Cook Your Catch – Swordfish Belly Crudo – Swordfish Recipe

Swordfish are the most commonly eaten species of billfish, with a nice, firm white meat often compared to pork. While most often cooked before consumption, the belly of a swordfish is actually pretty fatty and enjoyable in raw preparations. Something I learned from my time running a sushi restaurant for a few years, where we would get in fresh buoy-caught swordfish bellies to use for sushi and sashimi. So when I finally got to go on a daytime sword trip with my buddies this summer, I was stoked we managed to go 1 for 2 on swords. Bringing home a sizable chunk of meat and fresh swordfish belly to use for this Swordfish Belly Crudo.

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Swordfish Belly Crudo – Swordfish Recipe – Ingredients

• Fresh Swordfish Belly
• Limes
• Mango
• Orange
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Serrano Pepper (or Scotch Bonnet if you want the sauce hotter)
• Soy Sauce
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Sugar

The first step is to make your sauce for the Swordfish Belly Crudo.

Swordfish Belly Crudo – Swordfish Recipe – Sauce Ingredients

• 2 Limes, of Juice
• 1/2 Mango Cubed
• 1 Serrano Pepper, or a Scotch Bonnet if you want more heat
• 2 tsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt to Taste

After you wash all your produce, you need to peel the mango.

After the mango is peeled, take off the sides and all the little bits of flesh from around the seed. Take one side of the mango and put that aside in the fridge. That will become part of the garnish later. Then, with the small pieces from around the seed and half of the mango, cube them and put them in the blender.

Juice out your 2 limes into the blender. Then chop up the whole serrano pepper with seeds and add it in along with the soy sauce and extra virgin olive oil.

Blend it all until it’s smooth, then give it a taste. Add salt if needed at this point.

Now you can just use the sauce as is, but for a smoother texture, you can use a fine mesh to filter out any fibers and chunks from the sauce. This step is optional, but I prefer to do it. Once you’re done with the sauce, put it in the fridge to stay cold while we work on everything else.

Next, we want to do a quick cure of the swordfish belly. Take two tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar and add that into a bowl. Then take your last lime and zest it into the bowl. Mix the zest, salt, and sugar mixture well to work the fragrant oils out of the zest pieces. Lightly sprinkle the cure onto the swordfish belly piece, and put aside in your fridge for about 10 to 20 minutes as we work on the garnish pieces for the swordfish belly crudo. You don’t want this to go too long, as it’ll end up more like a lox or gravlax if you do. We just want to impart a little flavor and pull a little bit of moisture out at the same time.

The garnish can be anything you want; I like to use the other half of the mango and a few other things for the crudo. This time it’s thin slices of serranos, cherry tomatoes from the garden, and wedges of orange with no skin. Other great options are any sprouts, arugula, cilantro, and finger lime pearls if you can find any. Once you have your toppings done again put them in the fridge to chill.

Once your swordfish belly piece is done curing, gently rinse off the cure in the sink. Then thoroughly pat dry with a paper towel; you don’t want any moisture left on the fish. Then you want to thinly slice the pieces on plane. This gives you the most surface area.

Now that all the parts are ready, it’s time to assemble the swordfish belly crudo. First, put down a layer of your sauce on the bottom of a chilled plate.

Then lay the pieces of lightly cured swordfish belly on top of the sauce, adding drops of more sauce if you want.

Finally, add all the toppings on top of the swordfish, drizzle a little more of that olive oil on top, and you’re done. Also, I want to note that this is more of a guide than an exact recipe you need to follow. You can adjust what you put on top of the fish to your preferences and what you have fresh available. The only thing you should keep in mind is the quick cure for your fish. As the name implies, it’s supposed to be quick. Don’t go curing the fish too long, because you might be better off with a bagel and cream cheese if you do.

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