, but with octopus (and a few others), it will need to be cooked first. Just depends on what you want in your ceviche.