Recipe: Blowfish Skin Caprese

the appetizer:

Morimoto, by "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto, fuses Western ingredients into classic Japanese cooking with recipes like Blowfish Skin Caprese; Curry Pan; and Angry Chicken.

Blowfish Skin Caprese

Makes 4 servings

Blowfish (fugu) is not only hard to come by and very expensive, but you cannot prepare it without a license so I've substituted monkfish here. Fugu is a Japanese fish, and therefore specific to Japanese cuisine, but I intentionally incorporate Italian ingredients to make this dish unusual, Fresh mozzarella and sweet tomatoes, as well as extra virgin olive oil and basil, lend the "Caprese" to this dish.

Skin of 1 medium monkfish
4 bocconcini (small balls of fresh mozzarella), quartered
1 Japanese fruit tomato or medium heirloom tomato, diced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon light-colored soy sauce
1 tablespoon kabosy or fresh lime juice
Sea salt and cracked black peppercorns
1 tablespoon micro basil or slivered fresh basil

1. Peel the skin off the monkfish: To do so, first remove the bone. Place the deboned fillet skin side down on a cutting board and slip a knife between the fish and the skin. Then slide the knife down the skin while pulling the skin back with your other hand; the skin should come off in one piece.

2. In a medium saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch the monkfish skin until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain immediately and rinse under cold running water until cool. Cut the fish skin into very thin strips 1-inch (2-1/2 cm) long.

3. In a small bowl, toss the strips of fish skin with the mozzarella, tomato, olive oil, soy sauce, and kabosy juice.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Divide the salad among 4 small bowls or plates. Top each with a sprinkling of basil.