Mackeral with Figs and Eggplant and Avocado stuffed with ricotta and topped with nuts and sesame

Eatrip’s Grilled Mackerel and ricotta Stuffed Avocado Salad

NOTES

This eggplant salad would be great served with crackers or eaten as a side. The combo is surprising but the textures meld together well; it’s the perfect compliment to the oily fish. Yuri used sanma, a seasonal local mackerel. If you can find it, use it, if not sub mackerel, just try to buy one on the small side.

INSTRUCTIONS

Grilled Mackeral with Figs and Eggplant Salad

Over a medium flame, grill whole eggplants directly on the fire, turning constantly until the skin turns black and begins to peel away. The eggplant should be soft to the touch and cooked all the way through. Remove from heat and when the eggplant has cooled to room temperature, peel and remove the skin and cut into 1” pieces. Cut the figs into 1” pieces as well and add both to a bowl to marinate with aromatic olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.

Pre-heat your gas or charcoal grill to medium heat. Make 1-inch-long slits at 2-inch intervals down middle of fish on both sides with a sharp paring knife, then brush fish all over with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Season fish cavity with salt and pepper as well and place the mackerel in a small fish catcher and grill over an open flame for 5 minutes on each side. If you prefer to use an oven than a grill, set the oven to broil and add a well-oiled baking sheet to the oven to heat up. Place the sheet on the top rack, place fish on the baking sheet and broil fish on each side for 5 minutes.

Spoon salad over the grilled mackerel, garnish with edible flowers and season with coarse salt. Serve with wedges of lime.

Stuffed Avocado Salad

Slice avocado in half lengthwise, remove the skin and the pit and discard. Add a spoonful of fresh ricotta cheese to the center of the avocado and flip so the flat side is down on the plate.

Pulse pistachio nuts, almonds, coriander seed and sesame seeds with olive oil in a food processor a few times to chop the nuts into small pieces. Spoon this over the avocado and add an squeeze of lemon juice over top.

Garnish with a pinch of Aleppo pepper, salt and lemon zest, and serve.

RECIPE

DIFFICULTY

HARD

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SERVES

4

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PREP TIME

30 MINS

Grilled Mackeral with Figs and Eggplant Salad

  • small 
    Japanese eggplant
  • 1 lb 
    whole mackeral (cleaned + scaled)
  • tsp 
    vegetable oil
  •  
     
    cracked black pepper
  • ripe 
    green figs
  • tbs 
    aromatic extra virgin olive oil
  • tsp 
    white balsamic vinegar
  • tbs 
    torn mint leaves
  •  
     
    edible flowers
  •  
     
    sea salt to taste
  •  
    lime, quartered

Stuffed Avocado Salad

  • ripe  
    Hass avocados
  • 1/2 
    cup  
    fresh ricotta
  • 1/4  
    cup 
    shelled, unsalted pistachio nuts
  • 1/4 
    cup 
    unsalted Marcona almonds (sub blanched almonds)
  • tsp 
    white sesame seeds
  • tsp 
    coriander seed, toasted
  • 1/4 
    cup 
    extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 
     
    lemon
  • 1/8 
    tsp 
    Aleppo pepper
  •  
     
    sea salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Grilled Mackeral with Figs and Eggplant Salad

Over a medium flame, grill whole eggplants directly on the fire, turning constantly until the skin turns black and begins to peel away. The eggplant should be soft to the touch and cooked all the way through. Remove from heat and when the eggplant has cooled to room temperature, peel and remove the skin and cut into 1” pieces. Cut the figs into 1” pieces as well and add both to a bowl to marinate with aromatic olive oil and white balsamic vinegar.

Pre-heat your gas or charcoal grill to medium heat. Make 1-inch-long slits at 2-inch intervals down middle of fish on both sides with a sharp paring knife, then brush fish all over with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Season fish cavity with salt and pepper as well and place the mackerel in a small fish catcher and grill over an open flame for 5 minutes on each side. If you prefer to use an oven than a grill, set the oven to broil and add a well-oiled baking sheet to the oven to heat up. Place the sheet on the top rack, place fish on the baking sheet and broil fish on each side for 5 minutes.

Spoon salad over the grilled mackerel, garnish with edible flowers and season with coarse salt. Serve with wedges of lime.

Stuffed Avocado Salad

Slice avocado in half lengthwise, remove the skin and the pit and discard. Add a spoonful of fresh ricotta cheese to the center of the avocado and flip so the flat side is down on the plate.

Pulse pistachio nuts, almonds, coriander seed and sesame seeds with olive oil in a food processor a few times to chop the nuts into small pieces. Spoon this over the avocado and add an squeeze of lemon juice over top.

Garnish with a pinch of Aleppo pepper, salt and lemon zest, and serve.

Tucked away beside the famously crazy shopping drag of Shibuya, is the most serene garden oasis with some of the best food I found in all of Tokyo. Eatrip is not just a restaurant, it is a destination. Friends, chef Yuri Nomura and floral designer Yukari Iki, have created a bridge across the Pacific ocean, this spot is Nor Cal meets Tokyo in the best possible way. With a rotating exhibition in a tiny gallery, an indoor/outdoor flower shop and a old wooden home for a dining room, you could spend all day here…and so I did.

Yuri has considered every detail from the handmade black clay plates and the vegetables her father grows on his own farm, to the staff’s Japanese linen aprons made by Michida Yuuki, hand-dyed with beetroot pulp leftover from another friend’s juice shop. As I milled about, Yukari gently bent a single branch of yellow and orange berries, creating a minimal installation across the perfect wooden table. Yuri worked quietly in the kitchen; I had no idea what she was making until a procession of plates came to the table. I was so anxious to eat that perfect avocado, my hands were shaking and I dropped my phone face down into the center of the perfect dish.

These recipes represent the freshest, brightest food we ate in Japan, a meal we would crave in the weeks to follow, even as we navigated the most compelling culinary landscape in the world.

Yuri and Yukari in Their Own Words

Julia Sherman: Yukari, you made this really simple arrangement for our shoot that used a single branch to play with the dimension and depth of the space. Does that have something to do with Ikebana, traditional Japanese floral arrangement?

Yukari Iki: Yes, it does. I like ikebana’s asymmetric form and how their rules manage to create perspective, just in the way they place each stem.

JS:Where do you source the flowers from?

YI: Most of them are from the flower market in Ohta and some of the herbs are from Kagoshima or directly from prefecture farmers.

JS: The Little Shop of Flowers travels. Where have you done these pop-ups, and do you have any planned for the future?

YI: We have one planned for December. Our next destination is a small gift shop at the Ace Hotel in London.

JS: Cool! Yuri, your father provides Eatrip with veggies, has he always done this for the restaurant, or is this a new thing? Does he grow to order, or do you just take what he gives you?

Yuri Nomura: My father produces vegetables in Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture for Eatrip from spring to autumn every year. My chefs, my father and I discuss together what kind of vegetables we want, then he plants in spring just for us. But he doesn’t grow everything we need, we still work with small local farmers. Connecting farmers and chefs is my mission. By connecting farmers with chefs in Tokyo, purchasing from the farm directly, trying to reduce transfer cost etc…

JS: Has serving organic food always been a primary concern for you?

YN: I don’t stick exclusively to organic produce. Instead, I make it my mission to use Japanese ingredients from farmers who I have visited and respect.

JS: How did you learn to cook?

YN: My mother cooked every single day when I was growing up, so I was learning to cook even before I realized it. Later in life, I went to Berkley to become an intern at Chez Panisse, so that was definitely a big part of my education.

JS: Do you consider your food to be “Japanese,” or does that not even matter to you?

YN: I don’t worry about whether or not my food is, “Japanese,” but it will always be my foundation. I use Japanese ingredients, and I always try to prepare them minimally and simply, in an effort to highlight their natural flavors.